Florida Vacation: Part I

The oil spill ruined our initial plans for vacationing this year.  We had made reservation in Naples.  We had all these wonderful plans at area locations.  Phillip did not want to postpone the trip (he said that he needed a break...he deserved one too).  We made the tough decision a week before our departure to cancel our reservations and look elsewhere.  A friend from college had moved down to Jacksonville from Charlotte last October.  So at the suggestion of Meredith, we made reservations at One Ocean Resort in Atlantic Beach, Florida.

Trying to be optimistic about this whole thing, we started out on Saturday for our vacation.  We had a nice trip down, complete with a high speed chase.  We were used as the front of the road block.  However, the police failed to mention this to us, and we were subsequently scared to death when the car came flying past us.  I say we, but I really mean me.  Phillip wanted to do it again.  Instead we hit up an outlet mall to relieve some stress.  We finally got to the hotel, checked in, and headed out for dinner.

Below are a few pics of our room.  Nice enough and very comfy bed.  However, if we could recommend one of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts we have stayed before it would be Chateau Elan.  They beat One Ocean by a mile!

As soon as we settled in and had dinner, we met Meredith, her sister, and a friend at a local restaurant, Al's Pizza.  We loved Al's!

Mary Elizabeth can do some weird things with her hands.

Meredith was feeling left out, so she had to get attention for her pinky fingers.

Me, Meredith, and the now deceased 1980s hair clip.  R.I.P.

Ready for a good night's rest!

On our first full day we chose to hang out at the beach and the hotel pool.

When I graduated from Meredith, one of my professors gave me Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying.  I decided to take it as one of my beach reading books today.  It made me miss Dr. J!

Day 3 was spent with a stomach bug of some sort.  I really think it was a water intolerance thing, so I stuck with bottled water and the rest of the vacation went A-OK!  Sadly, our trip to SeaWorld got postponed to Tuesday because of this.

Weekend Getaways

We had plans for the same weekend.  I was going to Wilmington to stay with Brandy while Will was on call.  Phillip was heading to the lake with Chris (his best friend) and his family for a much needed fishing trip.  

Phillip did not take pictures (despite having a camera).  His trip started out with a bit of a twist.  Chris had injured his leg pretty badly a few days before their trip.  His injury required surgery.  So, he was out of commission for driving both the truck and the boat.  However, boys will be boys.  They apparently had a great time and hit some rough water.  That always makes for some great stories!  Thanks to the McNairs for a great weekend getaway!

I, on the other hand, headed out for fun times with Brandy.  She's my college suite mate.  She also lived with us right after we got married for two months while she was completing clinicals here in Charlotte.  Will was on call, and Brandy has never been too fond of staying alone, so I headed on over to Wilmington!  Brandy and I goofed off all day on Saturday.  We had great fun taking Sydney (their dog) to get a bath in her 2 seater convertible.  I am positive people thought we were insane.  I got to drive, but Sydney pretty much made Brandy all but invisible.  We got to scope out the Farmers Market downtown, do a bit of shopping, and laid out on the beach for a while. 

Sydney has picked up a funny habit of getting one's attention when he's ready to go to bed.  He pulls the covers off of you.  

Will got home Sunday morning, so we headed out to Fort Fisher State Park.  It was my first time ever riding on the beach in a vehicle.  I really liked it!  Sydney was not a fan of the ocean.  This is his mom forcing him to face his fears.  

 I thought this picture was pretty befitting. 

The happy Powers family  stopped long enough for a photo op.

 Then it was back to work.  As you can see, this could take a while.  

Sydney did get in a few good swims to the shore before we called it a day.  

I had a great time with the Powerses!  Thanks Brandy and Will (and Sydney)!

Phillip's Last Lap Around the Ole 20s!

Phillip turned 29 on May 23rd!  To celebrate we had a little family cookout.  It was nice to have everyone here with us instead of traveling.  

Taylor really enjoyed the fruit.  Although, I suppose that's better than killing the chocolate cake beside her.  

We told her to scare the squirrel off of the bird feeder.  She was actually able to sneak up the hot tub platform and do it.  It was quite humorous. 

I completely forget what this is called, but they are the coolest blooms.  They begin as the little pink balls and then when they open they have these deep purple blooms.  

I told Taylor to go find a 4 leaf clover.  Initially, I thought it would take her quite a while.  The kid came back in less than 2 minutes with one.  Ridiculous.  

Phillip's mom, aunt, and niece were all able to make its.  Here's the birthday boy with his mom.  (Thanks for coming up you guys!)

Phillip asked Taylor if she wanted to help blow out his birthday candles.  Instead, Taylor took over the candle extinguishing for him.  It was a very hilarious moment. 

Swinging in some crazy humidity right after a rain shower.  

My grandparents came too!  This is my precious Grandmother (paternal).  

My parents have a lot of large rocks in their front yard scattered about in the midst of large trees.  Taylor wanted her picture taken on one of the rocks.  Here's said pic.

Phillip's family spent the night.  Here's goofy Taylor the next morning.  She and Uncle Phillip decided to take some of their toys outside to play.

Phillip insisted on getting this plane.  He said he played with these all the time when he was little.  This was, by far, the cheapest, most utilized present he received.  

These two got the plane stuck on our roof.  My oh-so-savvy husband used one of his fishing rods to get it down.  

All in all, it was a wonderfully restful birthday for Phillip.  Thanks to everyone that made it so special!

Spring Sprang ... and I failed to blog.

The end of this past semester was quite busy with meetings and teaching.  I could go on with the excuses, but when it all finally came to a close I got very, very lazy.  Unless something absolutely had to be done, it was not going to happen.  Sad, but true.

Our Spring did get off on a great foot though!  We did lots of the regular cleaning around the yard.  Here are some pics!  

This is my new bird feeder.  I was quite excited about it until over-eager squirrels broke portions of the side glass out.  It was great while it lasted!

We found this at Lowes.  I loved it, Phillip could care less.  The small dead looking plant to the left side is one of the many hydrangeas my parents gave me after Easter.  It works out well.  I get free plants.  Most of the time I unintentionally kill them.  However, to date, these three are doing well.  I have two periwinkle and one pink plants.  Although, the acid of the soil determines what color they are once they have been planted.  I will be sure to post the results from this experiment once next year's blooms have sprung. 

As previously mentioned, I kill everything.  My front porch doesn't see a ton of early morning sun.  So everything except the Impatience died.  They were quickly replaced by other Impatience.  

Our tomato and strawberry plants!  The tomato plant has already produced quite a few tomatoes (with five new ones currently on the way).  The strawberries are everywhere, but none are ready yet.  We have no idea what is taking so long because they have been planted since mid-April.  

This little buddy made a home in our Carolina Jasmine.  We love our robins!

The end! 

Absentee

I am not sure where I should even begin with the last two months.  Phillip has stayed quite busy with work, while I've been stuck student teaching and working at the firm.  Both of us have seen very little of one another. 

 Us on Easter.

We have made quite a few trips to South Carolina to visit Phillip's family as well.  We were able to stay here for a few weekends and work on some Spring cleaning!  (I realize it's sad when you get excited about that.)  Brandy and Will even came and visited (but I didn't take many pics).

Brandy is laughing at the boy practicing golf in the backyard.  

Good Friday marked the beginning of a long-awaited, very relaxing weekend for us.  We spent the holiday in Florence with Phillip's family.  It was great seeing our nieces.  We visited Phillip's old church while we were there.  We even got to take Grandma with us. 

 This is the strawberry Phillip consumed in SC.  That thing was crazy huge!

Cute Logan fishing.  This is what her Uncle Phillip wanted to do with his weekend too.  (He gets a boys' fishing weekend in a few weeks.)

Emma loves some worms.  

Really, really loves her worms.  

Logan did not catch anything (except maybe an attitude when I laughed at her).

I would try to catch up on posts, but at this point there is no way I'll accomplish any of it.  I finish school at the beginning of May, and boy oh boy are we excited for this summer.  In case I don't post for a while, happy Spring!