Family Vacation --- The Last Days :-(

Please forgive me for not blogging the last few days of vacation but, as I'm sure you all know, One can become very distracted on vacation!

We had a very relaxing last few days in the beach house. Lots of family game time, eating out, movie theater (more on the movie later), and just hanging out.

The drive home wasn't so great; we were stuck in traffic for several hours, and didn't make it home until 9:30 last night....about 4 hours behind our original ETA. Over all it was a nice and relaxing time, although it is also nice to get home to my own bed :-)

Since I didn't post any pictures from the last few days, here are some of the kids with their hats and sunglasses I brought back from the OBX.

Family Vacation --- Day #4

Today has been the warmest day yet so me, Wray, and Sarah did a little souvenir shopping this morning and then spent a few hours down at the beach this afternoon. Therefore, not a lot of pictures were taken, but I did take a picture of the house yesterday so I thought I would share that with you.

Ta-Da!

Ha! Just kidding ;-) Here is a picture of the house we're really staying in. (sorry about the dead bush that is blocking part of the house, but I guess it kinda makes this post a little funnier :-) )

Well, I'll try to take some more pictures tomorrow! Its not supposed to be quite as warm so I shouldn't be spending as much time at the beach and will be able to take more pics.........

Family Vacation --- Day #3

Here we are, at the end of Day 3 already. It was finally warm enough to walk down to the beach! (Sorry about the space between the pictures. My computer is being stubborn)

Whats the point in climbing on top of a random rock in the middle of the beach if you can't take some fun pictures, right?

My hunky-surfer-dude-brother :-)

This is Wray, SAND surfing.....and getting his shorts full! Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike sand?

The Outer Banks have some really neat sand dunes. They entertained the three of us for quite a while today.

My favorite phrase this week has been, "You two are crazy!"....talking to Wray and Sarah of course

This is me, laughing at something Wray and Sarah were doing. My second favorite phrase has been, "I had nothing to do with it! It was Wray and Sarah!"

Cosette: I miss you, little lady! I'm going to call your house sometime tomorrow! You need to tell me what you have been up to with out me.....

Family Vacation --- Day # 2

The search for sea-food was a success! We found a little restaurant called 'Fishbones', and it was very enjoyable. Here are some pics from the dinner table......

Two cousins who have very different opinions of sea food....Sarah ordered coconut shrimp and crab dip, and I ordered chicken dumplings and a grilled chicken salad :-)

Wray, trying to figure out why he agreed to go on a vacation with his younger sister and cousins :-)

A lovely couple, enjoying their vacation!

.....waiting for his sea food.....his favorite part of the trip....

I promise this expression is not from my opinion of the food:-) I was just trying to make sure Wray got a picture of my better side! haha

.....And this expression is probably because she was looking in my direction :-)

As I am typing this, my family is behind me at the table playing Uno. I was playing but decided to take a break to share some photos with my friends back home.....and I lost my spot in the winners circle and moved back to 3rd place, so I escaped :-)

The weather is supposed to go up to the 60s tomorrow and Thursday, and the sun is supposed to finally make its appearance on this trip! Maybe it will be our beach day......

Family Vacation --- Day # 1

(I'll be taking a break from my ' Thankful Thoughts' posts this week to tell you about my family vacation.)

Day one of our vacation is coming to an end, and I can say that we have all had a great day! For the most part we just explored all of our possibilities for the coming week.....local sea food restaurants, shopping plazas, beach access, etc. And me and Sarah also.....well, the pictures can tell the rest :-)

Two of the bedrooms have jacuzzi tubs, so Sarah and I decided to see just how 'bubbly' we could get one. So, clad in our bathing suits, we dumped in some bubble bath and started the jets! We got the tub so full of bubbles that they started over-flowing onto the floor! We spent about 20 minutes cleaning up bubbles :-)

As you can see, its rather hard to rinse bubbles off if the ENTIRE tub is over flowing with them!

This precious little girl wanted to join in the fun! haha

Uncle Chris and my cousin Adam brought home humongous gumballs. I mean they were HUGE! By the time you were halfway through it you had a mouthful of gum already.

Here is Jenny, contemplating what she is supposed to do with such a big gumball......

.....ah, now she figured it out! :-)

I believe we're going to look around in some shops tomorrow, and hopefully find a nice restaurant to eat dinner in. So far, the weather has been very cloudy and chilly. It rained on our drive down and rained this evening as well. We talked to a local lady today who said it was 75-80 degrees last weekend, so we have hope! haha At this point I think we would all be happy with some sun shine :-)

Jaime: If you read this, please give Cosette and Eli and Noah a hug and kiss for me. Tell them I miss them already and wish they were here!

More pics to come tomorrow.......

Thankful Thoughts #3 --- Vacation :-)

This post is on a slightly 'easier' topic than my last. Next week this time, my family wll be looking out over this ------------>

We're leaving this Sunday after church and will return late the following Sunday. We're all looking forward to some relaxation and time spent with my uncles family.

Mine and Sarah's spring break from school just happened to fall on the same week, so we couldn't pass up this opportunity
:-)

So, I suppose this post is about being thankful for some away time. Although I'll hopefully blog a few times while we're down there, I'm looking forward to getting away from everything for a few days.

Look out warm weather....here we come! :-)

Thankful Thoughts # 2 --- Pizza Ponderings

Mom and Dad were out for the evening, so Me, Wray and Luke ordered a pizza from a local pizza shop. I called and placed the order at approximately 7pm; they said they would deliver it ASAP. So, we waited.....

and waited.....

and waited.....

and just to make things interesting,

we waited some more.

We all started complaining about how hungry we were and how ridiculous this was. Two HOURS later we finally heard a knock on the door, and lo and behold....there was our pizza! Finally we were able to satisfy our grumbling stomachs.

So here I sat, so happy to be eating my pizza, and agreeing with the others that we won't be ordering delivery from that pizza shop again, when a little voice popped into my head. It was Cosette's voice. I was remembering a time she was telling me about a little girl who lived

"far, far away in another country. She doesn't have any food,

and she is always hungry. Wouldn't that be awful, aunt Kristin?"

Yes, indeed it would. And here I was, complaining that the pizza didn't show up at our front door fast enough. How thankful we should be that we live in a country were we have food available to us....24/7. We don't have to worry about whether or not we'll have any food tomorrow.....or for the next week.

Think About It!

Thankful Thoughts # 1

(As per the suggestion of several people, I am going to be doing multiple posts about things that I am thankful for, "Thankful Thoughts". I hope you enjoy reading them! )

What else should my first 'Thankful Thoughts' post be about other than my niece and nephews? To me, they are...oh, whats that word I'm looking for? ....adorable, maybe ? :-)







Here are some thoughts in pictures....just to prove my 'adorable' point....:-)







Cosette spent the night at my house last week. We were laying on my bed reading a bed time story when a thought suddenly hit me. I mean, I had obviously thought about this before, but this time..for some odd reason...it really HIT me. Here I was taking care of my SISTER's daughter. I was reading her a bedtime story just like Jaime used to read to me. How precious the memories we make!







This little man has the cutest little laugh. He loves to laugh when I make funny faces at him ( when no one else is looking, of course :-) ) However, you can't count the times he makes his Aunt Kristin laugh! I watched them last Friday evening while Joel and Jaime went out; I'm not sure how it happened because he had a cup with a lid, but Eli spilled his juice on the kitchen floor.
"Uh-oh, Aunt Tistin! I spill' my yuice!" I went to the counter to grab some paper towels and turned back around to find Eli down on all fours, sucking the 'yuice' up off the floor. Well, I guess it saves on the cost of paper towels :-)







This little guy will always have a special place in my heart. He has an older sister and an older brother, just like me :-) I find myself taking up for him more often than not, and I believe that is the reason why!
Last Friday evening after his mommy and daddy had left, he crawled over to me, pulled himself up using the bottom of my pants, and looked up at me with a slightly concerned look on his face. So I picked him up and he snuggled up real close to me. It makes this Aunt pretty happy to know that when mommy isn't around, I'm a pretty good replacement :-)




My favorite Cosette and Eli sayings :

Eli: Aunt Tistin, you're my best friend!





Cosette: Aunt Kristin, when I grow up I want to be a ballet-er...just like you!

.....More 'Thankful Thoughts' posts to come soon.....

Encouragement....Or Not?

I couldn't help it! I came across this cartoon and it made me laugh...

...cry maybe... haha

Just thought I would share it with you

Enjoy your day and until next time, be Encouraged :-)

".....but let us encourage one another daily....." Hebrews 3:13