North Carolina -- July 9 - 15, 2026

Our family trip this summer was to visit my brother Pentti and his wife Amy in North Carolina.  They have the cutest house in Holly Ridge which is near Topsail beach and Surf City.  We visited for a week in the middle of July.  

Some of the things we did:

--We went to Topsail beach, had lunch, and shopped.

--We took a kayaking tour on the Intercoastal Waterway.   

--Amy made us her amazing "gravy"

--We played games and had "ice-cream o'clock"

--We toured the sea turtle hospital where Amy volunteers.  I learned the most amazing things about sea turtles.

We even "adopted" a turtle named Pumpkin Spice. She will be released back to the ocean after she has been reahabilitated.

--We had lunch at Bojangles "Fried Chicken" (we had never tried it), did some more shopping and got "fun drinks" at summer sips.

--We went out for a nice dinner 

 

This is how Pentti came out before we left....

--I walked the beach one morning with Amy at 5:45 am to check for turtle nests.  There was a "false crawl" in the area we walked, but no nest.  (They did find a nest the next day in the same area.)

It was a beautiful morning on the beach.

--We went back to the beach later that day

It got a little windy and even rained on us briefly...

...then it cleared up so James and I stayted a little longer...

...and Amy took the girls to the pool

--On our way back to the Wilimgton airport, we had lunch at a delicious sandwhich shop and walked around downtown Willimgton

It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed spending time with family and we always love the beach/ocean.  

Maija