Monday, May 25, 2015

Monday at the Outer Banks

It's been a good day. 
Woke up to wonderful quietness; all I hear from my room is the gentle lapping of the small waves in the ocean sound as they playfully hop over the shallow sandbar, a mere twenty feet or so from my bedroom window.  

Enjoyed coffee with a view...


Lazed around inside awhile, set up my traveling art studio at the dining room table...


                 ...then went outside with the kids to explore the shallow waters on the sandbar.




Soon their interests led us to the pool, so we checked it out, dipped our feet in...


...observed the rules...(note the funny sign:  "OOL Rules; Notice there's no "P" in it. Let's keep it that way!")


We drove to a surf rental place and rented a 2-seater kayak, woo-hoo!


After lunch I took a nap...in the pool.  ;=D


Then Sam and I pretended we were Christopher Columbus and his assistant as we explored the waters and woodsy areas we found out on our boat ride.


Even found a slithering water mocassin looping around in the water by these rocks.
(look out, Colby!)


Next on our schedule: pretending we were lost in the Sahara desert as we traversed the windblown slopes of sand at Jockey's Ridge.






..and i don't know if this video clip of the dunes will work...but here it is anyway:


just a nice day of vacation. 
got a lot on my mind right now, (perhaps i'll share them at another time, another blog..)
so it's just nice to be in a peaceful place,
especially this bedroom that I can call MINE. mommy's room. at least for this week.
Where I can go in and close the door, ahhhhhh, and just be alone. so nice. 


goodnight!!!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Off to the Outer Banks!!!


Sunday, May 24th, 2015

And the 2015 family beach trip to the Outer Banks, NC has begun!  It’s 2:18 pm and we’re still circling the Raleigh beltline, heading to the coast on 64 East.  Getting a late start, always takes soooo long to get packed up for these trips, especially when kids get whiny and hungry and ornery and you can’t just focus on packing the whole time, oh well.

I’m writing in the front seat next to the driver, not exactly a private place for journaling, so I’ll be keeping this light for now.  


Pandora shuffle serving up some Katy Perry and Fleetwood Mac so far.  (insert photo of my zoned-out travel mode look…)  I’ve got some good books to read and the kids are set up with a movie on the iPad,and all’s well so far.  Time to zone out…. later alligator.


Speaking of alligators...it’s 3 hours later now, and we just crossed the very long bridge over the Alligator River!  Getting closer to our destination…


..crossed another bridge and finally arrived in Nags Head.



Beautiful sunsets over the sound, enjoyed right from our patio.


And the best part so far...I get to stay ALL BY MYSELF in this cute little bedroom!


more tomorrow...i'm exhausted. 
goodnight.

Friday, May 22, 2015

New releases on vine..

So I've been indulging in one of favorite sources of amusement...my guilty pleasure... It's vining while driving! Stay tuned for more fragments of creepy car tunes!!!

Check out jennifer nelson's post on Vine! https://vine.co/v/eqMH25zMjTK

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

vacation preview

It's vacation time again!!!  Almost, anyway...this is just a preview of where we'll be next week at this time.  Instead of our usual trek down to the southeastern NC beaches, this time we'll be traveling up to the northeast and checking out the Outer Banks!  I've only been there once before, almost 15 years ago..so this should be fun.

Image result for outer banks nc

Another change, is that instead of staying on the open ocean side, as close to the beach as possible, this time we're renting a condo right on the sound, where this is the actual view from our private patio, at sunset:

Sound and Sunset Views

And in the morning, we awake to this, lots of grassy space for the kids to play, and a long pier from which to fish or put in a boat.

Sound View with Community Pier and Gazebo Access

My plan so far: to rent a sea kayak and do some exploring!! (on the calm waters of course, my near-death experience kayaking on crazy river rapids long ago are holding me back from trying out the open ocean just yet!!!)

Image result for nc sound kayak bikini



For more details on the condo unit we'll be staying in, you can look here:


https://www.sunrealtync.com/outer-banks/nags-head-nc-rentals/sound-front/vil-g1

One great thing about this condo, is that it has 3 bedrooms, and I get to have this bedroom with 2 twin beds in it, ALL TO MYSELF!!!!  YAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!  And, the best part of that is I was not the one to boldly initiate that decision.  (yee-haw! small success, perhaps? am i getting through?)  man, i swear, if i could bug this condo with a spycam, we could start our own Keeping up with the Karashians-type of reality show... the awkwardness, the tense moments, the slight chill to my voice as I learn to become my own person and stop saying yes just to freaking please others!!!  (yet i do it all in brotherly love, of course...(smirk)).  We'll call it...Keeping Up with the Awkwards, or the Dysfunctionals, or the Someday-to-be-Ex's...or something like that.

Top-Level Twin Bedroom

ok enough of that.  On to some of the activities that await us there...

For a safe look at some beautiful ocean creatures, we may visit the North Carolina Aquarium at Manteo...
http://www.ncaquariums.com/roanoke-island

Shark Dive 3

...or if that's too tame for us, we'll just hit the beach and hope to meet this jolly ol fellow..


Image result for outer banks nc surf

ha ha!  or not. Actually these gentle sweeties would be a bit more fun to swim with..





Looks like swimming may be a bit intense in these waters...look at those waves!







wow.

does this look like me? (yeah right)


For some cool video coverage of surfing the Outer Banks, click on this link:

http://www.utopia-worldwide.com/five-flick-friday-outer-banks-north-carolina-by-transworld-surf/

I think I'd be satisfied just to catch a small wave, like this:




And if the weather's on the cool side, or we just want to be a landlubber for awhile,
our condo is conveniently located right next to the huge sand dunes of Jockey's Ridge:

Image result for jockey's ridge obx



Image result for jockey's ridge obx


more info here:
http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/jori/photos.php (Jockey's Ridge)

And finally, on one of our last nights there, we have the opportunity of attending an awesome worship concert at Roanoke Island Park, where people will gather to worship with the band
Jesus Culture!!!

http://hisgen.org/event/jesus-culture-recording-artist-kristen-dimarco-derek-johnson/

Kristene-2

But then again, our youngest would probably get bored, and there's NO WAY we're even going to THINK about finding a babysitter so that we can go on anything that resembles a GAG-PUKE-"date"-REGRURGITATE-BLOW CHUNKS-RALPH-HURL-SPIT...(did i miss any?)
Don't EVEN!!!!!!! because I CANNOT EVEN!!!!!!!!!!!

ahem.

nah.  i can worship in the sea.

hang ten dude.


Image result for nc sound kayak bikini

stay tuned for real-life coverage starting Sunday May 24th!!!

Image result for outer banks nc

Whatcha lookin so crabby for?   this is going to be FUN, right???

Monday, May 4, 2015

Monday selfies


Good morning!  
Something about spring weather, just makes me want to take car selfies...fresh air, loud music, open windows...makes me smile.

(or make a stupid duck face)


                                                    

                                                        Have a great day, world!!!

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Sunny first Sunday in May

T
Gorgeous day. who's ready to play?





                                           Love these coconut cream popsicles!!
                                                     
                                                  that's my boy!!

                                           Releasing my inner 80's rock star...lol...

                                                                      #selfish