NC Fun

Well, in the end, my dad decided to drive up to Charlotte to get me. It was a faster option than waiting around for the plane 😂😂 Dad is a serious trooper and I am so grateful for him coming to get me, along with all the other amazing things he does for our family! I missed 6 hours I was supposed to spend with everyone on Wednesday but at least I made it there!

Thursday morning, I got up and headed out around 5:30 am for a run. It was insanely humid and fairly warm, but there was a little bit of a breeze and at least the sun wasn't bearing down too intensely so early in the morning. I got in a nice 8 miles through the neighborhood, heading out to the River Lodge and taking the "nature trail" back to the roads for a short rail stretch, along which I saw a big beautiful Barred Owl. He flew right over me and then stopped several times along the path to look at me intently before continuing on his way. Very cool! The final few miles of the "loop" include a run along the Berm. I looked for the alligator, but to no avail, although I did see several Great Blue Herons and one Egret.

Who cooks for you?

Such a fun sighting!

Early morning along the berm

After everyone got up for the day and ate some breakfast, we packed up and headed down to Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach, the perfect place to spend a warm July NC day! My cousin Sue met us there, which was really great, and we spent over 3 hours in the water. It was a lot of fun to ride the waves with the girls, but I must admit I was exhausted by the time we left! Luckily, a stop for ice cream at Boombalatti's revived us all 💕🍦

Beach selfie

The girls

The clan!

Fun in the waves (and yes, I'm wearing Dad's much too big sunblock shirt, but hey...)

Where's Morgan?

Fun in the waves

In the rollies

Water fun

Sam and I

Morgan found an amazingly large and intact sand dollar! So cool!

Sue and Kristen

Always...

Boombalatti's selfie ;)

The girls

Dad neglected to get himself in on the selfie ;)

There we go!

After getting home and showered up, we all got dressed up and headed to the club for dinner. Yum!

Sammy and I

Sam and Mom's black eyed susans!

Swallowtail loving Mom's flowers

Neenie, Pip and the girls

Lucky kids and grandparents ;)

Gotta take a selfie ;) HA!

Relaxing up at the club

Kristen and Morgan

Sam didn't sleep well on Thursday night, which meant neither did I as we were sharing a bed, so I decided to skip getting up before dawn on Friday and sleep in until she woke up after she finally fell back to sleep the last time around 4:30 am. Turns out, that was until around 8:20 so so much for an early morning run! I decided I would head out anyway, but it wasn't until around 10:00 that I finally got out the door. Oof! Maybe not such a good idea as I was practically melting in the final few miles of my 6 miles around the block and then simply couldn't stop sweating until around an hour later when we went up to the pool and I stood in the water for the rest of the morning. Gotta love the south :)

No photos from the day but it was well spent with two trips to the pool, a bit of relaxation at home and a nice dinner cooked on the grill. So much fun to spend a few days with my parents, sister and the girls! We are incredibly lucky! Thank you, Mom and Dad! We love you 💗💗