Kure Beach is only about 20 miles from our house. It did not occur to us until we were driving, but that means it is about a 40 minute ride. With the Master Complainer.
If it wasn't so annoying, I would give Natalia credit for truly taking complaining to a new level. Aside from running errands, that child will start complaining the minute she gets in the car, and she won't stop until we reach our destination. She has actually complained all the way from our house to Ohio. Continuously. My throat gets a little achy just thinking about it.
Impressively, after complaining the whole way there, she managed to still complain while we were in Kure Beach. Thankfully, despite Natalia's best efforts at being miserable, everyone else had fun. They made crafts, got fake tattoos, got crazy color hair, played on a new-to-them playground, danced with bubble machines, and even listened to some of the music from the festival.
We stuck around the festival for awhile, but then decided to explore since aside to going to one beach access area in Kure Beach for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding, we've never been there. And parking was free (yippee!) so we were in no rush. (Aside from Natalia being STARVING, of course, despite breakfast before we went and snacks while we were there.)
Everyone liked the fish markers on the ground and on the benches.
We took a quick walk on the beach just so everyone could say they did it.
Then we checked out the bait shop and walked out on the pier. I liked this sign at the entrance.
It was the first time we've ever taken the kids on a pier, and I was nervous. Thankfully, they were even more nervous than me, and then insisted on walking EXACTLY in the middle of the pier where they were as far from the edges as possible. They enjoyed meeting this very friendly pelican.
Everyone enjoyed seeing the shore from the other side, too.
We then headed back inside where they "played" video games and foosball.
After leaving the bait shop, we checked out the little boardwalk, and the kids swooned over the super-fancy Hi-Tech Arcade. (It doesn't take much.)
We stopped for lunch at a favorite restaurant in Carolina Beach on the way back. And although she may claim otherwise, I think even Natalia actually enjoyed the day.
