Sunday Suits

We took some pictures of the kids in their coveralls. Jane didn't appreciate our efforts until we put her down on the ground, but she's cute even when she cries.

Fort Macon

We spent Saturday at a beach by Atlantic Beach, called Fort Macon (you say it like Bacon, but with an 'M'). We went with a lot of the new interns starting with Bart. We learned that the beach is really fun, but hard work with a 6 month old. Sand was EVERYWHERE. (DUH!) Poor Jane. From head to toe, binky to fists, and I'm sure to today's first BM, she was sandblasted! And even though we kept her sunscreened, hatted, and in the shade, she is sporting her first sun burn. Poor, poor girl. Also because of the sand, we have limited pictures of the trip, but we did have fun. Charlie had such a blast that he slept the 2 1/2 hours home.

HullabuHoo

My parents had a quite a busy few weeks before we left. MK graduated high school, we moved to Home Port, and Sam went through the temple and left on his mission to Richmond, VA. We thought they would want to see some of our pictures. (Sorry we don't have any of graduation, MK.)

Pirates Ahoy!

Ocracoke has some pirate history. We discovered that the navy found Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) offshore here and the battle that dramatically ended his career set place in Ocracoke's waters. We found some pretty scary pirates in front of a place called Teach's Hole.

Ocracoke Island

After we woke up and played in the sand we took ourselves on a tour of the island. We saw the wild--yet penned--ponies, the light house, and rented bikes and a bike trailer to ride around to see the town. It was hot as you can see in the picture with Jane and Charlie in the bike trailer--she's not sunburned! There's a cute little museum and some civil war history here also. Charlie even found time for some of his renowned fencing and Jane caught some zzz's on a bench. We'll definitely go back if we have any visitors who want to see the island!

THE BEACH!!!

YEAH!! We made it to the ocean! Charlie and Jane were both a little nervous about the crash of the water, especially close up, but of course Bart and I loved every minute of it. Our camp ground was just on the other side of a little hill and we could hear the waves all night. In the morning we went and played in the sand.

Activities on the Ferry

Since the ferry ride took 2 1/2 hours we had a hard time finding things to do. Charlie invented some pretty fun games for himself.

Ferry Rides

Well, we finally made it to our Home Port and are getting settled in. We really love the people in our ward and we are getting to love our apartment. (The smoke smell is getting better) We took a spontaneous mini vacation to Ocracoke Island to acquaint ourselves with the coast--and because Captain Black Bart began orientation this week. We drove to a place called Swan Quarter, and then drove onto a ferry and took the 2 hr 30 min ride to Ocracoke. On the way back, we were stuck in our car because it was raining and Charlie was taking his nap. That explains the picture with Bart and Jane in the car.

Meet me in St. Louis

Jon and Deb decided to come with us to St. Louis and play. We saw and went up in the St. Louis Arch and went to the zoo. We also stayed in two 4 star hotels, the Hyatt and the Hilton, (only because we got them for the low price of $45 a night!) and decided they were fun, but probably not for a family with small children!

Finally making it to Kansas

We stopped in

Kansas at Jon

and Deb's and

boy are we glad

we did! Charlie

had fun playing

with his fearless cousins--or driving them crazy!

We're On Our Way!

Well, we finally left our comfort zone and headed to a much more displaced feeling--however, it IS for the best. As we left Utah, we stopped and visited Grandpa at his house and Grandma in Green River. Then as we drove to Kansas we tried to stop when ever we could at a park to keep our sanity in check.