Beach Vacation 2012

Our annual beach vacation started on a slightly sour note this year.  The week before, Noah had a high fever for five days.  Monday night before we left, Karis started running fever.  After giving her Tylenol every four hours, when we left Tuesday, she still had a fever.  She was a trooper; took her medicine, helped pack, and didn't get frazzled when she wasn't feeling well.  Her fever did hinder our beach time some, but we still had a fantastic time.  

We decided to to "unplugged" for this vacation, no tv, movies, internet, etc.  We did bring Justin's ipod for music in the car, since the cd player is broken and for me to have something to listen to while I ran.  We got to the beach late Tuesday night and all went to bed.  Justin graciously took the kids to the store on Wednesday morning so I could run.  After breakfast, we loaded up all our stuff and went to the beach.

We spent lots of time playing in the waves, sand, and walking along the beach.  I think Noah enjoyed the waves more than anyone else this year.  He couldn't get enough!

The kids always love having Daddy's undivided attention!  My two boys! 

After a few hours, Karis started feeling bad again, so we went in for the day.  While she napped, Noah and I went to the local book/toy store.  Of course we came home with a new book for him and Karis.  We played lots of games, especially enjoying our two new games: Trouble and Wits and Wagers.  For the first time, we went to the pier to look out on the beach.  We saw lots of fisherman but missed seeing anyone catch a fish.

Thursday morning after running and breakfast, we went on an adventure to another town about 30 minutes away, Morehead City.  I wanted to eat at this restaurant there called The Sanitary Restaurant and Fish Market.      The food and atmosphere were good and fun!  We then strolled into a few shops and headed back to venture out on the beach again.  

Karis didn't make it quite as long this time and Justin started not feeling well.  I had to go get some medicine for him, so I got a movie for us to watch as we ate our pizza for dinner.  After the movie and some more game fun, we sent the kids to bed.  This is how we found them about a half hour later....

Karis read Noah all the books he brought!  

Friday Justin took the kids to the beach while I cleaned up.  Noah finally jumped into the deep end and went under in the pool!  A big milestone for him.  

On a side note: thanks to Bill and Anne Highsmith for letting us use your beach house.  We enjoyed every minute of it, and I hope I cleaned all the germs out!  

Every year that we have gone to the beach, I am reminded of how BIG and POWERFUL our God is.  He knows the number of grains of sand, He tells the waves where to stop, He commands all nature, and He holds me in the palm of His hand.  There is no other place I would rather be!

A dream come true.... almost!

Since early February of this year, I have anxiously been awaiting our birthday/anniversary trip to Boston. Justin and I went to Boston in the summer of 2000 for a late honeymoon. Ten years later, we were excited about going back for two reasons:
1. Justin was going to get to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway Park,
2. We were going to revisit historical Boston and have some time alone.
My wonderful parents came from Texas for a visit and to take care of the kids for us. On Thursday morning we boarded a plane to Boston.

After an hour delay, our flight went off without a hitch, maybe we should have seen the inevitable coming with the start of the trip! By the way, rain was forecasted for the whole weekend in Boston. We arrived in Boston and went to our hotel room for our first night.

We celebrated our 11th anniversary dinner early since we would be spending our actual anniversary on a plane back to North Carolina. After searching for a place to eat, we went The Cheesecake Factory. The meal was delicious and the time spent together was wonderful.

I was too full to eat my cheesecake after dinner, so we brought one back to the room. Cheesecake is my ultimate favorite dessert. It was delicious and I enjoyed every bite, I think I might have given Justin a taste or two!

We woke up pretty early on Friday in hopes of a full day of seeing Boston and then going to the game. After taking our luggage to a friend's house that we were going to stay at that night, Justin and I embarked upon our journey of walking the "Freedom Trail" and sightseeing. The weather was great, slightly hotter than in the forecast, but there were only a few clouds in the sky. The forecast called for light showers after lunch until around 8:00pm. We started our journey at the Holocaust Monument.

Ten years ago, this monument had such an impact on me that I no trouble remembering where it was. To walk through the six glass towers seeing row upon row of numbers nearly brought me to tears again. I was reminded of God's sovereignty even over death.

We then found the famous "red line" that marks the Freedom Trail, a trail that leads you by all the historical sights. We walked by Revere's house, saw some old churches, a few grave yards, and some interesting statues of Benjamin Franklin. Reading the inscriptions on the headstones in the cemetery was very interesting, almost all of them started with "Here lies the body of," reminding the onlookers and grievers that these people's souls were not there, just their bodies.

On our first trip, Justin took a picture just like this with the same statue.

One of the most popular places to visit is Quincy Market, named after Mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt. It used to be the place that people bought and sold food to each other, but now it is just a great place to each lunch with everything you can imagine.

Almost like a "where's Jeanna" photo!

We came upon a random statue of a donkey, and Justin and I happened to have just bought an apple at the local outside market.

We took the T (subway) to Fenway with great expectations and high hopes of seeing the Red Sox beat the Yankees. (Justin and I have been married for 11 years, and never had I been more excited about giving him something, the tickets to the game for his birthday. I saved for almost a year for these tickets, so I couldn't wait to experience this dream of his to see Fenway). After eating an early dinner, we strolled to the park about 5:15, with the game time being 7:10. We were in hopes of seeing some batting practice. A few minutes after we arrived, it started to drizzle, which it had been raining on and off all day. The tarp was on the field, but we were high hopes that the forecast would ring true and we would see a baseball game, even if it started late.

The drizzle continued and when game time came, the announcer said, "due to inclement weather the game is delayed."

We walked up and down under the park sat for awhile and waited. Finally, around 9:10, the rain stopped and the announcer said the new game time would be 10:00pm. We went to our seats, wiped them off, and sat down, anticipating this dream coming true. About 20 minutes later, it stared to rain again, we put our ponchos on and opened the umbrella and listened as the announcer went on with the pregame show.

Before it rained, we took some pictures.

Justin in front of the "green monster."

While it was raining slightly, the Red Sox pitcher came out and was warming up. My favorite player, Jason Varitek (I spelled his name wrong on the picture below!), came out to warm him up. I was thrilled to see him and Big Papi in the starting line up.



Another 10 minutes went by and then we saw the yellow coats come back out and start spreading the tarp back over the field. Disappointment rose up inside me for Justin mostly. I patiently waited for him to say let's go, but kept praying and hoping that the game would be played. We waited, sitting in the pouring rain until 10:45. (By the way, those $1 ponchos kept us pretty dry). Wet, disappointed, and tired, we took the T back to our friends house. We knew that the game would be rescheduled but that we would already be back in North Carolina. There are no refunds.
As we rode the T that night, I was so thankful for husband who handles disappointed with grace and humility, one who trusts in the One who is sovereign over the rain.
I learned a lot about myself and realized more than anything that I love my husband more than any other thing or person in this world. I was reminded that "the heart of man plans his way, but he Lord establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

Thanks Justin for a wonderful time, here's to 11 more years growing together in the Lord. I love you!

Hanging Around at the Beach

To wrap up our beach vacation posts, I wanted to share what we did other than going to the beach. We played putt-putt for the first time, played Hulabaloo, watched some movies, and put together 150 & 300 piece puzzles. The most exciting thing for me was seeing the BLUEBELL sign in an ice cream shop window. Justin didn't believe me at first, but after we passed it again, he did. We all enjoyed our scoops of BLUEBELL (I had two scoops, mint chocolate chip and coffee).

Everytime I see the picture of Noah and Justin on the couch, I can't help cracking up laughing. While we were watching a movie, Noah sat on the couch crossing his legs like that and it tickled me so I couldn't stop laughing. Noah looked at me and said, "Is this funny Mommy?" I laughed until I cried after he kept asking me if it was funny as he would cross and uncross his legs.

The last morning at the beach we took a few early morning pictures.

My favorite little munchins!

Sweet siblings

My three favorite people!

See you next time

Beach FUN!

We woke up earlier than usual on Monday morning since the kids were sleeping in the same room, (we changed the sleeping arrangements the next night), and decided to head to the beach. We packed all the necessary things: lunch, snacks, drinks, snacks, sunscreen, snacks, towels, snacks, etc. Before we headed out, we took a family photo courtesy of our camera's delay start.

Beach fun here we come!

The wagon's all packed,

here we go!


We spent about four hours out in the sand and waves before we headed back to take a much anticipated nap! We went for walks, built sandcastles, jumped in the waves, and enjoyed God's beautiful creation.

My kids favorite books at the library are called, "Whose skin is this?," or "Whose nose is this?," etc. So to keep to their titles,

"WHOSE FEET ARE THESE?"

Off to the Beach We Go

A few weeks ago, our family went on our summer beach vacation. We went to a new beach this year, called Holden Beach courtesy of some church members. As usual, the kids had a wonderful time. We went unplugged for three days and it was fantastic. The house we stayed in didn't have a clock anywhere in sight, so we didn't even know what time it was, no time table was so relaxing. Here are some pictures from our first night:

We got to bring Calvin with us, he loved being with the family!

My big girl!

More to come.....

Beach Vacation 2009

We went on our family vacation to the beach on Sunday after church. Our time together was wonderful and we spent a lot of time just enjoying each other's company and having Justin with us for three full days, uninterrputed.

Sunday after we arrived, we walked on the beach after dinner. The kids couldn't resist getting wet! Monday, after sleeping in and eating breakfast, we headed out to the beach, loaded with all our beach gear, only to enjoy the cloudy sky and cold water for about 3o minutes until the rain came. We decided to sit on the covered porch, watching the rain, while the kids had a snack of fruit snacks and a capri sun. After playing, lunch, and a nap (which only Noah and I took), we took our chance again and headed out to the cloudy beach, again only for about half an hour.

Tuesday it was for casted to rain all day, but we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. The high was only 85 degrees. Again, we headed out to the beach with all our gear ready to spend the whole day there, which we did except for a brief lunch back at the house, a good five hours enjoying God's creation, building sand castles, playing in the waves, reading (me mostly), and just being together. After a good nap and dinner, we went to feed the ducks. Noah has his first encounter with a very hungry goose, and he got bit on the finger. Poor thing, he wouldn't let me put him down after that. We saw a lot of deer on our golf cart ride that evening, and then we were off to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream!

Wednesday I spent cleaning up while Justin took the kids riding on the golf cart. Justin said Noah was silent the whole ride until he saw the geese and he said, "bite." Children have such good memories.

Here are some pictures of our trip, along with some music, hope you all enjoy!