We Monsons have been staying at home too much! We haven’t really gone anywhere since we moved here! We did go to Utah for Christmas, but we haven’t had a chance to see anything outside of the Triangle in NC. UNTIL NOW!!!!!
In the southeast corner of North Carolina, there is a city called Wilmington that is pretty well THE beach city for people who live around us. It is only about 2.5 hours of driving to get there and it has tons of fun things to do! I guess there is a UNC Wilmington, and I find myself wondering if I would have ever actually graduated from college had I lived in a beach town. Good thing Provo doesn’t have a beach. 🙂
Anyway, Josh worked a half day on Friday, and we headed out of Chapel Hill around 12:30. When we got to Wilmington, we checked into our hotel and the first thing we did was (at Fay’s request) go to the hotel swimming pool.
Josh and I took turns playing with Fay in the water and holding Carter on the side. This is Josh helping Fay to be a mermaid. She kept declaring that she was a mermaid like Ariel!
At the pool they had music playing. This is one of the songs that played. I thought it was pretty groovy. You should leave a comment on what you think about it! If you do, I will tell you a secret about it!
By the time Fay had gotten her fill of swimming, it was dinner time, so we looked online for yummy places to eat. We found this place called Island Fresh Mexican Grill. It was really close to our hotel and had a TON of people there! It was really good, too! We decided that it was like a combination of Rubio’s, Rumbi, and Cafe Rio. After dinner we took Fay to a park, which we were told once we were there was the best park in Wilmington. Way to go GPS for finding it! We also got some Brownie Pillows from the Fresh Market. Those are probably the most genius dessert ever created. For those of you in North Carolina that have yet to try them, DO IT! They are something else!
Saturday was our beach day! Fay loved it with all her heart!
She played in the actual ocean/waves/thing for only a few minutes, but she loved finding places where water had pooled in the sand and just staying there forever. She threw a bunch of sand, built about 30 snowmen in it, and had a good handful of it in her swimsuit by the time we were done!
Carter chilled in the shade tent (thank you a MILLION, Emily Warburton!) and slept a good portion of our time at the beach. Josh and I took turns with the kids again.
Look at that little stud!
This is Josh being super hot at the beach!
And this is the only picture of me for our whole time at the beach. If you look in the upper right hand corner, you can see me in the shade tent. I’m feeding Carter, but I’m at the beach!
Later on Saturday (after lunch and naps for everyone!), we went down to the pier where we could see the USS North Carolina and other, much less impressive, boats. Then we went home and went swimming again!
Thanks to the random guy with a cigar who offered to take a picture of all four of us together! I love how Fay is mid-yawn!
On Sunday, we went to church at the ward that met at 9:00 so we would have time to do one more thing before we had to head home. It turned out to be the Wilmington 2nd ward wherein one of the elders who used to be in CH2, Elder Lee, is currently serving. That was cool. Also, a guy who is a brother to a guy in my home ward was also in the ward. I seriously love the Gospel so much! I love that there are connections everywhere because it is true everywhere!
After church we went to the Aquarium!
Awesome ironic picture of Fay! Look at her face and then look at her shirt!
Fay loved the fish! She would get super excited and say “BIG!!!!” whenever there were a lot of them! We had lots of fun at the aquarium; but by the time it was over, we were all ready to go home.
And though it was a much needed vacation, and we had a ball the whole time, it is nice to be back home just doing our normal little thing!
Elisabeth I always love your posts! Also, I love that wrap thing you are holding Carter in–you’re such a fashionable mom!
I listened to the song! I liked the words and it did have a fun kind of groovy beat like you said. I thought the singer’s voice was a pretty low alto and she sings in her chest, so she kind of reminds me of Nickelback, but the girl version 🙂
Anyway, what are your thoughts? And what’s the secret??!!
The secret is that I definitely thought it was a boy singing when I heard it. I was bummed when the Grooveshark insert thing said who the artist was, because I thought that others would also think it was a boy, and then the secret was going to be that it is, in fact, a girl. Alas. Not much of a secret, under the current circumstances. 🙂
I don’t recognize the song, but I like it! Looks like a really peaceful and beautiful beach…ahhhh I love the beach. How fun you got to go on a vaca together.