Visiting Friends from the AT

Olivia & Grandma enjoying the beach with Nate & Sandy

     Monday morning we got up and headed down to have the free continental breakfast with our family members at the motel lobby. It was hard to believe the wedding was over and done. We said our good-byes and were on the road by 8 or so. We were headed to Ocean Isle Beach to visit our friends Mark (Skidmark) & Pat that we met on the Appalachian Trail back in 2011.

"Skid" enjoying the Appalachian Trail

     Olivia was excited to be headed for the beach. We told Olivia she would have a good time visiting Pat & Mark and that Mark would tease her for sure. When we arrived at their beach house around 1:30 or so, Mark and his son Nate met us. Pat is teaching Math at a local high school and wouldn't be home until later on. We decided to head down to the beach to give us a chance to stretch our legs after a 5 plus hour drive. Sandy, their yellow Lab, came along with us. Olivia raced up and down the beach looking for sea shells and splashing thru the waves.

Mark helps Olivia wash sand off her feet

     Olivia and Mark bonded almost immediately. He took her down to their dock and showed her his crab trap. Shortly after that he had her fishing from the dock. We enjoyed catching up with Mark and meeting Nate as well. Pat arrived home sometime after 3 and we enjoyed getting to see her again too. For dinner we headed down to Calabash, a famous seafood town, to eat out at Ella's. All five of us enjoyed shrimp dinners that were the best I can ever remember. Thank you Pat & Mark for the great meal. We headed home and enjoyed talking trail and just catching up in general until it was time to head to bed.

Olivia helping Mark with the crab trap

Fishing time!!

Great shrimp dinner @ Ella's

Olivia and her buddy

Pat & Joyce outside of Ella's

     Tuesday morning Pat headed to school and Mark and us went up to Wilmington to the North Carolina Aquarium. With is being May, it seemed 

every school in the area decided it was a great day to do a field trip. We had

a nice time and Olivia was especially pleased when we discovered a nice playground outside of the aquarium.

 After we left the aquarium we made a brief stop by Cape Fear Military Historic Park before stopping for lunch at Mickey D's. We then drove back to Pat & Mark's, Sarah, Nate's daughter was waiting to play with Olivia. The girls are only a month apart in age and they had a great time together. We took them to a nice playground nearby to play for awhile. They really played hard, but we think Mark played even harder. After a wonderful supper that Pat prepared we all just enjoyed our time together. Sarah was picked up around 8 and she and Olivia hugged good-bye and said they would be friends forever. Everyone was tired and after Olivia enjoyed a bubble bath she once again chose to sleep in the loft on the love seat. We had a wonderful time visiting Pat and Mark and as such the time went far too fast. Thank you Mark & Pat for being such wonderful hosts. We will miss you a lot. We got up early Wednesday and after breakfast we said good-byes and headed towards Natural Bridge, VA. I'll continue with the rest of the trip next posting.

 Olivia & Sarah @ Barbie's Beach (at one of the neighbors)

 The girls enjoying the playground

The girls having fun with Mark

Travel to Scott & Melinda's Wedding

     Last weekend we picked up our 4 year old granddaughter, Olivia, in lower Michigan on the way to attend our nephew's wedding near Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Scott married a wonderful young lady, Melinda, who grew up around the Raleigh area and still lives there and works for the family business. The wedding was at Rosa Lee Manor on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful, peaceful setting in the mountains. Our daughter Jenni, and her boyfriend, Songo, visiting from South Africa for 3 weeks flew in to Charlotte and drove a rental care up to meet us. Songo had just run the Toronto Marathon the previous weekend. Sunday morning we had some spare time so we headed out for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway after we had breakfast.

Songo, Olivia, Joyce & Jenni @ Mabry Mill

Olivia enjoying the flume

Olivia along the BRP

Olivia & Jenni all ready for the wedding

Around 3pm we headed to the wedding and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon 

with temperatures in the low 70's but breezy. We enjoyed the ceremony

and reception that followed on the inn's property. Congrats to Scott & Melinda!

 Rosa Lee Manor

 First dance!

They're married!!

Melinda and her father Perry

Leaving the reception - honeymoon time

     We had a wonderful time at the wedding. We continued to travel over the next week with Olivia. We had a great trip and I will continue the trip in my next blog posting.

Changing Seasons...Enjoying Wildlife

Whitetail deer enjoying our front shrubs

     When we arrived home 3 weeks ago it was still very much winter at home 

in the UP. We had at least a foot of snow in the driveway with drifts nearly double that. We still needed to use snowshoes to go walking in the woods. With temps in the 30's & 40's the snow was melting slowly. We noticed that our front shrubs had been providing meals for the deer while we were away this winter. One morning a few days after we came home I was sitting in the living room watching the news when I noticed a pair of ears sticking up above the front porch wall. Sure enough there was a deer, in fact 2 deer, eating one of our shrubs even though it was covered by a snow and ice protection shed.

A day or so later I came down the stairs and noticed several deer on the north side of our house, including 2 laying down, as I looked out the bay window in the dining room. A day later in the same spot the deer had been laying a skunk wander up and laid down for an hour or so before moving on. It always seems like as the seasons change we see a lot of wildlife moving through close to our house.

2 deer laying just past the fence and others back to the right side

Mr Skunk taking a nap

     Finally over the past week we have enjoyed temps in the 60's and 70's with lots of sunshine. The snow is mostly gone and we are enjoying our daily walk in the woods for 3 or 4 miles on dry ground. We have had turkeys wandering around our property lately and have seen a few snowshoe hares as well. 

    Well we are off to North Carolina this weekend to our nephew Scott's wedding to Melinda. We are taking our granddaughter Olivia with us and will be gone a week. More on all this next time I make an entry to this blog.