I love coming to Emerald Isle because we get a house right on the beach. Optimal comfort and convenience. Here is our daily schedule:
- Wake Up
- Go for a run and/or walk and/or do yoga on the beach
- Eat breakfast
- Go to the beach
- Eat lunch
- Go back on the beach
- Shower
- Eat dinner
- Play boardgames (like Scategories, Catch Phrase, SkipBo, or Bunco — it’s serious business in our fam)
- Go to sleep
The view from our deck
Also, the beaches here are really uncrowded, because the only people on the beach are those staying in the houses! And the first week in August seemed to be a pretty slow week, there was hardly anyone there at all.
Our family's base camp!
We barely even leave the house! We do go clamming once or twice. It’s like redneck strawberry picking. We go to the bay where the water is really shallow, and all you go is crouch down and dig around with your fingers until you find a clam! It’s really fun and disgusting all at the same time. You end up with muck caked around your nails and a digging up a few rotten things, but there is no other feeling like extracting a big “fighter” that’s perfectly smooth and ready to eat! We have freshly steamed clams that day for lunch–talk about fresh, and local! My aunt also makes a great chowder. mmmmmm
Another reason to leave the house is our annual mini golf championship. We usually make teams by families – the five of us vs. my aunt and her family – and the winner buy Ben and Jerrys for us all. But this year, with boyfriends and wives, we had too many people for just two teams, so we drew numbers out of a hat to make 3 teams. I basically had a miserable time. I didn’t get any holes-in-one AND I lost my ball on the 14th hole in the pond 
But I was happy in the end because we tied! Everyone’s a winner!!! WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!
This was my family’s tenth year, but it was the first time we rented a different house because…
Our house! The side with the towels 
It even had a pool!
we really wanted Ghia to come along!
The new house allowed dogs, and Ghia had so much fun fetching her toy duck in the water. It was her first time seeing the ocean! She was a little wary at first, but she quickly got really comfortable. She really grew to understand the waves!
Big waves make me really anxious, so I don’t spend a whole lot of time in the water. When I’m on the beach, I like to take read, take walks, read, play Baggo, read, play ladderball, and read. A LOT of binge reading went on this past week. Here’s what I read:
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver This is about a mother whose son commits a Columbine-like massacre at his school. It tells the story of his childhood and her mothering style. It was really well written, and I liked its overall message: sometimes when kids need the most love is when they deserve it the least.
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler The title explains it all! This was really funny and had really nice characters. Plus lots of fun insights into one of my favorite authors!
French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guilliano This book is about the differences between American and French food cultures. I devoured this book, and loved all it’s lifestyle tips; I’m really going to try and incorporate them into my own life. Essentially, French women focus a lot more on fresh, quality ingredients when they eat and cook, and learn to compensate for indulgences. The moral: eat light, exercise light, be light. (live in the City of Light lol 
)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant This is the story of a woman whose life is only hinted at in the bible, Dinah. It’s a fantastic story about the lives of ancient women and how they coped. You will really like it if you like biblical stories (though there is nothing really about God) but either way you will love this amazing tale.
Ghia didn’t read, though, she mostly played in the ocean
I did go in the water a few times, when the surf wasn’t too rough. One day, I was just innocently trying to stay alive in the choppy water, when all of a sudden a perverted silver fish jumps out of the water right next to me, flaps against my boobs, ricochets off my cleavage, and swims away in shame. I felt violated, but it was also hilarious
We had perfect weather the whole week, it was VERY sunny and warm. But don’t worry, I’m almost as afraid of the sun as I am the waves. I slather on LOTS of sunblock and wear a hat, sunglasses, and a cover-up. Plus, I sit in the shade. I rather obsessively move my char along the path of the sun so that I am always completely under an umbrella! lol
Run, Ghia! Run!
It was so hot, in fact, that I didn’t run quite as much as I would have liked. The first morning, I went on a 5-mile run with some of my cousins, but I hadn’t run that far in a while and got pretty sore. I did squeeze in two more 3-ish mile runs, but it was so hot that I didn’t feel like doing it every day. I did walk with Ghia every morning! Plus, I would lead some yoga on the beach with my parents most mornings.
Do you manage to exercise while on vacation?
Namaste.
