Weekend in Review

The past few weeks have been quite busy at work. Other than work there hasn't really been much to talk about, until this weekend.  On Friday afternoon, J and I headed to Carteret County for an awesome weekend full of family and friends.

Friday:

After arriving in Carteret County around 2:45 p.m. we decided to go by my Granny's for a little while.  We had a family celebration of my Granny's 85th birthday scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but figured we'd stop by and say "hi" since we were passing through on our way to Beaufort.

We delivered birthday gifts and a housewarming gift.  I think Carly (my cousin Nicole's daughter) was jealous of the housewarming gift we gave Natalie and Chris.

Friday evening, J and I met up with Margaret and Jamie at Hannah's Haus.  Long story short, Hannah's Haus is a little tavern/bar in the back of the Gaskill's Hardware Store in town.  Hannah's is located in the part of Gaskill's where I used to regularly go with my Dad to pick up lawn mowers that had been repaired or to look at baby chicks.  It is so funny to see it as a bar, but it is a fun atmosphere. 

After hanging out at Hannah's for a while, we met up with Margaret's Dad and my parents for dinner at Clawson's.  As always, dinner was a blast - who couldn't have fun with the bunch!

Saturday:
I was supposed to get up early Saturday morning and run 8 (or so) miles.  When I woke up, I could barely get my breath because of being so congested.  I took some medicine and just relaxed until it was time to get ready to get moving for the day.

We went to my cousin, Jordan's, softball game.  She's playing Babe Ruth Softball for the first time this year.  When we got to Smyrna, her team was on the field and they were doing great.  The Down East Dolphins continued to do well and ended up winning the game!  Congrats to Jordan!

After Jordan's softball game, we headed over to my Granny's.  The whole family was there.  My Aunt Juanita and Uncle Harold live in Michigan and they don't get down to North Carolina as often as they would like.  My Uncle Elmer, Aunt Barbara, cousin Natalie and her boyfriend, Chris, live in northern Virginia.  They visit pretty regularly, but it is not often that we are able to coordinate getting the entire group together.  We grilled out and had birthday cake in honor of my Granny's 85th and cousin Nicole's 26th birthdays.  It was great!

Granny (center) with all her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids
(and spouses and significant others too!)

Granny with her kids - (left to right) Robert/my Daddy, Elmer,
Les (aka "Bo" or "Dee Bo"), Woody, and Juanita

Saturday evening, we went to see my Dad's church cantata.  I got to see a lot of people that watched me grow up.  They were all so nice and complimentary of my weight loss, etc.  It was a good feeling.  After the cantata, we went to No Name for dinner.  Unfortunately, dinner at the restaurant was cut short by the power going out.  We were fortunate that our pizzas were almost done and we ended up taking them home and eating there. 

Sunday:
I woke up still feeling pretty darn awful.  So, I missed my run once again.  Mama drugged me up with some Mucinex and Tylenol Cold.  After lunch, we decided to go ahead and hit the road back to Raleigh.

We were very grateful that the storms that ripped through North Carolina on Saturday didn't do a lot of damage in Beaufort or to our home in Raleigh.  While we were driving back, we were amazed by the damage in certain parts of our drive back.  There were several neighborhoods in Havelock that were completely flat.  We knew the storm did a lot of damage, but didn't realize how much until we got back home on Sunday evening and saw the news.  Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families that were affected by the storm!