Our trip back to the East Coast gave us time to enjoy family and friends.
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We started off in Concord, NC.
The kids got reacquainted with second cousins at a water park... |
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... and enjoyed the train ride with Gramps. ☺
Thanks to Mom & Dave for their kind hospitality, taking us to the mall, etc. while we
recovered from jet lag...
we had lots to stock up on! |
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| We visited Reed gold mine in Concord, dating back to the 1700's. |
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| The mine shafts were cool to explore... literally... 65 degrees underground, and it felt so good on a hot summer day! |
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| The ruins of the old furnaces and factory at Reed Gold mine were interesting. |
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| Marly didn't find any gold, but did find a real four-leaf clover. ♥ |
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| Watching the old machines that ground the rock to get the gold ore- still working! |
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| We tried our hands at panning for some gold. |
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| Joyce was the only one who struck it rich and got a gold nugget! |
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Here's a closeup of that beauty. Worth about $3, they said. ☺
After enjoying fun dinners, shopping and hanging out with the Poores,
we headed to the North Carolina's Outer Banks for our annual Sodano family get-together. |
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This is the eighth year we've had the get-together in the Outer Banks.
It's a wonderful time for cousins to get caught up.
The pool is one of their favorite places to do so! |
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Uncles (and aunts) enjoy catching up too.
Lovely view from the third floor of the vacation house. |
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Charlie & Denise prepare fabulous meals every year- which we all just love.
They inspire us all! |
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We have stayed in this particular house for four summers now,
and really enjoy having Pamlico Sound right in the backyard.
It is really shallow for a long way out, with clear warm water and a sandy bottom. |
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Everyone enjoyed the sunset views on the Sound.
We had some rain early in the week but things cleared later. |
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The daytime views of the sound were often viewed from the pool-
here's about half the gang around it. ☺ |
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| Marly enjoyed finding hermit crabs in Pamlico Sound. |
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| Ahh, Family! So good to get everyone together! |
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| Another beautiful sunset, looking like a painting. |
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This year Dad showed the big kids how to bake bread... here they are watching it rise.
All their loaves turned out delicious! |
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| We all headed to the nearby beach (Buxton, NC) to play in the waves... |
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| ...and watch the Ghost Crabs. |
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| The littlest kids liked getting carried through the waves.. |
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| ... and we got all the kids together for a photo in the surf... |
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| ..before mayhem broke out. |
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| Here's a view of Hatteras Light, seen behind Jamie in the next photo up. ☺ |
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| The kids enjoyed digging with Uncle Brian... |
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| ...and watching the crabs... |
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| ...or just hanging around with the adults. |
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Back at the vacation house in Buxton (in the middle background here),
it was always nice to go for a long walk out into shallow Pamlico Sound. |
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| At low tide the shallow water had lots of interesting crabs, clams and fish. |
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| Always one of our favorite places. |
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A bunch of us did a fused glass jewelry workshop at a local art gallery.
A relaxing chance to create something unique. |
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I made a little lighthouse of the glass- here it is before the fusing..
We also had excellent Boot Camp workouts a couple mornings courtesy of Kristy.. need a photo of that. ☺ |
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| More fun at sunset time-- |
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| It went much too fast and we were all sad to see the week come to an end. |
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...but we did come back with some cool souvenirs.
Here's mine and Mar's completed fused glass pendants.
We took a flight to Florida to save time getting to Cocoa Beach-- |
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| Where we had a Visiting from Korea Party at Mambo's on the beach. It was fun seeing old students.. |
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| ...and teachers... |
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| And Friends!! (Levi was off with his buddies on the beach...) |
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| So great to get caught up with the Cocoa Beach crowd... |
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| And, the Rockledge crowd... |
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| And nice to see our new friends we worked with in Korea! |
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We stayed at International Palms for a few days,
which has this really fun pirate ship pool that Marly and her friend loved playing on. |
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| Which way to the beach? |
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| This was the view from our hotel room on the third floor- must stay here again... |
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| The best part of our trip to Cocoa Beach was seeing family (like cousins!)... |
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| ...and Grandmas... ♥ |
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| So great to see good friends and spend some time.. |
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| ...and get caught up... |
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...and just getting to chat with them and their families.
Jean and Rich are our favorite poodle rescue people.. |
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... and Jean has an amazing butterfly garden in her backyard that we were all fascinated with.
Here's some swallowtail caterpillars talking with a snail... |
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| Another very cool caterpillar.. |
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Zebrawing in Jean's backyard.
I loved it because we clearly saw the metamorphosis of caterpillars to butterflies,
reminding us of how we all evolve beautifully over time:
"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,
but rarely admit the changes it has gone through
to achieve that beauty."
- Maya Angelou |
