Farm, Home, and a Christening

At 15 months, Henry is really into cars, trucks, and tractors. He has a few books that show pictures of them, and currently, these are his favorite ones to read. When we pass a car, truck or tractor, he says "caaar", "ruck", or "racta" and sometimes makes the "vrmmm vrmmm" noise. 

It makes me so proud to hear him remembering words, trying to pronounce them, and making the noises! 

Of course, I think he's the smartest baby ever. ;) 

With all of this car, truck, and tractor action, it seemed like a trip to the farm was in store soon. So, the last time we visited the grandparents, we had an afternoon full of tractors. 

It was cute to see his eyes so wide at the tractors in "real life"! 

He even got to ride one with Coot. Made. Henry's. Day! 

There was a lot of action at the farm that day...pivots were on, they were picking corn, the combines were working, and we fed the fish. Not to mention it was a gorgeous afternoon to ride in the truck! 

Back at my parents' home, the hay had recently been baled. 

This seemed like the perfect photo op to me. 

Henry, not so much.

He seemed to enjoy it at first....

...but changed his mind pretty quickly. I had to do the "crazy mommy dance" to try to get him to smile. 

And even got up there with him.

It didn't work.

:/

While at home, we celebrated Grayson's Christening with a service at church and lunch at Vicky's. It was all wonderful! 

Hilton Head and Mother's Morning Out

We've been having so much fun! 

The start to our summer has been wonderful! 

Henry began a Mother's Morning Out a few weeks ago (he goes 3 days a few for a few hours), and we've found a little time to travel too. :) 

He'll have July off and then he'll go 2 days a week in the Fall. He's having fun, and the teachers love him, but I miss him so bad when he's there!

Here's Henry in his "school" clothes a few mornings before leaving home:

Last week, we loaded up the car and set out for Hilton Head to visit Aunt Abbye. With Aunt Laura Lyn in tow too, our trip was easy peasy and we had a ball all week! 

We went swimming....

And enjoyed time on the beach...

Those curls! 

Played in the sand...

Squinted in the sun....

And got messy! 

The next day, we played in the tide pools all day long! 

And were so excited to play with Napp and his mommy Maggie! 

We even found time to see my friend Stephanie and visit her new cheerleading gym! 

It was a great week! 

This weekend we're heading to a wedding on St. Simons, and from there to Mexico Beach for Griffin Beach Week! Don't worry, Henry and I have plenty of sunscreen! :)) 

ps. for those who have been wondering, Henry is wearing an Amber Teething Necklace. I love that he looks like a little brown hippie baby, but it actually has a purpose too. 

He's been wearing it for over a month, but honestly, I wish I had gotten it for him at the first sign of teething. It has helped tremendously. Beforehand, we were relying on Motrin and Tylenol when he would be particularly fussy and having a hard time. Since he's been wearing the necklace, we haven't had to use Tylenol or Motrin one time since then. I have no idea if this is a placebo affect (do those work on infants?!?) or some hoodoo voodoo. Either way, its staying on and I give it a soaring recommendation. :) 

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us! Our trip to the Outer Banks

For as long as I can remember in our relationship, David and I have wanted to visit the Outer Banks. Seeing them in TV shows and movies placed them on our bucket list. So, we decided to head toward the coast of NC for our 5th anniversary! 

Road tripping with my favorite person? heck yea! 

On a Wednesday at lunch, while Henry was safe and sound in SGa with his grandparents, we set out for Wilmington, NC. My trip planner extraordinaire (David) had all the plans made -  which made for a lot of fun for me! Just pack my bags and go! :)) 

Here's a map of the Outer Banks - small barrier islands that follow along the coastline of North Carolina. See the one near the bottom? Ocracoke Island? We began there and ended in Kitty Hawk. We covered a lot, and want to go back to our favorite spots! 

I think Wilmington is best compared to Savannah - a beautiful old port town on the coast. 

That's the view from our hotel room on the top left. Bottom left is the fabulous restaurant we visited that first night - Caprice Bistro, a delightful French restaurant within walking distance from our hotel. 

The next morning, after a breakfast at Port Java, we set out for our first ferry, passing through Beaufort, NC. See the beautiful old house in the top right, below? Well, those are all along the edge of the water in Beaufort. Just so charming. And the dockside photo is our lunch view there for David's Happy Birthday lunch at the Spouter Inn - absolutely wonderful! 

Another shot of Wilmington from our hotel room

Our first ferry ride was the longest one. It was so fun though! And super convenient to drive our car right onto the ferry. At one point, we couldn't see any land at all. Ferry pics below, on the right.

After exiting the ferry, we headed to our bed and breakfast, the historic Castle on Ocracoke. That's us in front of it, bottom left, biking to dinner.

We absolutely loved Ocracoke. Its a sleepy little fishing island with the nicest people and wonderful roads to bike. Everyone is outdoors and there's incredible fresh local seafood at every restaurant. We had a delightful dinner at Dajio during our stay on Ocracoke. 

We definitely would like to go back here one day! Everything about the island was so charming! 

Our room at the B&B was awesome! I love the quirkiness that accompanies B&B's....like the shower in our room! 

The view from our second floor room at The Castle

And shots from biking around the island

Growing up on the Gulf of Mexico, we are accustomed to deep, white sandy beaches. Here, the shorelines are dotted with rocks and grass grows right up to the edge. It's really pretty! 

And while we are used to condo complexes and high rises along the beaches, here there are nothing but houses....and they're all magnificent. 

Next up, a shorter ferry ride to Hatteras Island. 

Here's my handsome driver! 

Once in Hatteras, we took our time riding around the island and stopped for a late lunch at the delicious Harbor Deli. 

Hatteras is incredible! 

There is beach house after beach house after beach house.....and they are these gorgeous gray shuttered and pastel Victorian inspired beach homes...tons of them!  

From Hatteras, we traveled to Nags Head, stopping along the way at the miles and miles of protected shoreline to see the beach and climb a lighthouse. 

Here are a few scenes from that day:

Ps. the beach in Nags Head (top right, below) is more like what we're used to. We hung out on Jennette's Pier and watched the fisherman. 

We ended up at our next B&B, pictured below. It was on the shore of the bay, and so beautiful! Later that night, we had dinner at Owens, a long-standing local restaurant. 

On our last day/night, we would be staying put at this B&B as we were able to scoot between Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills. These are the more populated spots of the OBX. More beach stores, convenience stores, etc. But, there is no fast food on the OBX islands, except an occasional Dairy Queen. We thought that was kinda funny! 

After breakfast at Stack Em High,  we headed to the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. It was such a fun experience and really fascinating to learn about their endeavors toward aviation, just over 100 years ago! The NC parks are really amazing. Their tax dollars are really put to work with each and every park, lighthouse, pier, beach access boardwalk, monument, etc. At every one, there are the nicest park rangers, gift shops, museums, and (best of all!) bathrooms! We were truly impressed, and the Wright Brothers Memorial was no exception. 

Later that day, after shopping and a bit more exploring, we had lunch at Tortugas Lie....a local dive and we LOVED it! 

Dinner at Brine and Bottle was one of the best meals we've ever had and a bittersweet end to our wonderful trip! 

Hope you take the time to visit this part of the good ol' U-S of A sometime....it's worth it!