Towards the end of October, Nick had a conference on Ocracoke Island. I decided to tag along and we planned on staying a few extra days after the conference. Our inn was simple and quaint, perfect for what we needed with a beautiful view of the marina. Everything in the village was within walking distance.
Every morning we would ride our bikes to the cutest little coffee shop. It was a house with a huge yard full of adirondack chairs and all the locals standing on the front porch talking. Each day we would get our coffee and a delicious muffin and relax in the chairs. Then we would head to the beach for a walk all before Nick had to be at his conference.
sunrise over the marina
walkway to the beach- from this point on the island you could see both the ocean and the sound
The beach was endless! There are not any houses right on the beach on Ocracoke and it's beautiful. The weather was unseasonably warm and so while Nick was in his conference, I spent the day on the beach! When he was finished we would head back to the beach for a bit and then to dinner.
Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip short. Hurricane Sandy was coming through and they were stopping all ferry service to and from the island. We caught the last ferry out Saturday morning. Even though it was shorter than planned we had such a great time and can't wait to go back.
Back in September Nick and I decided go camping on the Albemarle Sound. Nick found a nature conservancy that had camping spots on the water and wanted to check it out. We spent the day on a little beach by the sound reading, fishing, and napping.
Someone recommended canoeing to us, so we decided to give it a try. Let's just say a canoe was the wrong vessel to explore the sound in. I think we paid for a half day rental but didn't even make it an hour. The nice lady refunded our money and we went back to relaxing on the beach.
Don't be fooled by the calm looking picture...
The next day we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the sound. Nick squeezed in more fishing before we headed back home.
2012 turned out to be a big year for us. In addition to finding out we were going to be parents, we also bought our first house! With the lease on our apartment ending soon, we started looking for places to rent and/ or buy. We found out about the baby on a Friday, Nick got promoted on Monday, saw a listing for our house on Monday night, took a tour on Tuesday and made an offer on Thursday night. It was a crazy week to say the least! We kept joking we became "real" adults all in a weeks time. God is good!
After they accepted our offer we still had a couple months before our closing. When the day finally came (September 7) we were so excited! Once we signed all the papers and the house was officially ours we celebrated with lunch at Gravy and cupcakes from The Cupcake Shop. Such a fun day!
So, these last few months have been keeping us very busy. We have been working hard to make our house into a home. More to come on that soon!
We went for the ultrasound on Thursday morning. By that point I was pretty sure the baby was a boy. I'm not sure why I felt that way, but I did. When the ultrasound tech said "girl!" we were both shocked! We are thrilled and so thankful for a healthy baby girl! As my dad said when I called to tell him "we know what to do with girls around here." I am amazed by how well you can see her sweet face.
I pretty much cried all day on Thursday- happy tears of course! I cried throughout the whole ultrasound, I cried with a lady in the waiting room who asked to see the pictures of the baby, and I cried when I went to school and told everyone what we are having.
Nick and I celebrated that night with dinner at a new restaurant in Wake Forest that we love. We had the best time together, talking about names and how we can't wait to meet her. It was such a fun day!
Yes, its true, we are having a baby in MARCH and we are thrilled! Yes, it is also true that I am WAY behind on this blog. I am actually 20 weeks along- halfway there!
We are so thankful for this amazing blessing in our lives.
The first time we got to see the baby- around 8 weeks.
So, tomorrow is the big day- BOY or GIRL? Let me know your guess in the comments! More details to come soon :)
This post is WAY overdue, seeing as we went to the beach at the end of July! We have had a lot going on, to say the least (more on that later!) but I have not completely given up on the blog.
We spent a glorious week of vacation on the South Carolina coast with Nick's side of the family. It has become an annual tradition that we look forward to every year. We didn't have much of an agenda which I loved. Most days were spent on the beach reading and swimming with an afternoon nap. Our nights consisted of a delicious dinner and an evening spent watching the Olympics.
The forecast one day was for lots of rain so Nick and I decided to join his parents on a day trip to Charleston. It is such a beautiful city and we had the best time exploring. Wouldn't you love to live here?
We had a wonderful lunch at Husk- highly recommend it!
Let me explain that title- DD2tB. It stands for Double Down to the Beach and it's the name of a LONG bike ride that Nick participated in a few weeks ago. When I say long, I mean a 218 mile bike ride all in one day! They rode from Greensboro to Myrtle Beach. Crazy! He decided to sign up with our brother-in-law, Patrick, Pat's brother Ben and dad Steve. After a couple months worth of training the day arrived.
They woke up around 4 am for breakfast and to gather their gear and then met at a local bike shop in Greensboro. There were about 65 riders and they all departed around 5:30 am.
Here they are before leaving. You might be wondering about the Ireland jerseys. The guys thought it would be cool to match and Tracy (Pat's mom) picked these up on clearance- ha! Go Ireland!
So while guys rode to the beach the girls (Laurie, Tracey, Mari- Pat's sis and I) followed them along the way. We would stop and wait for them to pass and cheer them on.
Feeling great around 50 miles
We stopped in a tiny town for lunch and were able to see them around the 100 mile mark. They were still going strong!
We had plenty of time on our hands as cars are much much faster than bikes, so we decided to stop and make some signs to encourage the guys a little bit. I'm not sure why we decided the CVS parking lot was the best place to make them, but we spent a good amount of time there getting them just right.
Mari and Laurie
Laurie and I
Finally they made it to the state line, so we all stopped for pictures.
It was a long, long day but the guys did an amazing job and were so relived to finally finish!
I didn't get any pictures, but we spent the next day recovering on the beach and by the pool. It was such a great weekend!
A few weeks ago Nick and I were able to escape to the New River to camp with our friends. Luke sent out an email asking if anyone was interested and it just so happened that most of us could make it just a couple weeks later. We were so excited to spend time with friends we don't get to see very often. The weather was beautiful, but a bit chilly for tubing which was our original plan. So we decided to rent canoes and paddle down the river instead.
We packed a lunch and headed out. The river was fast moving thanks to all the rain we had recently. Our picnic spot was right in the middle of the river- we tied up the canoes and climbed on some downed trees.
We went with Luke and Taylor and Houston and Sara- such a fun group!
We split up the meals and had great food the whole weekend. Here is Nick and I cooking breakfast-
Such a nice way to spend the afternoon!
Building a fire- Charles joined us on Saturday night!
It was the ideal way to spend a Saturday in my opinion- canoeing on a beautiful river with great company! Let's do it again soon!
On May 26th, Nick and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! In some ways it seems like these five years have flown by and yet it seems like much longer. It is hard to remember what life was like before! While our big five year anniversary trip was to Keswick, UK, we couldn't let the day pass with out a little celebrating. We decided to head up to the High Country- Boone, NC. That is where we met/ fell in love/ got engaged/ got married after all! It was so special to be back there and we had the best time hitting up all our favorite spots. I was so sad when I pulled out the camera and realized that I forgot the memory card. Oh well, iphone pics will have to do.
We enjoyed a lunch date at Storie Street Grill in Blowing Rock which is where Nick took me on our first date. We even sat at the same table where we had our first date!
Next we drove into Boone and hung out on King Street. We grabbed dessert at Our Daily Bread and hit up Mast. We even drove by the stone house where Nick lived and the yellow house where I lived. Such fun memories!
We decided to camp along Wilson's Creek in Linville. Since it is National Forest you can camp anywhere and we found the perfect drive up spot along the river. We enjoyed the classiest camping meal I have ever had- steak, potatoes, veggies and wine!
We woke up early on Sunday and Nick got in some fly fishing before we packed up camp. After a quick stop for breakfast we headed to Banner Elk to try and see the place we got married. Unfortunately its a gated community and no one was there to let us in on a Sunday morning.
From there we headed to a new state park- Elk Knob. It just opened a few months ago and it was really well done. The trail was so nice and it was a great hike with incredible views.
From there we grabbed lunch at one of our favorite places in Boone- Black Cat and had a picnic on campus at Jimmy Smith Park (lol Pat :).
On our way home we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at our favorite overlook and took a little nap. It doesn't get much better than this...
