North Carolina

With Dan's summer job behind us, we decided it was time for a vacation! We spent six days with Jen, Rusty, and Kylana. We had such a great time! Saturday started with Dan and Rusty attempting to hack down the trees in their back yard.

It was a little crazy in the beginning.

But they buckled down and worked hard all afternoon. 

 TIMBERRRRRR!

Jen, Lana, and I were sitting on a blanket not far from where the tree fell! I jumped up so fast thinking that the top of the branches were going to fall on us! I felt like such a coward afterward when I realized I didn't even consider Jen and Lana! "Every man for himself!" apparently. Sheesh! But Dan says we were in no danger and he had it all under control...

Saturday was the only day Dan helped Rusty destroy his backyard. Dan felt bad when he left because they chopped down a couple trees, sawed them down into smaller pieces... but basically left Rusty with a pile of lumber to deal with on his own! That, and the heat-exhaustion that Rusty suffered from that day!

 10 months, beautiful, and...

...standing up by herself for the first time! She clapped for herself before we even cheered. So cute. 

Jen was in love with the purple bandanna and new sunglasses -- and so was everybody else! We went to a ward BBQ and within minutes, it was obvious how much everyone loves Jen, Rusty, and especially Lana. They adore her! Jen was also the successful voice who rallied everyone to play softball. Even though Jen and I are athletic, softball was never a strong point for either of us! But we decided ward softball was pretty harmless and a good place to start. Jen batted first...and missed...batted...and missed again, while exclaiming in embarrassment, "Ah! Why do I do this to myself!" But she's so good natured, despite the friendly laughter, and hit the next one and made it safely to base. Whoo hoo! As for me, I faired better than anticipated and hit my first pitch! 

Playing outfield was a whole other story. The missionaries kept hitting these high fly-balls that I never made it to in time. Dan kept yelling from his position on first base, "Be careful! You're going to get plunked in the head!" Hearing the mild criticism in his voice and the obvious judgment he was making about my softball abilities, I was determined to prove him wrong. The next fly-ball soared above my head. With confidence, I threw my glove hand in the air, saying loudly, "Plunk THIS!" and waited for the ball to land perfectly....just behind my head and into the grass. Laughing while I scrambled for the ball, I threw a useless ball to second base and commented, "That would have looked so much better if I'd caught that." Jen nodded emphatically from left field, chuckling at me.
(Ok, well, let's not forget about how Jen threw an over-zealous ball at a 6-year-old, who was manning 3rd base! It glanced off his mitt and hit him in the head. What a bully!)
Oh, good times...

Our absolute favorite day was driving to Surf City to spend 6 hours at the beach. The air was warm and muggy, and the sun radiated strong enough to burn all of us but Jen and Lana (who were the only ones who applied sunblock regularly). But the water was perfect, and the waves exciting but safe.

Rusty, Jen, and Kylana

This was Lana's second time at the beach. Jen said Lana cried the first time, but she seemed to love every minute of it this time. 

We had an itsy-bitsy problem with the $25 half-dome tent that Rusty and Jen purchased at the last minute from a local store down the road. The cheap bamboo snapped during assembly and the tent sagged uselessly within ten minutes. None of us believed this acceptable...but only one of us was willing to go as far as bringing the police into it! Dan and Rusty were nominated to return the tent and get our money back. When they returned, they had a new tent in hand and a great story:

Upon approaching the sales woman who sold us the piece of junk, Dan asked for a refund and was promptly told the store had a no-refund policy, but they would be happy to give us another tent. Dan explained that he didn't want another tent that didn't work. He used the following analogy: "If I buy a saw from you that doesn't cut, why would I then buy a new version of the same crappy saw?" There was some verbal round-about with contacting the owner and throwing in some legal lingo that made the sales woman flustered. Dan offered a compromise to take another tent, but if that one broke, could he then have his money back? She said that they would give him a third tent. At this point, Dan asked her if she understood how ludicrous her answer sounded, and added, "Why would I want another tent if the one I have is poo?" (That line, and Dan's word choice, had us busting up in laughter every time we thought about it!)

Somehow, mention of the police came about, and the woman was grateful to admit her brother was a detective and could have someone there in minutes. An officer arrived and he and Dan bantered in a controlled manner over legal issues and things I couldn't pretend to understand...But another funny line was Dan's response to North Carolina's state law regarding "consumer protection". When it was obvious nothing more could be done, Dan retorted, "Well, your state sucks", and he and Rusty promptly left with the new tent in hand.

It was a good effort, fellas.

With the new tent functioning (after treating it with such fragility to prevent it from breaking again), fun-in-the-sun continued! Our favorite game was water-rugby, invented by yours-truly. It went something like this: As all of us stood in the ocean, Dan would throw the rugby ball towards a crashing wave. Whoever was closest had to dive after the ball and snatch it up before it was swallowed by the waves and pushed all the way to the sand  (Punishment for failure meant trudging back to the beach to retrieve it, and that was exhausting!) This often resulted in us being pummeled by the waves, but we were always proud to shake the salty water from our ears and nose, and hold the rescued ball in the air, while everyone else cheered like we'd won the Olympics! Ridiculously fun.

I'm pretty sure Dan misses this one. But they were playing shallowly here so it doesn't look quite as thrilling. 

On another day, we toured Raleigh, which is about 40 minutes from where Jen lives in Four Oaks. We went to a couple museums and had fun playing around:

Dan forced me to put up the toothy "beaver" one. For some reason, he saw the illustration and thought of me. And then Jen laughed with him, as though it was a good fit! "For your information, its actually a SLOTH."

 What can I say about this cannon? It just made us laugh. 

We did a lot of laughing on this visit. It was hard to say good-bye, but we'll definitely be back!