The Beach

Let me start by saying it saddens me to post about such a great week and not be able to share pictures right away. God is teaching me patience (or trying to). Our really old computer has very little free space and its getting to the point that each time we want to upload photos we have to move things from it onto our external hard-drive. Kyle has always been the one to do this and he is, what shall we say?, the limiting factor time-wise. We're leaving town again this weekend (for Matt and Melanie's wedding--woohoo!) so it's not going to happen until next week at the earliest. The good news is that we're going to transition that job (fun!) to me (sort of like taxes) so that I'll be the only factor, and hopefully not so limiting. :)

All that said, we had a FANTASTIC time at the beach. The best vacation we've ever taken (and we've taken some great ones). It was so relaxed and great just to hang out with some of our best friends. (Backing up a little--there were 11 of us plus 3 babies in a big ol' beach house at a quiet family beach called Holden Beach, about 45 minutes south of Wilmington). The boys surfed and lots of people boogie-boarded. I think some golfing and fishing was also had. The three moms were treated to a morning out to get messages (yea mother's day!). We played lots of games (Puerto Rico, poker, 4 on a couch, etc.) and watched lots of Planet Earth.

The babies "played" together (i.e. next to each other), and did their usual: eating, napping, talking/squealing (which was heightened b/c they seemed to be competing at times). They also got to play in the sand and EAT IT. Yummy. Bailey has started crawling so that was a total hoot. It's sort of army-crawl-ish. Owen is still a one-sided roller, but that didn't stop him from getting around (thanks to all the friends who so graciously played with /carried him). And little Emmy in her surfer-girl outfit is already starting to steal Owen's heart (they're secretly betrothed).

Anyways, we had a great time. Selfishly, it is so much fun for us to have dear friends from different circles of our lives come together and seem to enjoy each other. We hope to do similar trips in the future. And I hope to post pictures in the near future. :)

North Carolina--Land of Peril

So, we can now add tornado to the list of natural weather wonders we have have experienced living in little ol' Winston-Salem. That's earthquake, storms from hurricane and now tornado. Now we just need volcanic rumblings--I've always thought Pilot Mountain looked sort of suspicious and sneaky so who knows.

We were up late packing for our vacation (yea beach!) last night when I turned on the tv and got a call from our neighbor at the same time--a big storm with "cyclical winds" and a possible touch-down about 10 miles from us headed our way. We watched for a little bit and finally made the call (they said Ardmore) to go get Owen from upstairs (lest the roof and entire 2nd floor were to get sucked away) and head for the basement. Owen and I waited down there and Kyle ran outside in his PJs and work books to throw some blankets on our new-to-us car (reports of big hail) and warn a couple of neighbors close by whose lights weren't on. Owen stayed asleep for a little bit on my shoulder but then woke up. How strange that probably was for him--he goes to sleep on his own in his bed/crib and wakes up in mommy's arms in a strange musty room (I never take him in the basement).

Anyways, all is well. We weren't down there long. Kyle kept popping up to check the tv and we never lost power. There was some damage SW of us, but not tooo significant (not like storms in TX) and no one was hurt. But the Today Show isn't on this morning because the local news is still talking about it. (This kind of stuff is undoubtedly the highlight of their year!)

Anyways, before I forget, here is a not-great vide of the little guy demonstrating his rolling prowess. It's a few weeks old and he's even more proficient now--still preferring the one shoulder.

We're leaving this evening for Raleigh and then from there a relaxing! week in a great big house on Holden Beach with some of our best friends from TX and Vandy. We're really really excited. I think its the first vacation (as opposed to packed-tight trip) that Kyle and I have ever taken. So, I'll post pictures/stories (Owen trying to eat sand?) when we get back.

Operation Bluebonnet milestone

Kyle has a job!!! We got the call from Capitol Anesthesia in Austin last night and they offered him a job and he gladly accepted. We are so excited! He'll start July 2009 when he finishes residency, but its such a blessing to have this in place already! We are sooo thankful! Austin here we come!