Vacation Catch Up!

After being gone for so long, it is time for catch up.  I need to catch up on my laundry/house cleaning.  I need to catch up with my friends.  And I need to catch up on blog posts.  I am hoping I remember everything.  Part of the reason I have a blog is to record things for me to look back at because I am not good at keeping a journal.  So, here we go.  Be prepared for a long post!

After visiting my grandparents, Travis, Nathan and I drove down to Emerald Isle.  We have been going to Emerald Isle for family reunions since I was a baby.  There are only two years that I have ever missed (2000 because of band camp and 2011 because of our honeymoon).  I love going there for many reasons.  First, because it is the rare time that everyone is together (aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, parents, etc.).  Second, because it is low stress.  We all kind of just do what we want.  There is no set plan or agenda to stress about.  Third, because it is a nice, uncrowded family beach.

 After arriving on Sunday, everyone just hung out and talked inside.  As we were preparing to go to the Coomb's house (we are too big for Slingshot now, so there were 3 houses this year) for dinner, we walked outside to a black sky.  It was crazy!  You could literally see the clouds and storm rolling in!  Travis, Nathan, Andrew and myself were all planning on biking over since it was only a couple blocks down the road.  As we were riding, we could feel the wind getting stronger and there were lots of cold pockets.  I felt like I was on the Wizard of Oz.  Everyone arrived safely, but we were soon stuck inside due to the powerful winds and rain.  The doors of the house were bowing in it was so strong.  I thought it was kind of fun being in the storm.
 Some of my little cousins after the storm

On Tuesday (I think), Travis and I went with the Coombs' family to see the Cape Lookout lighthouse.  We drove out to Harker's Island then took a ferry over to the lighthouse.  We did not get to go in but it was really pretty.  This was my first time seeing a light house so close.  Everyone played on the beach for a while before heading back.  On the drive home, Travis and I stopped in Morehead City to do some window shopping.  

 

 

On Wednesday, Travis, Nathan and I went kite surfing.  This was the highlight of the trip.  Something I really like about Travis is how adventurous he is.  I love that no matter where we are, he finds something new and fun for us to try.  I was a little hesitant at first, but I am so glad we went.  I had so much fun.  We started out on a 3 meter trainer kite.  They taught us how to control the kite and pull ourselves up using the kite's power.  After learning how to control it (which is harder than you would think) we went in the water.  We basically did the same thing as when we were standing, but this time we used the kite to pull us along in the water.  After mastering that, we were moved to the big kites.  I think they were 7 meters.  These big kites were powerful!  As I was using the kite to pull me up, it pulled me a couple feet off the ground even with our trainer holding on to me.  We went in the water with the big kites, but our time ran up before we were able to try it with the boards.  I am ok with that because I probably would have crashed on the board.  Travis loved it and wants to go back next year to learn how to use the board.  Apparently it is one of the fastest growing adventure sports.  The guy was telling us that people use kites with skateboard and snowboards too.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures doing this.  Nathan used his GoPro camera to record it all, but it is long and not super exciting so just imagine that this is me!  :)

On Friday, Travis' sister Courtney and her family came to visit.  We pretty much just hung out on the beach with them and went to the aquarium.  I was so glad that they were able to come.  Travis has a really big family so I still feel like I am getting to know all of them!
We took some family pictures of them, but did not get any with them.  

 All the other days, we hung out on the beach, played in the ocean, played goofy golf and had a bocce ball tournament.  It started to storm so we couldn't finish all the brackets, but I am pretty sure Travis and I would have won!  We had one game left to determine that we were the champions.

It was a great trip and so good to see everyone.  Maybe next year Lindsay will be able to join us!