The beach beats the heat

It has been hot, hot, HOT! I mean sweat-pouring-down-your-face-and-back-the-moment-you-step-outside hot. So Friday we went to the beach to beat the heat.

Cambry took off to the waves the moment we got there.

She was much more adventurous this time. What a difference two months make. She was charging the waves rather than running from them and surprisingly stable when the waves would crash on her.

Vienna, our little jack-o-lantern (see that little tooth!), loved the beech this time around. She would sit in our laps and splash as the waves lap over here chubby legs.

Cambry in beach bliss.

Cambry loved making, but mostly finding others', 'tall, tall, tall' sand towers.

All the girls together playing in the shallows.

Cambry got some fun mommy time kicking the waves

Vienna got to nap for a little bit. 

Cambry and I made some sand towers, but Cambry was more interested in the dug out holes that would fill with water.

This is first time that Cambry has really let me toss her like this. It was so fun. She usually latches onto my arm or hands with a death grip.

Look at this happy, but extremely tired face. Her eyes barely open and all puffy. She was so exhausted, but couldn't stop playing. We finally had to leave when she was switching between hysterical laughter and sobbing cries every minute.

Passed out in a matter of seconds of being strapped into the car. She played herself to utter exhaustion.

The trip to the beach definitely kept us cool and made for one happy, exhausted family

Sara comes to visit: Part 2

Fort Fisher Aquarium.  So nice to go there when most kids are in school. I love this place

It's so creepy to be this close to a croc.

Look at those big mouths!

Cambers is much more daring this time.  She put her hand in the water and hovered a couple inches above the sand sting ray.

Carolina Beach.  

It was only 80 degrees, so not too many people to share the beach with. We were the ONLY ones in swimsuits and in the water.  It was a perfect North Carolinian Autumn day and we had a lot a fun playing in the water and sand.

Cambers would come up to camp for snacks and marched right back down to the water. 

Vienna woke up to eat, and went right back to sleep.

 Cambry loved Sara.  Sara was so fun with her.

Which way is the ocean again Cambers?

Visitors!!

This post was done two weeks ago, but was deleted by blogger. There are more recent posts after this one. So make sure you scroll down to see all of them.

We had 2 visitors in 2 weeks! Our first visitor was my sister Jessica. This is picking her up from the airport- Right when the picture was taken, a bug flew on Jess's cheek which resulted a fantastic photo.

It was so nice outside and Salt Lake had a blizzard that morning, we decided to enjoy the outdoors and we packed up our dinner and took it out to a little pond close to home and had an evening picnic.

Devin was in the midst of finishing up his semester, so it was extra nice to have constant company from one of my favorite people. We went to this sweet farmer's market in Raleigh that had everything from knick knacks like black gnomes to Cajun flavored squeaky cheese (which is surprisingly good).

We picked up some sweet potatoes and made some sweet potato fries for the first time. We gave them a B+

Jess, Cambry, and I spent an afternoon picking Strawberries at Jean's Strawberry patch. I have been wanting to do this since I saw people doing this when I was a missionary in So Cal, but never got around to it (weird I was busy doing other things). So 8 years later, I'm checking off something on my bucket list.

Jess was really good at finding the huge prime ones while I laughed at Cambry getting so excited to touch so many new things. We didn't get as many as we thought we did, and once we ate one (seriously THE BEST berries I've ever had) we wished we had more.

We made delightful Strawberry shortcake after dinner.

One day the three of us went to the Museum of Art that has some awesome displays right now of Rodin's sculptures, African American art, and Egyptian art. I don't think I was supposed to take pictures, so this is the only one I got.

Apex Lake is around the corner from my house and has a beautiful 2 mile paved trail that goes completely around it. This was so nice to just walk and talk and catch up with each other. I think Jess got a little overwhelmed with how green it is here. The whole time she was here, she kept looking for mountains or some land mark to help her know which direction we were heading but all she could see was green!

Sunday night my best friend Steph flew into town and Monday morning the 4 of us girls went to the beach. Poor Devin had to stay home and study. It was great to have people that were used to 25 degree weather because they were so excited to be warmed by the sun.

Cambry loved my Spider man kite almost as much as she loved the water. Sidenote: Jess got that cute swim suit for Cambry from H&M (LOVE that they have one of those here) as an early birthday present.

When we got to the sand, Cambers B-lined it for the ocean and didn't want to get out.

Cambers swimming in the ocean for the first time. Jess had a little hard time stopping the recording.

It was nice to just relax in the sand, although first time on the beach with a child isn't very carefree, especially one that has as much energy as Cambers.

Cambry tuckered out before we even got out of the parking lot.

We tried out some real Southern cooking at a place called Danny's Barbecue that was excellent. I think I like vinegar based BBQ sauce more than tomato, although I don't really love any of the southern sides (baked beens, coleslaw, hush puppies, applesauce).

Love this Can Can pic of Cambers. Isn't that belly amazing?? She had such a fantastic time with Aunt Jessica and we were all sad to see her go home.

After Jess left, Steph was still in town for a few days. We got to go to the Raleigh temple and do a session together. I love this temple- it's so small and cute. It was neat to share this special place with my friend!

excuse the nasty pic of me, but I only took one and so I don't have any more options.