Gone to Carolina in my ... Matrix

So, a week in Cape Hatteras and Wilmington with family and friends ... THAT'S a vacation! Here's the requisite documentation of our week ...

Ashlyn, Beth, Christie, Kyla, Matt, Missy, David, and Lauren

Ashlyn and Beth

Lauren and the Mouse family

Kyla and Lauren playing in our room

Squirt and Pipsqueak

Seth, Dickie and Susie

Lauren in pigtails and her adorable bikini

Kyla was the ULTIMATE beach baby this week ... sand everywhere and NO complaints! She would beeline for the ocean without any warning and TOTALLY without fear. She even wanted to play frisbee with the boys!

Lauren in her Little Mermaid suit with her sandcastle bucket

Mommy and Kyla at lunch

Daddy and Lauren in the ocean

Lauren, Matt, Christie, Kyla Nancy and Rich

I'd like to say most of our moments with Kyla are like this sweet one with Christie ... waves lapping at their toes ... birds hurrying by ... but...

Actually, most of them were more like this. Hee hee!

The Sea... Hurricanes, Schmurricanes.

Cute picture of Lauren

The Rodanthe Pier - Watch for the release of Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere and Diane Lane. It was filmed on location here in Rodanthe and will be released September 29th.

Quick ... match the sisters! I thought this was a funny shot of Aunt Crazy and Christie, Lauren and Kyla.

Aunt Crazy and Lauren with sand in her eyes ... Poor Pipsqueak.

The gang on the beach.

Hanging in the house ... playing pool with the munchkins. I swear I didn't make her put the diamond on her head!

Kyla and Lauren

Matt just plays around them. He shot the red ball into the corner pocket by Kyla ...

Kyla examines the sink ...

Matt pops the ball out for her. It was kind of funny. They were perfectly content to play like this for an hour, just squatting on the table!

Mission Impossible: The Perfect Family Beach Picture! We had all the ingredients ... clean kids, clean parents, perfect sunset, moon on the horizon above the dunes... I just forgot one thing. Kids like to play in the sand. They don't want to smile at Aunt Crazy!

So, I'll save you some time ... there is no perfect family picture in this blog. But enjoy a few of these attempts, anyway! They're still quite cute.



Now, the Perfect Aunt Picture! Uh huh. I swear! They REALLY do like me most of the time! (Just not in these shots.)

Still, you gotta love these pictures. They crack me up. Oh well!

Kyla, Matt, and the Rodanthe Pier

Yep, more tries ... if Kyla could talk, she would be saying "Why can't you just leave me alone??" Christie and Lauren look great, though, don't you think?

Christie and Lauren

Kyla, after The Great Escape

I love this sequence. It starts as the sweet sibling picture. I read Jenni's blog the other day regarding the rarity of these moments, and thought of this sequence.

Just watch the popcorn and Lauren's face.

On Saturday morning I said goodbye to the Outer Banks and headed to Wilmington, NC for the weekend with my Mom, of whom I took NO PICTURES. What kind of a daughter am I??

Horse drawn carriage. This is Bob (the horse, not the man.)

View up Market Street from the Cape Fear river.

View down Front Street. Below are more pictures from our tour of the Historic District.



Fort Fisher State Park is at the southernmost end of the barrier islands that include Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach.

EUE movie studios, where Domestic Disturbance, Weekend at Bernie's, Sleeping with the Enemy, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, To Gillian on her 37th Birthday, 28 Days, Betsy's Wedding, Empire Records, Firestarter, Message in a Bottle, and - of course - Dawson's Creek.

Currently they are filming The Secret Life of Bees. Unfortunately, I wasn't an extra in that movie! I was an extra in the television series, One Tree Hill. Still, it was a lot of fun.

Look for Aunt Crazy in episode 608 - the Slamball game! Bouncers versus Slashers ... the real players were all there! Anyway, I am in a bright blue tank top in the front row, right behind the plexi glass where someone gets slammed against the wall.

Yes, Erin, I saw ALL of the stars! I wish I'd known then that Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush used to be married! I'd have paid much more attention to how they interacted rather than reading my book between takes.