Date Night

Brian's been traveling quite a bit lately, so when he's in town, we've been enjoying some date nights, family nights & even friend nights out together! Can't wait until things slow down for him :)

Family Weekend at NC State

This weekend was Family Weekend at NC State, but Abby had plans with friends, since several families weren't able to make it, and we can visit all the time. However, our neighbors (and second family) wanted to see her, so I took them up to visit for the day. They LOVED eating in the dining hall, walking to the Student Center to shop & get Howling Cow ice cream, and loved hanging out in her room. It was another fun adventure together!

First broken bone for the Beach kids...

Brian has been the only one in the family to have broken in the past... until now! Ben was biking on the new trail with a friend when they ran into each other and he fell on his hands. He said it was sore but didn't really complain, so we didn't think much about it. We had our neighbor (and orthopedic PA) look at it, but Ben seemed to be moving it fine & wasn't complaining about much pain. It seemed like the Motrin, ice & elevation had helped... The next day it was still sore, so I convinced him to let me take him in just to get it checked out, and much to everyone's shock (he wasn't in any pain there either during the exam), the X-ray showed that it was definitely broken. It even looked a little "wonky" when you looked from the side... He was splinted in the urgent care office, and then we headed to the ER to have it set back in place.

He was in such good spirits & not complaining at all, so the doc just gave him a little something to take the edge off, and he was able to set it without knocking him out. The staff was all shocked that he was as chill as he was, and said he must have an incredibly high pain tolerance. He seemed pretty proud of himself for that :)

Now 6 weeks of showering with a bag on his arm has officially begun! Of course it was his right hand, so everything became a little more difficult... writing in school, playing clarinet, eating with utensils, you name it! But he had the best attitude and did everything without a single complaint!

Following the splint for 2 weeks, we had weekly visits to the orthopedics office where he was fitted with two more casts before finishing the process...

First one was purple since he took a vote at school and that was the color that was decided.

We even went to NC State and took Abby out to breakfast one morning so she could sign it!

Second cast was finally waterproof! I've never seen anyone want to wash their hands so quickly, and he couldn't wait to jump in the shower when we got home!

Two weeks after that one, and it was finally removal day! His wrist is a bit stiff and a little skinnier, but we made it through, and he's doing so great that he doesn't even need physical therapy! Way to go Ben! But please be more careful on your bike from now on!!!!!!!

Girl's Weekend at Topsail Beach

This years girls trip was at Topsail Beach again, and was MUCH needed by all of us! The weather was beautiful (no hurricanes on the horizon this time), the seafood was plentiful, and the time to catch up with good friends was so sweet!

We went on a sunset paddleboat cruise, and Maddie got to boat hopping with her awesome dancing!

We walked home that night on the beach, and thank goodness Maddie brought her shovel for the trip so she could show everyone how to catch sand crabs at night!

Without kids, you would think we'd have less stuff to lug back and forth to the beach, but somehow it's always more than we thought!

Somehow Maddie ended up with sunscreen in her eyes, but my magical cucumbers did the trick!

We had Topsail Steamer buckets for dinner twice on this trip... You can never have too many crab pots!

We also enjoyed ANOTHER seafood dinner out at a local restaurant one night!

What a wonderful trip spent together catching up and relaxing! Can't wait until next year!