Emerald Isle, North Carolina

Ever since I was young my family has gone to Emerald Isle for a week to spend time with each other.  This is largely because of my grandmother, she had 6 children (my aunts and uncles) spread out all over the country and as a way to bring them all together once a year she bought every family a condo for a week at the beach.  This was truly a great experience and truly brought my extended family together.  My family is so large that my aunt has a son that is only 2 years younger than her brother (aka my uncle was an uncle at the age of 2).  This creates a rather seamless transition of ages between my aunts and uncles to my cousins and now my cousins kids.  As a kid this provided me with an opportunity to play cards with the adults, body surf and rough house with my brother and cousins my age, and then teach my younger cousins how to build sand castles.  With over 30 family members at the beach every year there was ALWAYS something fun to do.  I will truly never forget these times, or my grandmother who passed away March 9th, 2009.  The family continues to do family vacations in her honor.

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