let's boogie...

Well, hello again, blog readers.  I can't believe it's been so long since I (Amy) last sat down to post.  With a week of Daddy away for RUF staff training in Atlanta, you can imagine I've had my hands quite full!  But now that he's back, I should be back in the saddle again, too.  I have lots of posts swirling around in my head, so hopefully there will be time to DO them in upcoming days!


But first, may I introduce to you the OBX (Outer Banks) Boogie-Boarding crew, with the newest member, little Caroline!


Can you believe it?  This was a new frontier!  It added a whole new level of fun at the beach for her!


As a mom, I couldn't help but watch in amazement as she carried that board as big as HER(!) and then searched for the perfect wave to ride in.


And once she found it, there was nothing but joy on this girl's face!


Daddy had a BLAST with his sleek new board.


Like father, like daughter.


Cousin Trevor looking like the cool surfer that he is.


Hmmm... I wonder why Daddy's neck and back are killing him this week?  Let me think. ;-)

Here's 8 seconds of Daddy's week of fun:

And where am I this whole time, you wonder?

I'm here, of course.  (It's a much happier place for me than taking my chances with the jellyfish and 

sharks.)  ha! :)

You could also find me relaxing on the beach with my sis.

But even the photographer sometimes needs to get out from behind the camera, don't you think?

wild horses can't drag me away...

This place rocks.

We're out here on the north side of a teeny-tiny island, and a few miles from our beach house, the road literally ENDS.  Well, the pavement, that is.  But for those with a 4x4, you can keep driving on the BEACH!  (and there are whole neighborhoods up there that can only be accessed by driving on the beach- wild, eh?)


So our family made sure to rent a 4x4 vehicle for this trip and off we go!


I'll tell you what else is wild up here!  WILD horses that live here and roam the beach!  (I know- it's crazy!)

It's apparently illegal to lure them, feed them, or be within 50 ft. of them... but what do you do when they walk towards you, I wonder?  Unlike many of the sunbathers you see here, everyone in OUR car was going crazy at the sight! Come on, people!  Are you THAT accustomed to seeing WILD HORSES on the beach within FEET of you??  A few people started snapping pictures and standing to watch, but really I was surprised overall with what little reaction they got.


But naturally I hopped out of the car in hot pursuit of a good picture of these puppies.  Really all the effort and risk-taking was for you, my dear blog readers.  I will put myself in harm's way for you guys any day.


One of them momentarily stopped to roll around & cool down in the sand.


Got 'em!


Quick, Caroline!  Stand here and let me get a picture of you with the horses!


See ya later, horses!  This place is amazing!

cousins...

obx...

Ahhh.  We're here.  Greetings from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We're enjoying a wonderful week with my (Amy's) family.  

It's been fun teaching our family how to go crabbin'!

Look who caught one!

Someone's a little crabby in this picture.  

Life is good.

homestretch...

You know, some people like to spend their summers relaxing by a pool.

We, on the other hand, apparently like to break our backs with do-it-yourself home projects...

Tackling this kitchen has been the toughest one yet!  Not so much for the difficulty of labor, but how difficult it has been to LIVE in the space at the same time!  I knew it'd be hard, but man.  Mark. my. words.  I won't do this again.  :) 


Thankfully we are nearing the end of it now.  Want to see the progress?


Well, let's see.  I think this is about where we left off-- cabinets were being installed.


They looked sooo much more amazing when all the trim work and molding was completed along the tops.


I'm loving the glass cabinets.  And doors & drawers that shut on their own without a sound.  But I'll save that kind of stuff for the final tour...


My husband is a genius.  See that pipe running out the window?  You laugh, but after going sooooooo long with no dishwasher, he had the brilliant (and I mean brillant) idea to drain the water outside so we could start running dishes.  Oh, the ingenuity.


Yep, a little redneck perhaps, but oh well.  We are those people.
You do what you have to do.


Ahh, then it's time for some painting!  (which was interrupted by our power outage crisis)


We are ready for some countertops!


I still can't believe there used to be a wall there.


Countertops are here!, which means...


we now have a kitchen sink!  Running water!  Hooray!!  (Nanny was especially thrilled for us at that one!)

So now it's on to tiling the backsplash...

and as you can see, we've got an expert layout designer.


We're in the homestretch now!

ffffff..........

Fourth.


Family.


Friends.


Fire.


Fun.


Fantastic.