We had a great Christmas this year, keeping things low-key with no travel. We enjoyed having Grandpa here for a few days and getting together with friends at the Martins for Christmas dinner.
Lake Lure
Even though we’ve lived in North Carolina more than four years now, our family hadn’t spent time in the western mountains before last week. We rented a cabin for six days on Lake Lure, just east of Asheville, where Dirty Dancing and Last of the Mohicans were filmed.
We were greeted on our arrival Sunday night by a bat in the cabin, who lost an epic battle and was cast out into the night–mostly unharmed. The week was full of relaxation and adventures, including hiking, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and a visit to America’s largest home, Biltmore. Our rustic cabin featured a pool table and brook in the back yard. The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows and playing with animals.
Durham Museum of Life and Science
Grandma is visiting for the week, celebrating both her birthday and Independence Day with us. We had a great time today at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. This was our first time there despite having heard much about it for the past four years. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.
North Carolina Zoo
After living in North Carolina for almost four years, we finally made it to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. We had a great time and made it early enough in the day to beat the rush.
Christmas 2010
We had a great time celebrating Christmas with family in CT and PA the past couple weeks. All of both sides of the family were able to congregate at the respective grandparent homes. Joan and Harmony went up from FL, Cordell and Sarah’s crew came out from OR, and Talia and MK came down from VT (hitting a dear while en route).
I forgot the camera at home, so all photos and videos from the trip are from my cell phone (excluding those from the pro photo sessions in both CT and PA). Seeing how this is probably the fastest I’ve managed to get pictures online following an event, the convenience tradeoff may have been worth it.
We had such a fantastic time seeing everyone. It was our first time meeting Briana, Cordell and Sarah’s new daughter. It was amazing to see how well our kids played with the cousins. I’m not sure I’ve seen Ember play with anyone as much she did with Silvia this trip. Eden still mentions Devon and Jeremy (remembering names like this is a real feat for a one-year-old). Sierra is always very excited to see Harmony, the lone cousin near her age.
I really enjoyed taking two weeks off from work. It had been a while since I took a vacation, and this one was especially relaxing. My mom spent a lot of time cooking in advance keeping kitchen duties to a minimum and with both families we rarely ventured out. We mostly just had fun catching up on what everyone has been up to.
Outer Banks 2010 Part 1
I still have many more photos to go through from our OBX trip earlier this summer, but I thought I’d at least try to share some from the first half of the week since the months are rapidly ticking by.
We really enjoyed ourselves on this trip. After living in North Carolina for 3 years, this was our first visit to the beach we had heard so much about. We planned our excursion for early May in order to beat the summer crowd, which ended up working out great for us. The only downside was that the water was too cold for any real ocean activities. We had plenty of fun, however, making sandcastles, spending time at the pool, exploring local restaurants, and seeing the great sights nearby.
Some of the highlights from the first days included seeing the Bodie and Hatteras lighthouses, visiting the Wright Brothers’ First in Flight monument, and scaling the dunes at Jockey Ridge Park. While at the Hatteras lighthouse, we bumped into the family of Brian Schlag, a former missionary I served with in Germany, who also happened to live for a while near my parents outside of Philly.
I’ll try to get the rest of the photos up soon.
Varini Reunion
This shot is badly out of focus, but I had to post it since it is so rare to have the entire US-based Varini clan together at the same time. We had a blast during their visit and hope to see everyone again soon.
Rare Family Photo
We don’t have a lot of photos with the entire family because one of us is usually behind the camera. One evening while we are at the beach at OBX, a woman claiming to be a professional photographer offered to take a few shots of us. She explained that because she didn’t have her glasses, our expectations shouldn’t be too high. Though not perfect, we were happy to get this impromptu capture.
Ember’s Fourth Birthday
Between Ember’s birthday, Easter, and General Conference, the first weekend of April is always very busy for us. This year Ember decided to celebrate by hosting a Fancy Nancy birthday party. Several of her friends came by for dress up, butterfly crafts, and cupcake decorating… all between two sessions of General Conference. Grandma was here to join in the festivities, and took the lead on directing some of the crafts.