R&R Carolina Style : Part 2

Well, after a week of frantic searching in my hard drive, I realized that I took a days worth of pictures on the beach with my Dad's camera when half the family showed up!! SO, there may be a Part 3 coming if I can get my hands on his memory card!

Anyway, we had a fun-filled 4 days in the Outer Banks with my family, the Wise's. We had a huge house right on the beach and our bedroom over-looked the dunes and the vast Atlantic. It's crazy to imagine where, geographically, we were because the Outer Banks are just so...out there... it's amazing that they even still exist considering they are the buffer for the mainland when the hurricanes strike.

Click HERE for a map of where we were.

Our first day down, we spent with my sister in law, Jen and my two nieces, Mary Claire and Ellie. SO much fun, we had, running around the beach, making sand mermaids, kayaking, a hot dog lunch... we even took a dip in the "heated" pool, which wasn't actually working. All of our lips were blue :)

That evening, Bobby and I took a drive down to Hatteras to get a glimpse of the famous light house. Unfortunately, we got there just as it closed, but Bobby enjoyed driving down the beach-y road with the doors off on his Jeep! We drove the Wrangler the 6 hours down for the sole purpose of driving on the beach, but we didn't have time to do that. Maybe next time! I can hear that 4-wheel drive calling your name, Honey.

Sweet Elle-Belle.

The famous Rodanthe House! Ok, so it doesn't look like much here, but have you seen the movie? Since the movie was filmed, a hurricane took out the house and the county deemed it condemned and unlivable.

This picture is taken at low tide...during high tide, I would imagine the whole bottom of the house would be under water.

I don't know why, but I love this picture. I feel like it should be a painting. Yes, I know it's a little blurry, but maybe that's why I feel like it should be a painting. This is on the trail going up to the beach.




Mary Claire and Ellie relaxing in the sand...love the over-sized sunglasses!




One evening, after everyone was there (minus Holly and the Boys), we had, what I believe was, the First Annual Wise Family Bon Fire. North Carolina allows fires on the beach (or so we think...), so Bobby and all the brothers built up a big bon fire on the beach! We had s'mores (with a hint of sand in each one) and the adults had as much fun as the kids did!







Christina and AJ



One of my older sisters, April, and her son, Neilson.



Sweet Patience.



I wanted to badly to get an updated picture of all the nieces and nephews together. Unfortunately, two of my nephews couldn't be down when everyone else was, so these are just five of them. I bought all the girls head bands from J. Crew and my sister's humored my while we took some pictures in matching outfits. The lighting was so terrible that this was one of the ONLY pictures that turned out. The rest are so blurry. Lesson Learned: bring tripod next time. Oh well, I still love this picture.



That wraps it up! We will definitely be making a trip back there sometime soon. Thanks Dad, for renting the house so we could all be together for a few days. What a blessing to have such wonderful, close family!

R&R: Carolina Style {Part One}

Oh, how I love the beach.

The salty sea breeze, the sand between your toes, the brilliant sunrises over the dunes, and the glimmer of moonlight along the water. Idyllic.

Bobby and I took a 4 day mini-vacation with my family, the Wise's, to the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina, in Rodanthe. Yes, Rodanthe like the movie... Our bedroom overlooked the famous dunes and we slept with the windows open and fell asleep to the sound of the waves.

As the youngest of my five siblings, and as the aunt of seven nieces and nephews (on the Wise side), I love observing everyone while we're together. Although we're spread apart in years (there are 18 years between the oldest and me), we all remain close and carry on very different relationships with each other and our parents. We all married very different people and each child is so unique. The cousins were in their own little wonderland - a new house to explore. As I painted my toenails on the deck outside, I could hear all of them on the deck below me... their imaginations running wild, blissfully unaware of anything else that surrounded them.

It was a great vacation, to say the least, and the location helped. But most of all, I felt blessed to have such a loving family, unique in our own way.

SO, here are just a few of the FEW HUNDRED or so pictures I took away from our long, relaxing weekend! Part 2 will be up later!

A Sand Piper

We dug for seashells of all different kinds.

This was at the top of the path to the beach at sunrise...

Oh yes, and there were Sand Fiddlers! I was too scared to hold them. Bobby called me a sissy.

My sister-in-law Jen and Ellie. This picture reminds me of something out of the 1950's!

Sweet Ellie girl showed me the way to the beach on our first morning there. It was cool in the morning, but turned out to be a warm day!

Thanks Mom and Dad Wise for such a nice, relaxing vacation. Emphasis on relaxing!

Endless Summer

I could feel the salt water gushing through my nose. My hair was wrapped tight around my face, and I'm pretty sure my head was the opposite direction from what it was supposed to be: down. My legs were quickly whipped behind my head and suddenly I was upright again.

Whew.

Although I could feel that there was not only unnatural amounts of salt water up my nose, but now also sand.

I had flashbacks of the first time my Dad took me in the waves. I've never gotten over the fear of the ocean, and specifically, its waves. Perhaps it had something to do with the sand up my nose. My deep-rooted fear is probably why I don't touch the bottom of the ocean with my feet. Even when it's 1.5 feet deep, I swim in as far as I can.

Just in case. You never know what's swimming beneath you: sharks, pebbles, jellies, small children with enormous scuba masks.

All of this is irrelevant in Hawaii, by the way. I'm just sayin.'

So, despite my surfing efforts, my itch to learn how to surf with the cool kids has utterly been satisfied. Never to itch again. Thanks to my helpful teacher, Joe, who took me in after my first - and only - spill... only 10 minutes into it. I know, I know...hard core.

Over the long Labor Day weekend, another couple joined me and Bobby to Ocean City. It was a gorgeous weekend, and after a shopping-filled day at the outlets, the four of us packed up and headed to Assateague Island beach, where we spent the day, surfing and whatnot. I read through half of a book, took about 5 naps, and left looking like a poached beet. Did I mention I'm allergic to sunscreen? Remember the Sun screeen Rash of 2007 on my Honeymoon? Well, we didn't want that to re-appear, so we steered clear. HA.


Here it is...documented by my loving husband. See? The first picture, I'm so excited that a wave is coming!! Actually, I was scared to death, but that's when Joe said to paddle as fast as I could. I have balance problems, so I kept coming off the board. I think I'm going to make it!! Oh, and the third picture, the wave got the best of me... until the last picture, which is where I'm upside down, getting served by the wave.

But, somehow I made it out alive...and LOOK! I'm actually smiling!

Some random horses strolling along the beach. I think they were twitterpating.

They are just beautiful animals...

Hey Bobby.

On the road to Assateague. Isn't is gorgeous? I love the long line of trees.

The sun was so golden over this field. Just beautiful!

I felt so "Endless Summer" on the drive back. The surfboards were on top of the car and I caught the shadow. Don't look at this picture for too long...it'll make you dizzy.


Have a great week!

Hold On To Your Ear Drums

A sneak preview (because I have already gone through 2949460 pictures already tonight) of what Bobby and I saw this weekend: Check back later for flaming school busses, stainless steel bombers, trickd-out 747's, a fabulous soundtrack from Top Gun, and other aerospatial nerdiness.
Don't forget your ear muffs!

Boys meet Grill

Most weekends during the summer, you can find all residents of Jeeter Way at the patio next to the pool, grilling tools in hand, and bathing suits still dripping from the dip we all took earlier. Aside from the strong smell of charcoal that will be forever ingrained in my mind, the most delicious smell of a freshly grilled burger sharply stands out to me on a hot, summer evening, ever so slightly enhanced by the faint smell of chlorine still damp in my hair.

This weekend we celebrated the birthday of our friend, Al. I love cooking for Al because his reactions to my food are always the best - they make my head swell up like a balloon with conceit. Anyway, we celebrated with some Coney Dogs (as Eric is from Michigan) and burgers topped with spicy Guac and to top it off, Shawn (Eric's wife) made Al a double-chocolate cake and meticulously placed 24 candles on top.

So to commemorate our weekend traditions, here are some pictures from our get-togethers:

Contemplation... Al and his cake.

Atmun. There are no words.Me and my honey.
My honey giving me the stink-eye for taking so many pictures of him:
Eric and his Coney Dog:

How many engineers does it take to light a birthday cake?After almost getting struck by lightning, here's what showed up!

Yay for Indie-Pendence Day!

If anyone knows the Wise Family, you know they like to cook...and mostly eat. That's exactly what we did to celebrate America's independence.

After about 60 e-mails back and forth in order to refine our celebratory menu, here's what we came up with:

Appetizers
-Deviled Eggs
-Individual Caprisi Salads
-Jalepeno Poppers
-Chips

Main Course
- Burgers, Dogs, Brats, BBQ Chicken
-German Potato Salad
-2 kinds of pasta salads
-Fresh Corn on the Cob
-Fruit Salad

Dessert
-Blueberry Pies
-Strawberry Pies
-Pecan Pie
-Brownie Pie
-Fruit Tart
-Jen's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Hazelnut Mini-Cup Cakes
-White Chocolate Chex Mix

Needless to say...us Wises have sort of a sweet-tooth problem!!!

After dinner, Grandma Wise bought all her Granddaughters Red and White cheerleading outfits!! I have never seen such cute little girls!!! They all frolicked around in the back yard while Aunt April taught them cheers! Pom-Pom's and all, it was SO cute.

Bennett and AJ manning the grill.

Aunt April teaching a cheer!

It wouldn't be 4th of July without some sand! Little Neil Ascher likes to get messy!


Mary Claire and Jacob were kicking the soccer ball around.

Patience and Adam taking a rest.