We are down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a relaxing week in a lovely house.

Our first day we slept late and eventually took Hwy 12 down the Outer Banks. By the end of the day, we'd visited three lighthouses (Bodie, Hatteras & Ocracoke) and ridden the ferry.

My daughter, bless her youthful legs, climbed ALL the way up the Cape Hatteras lighthouse - all 270 steps. Interestingly after our studying the moving of the lighthouse, she was fascinated with the old site. On the stories we read and video we watched, they talked about the quality of the granite the movers found and it is that rock that is left.

On the final ferry ride back from Ocracoke, she curled up in blankets and got up on my lap. I held her, we sang songs we made up when she was younger and acted silly. The wind blew, the ferry rocked gently and all was right with my world.