camera-less

Matt flew off to Dallas, Texas with his dad for the weekend to see the Cowboys vs. Falcons game, and to check out the brand-spanking-new Cowboys Stadium. I must mention that Matt is a fair weather Falcons fan and William, his dad, is a Cowboys fan - they will be sitting on the Cowboys side at the game. Because Matt is going to be taking lots of pictures of his trip (wink,wink), he left me camera-less for the weekend. Here are a few photos from this past week, but they just don't compare to the photos I could be taking this morning of the beautiful leaves that have blanketed the yard and the wonderful rich colors that have transformed our neighborhood. I would have to say that this is the peak leaf weekend here in Virignia - of course, I am no expert! There are so many leaves on our deck from the rain and storms yesterday, that Mason got confused and relieved himself on the deck thinking he was in the yard. Luckily, it rained pretty hard last night and (hopefully) washed it away. Gotta love my boys!

Even with all of the rain and clouds yesterday, I still got to enjoy a beautiful sunset from the front porch. The sun broke through the clouds at the last minute making for a beautiful scene with the vibrant red, yellow, and orange leaves in the foreground.  Speaking of sunsets, I grew up hearing my mom's memories of the magnificent sunsets in San Luis Obispo, California where she grew up. Maybe one day we will get to enjoy one of those sunsets!










The boys faces sum up our weekend so far... relaxing, lazy, and uneventful - just the way I like it! As I type, the boys are sleeping side-by-side behind me, Mason resting his head on Skye... just precious. Stay tunded for photos of Matt's trip to Texas!

fascination

The boys were so enthralled by the squirrells scurrying around the driveway and up the trees.  They usually guard the trees in the backyard, but the front yard belongs exclusively to the squirrels!  Poor boys!!

outer banks - part III

We woke up to clouds and rain on Sunday morning, so instead of our plans to spend more time on the beach before check out, we decided to head on home.



We stopped in Grandy, NC to pick up some pumpkins.



While we were there, we picked up some awesome Carolina peaches...



muskadine grapes...





... and we found these amazing white pumpkins!  I am so excited and I am still looking for ideas on what to do with them other than flanking our front porch steps.



Of course I took a photo of this cute little roadside stand when we made a quick stop.  Ahh, Fall!


Once we left the beach, we hit wonderful, sunshine and blue skies for the rest of our trip!



We arrived home to greet our boys.  They were causing a ruckus while I was taking this photo!  Don't worry, we didn't leave them alone while we were gone!  My generous in-laws took turns staying the night with them.  They were so worn out after their excitement of guests that they left us alone to unpack and settle back in to home!



Of course I couldn't resist a photo session with them.  I missed my boys so much!




+

outer banks - part II

The next morning we watched the sun rise from our balcony before heading to breakfast. 



The sunrise was breathtaking.  I took a ton of photos and have an actual sequence showing the rising of the sun.  It was amazing how fast it came up once it started.



After breakfast we took another walk on the beach!



We saw bigger waves on Saturday and I can still hear them crashing... ahhh, so peaceful!



It was a georgeous day!



Little birdie foot prints.



pretty birdies!



It was so nice to have my feet in the ocean for the first time in 3 years.  I never missed a summer of my childhood without a week at the beach, so it was very hard not to go for so long.





I joked that Matt had to wear his Virginia shirt so he would remember where he was from.  He heard plenty from me over the weekend that we were back in my home state!  Not that we were anywhere near my parents who live just outside of the blueridge mountains, but I am still a North Carolina girl.



Rainbow Row... beach style!



Aww, Matt loves Allie (his nickname for me)!



We found tons of beautiful seashells!  This photo was taken once we got home and took stock of what we collected.



Matt made me this great necklace out of fishing wire. So crafty!



When we went out for lunch, we did a little shopping and sight seeing and Matt bought me this beautiful vase to coordinate with the pieces in our living room.  My parents are pottery collectors and I havecome to love unique pieces, especially this one that will remind me of this trip!

Saturday night we went to the wedding of our friends Ryan + Tamara, which was the whole reason for our trip to the Outer Banks in the first  place.  They had a beautiful wedding on the lawn of a beautiful house on the sound.  The weather didn't quite cooperate because it began to rain just at the time the reception was supposed to start so we had to move under the tent.  The bride and groom got the wonderful blessing of a sunset over the sound just in time for their photo session and the photographer was even able to capture a rainbow before the sun went down completely, how is that for luck!  There was a wonderful seafood buffet, drinks, and dancing.  It was a great time had by all!

outer banks - part I

We woke up early Friday morning with a beautiful morning and perfect traveling weather.  Not too hot, not too cold, sunny, windows down kind of weather.  We got an early start so we could get as much time as possible in at the beach!



The Garmin got us everywhere we needed to go!  My favorite feature is the arrival time estimator.  It was extremely accurate and updated itself as we made quick stops.



The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel off of I-64 near Chesapeake, VA.  This tunnel goes way under water and is quite a few miles long.  It is a cool experience!



Getting there!  This is the street view of Jockey's Ridge State Park.  A trip in the park didn't fit into our time schedule this trip, but it is on my list for the future.  I have photographic memories of walking the huge dunes with my dad around the age of 4 or 5.  Very neat!



Matt proved me wrong when I insisted that check in was at 3 pm and they weren't going to make an exception for us!  We checked in after lunch around 1 pm.  The service at our hotel was exceptional. Above is the view from our room! 



We were dying to get to the beach, so we dropped our luggage as quickly as possible and headed out!



First view of the sandy beach!



A very excited Matt who was not thrilled I asked him to pause to take a picture!



...and was less thrilled when I asked him to take a picture of me!  Hey, I  can't always be behind the camera!





Georgeous!  I couldn't wait to get my camera lens on the beach!



footprints in the sand



The waves were pretty small the first day... it was very calm!



The pelicans flew in masses like seagulls.  I have never seen that before!



The beginning of the sunset from our parking space at dinner.



Our dinner restaurant, Basnights Lone Cedar Cafe, is to the left in the above photo.  We asked the front desk clerk at the hotel, a local, for his recommendation for a good restaurant for both steak and seafood.  We enjoyed a great shrimp appetizer over spinach, goat cheese, and walnuts.  Matt enjoyed his prime rib.  I didn't enjoy my seared scallops... the biggest disappointment of my trip.  They were flavorless and not appetizing at all.  I used butter and salt and pepper to make them better, but it wasn't a big improvement.  Oh well, better luck next time!



As we left dinner, I snapped a few photos of the end of the sunset.  It was beautiful, but hard to capture with the camera.  We took a night time walk on the beach and enjoyed our balcony for a while before turning in!