I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

Hubbyfink and I spent the past week in the company of my SCA household in a gorgeous house on the Corolla/Pine Island section of the Outer Banks. It was exactly what we needed. And happily, unlike last year, the weather was absolutely perfect this time around.

My beach schedule went something pretty much like this: wake at 8:30, breakfast, two-mile walk on the beach, swim for an hour, shower & dress, lunch, shop, snack, play games or fly kites, dinner, play games or watch movies, bedtime around midnight. Pretty fantastic if you ask me. I was happy to see that the anchor was still out in the surf and sad to see the dessicated remains of a sea turtle up near the dune. I adopted a beach bum wardrobe of cargo capris, tee-shirt, and flip-flops. I got a LOT of sun. Kim/Cassie and I finally had our mini golf face-off and she handily beat me. Hubbyfink, Nicole/Sian, and I explored every Sound Feet Shoes from Corolla to Nags Head looking for Vibram Five Fingers shoes for him and Keen sandals for her. pirategirleee and I got an Old-Timey picture of us as pirate wenches with cutlasses and bottles of rum. (Must scan that...)

We also saw lots of dolphins playing and hunting in the surf. As I stepped into the water on Saturday, I saw three dark dorsal fins pop up out of the water about a hundred yards from me. My heart stopped. It restarted when I realized the fins belonged to dolphins. (I mean, yes, I am the one who wants to do a shark dive, but I want to be prepared for the sharks, you know? Also, I don't want to be the only one around the sharks. I don't need to be the fastest swimmer; I just need to be faster than you.)

The stars were absolutely amazing. We could even see the Milky Way. There was no moon and the brightest object in the sky was the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus. On Saturday night, pirategirleee, duchesssimone, francesca_la, and I strolled up the beach as the Big Dipper rose from the horizon. It was HYOOOGE. We couldn't keep our eyes on the stars all the time, though. We needed to watch the beach as well so as not to step on the angry little crabs. When we turned around to go back to the house, we spotted fireworks waaaay down the island. I still don't know if they were in Duck or Kitty Hawk. It was pretty much the perfect way to end vacation.

Yesterday was yucky and drizzly, and Hubbyfink and I decided to take off for some out-of-beach-house couple time. We drove up to Timbuck II to have an old timey photo of us taken at Miss Kitty's Olde Time Photography. It's adorable! I'll scan it and share when we get home. We continued up the coast until we got to the four-wheel-drive area and turned around. Hubbyfink was grateful for not taking the Prius off-roading. We drove around the Currituck Lighthouse which isn't on the rocky outcropping as I'd assumed most lighthouses would dwell upon. It's in the middle of a small pine forest. Huh. We then drove back down to Duck and took a look at SoundFeet where Hubbyfink tried to buy another pair of Frog Feet Five Fingers. Unfortunatley, his size in the style he wants is back-ordered until November.

We broke out carthew's "Wii Resort" and had an absolute blast virtually pummelling the stuffing out of one another with the Swordfight game. I schooled Sir Tash who then schooled me in return. MissyAnne also schooled me pretty soundly. Hubbyfink was delighted that HMA trounced rapier when he repeated beat ballistabob. I stomped Hubbyfink seven times and let him win the last two times. Gentle egos and all that. :)

pirategirleee made Chicken-n-Dumplins and Banana Pudding for dinner. It was DELICIOUS and the perfect antidote to yesterday's dreary weather. After dinner, a small group headed down to the theatre room for "Doctor Horrible" while another small group of us set up "Star Wars Trivial Pursuit" in the dining room. We chose poorly. After four rounds of questions, the girls revolted and said we wanted to play "Cranium" instead. The guys wisely acquiesed and then beat us despite duchesssimone's creative and sometimes embarrassing puppetteering.

We capped off the evening with the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in the theatre room. There were bubbles, glow sticks, feather boas, and a lot of alcohol. A grand time was had by all.

Oh hey, there's some bright orb in the sky which is causing objects on the ground to cast shadows. I must investigate.

The Ravenstreet Beach Vacation v2009 began when Hubbyfink, pirategirleee, and I arrived at the house in Pine Island, Corolla, NC around 6pm. We've already shared a lot of laughter, alcohol, and pool and hot tub time. This is going to be a grand week.