Brief visit from Rachel

For the Freys' spring break, Rachel drove herself and the three kids from Florida up to Durham (we just missing overlapping with them), and then drove alone out here to Sylva to hike for 3 days/2 nights along the Appalachian Trail with a friend. So we got to have her stay with us for the night before they started the hike, and the night after they finished! It's wonderful - even briefly - to share life and spend an evening chatting. And of course Timo had to give Auntie Rachel a tour of the house (even though they were here last summer), and then both boys showed off their bikes on a short walk over to the library.

The weather was really chilly the day she arrived and there was still some snow on the tops of the hills! But that night and early the next morning it rained, and then the weather cleared and was milder and mostly sunny throughout their hike.

Rachel and her friend Christy, who also lives in Gainesville and drove up for the hike (and supplied most of the gear)

And don't forget - the FIRST TIME EVER!!

At the ocean, that is! (I forgot to post these photos last week after we got back from Durham.)

Jaja and I were able to take the boys to the beach for a day, for their first time ever (yes, it was even Timo's first time at age 4) to see the sand and ocean. Even though it was early March, the day we were there was sunny and clear and about 70 degrees. And, thankfully, Wrightsville Beach (outside of Wilmington) is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Durham, so even though we only stayed for one night it was "worth it".

Seeing the excitement and sheer joyful energy on the boys' faces was amazing. I tried to capture a few photos with my phone, but mostly we just enjoyed ourselves and didn't try to overthink it. Timo spent almost the entire afternoon running up and down, squealing and yelling, "This is so fun!" Once he got his swimsuit on, he was jumping in the waves (even though it was too cold for me!) almost up to his waist. And yes, I had to chase down the sand to get him to come inside at dinnertime.

Mattias took his time a little more to get into the water, but it didn't take long before he was running after Timo and squealing with delight and digging his feet into the sand. I never saw him look fearful about the waves and the open space, even when he slipped and went face first into the edge of the water.

Swimsuits on now!

Mattias would run away from the waves and yell, "Hang on!"

Washing off before heading into the hotel

We had hoped to spend the next morning down on the sand, but the weather turned very chilly and very windy so instead we played in the hotel swimming pool and then went to a really cool local playground before we drove back home in the early afternoon. It was fun to play at the park since it is the same place where we Hawkins kids spent countless hours playing basketball over the years during our family trips to Wrightsville.

We were sorry to miss having Jim with us on this trip ... but we are resolved to go again together as a family. I definitely realized how fun and 'do-able' it would be now to take the boys to the beach for a family vacation. They loved it and were very content, and would be to play in the water and dig in the sand and look for shells and ride their bikes the whole day. And of course we were all completely exhausted and ready for bed by the end of the day!

crossing the channel and heading home...

Spring Break in Durham

While Jim travelled to the UK for ten days to visit partner campuses (on behalf of Western Carolina), we three stayed in Durham for a nice visit. It's been a mostly quiet week, with some warmish days but mostly chilly and some rain. We've stayed close to home - but of course made time for daily bike rides and a few treats, like riding the Duke campus bus and getting gougeres from a favorite bakery downtown.

Sorry, all, these photos were with my camera and don't feature Grandpa or JaJa or even myself! I will try to remedy that before we leave in two days!

Bike ride and bus ride on campus, plus a snack while waiting to meet Grandpa

"It's so beautiful!" Says Timo as they race into Duke Gardens

Playing hide and go seek with Grandpa in the new branch sculpture

Near-daily bike rides in the woods along Ellerbee Creek

And don't forget time to build roads!!

Our awesome new favorite

We have a lot of favorite activities in our house right now... Reading is at the top of the chart (both boys spend countless hours reading every day), and of course playing with cars, building Legos, wrestling with Daddy, digging or pushing trucks outside - but riding bikes is the one that has risen to the top lately, especially with the mild weather we've had this winter!

I am really enjoying it as well as I watch them riding together and growing in their strength and confidence. They encourage each other and really do love to race & crash & ride alongside each other. These boys are becoming best friends, and it's great to be in this time of life with them when they have the same interests and are both quite capable. Of course there are still meltdowns and some fighting... But I'm also aware of the special moment it is with them right now before a new baby comes and our routines shift. So we are taking full advantage!

Last week after our usual bi-weekly workout at the Waynesville rec center, I brought the boys' bikes and we went further down the trail and discovered that another huge section of the park was just across the creek - and includes a skate park. It's quiet during the weekdays so I've been letting the boys ride around on the ramps. They LOVE it and squeal and yell with delight and adrenaline: challenging themselves but in a mostly-safe setting. It is SO fun, and they really do go fast! Here are some photos from today's excursion.

Final Charleston post

Whoops - I had these photos ready to share and forgot to publish the post! So here, you go - our last day in Charleston was a sunny, windy Saturday. First thing in the morning we drove over the river (out of the downtown) and to the closest beach area, Sullivan's Island. It was AMAZING to see the open expanse of water and sand and smell the salty air. "Jim!" I exclaimed. "We have got to live near the beach someday!" (Afterwards I realized that four of our six combined siblings do indeed live very close to a coast.) I wish we had brought our jackets because it was still very windy; also it would have been nice to have some beach chairs so we could have sat and read our books into the afternoon... Instead we just enjoyed a slow stroll and watched all the dogs running around and a huge cargo ship slowly approaching the port.

took this picture of a stranded jellyfish to show Timo

Afterwards we visited Fort Moultrie on the end of the island (with a view toward Fort Sumter, which you can see over my shoulder in the photo). This fort was in use for the defense of Charleston from the Revolutionary War through World War II, and is now property of the national park system. We didn't even realize what we were getting into when we pulled in to the parking lot - we were just looking for a place to eat our picnic! But in fact it was really interesting to walk around and read & see the history of the fort during each of the wars. And then we sat and looked out to the canal while we happily ate our lunch. Oh, and Ft Moultrie flies a 15 stripe, 15 star flag (used 1795-1818)! Isn't that cool!

Our last evening we took another meandering walk around parts of the historic downtown and along White Point Gardens. We were 'joined' by quite a crowd of tourists, but I suppose that is normal in Charleston, even in February.

A little bit more baby belly to see on my in this photo below... and now, these legs are tired, let's go home for supper, and tomorrow back to Sylva to our boys!