Wilmington Weekend Getaway

David and I knew a family vacation of any kind would be hard this summer with Everley being under 3 months old. So contemplated if we would try to do anything, but we both agreed we needed a vacation. I quickly realized that July 4 was on a Saturday, I knew that this meant David would have the fir day before off as well. We discussed him taking off Thursday, July 3rd, so that he would have a  long 4 day weekend.
He was able to take the day off, so we threw different ideas around on where to go. Less then 4-5 hours is what we were thinking. Though I desperately wanted to go to the beach and I knew that David wanted to see how well Tensley was able to swim now. We agreed on Wilmington, NC. David had never been before, so he was excited to go and explore. I had been twice to Wilmington when I was in high school, I was a HUGE..I mean HUGE One Tree Hill Fan. So we did the tours, were extras, and attended the charity games. Some of my favorite memories with my mom are our trips to Wilmington.


We stayed at the Hilton Riverwalk Hotel. I loved that it was right on the river and the river walk. We had front row seats for fireworks on the 4th (they set them off on a barge on on the other side of the river). The river walk was nice, we walked all the down and back a couple nights finding dinner places, desert, and little shops. The only dislike was the hotel was originally built in 1970, so it was a little small and in some areas outdated. Though the staff is really sweet and helpful in so many ways. They even offered to let me use the staff refrigerator or the restaurant refrigerators if I needed to store any breastmilk for Miss Everley. Luckily we were able to get our own refrigerator put into our room on Thursday afternoon. Wahoo!!

We choose to leave on Wednesday evening, David came home early from work and we hit the road. I will say that it is easier to travel at night with kiddos in my opinion, especially with a new baby in the car. We left at 5:45pm, had to stop once for gas at about 7ish and then again for dinner/snack at around 9 (at this point Everley was ready for bedtime feeding), we arrived at around 11:3ish. So a very nice and easy drive for us, Everley slept pretty much the entire trip and Tensley fell asleep close to 7:30 (she tried to fall asleep earlier, however David and I were quick to talk to her or turn the music up to keep her awake)

Thursday morning we woke up early and hit the beach. We settled on Wrightsville because it was the closet. It only took us 15 minutes to get there from our hotel. We grabbed a few snacks at a local mom and pop grocery store (it was seriously the cutest store and one of my favorite things about beach vacations), then we found a street with public parking.
We unloaded the car and hit the beach. Tensley was quick to make a beach bestie, Brooks. They played in the sand together and we even braved the ocean a bit. Yep, thats right I took Tensley out to swim and stood in waste deep waters knowing that almost 50 miles north of us there was a shark attack the night before! #Parentingdoneright? #Crazyparents
By 1pm we were ready to go back to our hotel and get something to eat. By then Everley was over the beach. We took a small dome tent with us thinking it would keep her cool and out of the shade. Lesson learned friends, it did not keep her cool. By putting the sun shield on the top, it covered the mesh. Meaning no breeze was coming into the tent. Lets say it got rather warm in the tent. She enjoyed being naked and have ice wrapped up in her blanket to stay cool.

Our travel bassinet is found here! I'd highly recommend this to any momma  of a baby. 

Friday morning we took our time trying to figure out what we wanted to do. David and I both loved the movie Safe Haven (the book is excellent!) and I told him it was filmed in Southport about 40 minutes away. So we packed up the girls and headed down to see the little cute town. Let me say this I am so so so glad that we did. When we arrived we found that Southport is the location for the North Carolina State Fourth of July Festival! They were having events early, so we truly got to spend time exploring the time and enjoying the different art vendors, crafts, shops, food, and the views. We both fell in love with this small town and are wanting to go back the next chance we get. I might have even picked up a real estate book on our way out; vacation home or new residents? Maybe I will just convince my grams to move there. :)

I walked into one of the local shops with Tensley, when one of the employees asked if she wanted to get her photo taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. I said yes she would and asked if I could go get my husband and Everley. Once I found David, we all came inside and got the girls all ready to take their photos. Tensley was so excited and concerned that Santa was at the beach. He assured her he was just on vacation with Mrs. Claus. After the photos, Tensley was able to pick 3 things out of the treasure chest and Mrs. Claus gave me a card. On one side had their picture and the other had a signing that stated; "I promise to try my hardest to be good and do my best, for I know sometimes I might mess up but I will constantly try to do the right thing," there was a blank line at the bottom for the child to sign their name and the date. I really liked this idea!

Saturday we choose to back to the beach in the morning for a couple of hours. Tensley said she would only be happy about going if we got to see Brooks. We told her we would park on the same street again, but we made no promises that we would see him. Once we had parked and were walking to the beach access, we heard Brooks mom from their house. She told us in just about 30 minutes they would be out at the beach, so Tensley was excited to be there.
She was even kind of us to let us borrow on of their umbrellas (ours broke on Thursday), putting Everley in her travel bassinet under the umbrella was a complete success. She loved the breeze, the shade, and slept a decent amount of the time we were out there. It wasn't until a few days ago that I stopped finding pieces of sand in her hair, even after washing it at the beach.

Tensley can be found here and Everley's suit can be found here. 

After we left the beach, we went back to our hotel rinsed the sand off and hit the pool. David and Tensley played for the first little bit, while I lounged and kept Everley out of the sun while she slept!

Then we switched and I got to play with her for a little bit, while David enjoyed a little bit of lounge time. We both enjoyed one on one time with Tensley in the pool, plus David was really impressed with how much Tensley had improved in her swimming from last year.
Around 4:30 we went back up to our room to freshen up for dinner and then get great seats for the firework show at 9pm.
We really wanted to try out the Front Street Brewery (though we had a feeling it wouldn't be super kid friendly) however there was almost a 2 hour wait. I quickly nixed that idea because I knew Tensley would never make it 2 hours waiting on dinner, plus it would be hard to find somewhere to sit for fireworks on the riverwalk. We walked up to front street anyway, at first we only saw Subway. We knew it would be quick and something we would all enjoyed, but both a little disappointed this would be our last meal in Wilmington. Well low and behold a local Mexican restaurant (I couldn't find the name online), it was similar to a Chipotle. Though let me be honest, I thought this place was better then Chipotle, yes I said it there is something better then Chipotle.

Once we finished eating we walked back down to the riverwalk right in front of our hotel. Took family photos and set up shop on were we would sit for the fireworks. David really wanted us to sit in the pool area, but I thought it would be too cruel to sit there and not let Tensley get in the pool. Instead we stayed at the riverwalk, got our beach chairs out of the car, and waiting for the show. Tensley met another friend and played the entire time and even got ice cream. Everley feel asleep right before the fireworks started and stayed asleep for about half of them in David's lap. When she started to get fussy we switched kids, thankful I was able to get Everley settled so I could finish watching them. Poor girl didn't like the loud noises, she even tried to cover her own ears but couldn't find her ears. ;)

Tensley romper is last years, similar one here. Beverley's skirt here.
My shorts are last years from Francesca's. 

Sweet Sisters

Let me say that the Wilmington firework show was AMAZING. I love seeing fireworks over the water, but this show was just simply amazing. They had such a great variety in their show and an amazing finale! If I had it my way we would go Wilmington every year on July 4th to see the firework show and visit Southport as well, even if we only had 48 hours. Yes I know I'm crazy, but I just really love that area.

Wedding Weekend: Wells & Kate are Hitched!

This weekend we celebrated the marriage of family friends Wells and Kate. Well's is the nephew of Todd and Amy (the family I lived with after my mother died 6 years ago before getting married to David).  Wells and Kate met at Shepherds University during college a few years ago, they are truly the sweetest couple and so good for one another.

We drove up to Winchester on Saturday mid-afternoon, knowing that the wedding was that evening. I wanted to get us checked into our hotel a few hours before so we could relax, the girls could stretch out their legs and we could get ready before heading out to the wedding.

Around 4 David and started getting ready, knowing we needed to be all ready to go when we got the girls dressed at 5, so we could leave by 5:15. Good intentions I'd say, everyone was ready to go but me at 5:15 (welcome to mom life y'all!), once I got my dress on we were ready to go! We loaded up and headed to the farm.

Kate's family has a beautiful farm, dates back to the 1930's, 3 generations of farming. It was so specially seeing Kate get married on her family's farm. When we arrived we walked up to little driveway like, there you were able to leave your gifts and cards, also pick up water for the ceremony. Once you dropped off your gifts and grabbed your water, you waited to catch a ride on the hayride pulled by the John Deere tractor all the way down to the ceremony. This was Tensley's favorite part of the wedding thus far, she was so excited to ride down to the ceremony. She was beaming from ear to ear.
Once we arrived at the ceremony on the back part of their land, we found out seats in the shade and waited for the rest of the guest to arrive. Once everyone arrived, the grooms and groomsmen arrived via hayride as well. Then the bride, bridesmaid, her parents and the groom's parents. It was fun watching everyone crowd around Kate as she got off the tractor so no one could see her dress, especially Wells. He was even sweet enough to not turn his head at all once he heard the tractor coming up the field to ensure he didn't sneak a peak until it was time.

The wedding started, it was beautiful and Kate looked absolutely beautiful!

and just like that they are Mr. & Mrs. Larson!

Once the ceremony was over, the bridal party headed out for photos on another part of the farms property. While the guest all loaded back up on the hayride to the reception. The reception was set up outdoors, under a large tent beside the pond. It was breathing taking. Absolutely the perfect combination of country meets chic. I was blown away with our romantic everything looked and how well it represented both Wells and Kate.

Our rides to and from the ceremony!

David played with our new camera lens and took a few videos, here are some of the wedding scenery. Not bad for just playing around, good job honey! 

We grabbed a snack and a cocktail, mingled around while waiting for the bridal party to come back from photos. We also tried to beat the Southern Heat! Yes it was blazing hot for an evening wedding, but thats okay everyone looked fabulous even if we were all sweating like crazy by the end of the night. Tensley played with Todd's nephews, Peter and Carter while we waited for everyone to arrived. It was so fun sitting with them and their parents Nikki and Keg (no worries its a nickname, his real name is Keith). It always amazes me how much the boys have grown when I see them, I still think of them being 4 and 5, plus taking them to baseball practice when David and I were dating. They both get cuter and cuter every time I see them.

My Wedding Date for Life!!
My dress can be found here. David shirt here,  khakis, and similar bowtie. 

Finally get to attend a wedding! :)
Everley's dress and Tensley's dress. 

They introduce the bridal party, each couple did different funny things walking in. Then Wells and Kate walked in and shared their first dance, it was the sweetest thing. Once the dance was over we waited for our tables to be dismissed to eat dinner. At this point we had put Everley down in her travel bassinet by our table so that we could socialize and get ready for dinner. Once our table was cleared to go get in line, it wasn't long before Kat (Well's sister) came and took her for some snuggles and to show her off to her boyfriend and all her married friends! Yep, she even show Wells & Kate how easy she is and they need to have a baby, only married a couple of hours folks.
  [Kat truly is a naturally with kids, she can keep Everley for us anytime. Though I honestly wasn't sure if I'd get her back or not.]

If you look in the distance you can see the newlyweds dancing.
oops we forgot to zoom in. 

Once dinner was done, it was time for the father-daughter and mother-son dances, then they even asked their parents to dance with them one time before truly getting the party started. It was so sweet watching them, David told me not to talk to him about the father-daughter dance as he looked at our girls and watching mother-son dance my heart yearned for a little boy. [One day Lord willing. Yes, Tensley is already asking if it is time to have a baby brother. 2 months of having a sister and she is ready for another...]

Mr. & Mrs. Larson, Mr. & Mrs. Larson, & Mr. & Mrs. Gore

Once the toast were given, it was time to PARTAAAY!
 Tensley got out on the dance floor and she barely left. She danced with me, David, Amy, Tucker and his girlfriend, Peter and Carter, Nikki. She even got to share a dance with the bride and groom (the highlight of her night, thanks guys!) You could tell by 10:30 she was getting tired by the look on her face and her movements started to get smaller, but when we suggested leaving she perked right up quick to prove she wasn't tired and need to keeping dancing.
  Everley loved a good party too. She stayed awake the majority of the time, barley cat napped here and there. She was held and loved on by a ton of people, even people we just met that evening. Kat, Amy, Mr. Gallagher, Cameron (Tucker's girlfriend), Trent, Todd, Nikki, Kelsea, and probably others that we didn't even notice.
  Our girls are so loved by this family and their friends, we are so thankful for them all.

Father-Daughter Dances

Dancing with the Bride & Groom. 

David and I even got to really enjoy ourselves and cut up on the dance floor. It was great seeing him dance and have a good time, I enjoy this side of David so much. Typically he doesn't show it for others very often, I was a little nervous he wouldn't since it was a wedding for my so called family. However it proved me wrong and showed us his moves! He has come along way since we first got together 5 years ago, no more Quiet-Dave. (Yes that was his nickname, yes we still throw it out there from time to time!)

Tensley and Uncle Trent!

The girls, Kat and I. 

At around 11 we decided it was probably best that we headed out since it was so late, Everley was fighting sleep (sweet girl didn't dare want to miss anything, but boy were her eyes heavy and trying so hard to close) and Tensley well she just kept dancing and dancing, though her moves kept getting slower and slower. haha!

We arrived back at our hotel by 11:3ish (we changed the girls in the parking lot in hopes they would fall asleep on our drive back to the hotel), well they were both wide awake. #parentfail. So I feed Everley quickly and we put Tensley in bed, she talked until she finally fell asleep close to 12. Everyone slept in until 9, well Everley woke up at 4am and 6am, but I mean does that really count?!? [Yes it does, says the momma that is exhausted!]

We moved a little slow yesterday morning, getting all packed up and deciding where to eat for brunch since we were getting on the road a little later then David had planned, but I know he was so grateful for sleeping in till 9. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at cracker barrel then headed up at 11, only needing to stop once, at arrived home by 2.
  On the drive home I was texting Amy to let her know we left and reminiscing on the wedding, we found out there were fireworks right after we left (like 20 minutes), we said it was best not to tell Tensley because she would have been so upset. Yet I think David was even upset that the pushed for us to leave, he said "I bet they looked awesome over looking the pond" Oh well, price you pay when you bring babies to a wedding, as David said last night "Can't party like rockstars with kids!" So true, but we partied hard for as long as we could.

It was such a beautiful weekend and everything was perfect, seriously no glitch at all. We truly enjoyed celebrating Wells & Kate as they start this new chapter in their lives. I'd loved getting to share this sweet memory with the girls too.