I'm Back!

Well, it’s Monday, and I’m back in the office.

North Carolina was a blast. The house was great- big enough that we weren’t all on top of each other, yet small enough to be cozy. There was a pool and a hot tub, as well as a foosball table in the basement. We partied at the house just about every night. We played mini-golf and drove go-carts, and the boys went hang gliding. We played a lot of cards, and ate and drank a lot.

Greg, Bill, Steve and I toured the Wright Brothers monument (literally across the street from the house), which Courtney had told me was small, but oh, boy! For a state that has “First in Flight” and the Wright’s flyer on its license plate, the monument is teeny! There are a lot of posters, a few dioramas, and a couple of ‘replicas of prototypes of tools similar to the ones actually used by the Wright brothers to build bicycles.’ Yeah. Maybe we’re just spoiled having spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian.

Greg and I had a really good time with the group, but we did also manage a little alone time. We walked down to the beach late Wednesday night. The sky was perfectly clear, and once our eyes adjusted we could see the thick band of the Milky Way! It was spectacular! Walking on the beach in the moonlight reminded both of us of our first date, which added to the beautiful ambiance. After a midnight swim (which was too tempting to resist!) we made our way back to the house to watch a movie with the guys before bed. Very fun.

We spent some time with folks at the beach, but it was hot enough that we didn’t go every day. The water was perfect swimming temperature, though, and the waves were great. So, I like playing in the waves. A lot. And I can body surf pretty well, so I wasn’t deterred from riding a wave the first day when we didn’t have any boogie boards. The only thing I didn’t really count on was that my new bikini wasn’t exactly cut out for actual water sports. Yeah- accidental cleavage show for Greg and his friend Bill. Oops! (I repeat- I am not generally a naked person!!)

We went back to the beach the next two days, and I was smart enough to wear a one-piece, which allowed for a ton of wave-riding fun! The waves got bigger as the week went on, and Bill’s cousin Doug arrived with boogie boards. Greg and I took them out with us on Thursday morning- the waves were huge! We were had a great time, but the fun was cut a bit short when a pair of waves first flipped my feet over my head and then bent me in half sideways at the waist, leaving me with some pretty bad back pain and a bloody chin. Ah well- at least it happened toward the end of the trip, and the pain was bad for only two days. (I’m back to about 90% now.)

Wave-related mishaps aside, we had a really, really good time.

The Branford group has taken lots of trips together in the past, but this was the first time that Jeff and Lizzie’s daughter Holly came along. (I’m still not entirely cool with there being another Lizzie, but at least she’s nice!) Holly is a sweetheart. She’s 8 months old and not quite crawling yet. Her hobbies include blowing raspberries, playing peek-a-boo, “walking” by balancing on a grown-up’s index fingers, and pulling hair. She spent a solid 20 minutes one afternoon playing with my ring- she really liked the way the diamonds sparkled. (I do, too!)

Oh. And the boys grew beards. Yeah.