Packing, packing, packing!

We have been busy packing, and it is getting down to crunch time. I am hopeful we won't forget anything! I have been channeling my inner Santa by making lists and checking them twice. As long as we have passports and money we should be fine, though!

The weather forecast keeps changing, but currently looks like this:

The chance of rain is disappointing, but something we expected. Typically, it rains for a little while, then the sun comes out again. :) That's what we're hoping for. I need to find an umbrella to pack now that I think about it! We're also excited to be escaping the summer heat!

We are ready for some hiking followed by relaxing! We also found out that there will be a Mountain Spring Festival while we are there. There is going to be a yodeling group and everything! We are hoping to work that into our itinerary. I ordered some free brochures about stuff to do, but they have yet to arrive. If they don't come today, we will be out of luck until we arrive. We land before 7am local time (1:00 am EST), so we will be tired, but will have a full day ahead of us. I have us doing some leisurely sight-seeing, so I hope we can make it through. Once we can check-in, we plan to do that then hit the grocery store before passing out.  The traveling days will be the longest, but we are so excited to see all the scenery. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I am sure experiencing it will be with millions.

I have several ebooks on the ipad to read during all the traveling. I also have an audiobook in case I get tired of reading and just want to listen. It also has games, so hopefully we can occupy ourselves without too much boredom. We have a 2 hours at RDU + 1.5 hours flight + 2.5 hour layover + 9 hour flight on the way there (and pretty much the same coming back.) Hope we can sleep on the flight over.

We're checked in for a flight... the journey begins soon!

Caitlin, Tybee, Beryl, Marion

It's about time I updated, I know...

Caitlin came for a visit in mid-May. We shopped a lot (she had lots of luck at Goodwill... I just found books :)), got pedicures, and tried food from Pinterest. We also went to Big Ed's downtown for Sunday lunch. So good! Good Southern cooking. We went to the farmer's market and bought from fresh strawberries.. yummy! It was sister's first trip to the one in Raleigh. I am pretty sure she was amazed. Except for staying up late to pick her up and J having to get up early to drop her off, we enjoyed having her here.

Thursday after she left, we headed to Tybee Island. It was an easy drive and not too busy. And for once, I wasn't the one who needed a potty break. We had a great time. We tried to put a puzzle together, but it was too hard and our trip was cut short.  We ate some good seafood, went to the beach, and rode around in our electric cars (even rode by Paula Deen's beach house). We ate supper at The Olde Pink House our last night and took a carriage ride. Nerd me was super excited and loved hearing all the history. Tropical Storm Beryl was coming though, so we left Sunday morning. We stopped for breakfast in Savannah before heading back to NC with Marion.

Our sod was still alive when we got back! And Beryl provided some rain later in the week. Thankfully, we are past the point of watering everyday. Marion got all moved in and we had plenty of time to get her settled and show her around the town and where she would be working. So far, she is enjoying it. And I think the company is glad to have someone so talented!

This past Saturday, we went to a wedding for someone J works with. It was at the NCSU Arboretum. It was beautiful. The wedding itself was interesting, but we enjoyed seeing a different type of wedding than we were used to. We left just before they started doing shots!

One the way home from the wedding, we saw hot air balloons