Lesson #2: The large tomato cages (which cost 50 cents more than the small ones) are definitely worth the extra money.
Lesson #3: Watermelon plants are not very fond of going a week with no water, even if you are on vacation. I left a message for our neighbor to water for me, I promise, but he obviously didn't get the message!
Lesson #4: Cantaloupe leaves are easy to grow......actual cantaloupes, not so easy! Why are my leaves so abundant with no fruit????
Lesson #5: Bright yellow squash are a great temptation to neighborhood critters. One squash plant does not produce enough squash to share!
Okay, so other than checking on my garden, I have been pretty busy since I got home from vacation doing this.....
It was my first ever experience solo canning! I helped my mom some when I was little and then she helped me do tomatoes once after I was married, but I have never attempted it on my own! Sad, but true! I am embarrassed to say I was raised in Utah and I am not a proficient canner! Anyway, my friend Erin talked me into it and gave me all the pointers on where to get the peaches and what to buy. I ended up getting my peaches for $6 for 60+ lbs. of "bruised or blemished peaches" from a local store. I was able to get 28 qts. of peaches and 4 pts. of freezer jam out of it. If I hadn't had to buy the canning jars, it would have been very economical! Caleb and Shelby worked with me and I think they actually enjoyed themselves. It was an all day affair and I couldn't believe what a mess it made in my kitchen, but it was worth it!
This is our second year vacationing at Topsail Island, and it felt like coming home! Now that we know our way around and all the fun things we like to do, we came a little bit better prepared! In the end, that helped me to be more relaxed and thoroughly enjoy our vacation. We let Shelby bring her friend, Tori, along this time because it is not always fun to live in a house full of boys when you are a teenage girl! They had a lot of fun hanging out together and checking out all the HOT (their word, not mine!) guys! 
The beach was perfect the first 5 days of our vacation and the kids had blast playing in the waves, building sand castles, boogie boarding and playing frisbee.
Chris was excited to spend his first relaxing vacation of the summer since the other two weeks of vacation time he spent were with the scouts and NOT very relaxing according to him.
The last two days we were getting alot of wind from Tropical Storm Fay and it wasn't so much fun to be on the beach, so we spent more time at the pool and sightseeing around the island.
Joshua and I went on a "turtle date" to the 
At night we went crab hunting. Caleb is our master crab catcher and while everyone else on the beach catches them with nets, Caleb can get them with his bare hand!
We added a new nighttime activity this year. There was a sea turtle nest near our condo that was hatching and Joshua, Caleb and I joined "sea turtle watch". For those of you who have never done this, it is an incredibly boring yet strangely addictive activity! Topsail Island is a sea turtle sanctuary and so far this year, they have 93 turtle nests on the island. The nests hatch 55-65 days after being laid. Here is Joshua with our turtle nest. 
After a few of these poses, I asked her what she was doing and she told me that this is how Miley Cyrus looks in all of her pictures! I am sure my mom and dad have plenty of pictures to add of me posing, so what else can I say.....like mother, like daughter!
\It soon became apparent that we had been at the beach way too long and we needed to get on our way before the kids changed any more!
On the way home we stopped off in Wilson, NC, where we used to live and visited with one of my friends, Judy. We met up at Sonic so we could all eat and visit without the kids running through her house! It was fun to see her again and she was shocked at how big the kids have grown!
