a few more pictures from our trip to north carolina . . .

we had such a great time in north carolina last week.  on one of the days that we were there, we took a break from the beach and left topsail island to explore the area around wilmington.  one of the places that we visited was poplar grove plantation which is one of the oldest surviving peanut plantations in north carolina.  the plantation is now open to the public as a museum.  the grounds of the plantation were so pretty.  we happened to visit the plantation on the day when they hold their weekly summer farmers'  market with local farmers, artisans, and vendors.  it was neat to walk around.

when we left topsail island to drive back home to pennsylvania, we made a pitstop at a cracker barrel in garner, north carolina to meet up with ryan's brother jeremy and our two nephews.  it was nice to be able to visit them for breakfast before we drove back home.  they boys sure enjoyed rocking on the wooden rocking chairs outside the restaurant!

you can see more photos from our trip to north carolina here, here, and here

love, laurie

topsail island 2015 - part 3

while we were in topsail island, we got to enjoy a lot of boating.  our friends have a few different boats at their beach house.  on our first day there, we took a ride on one of their boats and we went to a little island nearby.  we also got to sail aboard their catamaran and we took a ride aboard their skiff too.  ryan actually got a chance to sail all three boats.  i was so impressed by how well he did!  he is a natural sailor!

on our ride aboard the skiff we set crab traps in the marsh.  we had a crab boil with the fresh blue crabs for dinner one day.  it was tasty but messy.  in addition to fresh crabs, our friends also caught a ton of shrimp in their shrimp traps.  we had several shrimp dinners while we were there.  you can't beat fresh seafood!

you can see more photos from our trip to topsail island here and here

love, laurie

topsail island 2015 - part 2

we had such a great time in topsail island this past week.  while we were there we kept busy with a lot of activities.  we walked up and down the beach, swam in the ocean, and went boogie boarding.  we had so much fun riding the waves on the boogie boards.  we even got my mom out on a boogie board too!  (i just wish i would have captured a picture of it!)

we also got a chance to go kayaking.  we crossed over the sound into the marsh where we saw several jumping fish, egrets, and osprey.  it was a lot of fun and a good arm work out for sure!

you can see part one of our trip to topsail island here

love, laurie

topsail island 2015 - part 1

last summer ryan and i took a trip to topsail island, north carolina with my mom.  we had such a great time, so we decided to do it again this year.  this past week we drove down to north carolina to visit family friends who have a beach house in the town of surf city on topsail island.

topsail island is such a quaint little island.  it's so quiet and peaceful.  our friends have a beautiful beach house and the ocean is just a few steps from their front door, and the sound is right in their back yard.

the weather was gorgeous while we were in north carolina this past week.  it was super hot (high 90s every day with one day over 100 degrees)!  the ocean water was so warm it felt like bath water.  we really enjoyed visiting our friends and spending time with my mom.  it was such a nice getaway and we had a great time!

love, laurie