the weekend . . .

i can hardly believe that today is the last day of june already!  it feels like the month of june flew by.  the weekend seemed to fly by too.  we kicked off our weekend on friday night after work by going out for hibatchi with my mom.  after dinner, we went to my parents' house for ice cream popsicles.  on saturday morning, we made french toast with cinnamon walnut raisin bread that we got at a bakery when we were in north carolina last week.  we packed our saturday full with strawberry picking, a bunch of errands, and a bike ride on a local trail.  we spent saturday evening with a friend who came into town to visit.  sunday consisted of more french toast for breakfast, a walk around the local flea market, more errands, some yard work, a ride on our tandem bike, a new vegan recipe for dinner, and an evening of catching up on shows on our dvr.  we finished the weekend off by sitting in bed and watching fireworks out our bedroom window from a nearby town festival.  all in all, it was a good weekend, but it went by way too fast!

happy monday!

love, laurie

meeting baby grant

on our drive home from topsail island, we stopped in raleigh to visit ryan's brother and his family.

ryan's brother and sister-in-law had their second baby in february, and this was the first time we got to meet our new nephew.

we spent the day visiting with them in raleigh before we headed back home to pennsylvania.  it was so nice to meet baby grant, and to visit ryan's family.

(photos by ryan's mom)

love, laurie

topsail island - part 3

while we were in topsail island, we got to enjoy some boating.  our friends have a few different boats at their beach house, and on one of the days that we were there we got a chance to sail aboard their yacht.  it was absolutely beautiful, and my mom even got to drive it!

we also took a ride aboard their skiff to set crab traps in the marsh.  we picked up the crab traps the next day and caught a bunch of blue crabs, so we had a crab boil for dinner.  it was tasty (and messy) and a lot of fun.

in addition to fresh crabs, our friends also caught a ton of shrimp in their shrimp traps.  one day they caught 800 shrimp, then on another day they caught 200 shrimp!  needless to say, we had shrimp several times for dinner.  (my mom even ate shrimp for breakfast one day!)  the crabs and the shrimp were absolutely delicious.  you just can't beat seafood fresh from the ocean.

you can see more photos from our trip to topsail island here and here

love, laurie

topsail island - part 2

we had such a great time in topsail island this past week.  while we were there, we kept busy with a lot of activities.  in addition to swimming in the ocean and walking up and down the beach, we rode bicycles on the beach one morning after breakfast.  it sure was a good leg workout to pedal on the sand, but it was a lot of fun.  

ryan and i also went boogie boarding in the ocean a few times.  we had a blast riding the waves.  we couldn't believe how warm the water was, it felt like bath water!  

we even got a chance to go kayaking too.  when we got in the kayaks, we crossed over the sound and into the marsh in order to get out of the way of the big boats that were sailing up and down the channel.  (seeing a big motor boat heading straight for you in a kayak sure is good motivation to paddle fast!)  navigating the kayaks through the marsh was like trying to find your way out of a corn maze with water in it.  while we were in the marsh we saw several jumping fish and a few egrets.  the first time we went kayaking, ryan went in a single kayak while my mom and i went in a tandem kayak.  later in the week, ryan and i went back out in the tandem kayak.  it was a lot of fun, and we got a good arm work out for sure!

you can see part one of our trip to topsail island here

love, laurie