Bald Head Island, North Carolina

In July, Dan had a family reunion out in North Carolina...or rather, off the coast of North Carolina. We were on Bald Head Island, a small and beautiful island where you don't wear a watch, and the pace of life is as slow as you want to make it. The only "traffic" allowed on the island, other than a few service vehicles, is golf carts--which our kids thought was great. Our week there was heavenly!

Many, many thanks to Dan's aunt and uncle for planning the reunion and making the trip possible for everyone--such generosity! I had only met this side of my husband's family one time before, when Dan's grandmother passed away several years ago. This is such a neat family, and it was fun to see everybody under much happier circumstances this time...and to also meet Dan's cousins' spouses and/or children. In preparing Toby for the trip, I was telling him about the cousins he would meet. A few days later I mentioned them again, and his response was, "Yeah, I know. I know those cousins already!" They really played well together (for the most part, at least!), and became fast friends.

The boys' favorite part of the vacation was playing at the beach. They had a lot of fun splashing in the water, making sand castles, being buried in the sand, and just running around. We were even able to see jellyfish and tiny sharks up close! Thankfully, we spotted the jellyfish before the waves swept him into us...after evacuating the water, Dan found a shovel and scooped him out so we could get a closer look. It was really neat to watch, and as we were gathered around him, a crab crawled out! As for the shark, he was just a little guy--thank our Lord about that! Dan's cousin was fishing, and caught him--Toby can now say he's pet a shark!

Zach did have a bit of a rough time out on the island. After all the traveling we did in June and over the Fourth of July, his world was turned upside down and he lost his sense of security. When he wasn't splashing in the ocean (and even that was too intimidating at times), he was usually found hanging out in Mommy's arms, with his head resting on my shoulder. I did enjoy the snuggles, although I felt bad that Dan's family really didn't get to see much of Zach's spunky personality.

Airplane ride!!! Another highlight of the trip for the boys.

 We had a 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland. We literally played trains, planes, and automobiles (and boats!) that day!

 Our beach house--beautiful home, with a breathtaking view of the ocean!

 View from the balcony in our second-story bedroom.

Toby fishing with Uncle Phil.

Riding in the golf cart with Grandma.

 Playing "Ants in the Pants" with Aunt Carol.

 An unwelcome guest--I found her in the trash shed outside the beach house. Thankfully, I saw her before reaching my hand in to get the trash bin! The picture is fuzzy, but if you can't tell, that IS an hour glass on her belly...yikes!

 After having a fudge bar, Zach was a mess! I wanted to get a picture, but he kept getting mad at me for walking away from him--thus, the crying.

 "Old Baldy", the lighthouse. It was closed when we got there, so we couldn't go in. And Toby also decided he did NOT want his picture taken...so he hid his face in our family picture. ;)

 Zach hanging out, playing airplanes with Uncle Dave.

 Little guy was worn out after a day of playing on the beach!

 Ferry ride back to the mainland.

 Enjoying a snack before takeoff on the return trip.

To pass the time during our layover, I logged onto Netflix so the kids could watch Diego...passed the time more quickly for them!

What a fun week! Can't wait to see the gang again next year!

Fourth of July Weekend

The boys and I weren't home even 24 hours before we hit the road again...we had just enough time to do some laundry and make a mess of the house before leaving! Dan had a four-day weekend, and we decided to spend part of that time in Dallas/Ft. Worth. We are so blessed to have kids who travel so very well!

It was great to just hang out as a complete family again, after the kids and I not seeing Dan for a couple of weeks. We had a fun weekend...did some shopping, ate at restaurants we've been missing, visited an aquarium, swam in the hotel pool, and took the kids to their first theater experience to see Cars 2! The theater we went to was in a mall, which had an ice skating rink--kind of strange, when the temps outside were well over 100 degrees! The boys even got to watch a hockey practice for a bit, which really made their day.

Dan and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take the boys to an aquarium. After looking at the options online, we chose the Dallas World Aquarium and Zoological Center. It was quite a drive from our hotel, followed by nearly an hour of waiting in line in the heat to get in...and I have to say, we were rather disappointed. It was not the wall-to-wall sea creature exhibit we were expecting, and it was oh, so crowded...we felt like cattle being prodded along on the journey! With so many people in there and being packed like sardines, it was hard to relax and enjoy the experience. The boys enjoyed it though, and we did get to see some neat creatures. Here's what we captured:

Sloth. He was fun to watch--I just wish the picture hadn't turned out so blurry!

Sharks!!!

We couldn't quite figure out what this guy was doing at an aquarium, but he was a pretty cool cat.



As we were driving into the city and found our hotel (which we booked online), we realized it wasn't in such a great area of Fort Worth. The hotel was okay, but kind of in a rundown part of town and not very close to any main attractions or shopping centers. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though, because the hotel was quiet, even on a holiday weekend. We went swimming, and had the pool to ourselves. I played around in the water with everyone for awhile, then decided to be paparazzi once again. ;)



As fun as vacations are, it sure was nice to get back home and sleep in our own beds again...at least for a couple of weeks. Dan's family had a reunion in the middle of July, on a remote island off the coast of North Carolina. Check back soon to read and see pictures of our time on the beach!