Last days

After the beach, we spent a couple more days with Matt. Emily LOVED Matt's dog, Herc (she called him Hercy Herc baby). Matt's fiancee just moved to Durham to start a new job a week ago and she was busy studying for her boards. We did get to see her a few times, but I don't think I got a picture of her. :( We all went to a wonderful restaurant, Fosters. I highly recommend it. She even got up early to bring us some yummy pastries from a German bakery in town. We had a great trip Matt! We hope to visit again soon! Emily enjoyed the plane rides home. She insisted on pulling her luggage at the airport. She was a great traveler. I hope we can go on another vacation soon, but it may be hard with the new baby. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll try to update soon!

Wrightsville Beach

We had an amazing time at the beach! Emily absolutely loved the ocean. We couldn't get her away from the water. She also enjoyed building some castles, but Matt decided to make a sea turtle that turned out great! It was so sad to see the tide wash it away. We also enjoyed some pool time and some great seafood. My good friend Ashley was home for the summer in Wilmington, so Emily got to play with Bess and Rosey in the ocean for a few hours.

Durham, North Carolina

We had a long hike back to the car

The famous chapel at Duke Matt and Roy with the Dawn Redwood Tree

At the Cheesecake Factory

First airplane ride- She was SO excited and did great! She even wanted the window seat.

We just got back home from the East Coast! We had a great time visiting my brother, Matt, who lives in Durham, NC. We visited my other brother, Jeff, in St. Louis last summer so it was Matt's turn this year! We spent Thursday touring Durham and saw Duke University, Duke Hospital (where Matt works), and Duke Gardens. My parents arrived to visit Matt a couple days before we did, so it was nice to have all of us together. We kept wishing Jeff could have made it. On Friday, we packed up the car and headed a couple of hours to Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington, NC.

Naturals Game

We went to the Naturals Game last night. It was our second time to go there. They did much better this time and won to the Travelers! Emily really enjoyed the game and was so excited about going! As you can see, she had to wear a hat like daddy!

Swim Ranch

Emily is taking swim lessons this week at the Swim Ranch. It's a really neat swim program here. This is a perfect week to go because the weather has actually cooperated. She is doing so good! She loves the kickboard the best! She got to go on the elephant slide today, but Roy did not take a picture of her on that. They get a sugar cookie at the end of the lesson every day. We will be back next summer I hope!

Busy Weekend!

We headed to Little Rock Friday to celebrate Mimi's 85th birthday! We had a great time and I must say, she looks GREAT for 85!!! On Saturday, we went to Matt and Neha's engagement picnic. It was very hot, but it was a lot of fun! The food was wonderful! I only took a couple of pictures that day. I hope someone sends me the group picture and I'll post it. On Sunday, we celebrated my brother-in-law (Blake)'s 30th birthday. I didn't bring my camera that day.

I am totally exhausted and I'm planning on staying home next weekend for sure! We are heading for our big trip in almost a week!

Emily is going to Swim Ranch this week, so I will post pictures of that later on this week once Roy comes to watch.

Bird's Nest

My mom made me a beautiful wreath for my birthday. Well, the birds thought it was so beautiful they decided to make it their home! We found a little nest on top of the wreath! I had Roy take a picture for me. I love that they found some purple and pink string somewhere too! We will have to keep watching for baby birds!

More Fun

Emily's kite!

Flying the kite

On the train (yes, again!)

On Saturday, we went to Roy's parents. The girls went to lunch, then stopped at Creekmore to ride the train and play, then we went shopping. The guys stayed at home supposedly to work on the new room. It got really windy, so Roy brought out Emily's kite. It's the first time she has flown one this year!

4th of July!

We had a fun 4th of July weekend! We headed down to Fort Smith to visit our family there. My mom and I took Emily swimming, then on the train at Creekmore. She loved it! After a yummy cookout, we headed downtown to see the big fireworks. She was a little scared of the fireworks, but said they were very pretty. I will have Saturday's activities with Roy's family updated in another post. Too many pictures!