Beach Time!

So Mark took Step 2 CK in the middle of June. He spent about 4 weeks studying for it. We really wanted to get out of town and go to the beach the day before he took the test to help him clear his mind and relax before the big test.

We drove to Wilmington on Thursday afternoon and spent the evening eating Chick-fil-A on the beach and playing in the sand and the water as the sun set.

The next morning we went to the beach again. The weather was perfect. We all had a great time. Austin had an especially fun time in the sand. He love to squish his hands in it and knock down all of the towers we made for him with his new sand toys. The waves were still a little scary but he tolerated them if they were very small.

We brought a bowl of watermelon from home with us, knowing it was one of Austin's favorite fruits. He devoured it on the beach.

After our morning beach excursion we went back to the hotel for Austin to take his morning nap. Mark and I showered and washed up while he slept. Then we checked out of the hotel and went on a drive around Wilmington. We ended up at the U.S.S. North Carolina-- a giant WWII battleship that fought in the South Pacific.

We didn't intend to end up there but we are sure glad we did! We decided the entrance fee was worth it and it totally was. We had a great time exploring the ship from stern and top to bottom.

One of the coolest parts of the ship was finding the sick bay. They even had an x-ray room. Of course with our budding radiologist here we had to snap some pictures of that. Some of the stories from the sick bay were pretty funny. Also-- Mark says that the x-ray shown is actually a female rib-cage. Pretty funny considering it was definitely an all male ship.

After we were finished we started home. We stopped at Subway (for me) and Hardee's (for Mark) on the way home for lunch. Austin slept almost the whole way. He woke up to enjoy some watermelon and a sucker about the time we reached Greensboro :)

Overall it was a fantastic trip and Mark did fabulously on Step 2 the next day! And when he came home that evening after his 9 hour test we dropped Austin off at the Walton's (THANK YOU!) and spent the next 6.5 hours in the emergency department where I was treated for a kidney infection. Thankfully the infection peaked after our fabulous trip!