Grandpa and Grandma visit!!

The weekend after Thanksgiving Ryan's parents made their annual trip south to visit us. On Saturday we went to Tryon Palace and History Education Center. We enjoyed the tour of the palace (i was sure Hayden wouldn't last, but he did great), learning so many things from that time period. It was decorated for Christmas the way they would have decorated years ago. The pictures are from Saturday at the palace and then on Sunday we went down by the water to feed the fish. Thanks so much for blessing us Dad and Mom while you were here, we enjoy your presence!! Hayden was waking up from his nap when they arrived and he went right into grandma's arms, which makes my heart feel so good. There's always a small fear that he's not going to remember/know his grandparents since he doesn't see them very often. But God's got is all under control (I really should know this by now).

The palace is beautiful, I forgot to get one of the whole front of the building

waiting patiently to go inside oh hayden-you and mommy will never have a good picture when you do this all the time!!

Mom I'm ready for breakfast so I'm just going to help myself...ok? I don't think so....I put an end to this real quick!

John Deere

For Grandpa Weaver and Grandpa Martin:)

Just passing through....

I stepped out in our sun room one afternoon and saw this bird(i guess that's what it is) walking through our backyard. By the time I got the camera he was at the water looking for fish. Kind of startled/surprised me and then I just had to laugh, only in NC.

Small Group

The faces of our small group.....I know these aren't the best pics but wanted to post them so those of you in PA can meet some of our NC friends. Ryan and I have been leading the college and 20's small group of TRC. It's been really good and stretching at times. Most of the guys in the group are Marines so one of them is either getting ready to deploy or coming home. I have so much respect for these men and their wives, it is quite a call of duty. In just 2 weeks or so we will have everyone back from deployment, a first for the group since we started meeting in Feb 2009. This was our fall kick off, we took a break from doing a book study over the summer, so we went all out and had a big breakfast night:)Ryan and TJ making some awesome omelets!

stuffing our faces

Krystal-the girl who lives with us

Package

We got the mail late last night.....Hayden was still up, he was so excited to get a package from Grandpa and Grandma Martin! And this morning he saw the box and is asking for more:) Thanks for the candy and toys! Ryan and I enjoyed a few pieces as well.

300th celebration

As we've mentioned before this year is New Bern's 300th Anniversary. September 17-19 was the big celebration. There was a parade downtown and so many fun and free activities that we enjoyed. This was the week we started potty training and to my amazement he stayed dry the whole time we were out and taking it all in.

waiting for the parade to start

NC Governor Beverly Perdue For the dads:) He wasn't sure about the mascot, but we got free chocolate milk and ice cream sandwiches!

Flooding

Here are a couple of pictures of the rainy weather we had this week. I might post a video later...

This was the view from our front porch on Thursday

This is an intersection close to our house while it was raining on Thursday

This was also on Thursday, it is water running into the channel beside our house

This picture is from today. The water receded yesterday, but today it is on the rise again. The rain is gone, but the river will not crest for another day or two, so we will see how high the water gets. The official estimate is that New Bern had 15.5" of rain since Sunday, although I think we might have had a little more here in River Bend.

This is so powerful........I know it's a little long but well worth the time to listen to it.

Camping

Labor Day weekend was spent with my family camping in Virgina close to the Natural Bridge. It is a beautiful area to hike, explore and learn about. We visited an old grain mill which still produces flour the old way today, the Natural Bridge, and caverns. We also enjoyed spending time at the campground and all the activities that they had planned because of the holiday weekend. Time flew bye and we were soon saying our goodbyes until Christmas. I have always enjoyed camping growing up and considered it a vacation, but this weekend I decided that camping isn't really a vacation, just a break from life:) It takes a lot of work but we made memories!

If you look closely you can see water falling to the right of grandpa and hayden, they are headed in for a dunk in the water..... he loved it, i wish i had shot of his facial expression, kept saying "more, more" sharing an ice cream sandwich with grandpa