A fun-filled week at the beach

We are currently visiting my family in Virginia, and we just returned from a week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I know a lot of my Utah friends are unfamiliar with how glorious the Outer Banks are, and there's frankly no describing it. The entire visit we were on an island, with no where special to be and no one in particular to see. We were on our own time, and it was amazing.
Although I've been a few times with my family before, we've never been without our Cowdery cousins, so this was a little different. It was just us Meppens--with our spouses and children, of course. My Grandma Lee also flew out from Boise to join us for the week. My parents got a beach house for the entire week and it was just a matter of walking 100 yards to get to the gorgeous, clear water and rolling waves. We stayed in an area called Corolla (pronounced by locals--all 500 of them--as "Crilla") where we've never stayed before. It wasn't crowded at all, and there are stretches of beach there are only accessible by 4x4 driving. It's also known for it's wild horses, who are supposedly descendants from the horses who swam ashore from several Spanish shipwrecks. Daniel and I went out into the uninhabited areas and actually found a small group of them! It was amazing!
One other great thing from the week was when my Dad took my Daniel, my brother, and one of my sisters to go crabbing. They caught a ton with just some string, a net, and chicken pieces! We bought some fresh shrimp, fingerling potatoes, and corn on the cob to go with them and made our own low-country boil for lunch! It was delicious, and so fun to sit around and shell our own crabs that were caught that same morning!
Of course we got TONS of pictures from the trip, which I've included below. I hope you enjoy them! (Warning, there will be the occasional unflattering shot of a very un-tanned, pregnant woman. Just ignore her and admire the adorable little girl with her!)

Me and my Grandma

Lynny loved playing in the sand with her cousin.

Our little family, on the steps of our house for the week.

Lynny and Cousin Olivia again, in matching swimming suit covers.

Lynny adores her aunt Maggie. She played with her the whole week long.

My sister, Maggie, and my brother, Doodie, pulling in some crab. There's a 50 crab limit (per person, per day) so there was no stopping them from going all-out.

The classic Meppen kids step shot. It's getting harder as we all get older...and in Doodie's case, taller.

The whole family. When did we get so big?

The wild horses we found on the island. How cool is that?!

An impromptu shot on the beach. I had completely burned myself at this point, and it's obvious.

Hanging out in the beach house, eating her favorite snack: goldfish crackers.

Playing in the water, right as the surf was coming in. Lynny loved it, and I had to hold tight or she would have just walked away from me.

Daniel, Lizzy, and Doodie building a sand castle...with a little help from Lynny.

We found a bright green tree frog one night, under the house. It was so cool.

This is on that stretch of beach that's only accessible with 4x4 drive. There was virtually no one around.

Lynny helping her aunt Maggie shuck corn for the low-country boil. She LOVES Maggie.

Here's just a few of us, post-boil. It was so good.