The White Whales

Carefree Summer Days

A Real Big Boy Bed

We’ve never been in a hurry to switch our kids into bigger beds and have always just figured they’ll let us know when they’re ready.  Lately, since our move, Hayden’s been wanting to nap in our guest bedroom on the big queen bed.  He’s been doing really well sleeping in there, and he started asking for us to get him a new big bed for his room.  So, this weekend we bought him a new bed.  Boy, was he excited after Daddy put it all together and he got to use his new bedding.  He slept really well last night and even made his bed this morning (let’s hope this lasts).  What a big boy, we’re so proud of him!  Now, on to the task of putting up his name letters above his bed.  Sounds like a job for Papa, me and his laser level.

The Boys’ First Time to The University of Iowa!

Jamie and I are obviously HUGE Hawkeye fans and have always loved going to Iowa City.  We have so many memories there; it’s where we both went to college, met, and got married.  Since we’ve been in North Carolina for so long, we haven’t had a chance to go back or take the boys.  So, for Mother’s Day this year, I was super excited to take the boys and spend the day there.  Although it was a bit windy, it was so awesome to be back and the four of us had a great time.  The boys loved playing by the Old Capital Building, where we used to study and watch the world go by in college.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day than to be with my boys in Iowa.  I’m sure we’ll be  back a lot in the future, and you never know, maybe one or both of them will go there one day!

Goodbye Bedford Ridge

Finally, I’m updating our blog about our move!  It’s definitely been a while and we’re getting all settled into our new house and home.  We left about three weeks ago and have been quite busy ever since.  The move went really well actually,  and we were lucky again with the moving company.  They were so awesome and we didn’t have to do a thing.  The movers packed us all up, moved everything, and even helped us unpack the boxes when we arrived.  Great guys!  We ended up driving back, but stayed in Chapel Hill for our last night in NC.  After leaving Bedford Ridge, we had a picnic dinner on UNC’s campus (so beautiful).  The kids had fun running around and enjoying the day.  We stopped in Indiana to spend the night and then we were off to our new home.  The closing on the house went well and the kids were well behaved (phew!) and were excited to run around their new house.  It’s been nice to be home again, but kind of surreal, almost as if we hadn’t been gone for 4 1/2 years. We bought a newly constructed house again, so as you can see from the picture, we have a lot of work to do  inside and out.  I’m always up for a decorating challenge though.  The four of us are excited to be home and are blessed that everything with the move went so well!

Saving the Best for Last

One of the first places that everyone said that Jamie and I needed to visit when we moved to North Carolina was The Outer Banks.  Well, after four and half years here, we finally made it.  It seems like we’ve checked out every other beach along the way, because we thought that it would take longer to get there from Raleigh.  This past weekend, however, we were pleasantly surprised, because it only took us a little over three hours to get to Nags Head.  It was the perfect last trip for the four of us to take.  The Outer Banks was one of our favorite places that we’ve visited; it was beautiful.  We started off going straight to the Bodie Island Lighthouse (a must for me) and then going across the street to the beach.  The beach was awesome and so remote.  There were no houses or condos near where we were, and hardly any people as well.  It was too cold for us to go swimming, so the boys ran around the beach and LOVED playing in the sand.  Since we were having such a nice, relaxing time there, we went ahead and had our last picnic on the beach.  Next, we drove up North to Kitty Hawk and went to the Wright Brothers Memorial.  It was also neat to see where they had their first successful flight.  On our way home, Jamie and I talked about how wonderful it’s been to take little trips like these and explore part of the East Coast.  We’ve been very blessed the past four years to live in such a cool area and to have met such wonderful people.  What fond memories we’ll have of North Carolina!!!  We’ll definitely miss it, but are now very excited for the next chapter of our lives in Illinois.