And then it was Spring . . .

OK- Better late than never. Here is the Spring Break blog I started forever ago that wouldn't let me post pictures. . .

Alas, today, while I was at work, I realized an entire month has passed with no blogging. Shameful. In case you're wondering, we are now living in our house. (The stove might still be in the middle of the kitchen floor, and we may only be able to shower in one bathroom, but living in our house we are.) We managed to get in just before my parents arrived for a spring break extravaganza. (2 days before, in fact. Wow. Talk about cutting it close.) Here are the details of the spring break festivities (most of which involve the creation of new words):

There was aquarium-ing. We went to the aquarium at Atlantic Beach and had a great time. I hate zoos, but I love aquariums. There's something so soothing about the dark, cool exhibits. My favorite were the otters--I fell in love.

Like father . . .

like son . . .

Charleston-ing, which included plantation-ing. We went to Boone Plantation. Life would be pretty hard if this was your house,


this was your driveway,

and this was your yard.

The grounds were beautiful and we had a great time. It was also fun to watch The Notebook again and see all of the places we recognized from our trip.

Jared and me on the ride around the plantation.

Of course, Charleston-ing wouldn't have been complete without some longing to live there because of houses like this:


And gardens like this:

Of course, I've always loved old houses, so a town like Charleston feels like the perfect fit for me. I called Chad the day we got there and informed him that we will be living there some day. It feels old and quaint, but still has this trendy, hip feel about the entire city. I think I could grow old there. Sigh . . .

Of course, a trip to Charleston wouldn't have been complete without a bit of ghost-touring:

I'm quite sad that mom didn't get a shot of our tour guide's face, so this one of his hands will have to suffice. I was petrified by the idea of a ghost tour. I don't do well with scary movies (picture me scared to walk across a room in the dark for at least a week after viewing), and one of my main causes for rejoicing about getting married was the realization that I would never again have to go to one of those stupid haunted houses/corn mazes on a date. My imagination is WAY too active to endure those kinds of things, so the thought of a ghost tour--not so appealing. They dragged me along, and the minute I saw our tour guide, I wanted to back out. He was one of the strangest looking ducks I've ever seen. Luckily, it turned out not to be so bad. It was mostly just interesting history about the "ghosts" who haunt the city. I kept waiting for someone to jump out at us, like they do in those corn mazes (that cause me to question--how do I KNOW this is an employee of this establishment, and not some loony who wandered in here with a REAL chainsaw?) but no one did. Phew!


After enjoying the city of Charleston (complete with some of the BEST Italian cuisine I've ever tasted), it was time to do some Cypress-Gardens Touring:



These beautiful gardens were the site where Noah takes Ally for a rowboat cruise through swan-filled waters in The Notebook. Warning: If you are an animal right's activist, I would not suggest going here. You'll find yourself realizing the probability of no swans being killed during filming in these alligator-infested waters is pretty much zero to none. That's probably why there wasn't a swan in sight. Reality is never as grand as the movies. We did spot a white egret, which was a bit of a treat:

You had two options: a self-guided, free boat tour, or a paid for tour guide to row you around. We opted for the free one. Dad and Jared agreed to row us. This proved to be hysterical, and I'm pretty sure mom and I should have been doing the rowing, as we were very bad back-seat rowers. "You're not doing it right! Jared, move your oar this way! No, Dad, THAT way!" I couldn't stop laughing, and the look on the face of the other boaters as we turned in circles and attempted not to run into trees was priceless. Once they got the hang of things, it was a peaceful ride.



This creepy critter was one of the ones we spotted on our cruise:

There were also beautiful walking trails, swings where you could sit and enjoy the scenery, and lots of wild life.



After a few days in the Charleston area we were able to meet Chad for the weekend at Myrtle Beach. There's nothing like some beach time. If only it'd been warm enough to play in the water. Oh well, maybe next time.



After a great week with Dad and Jared, they had to head home. We were lucky enough to have Mom stay for an extra week. Festivities while she was here, included lots of shopping. First thing on the list: rugs. With all the hardwood in this house, our footsies are going to get pretty cold without something more plush to walk on. We managed to find some great steals at a place my sister, Lauren, found called Ollie's. The only problem, the rug I wanted was at the VERY BOTTOM of a huge pile. My sister, Meredith, was with us at the store and the employees had us in stitches. They were hilarious. Here's a photo of them retrieving my rug.


I love how Meredith is helping them roll it up while I stand there and watch. Sorry, Geeze!

Mom and I also went to do a historical house and gardens tour in New Bern with Lauren and her mom, Beth. My favorite house, which wasn't actually part of the tour, was this one:



After renovating our house for the last seven months, I swore to Chad I had moved on from my fantasy of buying an old house and fixing it up. New Bern changed my mind. I've decided I could still do it. As long as we paid someone else to do all the work! I just love the charm of old houses. Either we're going to live in an old house, or we're going to have to build a new house that looks like an old one. It's just a given.

We also took Mom, along with Chad's family, to a Kinston Indians Game, courtesy of the little bank. It was a great night for baseball and there were even some killer fireworks at the end of the night.

Even in the midst of all of the two weeks of excitement, we still had time to do fun mother-daughter stuff like rent pointless movies and watch them. It was great having my family here for a while, even though it was very hard to say goodbye.

All this reminiscing about spring break is making me long for a longer vacation. In case you were wondering, Monday is now over. 17 days until summer!!!