Vacation

I managed to put these pictures in order of last to first. So I will begin the story backwards.

We got home from NC early this week and had a wonderful time with family and friends.

We ended with a little day trip to Wilmington, where it happened to be Downtown Dog Days. There were a million doggies all over town (on leashes) and I'm pretty sure Claire said "dog". Gabriel loved it! The weather was ideal, so it was a lovely outing.
This is David's family as we were leaving the beach. We had an awesome time together playing games and eating fresh crab legs (the best ever!) and strawberry pie. We also had an American Idol party as we watched the season finale.
Claire learned that she loves to touch sand, but it doesn't taste very good.
We watched the moon rise over the ocean for a few nights while making smores on the grill. It was so beautiful!
Gabriel loved the ocean!!! He owned that beach, running all over the shore all week. He's running from the water with Grandma, which he did many, many times.

Me and my baby girl.

We went back to town from the beach to see David's brother, Tony, graduate from high school. The ceremony was awesome! He went to a small school with a principal who knew everyone's name. There was so much heart and soul put into the ceremony. As the students exited the ceremony, the principal shouted each of their names and told them that she loved them as they stood up and walked by. It was tear jerking. We're so proud of you, Tony!

As we were walking on the pier at the beach, we watched a man catch a shark, gut it, and cut it up into steaks. My mother-in-law asked him if we could buy some from him since we'd never tasted shark and he just gave her a huge bag full of shark meat. He told her how to fry it up and we went home and ate shark. It was delicious.

Claire was hilariously nasty when ice cream wasn't in her mouth. She knows the good stuff:)

While in Raleigh, I was able to get together with my best good friends from high school days. I don't think we've all been in the same room together since my wedding day. It was so good to be reminded that we're still friends.

Gabriel, Catherine, Asher, Holly, Kimmy, Ava, me & Claire

First we stayed at my sister's house, where I shamefully didn't get any pictures of their sweet dog. Virgil is the best. Gabriel and Claire loved him and my nieces were hilarious telling me all about their new dog. Gabriel had the best time playing with his cousins; he missed them when we left because he only had adults to play with again.
Gabriel and Anya picking strawberries for our delicious strawberry ice cream! Thanks for having us, Katy!