Vacation within a vacation

Before we even left Texas, Weston put in a request that we see a show featuring the Magic Tree House characters for his half-birthday. Miraculously, I managed to find a planetarium show at UNC Chapel Hill which met the criteria, so we made a plan to spend some time in the Chapel Hill/Durham area, since the kids also wanted to see Duke. Originally, it was just going to be one night, but then we heard of some fun museums in Raleigh we wanted to visit. And, then we heard about the herds of wild horses and awesome shelling on the Outer Banks islands, so we decided to leave early this morning and make a weekend out of it. It's a vacation within a vacation!

We saw a beautiful field of wildflowers on our way to Shackleford Banks

The newest member of the herd and his (her?) mom 

Wild horses. Beach. What more could any kid want?!

A horse lover's heaven

More fun at Shackleford Banks

The only one brave enough to pick up the crab
(who promptly hid himself when removed from the water)

The whole herd down on the beach

Shell negotiations

Lunch in Beaufort at Finz Grill

A half-birthday dinner fit for a king at K&W Cafeteria in Chapel Hill