Figure 8 Island Trip

Figure 8 Island is in Wilmington, NC. As long as I have lived here and gone to Wilmington (mostly in college to see friends), I had never heard of Figure 8 until we were planning the Eich family trip. It was private and absolutely gorgeous plus we were just minutes from the town of Wilmington. Apparently it is the place the stars rent. We were told Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey Jr. were staying there while filming Ironman III. We got to peak at the set while were there. We also heard that Jennifer Aniston was filming in Wilmington and the new Nicholas Sparks movie was being filmed in Southport.

As soon as we got there, we headed to the beach!
Ava put her toes in the sand for the first time.

And then in the ocean...

The first full day we were there was Randy and I's five year anniversary so we celebrated on a sunset cruise and had dessert at Riverboat Landing- both in beautiful downtown Wilmington. (We like to say it is a mini Charleston.)

We spent the days playing on the beach, catching craps & starfish, making sand castles, flying kites and swimming in the tide pools. The kids had an absolute blast. Bella adores her cousins and Ava was a peach- taking her morning nap on the beach and then joining in the fun after that.

One day we went to the aquarium in Fort Fisher (Randy, Bella, Ava, Pop Pop and I) and the others (Jay, Lindsey, Sophie, Stone and GaYa) went to Battleship NC. (We didn't think climbing the ladders with Ava would work and Bella was not quite ready for that kind of thing.) Highlights of our visit to the aquarium: Watching the alligators, Bella touching a Bamboo shark & seeing a fish/turtle feeding.

We spent nights eating dinner together at the house and taking walks on the beach. One night we went to Bluewater for dinner- beautiful place- and another night I managed to get out to see my bestie, Lauren! Everyone else had fun playing Putt Putt that night.
Before we left the house on the island we tried to get a family shot of the four of us:

And last but not least we spent the last day there in downtown Wilmington doing some sight-seeing with Lauren. She and her husband, Kyle, live there. She showed us around a bit and we grabbed lunch and ice cream too. It was the perfect ending to a week long vacation.

And we managed to take a peak at the Battleship after all.