It's ok, Tim

An adorable thing happened this morning.  After we had finished breakfast, Sims took Tim (his teddy bear, just in case you don't remember) over to his kitchen to make him breakfast.  He got out his travel booster seat, so that Tim could sit higher at the kid-sized table.  Sims then made Tim coffee and waffles.

A little while later, we heard Sims say, "It's ok, Tim."  Jason asked what happened, as Sims was on his hands and knees wiping the floor with a cloth.  "Tim spilled water on the floor, and I'm helping him clean it up," he replied.  My heart just melted watching Sims cleaning up his teddy bear's pretend mess.  Does it get any cuter than that?

Independence Day on Ocracoke

Let me tell you, Ocracoke does the 4th of July up right!  There were so many activities going on throughout the day that I don't think anyone could go to them all.  We certainly couldn't, and we really only got to see a handful of them.

We started off the day by heading to the beach.  We wanted to spend a small amount of time on the beach, but we also wanted to see some of the sand sculpture contest.  We got to see all of the individuals and groups working on their sculptures.  At that time, we couldn't even tell what some of them were going to be, but it was nice to see them all working on their creations.  Then we headed on down the beach to set up camp for a while.  We went back to the sculptures later in the day to see how they turned out.

The sinking Titanic

Sims liked Lightning McQueen.

On Ocracoke's radio station we listened to the local fig cake bake-off, which sounded so delicious that I had to have some fig cake before we left the island.  It was fantastic, and now I need to bake my own.

After Sims' nap, we strolled down the street to the parade.  It was just the perfect small town parade.  Anyone could enter to be in the parade up to an hour before it began, so you didn't know what to expect.

One of our favorite parade cars was the Ocracoke Country Club one, since that doesn't actually exist.  And Ocracoke is sooooo not that kind of place.

Sims' favorite was Towmater.  It looked just like Mater from the movie Cars (or from the books based on the movie in Sims' case).  He talked about this one for days.

Of course, it wouldn't have been Ocracoke without some pirates.  You know, Ocracoke was the old hang out of Blackbeard after all.

A lot of the floats and cars were throwing the traditional candy out to the kids.  But have you ever heard of a float handing out hot dogs?  Oh, man, do I love Ocracoke!

We had an early dinner so we could head over to the Community Square for square dancing.  Even though we didn't participate because Sims just wanted to watch, we enjoyed watching and listening to the band.

Of course as the square dance ended, Sims decided he wanted to dance.

Then it was time for bed!  It was such a great 4th of July!  And here are a few more photos from the day.

Ocracoke

Oh, Ocracoke.  We miss you so much...  We spent the week of the 4th there, just Jason, Sims and I, and we are kind of in mourning now.  Even Sims has been bitten by the Ocracoke bug.  The morning we were leaving to return home, he complained saying, "No.  This is our home."  When we hear train horns now, he says he hears the ferry.  I am so happy that he loves it as much as we do.

Well, needless to say, we had a wonderful week.  We escaped the record high temperatures back home to just plain hot temperatures in paradise.  We spent most of our time at the sound, since we could all enjoy being in the water there.  The sound is so shallow where we were that you could easily walk out a hundred yards and still be standing.  The waves are calm there, and we can just sit and relax.  And we can watch the ferries and other boats go by.  We also enjoyed the beach, but since Sims didn't want to touch the ocean for some reason, it would get really hot, really quickly.  Plus, the sound was a short stroll away from our house.

We stayed in the same house that we stayed in last time, when Sims became a walker.  It was right after his first birthday, and even though he had been taking a few steps here and there for about a month, he wasn't what you would call a walker.  Then as soon as we showed up in Ocracoke, he was walking everywhere.

So we had pretty big hopes for the whole potty training thing to go the same way.  We were expecting to return home with a kid wearing big boy underwear.  Well, that didn't happen.  But it probably made it easier on us to not have to worry about any accidents when we were out and about.

We loved spending July 4th on Ocracoke.  There were a full day of activities that deserve its own post, so I'll write more about that later. 

We took a morning ferry ride to Hatteras to go to breakfast at Orange Blossom Bakery and for Sims to see the Hatteras Lighthouse.  I'm glad that Sims got to see the lighthouse at an age, where he understands what it is and can recognize it in books, pictures, and tchotchkes, but waiting in that long line to get back on the ferry to Ocracoke is kind of miserable.  Just saying.

It was such a relaxing week of hanging out, eating, reading books, and a family dance party.  This week was the first time in a long time that Sims actually danced with me, and he had so much fun.  The next day, he turned the music on by himself and came to me and said, "You wanna dance with me?"  How could I ever say no to that?

We of course took Sims to the Ocracoke lighthouse, which he keeps calling the old lighthouse.  I told him that it is the oldest working lighthouse in North Carolina and the second oldest in the country, so obviously that tidbit of info stuck with him.


Jason and I are thinking that we need to make the effort to go to Ocracoke more often.  It is a long journey there (3 hour drive, then 2 and a half hour ferry ride), but it would still be worth it for a long weekend.  Maybe sometime in the fall?

Oh, to be back in Ocracoke....