First Beach in NC!

One of the perks of living in North Carolina is being able to get to the beautiful beaches in two hours. Just like in England we were close enough to make a beach trip a day trip, but unlike England, the beach was WARM here.

The kids played lots. And we did too. The weather was gorgeous and the view was amazing. 

We somehow chose the weekend when a tropical storm was passing by some miles off the coast, which created huge waves and windy conditions, although still sunny skies. We had to put a life jacket on Mark to make sure we don't lose him in the waves:) Alex was the riskiest one who loved to just drift away. 

Alex brought his army guys and we all said, "Arghhhh...". Every time he brings them to the beach he plays for a good while but then loses a few of his soldiers in the sand:)

Building castles and tunnels is still a thing to do for teenagers, thank goodness.

Oh yeah, and this is Topsail beach where we visited. Lots of beach houses on this thin strip of sand that would be so fun to revisit. And we liked that it was not a busy beach at all. Just a whole lot of sand and no commercial entertainment.



I think our new tradition will need to be going to the beach in all seasons of the year just to see how it changes between busy tourist season and off-season.

After five hours on the beach, we were ready for some dinner in town. We had some very local pulled port bbq sandwiches that were delish, but way too filling and way too much meat:).

Can't wait till we go again!

Lyana.

Lyana's Birthday 2017.

Oh no, I am not afraid to admit I just turned thirty four. I still feel like I am in my mid twenties and not sure how in the world I am already in my fourth decade of life:)

My birthday celebration started on Sep 11th with some friends (Braswells) who helped us eat my favorite fancy dessert made by Robert. 

And then the following day I decided to celebrate my birthday the way I wanted:)

I made a point to have a very simple but super relaxing birthday. I invited three new friends to go out to lunch with me--Jenny, Donna and Katie. I even picked the place--La Farme, a delicious French bakery cafe in Cary. It was fun:)

I also read a book DURING THE DAY, ate some chocolate, did some blogging and didn't even cook. Pure bliss!! 

Umm...ignore the British license plate on the fireplace mantle. Who does that??? hahaha

After Robert came home from work and we opened gifts (Instant Pot!, chocolate, wallet, a candle, hand made note book and something else I don't remember...how rude), we went out to eat to none other than Chick-Fil-A. Yeah, that's how fancy we are. Robert had a reservation for me and him to go out that evening at a nice Italian place, but I was hoping to go out as a family and go out on a date on our anniversary which was coming up two days later. So we had to pick something quick  (it was a weeknight). Chick-Fil-A fit the bill:)



I love birthdays I get to celebrate with my family as that is what matters most. The kids and Robert spoiled me and I felt very special:)

Lyana.

Labor Day Adventures (Millburns and Philly)

And FINALLY! After a month of living in NC, we ventured out further afield--all the way to Washington DC and Pennsylvania. It was quite a last minute decision, but we decided that nothing could slow us down this time especially because the kids and Robert had days off school.

So! We drove up on Friday evening to Washington DC area to stay with our friends, the Millburns (do you remember the Millburns? our awesome friends from Misawa?:)). We stopped at IKEA on the way and bought Katya a desk and a coveted white double dresser (and ate some Swedish meatballs for dinner and thought about how much it feels like we are still in England at our Milton Keynes IKEA). Then we spent the night at our friends' house and then drove a couple of hours on Saturday morning to Philadelphia for the Open House of this gorgeous LDS Temple on the picture below.

It was our first Temple Open House to visit as a family and we thought it was neat and everything, of course, but it was indeed very-very crowded because we were there during the last weekend they were open, which happened to be the Labor Day weekend. 

The crazy thing was that for lunch we were able to meet our friends, the Grovers (who had just moved to VA), so we went to the famous Philly Cheesesteak place in downtown Philly and had these delicious (but greasy) sandwiches together. 

After lunch, we split up, so that the Grovers could go visit the temple and we did some touristy historic stuff. The first stop was the Independence Hall. 

It was incredible to see the place where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. 

Robert and I had just watched "John Adams" mini-series, so it was cool to see where those events took place. 

And a picture with President Washington.

Finally, we walked over to the Liberty Bell. It's the bell that was rung to mark the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th, 1776.

The symbol of Liberty.

We returned to the Millburns on Saturday evening and spent more time with the kids:)

Sometime during the evening Mark got really sick and started to throw up. He slept during the night but was quite miserable in the morning still. So we had to leave him home with Robert and Brett (one of their little kids was sick too) while Rachel and I took the healthy kids to church. 

Here is Rachel and I.

And old friends, staying young:) 

We drove home on Monday morning, managing to get back on time to go to the Ward Picnic at 11:30 because the kids really wanted to attend. 

It was a great long weekend, and we know we need to do it again! Wish we were not as tied up to sports events on Saturdays....

Lyana.