beach trip

The second week in May, we took our first family vacation together--just the three of us (well, 4 if you include our pup, Durham). We visited the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, and Tag loved it! He also really enjoyed the beach... and the taste of salty sand in his mouth. Before we left, I snapped some photos of Tag in this adorable red outfit Julie got him. It was a 12 mo size outfit, and he just did squeeze into it.

San Diego

san diego.

once we left big sur we were pretty ready to be in san diego already. the drive around that area is pretty nauseating with all the winding turns and twists coming out of the mountians. we eventually hit LA and knew we were close. once we arrived at dan's house his roommate pete greeted us with a warm welcome (and a delicious dinner) and we all showered and slept off big sur. in the next few days we relaxed, went down town, hit the beach, and visited the san diego zoo.

brentley and me at an exhibit

brentley and me on the trolly
(takes you up the big hill so you can walk down through the zoo.)

the next day jami, dan and i decided to hit the beach while pete and brentley went to the golfing range. it's early september and the water is way, way, cold.

me and jami about to hop on the back of brentley and
dan's bikes to grab some pizza for dinner.

me and jami on the last day. we're so happy because we're just leaving an awesome restaurant where we had fish tacos and ceviche!

the end!

Big Surrrrrrrrr!!!!!

we left san fran for san jose where we stayed with a friend of dan's. it was a great pit stop (between san fran and big sur), and we had such a blast going out that evening. i think the first reason was because we rode bikes everywhere. they even had spare bikes for me and brentley! i love it when people are thoughtful!

dan's friend was in a pool tournament and needed an extra player so dan stepped in. brentley and i went out on the town for an indian dinner, and we met up with everyone afterwards. the next morning brentley went mountain biking with the guys and i hit the beach to enjoy some quiet time watching the waves crashing onto the shore. once the guys got back we hopped back in the car on to big sur!

(sorry no pics from san jose... i wasn't able to get any clear shots from the bicycle =))

view from where we camped!

dinner compliments of brentley!

these are turtle doves: potatoes, carrots, chicken, and a little italian salad dressing. mmmmmmmmmmmm soooo good!!





below you'll see our camp site =)i slept in =) this was my view from inside the tent... (i heart benadryll!)

continued...

northern california.

first time seeing and being in the pacific ocean. cold.













the guys find a dead sea lion. gross, eh?

drove down the coast a little bit to find some wild elk!

my first time watching the sun set over the ocean.

brentley and me

brentley and I again. we were hoping to camp in this area but it was a holiday weekend and we didn't make reservations in time. who knew?








Redwoods! So amazing! Seriously.

a little tourist-y but we had to do it.
this (below) is our car going through this huge redwood.

summer is over.

...and i haven't had the chance to write nearly enough.

amidst the wedding madness, brentley made a mad dash for the west coast on a cross country road trip. he went out west with our friends paul, tofer, and eli. eli sent me this photo from his phone to mine... not bad huh?






i spent a long weekend at the beach with a few of my college girls. (cat, the photographer, is missing... she and julie are my longest standing roommates! 3.5 years!) on the far left is erin, who, at the time of this photo, had just returned from living in madrid, spain. i'm next, then julie, then little kellie. she and erin lived next door in boone =)






we moved from apex to durham! people are always asking us why, and we don't have a great reason other than we just really felt like that was the place for us. durham is culturally diverse, and rich with community and young people. we live near duke university and brightleaf square which is so perfect for us right now. as far as i'm concerned, the only danger for me is the fact that there is a ben and jerry's within walking distance =)


man, we have some of the best friends ever! our move took approximately 4 hours or so, because we had so many people willing to help and drive our stuff over. we only made one trip!! i know my poor dad was thankful for the friends we've made at sovereign grace church because he's been moving me every year since i was 18. i have the best dad ever!





this zucchini didn't make it through the move... the auto seat belt, i think took it's life. but i had to take a photo because it was such a classic way to transport it. my tomatoes had a very difficult move also. i'm happy to say though-- they're on the up and up!







... and this, dear friends, is the newest addition to our family. her name is luna lovegood. i never in a million years thought i'd ever have a cat for a pet, but i am so in love with luna. she sits by me every day when i work at home, and she is super playful (when she's not being lazy and sleeping). when she wants attention she just walks on my computer or gets in my lap and puts her paws on my shoulders.

atlantic beach, north carolina (part 2)

apologies for the delay in getting to part 2. i got lazy! when i divided the post in to two parts i anticipated writing about our dramatic fishing trip. since it's been at least a month, i'm not quite as inclined to write about it. oh well. let me just sum it up by saying we had a great time fishing in the ocean off of JT's boat, but it got a little rocky for me. we decided to take the scenic route to the ocean and had several adventures with some tricky sandbars =) once we were in the ocean we started fishing with shrimp and we started catching almost right away. but, after about an hour i was definitely feeling sea sick. I stopped fishing and relaxed and brentley and JT kept going. The most common catch of the day was definitely baby sharks I think, but i did manage to bring one fish home that was pretty cool. i can't remember what it was called though? brentley taught me how to make a small catch look big.... check it out!

atlantic beach, north carolina (part 1)

last weekend we took advantage of the three day weekend and snuck out of town for a change of scenery. brentley's favorite scenery--the ocean.

on friday night we arrived around 7 pm and grilled out with brentley's family. his dad (keith) and step-mom (joy) were there that night so we had a rare opportunity to visit with them. joy's parents (jt & shirley) have a place at cape carteret which is where we stayed. brentley's step-sister erin was also there.


[joy, shirley, brentley, erin, jt]


on saturday, we woke up semi-early to have breakfast at yana mama's with joy and keith before they left to go back to wv. this was my first yana's experience, and i'd definitely go back again--especially for the peach fritters.

after breakfast, brentley and i made our way to the last aquarium on our list of aquariums in NC--pine knolls shores. i think this was my favorite simply because the snakes were in a separate building, which i did not grace with my presence. another reason i liked this aquarium was because they had a dairy queen in it =)










[me, outside of the serpentarium!]

after the aquarium we went over to the emerald club where my uncle's band was playing. the name of their band is big drink and my uncle (jay tyndall) is the drummer/bongo player. they tour all over the nc coast.


[big drink!]


[jt, jodi, brentley, shirley]


[jodi, brentley,(jodi's) aunt kathy & uncle jay-- drummer for big drink]


[jt parker & his beautiful granddaughter, erin]


[me-- showing jt my moves]