Our story

Five years ago, my fiance and I made the trek to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to get married. It took us a long time to get there, and I'm not talking about the drive to North Carolina. :)

Do you know our story? Well here is the "quick and dirty" version: D and I met while we both worked at a retirement community. He was the chef and I was the social worker. We were part of a "group" of young troublemakers...er..I mean progressives, working there among management that was old, outdated, and set in their ways. A few months after working there, I was in a terrible car accident. A truck ran a red light and T-boned my car. I went to the ER in pretty bad shape, but nothing life threatening. My jaw was broken in two places and I had to have it wired shut to heal. It was the best weight loss technique EVER! :) Anyway, I survived on liquid vitamins, Carnation Instant Breakfast shakes, soups, and Jello. D was very sweet and used to puree up peaches and other foods for me so that I had "variety" in my diet, at least for lunch. Very sweet. We started dating a few months later.

He was in a very bad motorcycle accident a few years later. He was laid up for weeks. After he healed, we took a cruise together to Belize. One night, the night of the Captain's Gala, we were all dressed up and went for a walk on the upper deck. It was there that he proposed. Beneath millions of stars and right in the middle of my favorite place, the ocean.

Halfway through our wedding plans, I got a little freaked out. Nothing seemed to "fit" right for us. So, one night while freaking out, my dear fiance asked me, "If you could get married anywhere, where would it be?" And I said, "the ocean." The plans for the big church wedding that never seemed to fit for us stopped. And the plans for a wedding on the beach for just us, our parents and siblings, and closest friends began.

And five years later here we are. We have wonderful children, good health, fabulous friends, great jobs, and a beautiful home. I am lucky to be married to my best friend and my children have the world's best daddy!

Thank you, honey, for such a wonderful life. I love you!

Part II

No words needed

Ah-ha moments

I thought I heard muffled cheers of glee as I said goodbye to my kids this morning, reminded them to be good listeners for Daddy and take it easy on him....

"Vacation....all I ever wanted!"

"Vacation...have to get away!" (Go Bangles!)

Sigh. I already miss it. Especially the ocean. And the way my kids' faces lit up when they saw the ocean. I have tons of stories and tons of pics. But I am too lazy to tell you any right now. I promise to download some pics soon!

I will tell you that after driving 14 hours during the night, we arrived to Destin to find out that your's truly locked the storm door on our house back in Indiana. I was soo good at arranging dog sitters, providing keys, instructions, emergency contact info. And then, I locked the friggin' storm door. My dog sitters all had keys to the front door, just couldn't get to it. (Our house is 40 years old and every door has a separate key...how annoying!)

Oh yeah, and that was AFTER our credit card got declined at 2am in the middle of Alabama after we filled up on gasoline. (Can't complain too loudly though. Thank you Chase Visa for putting a hold on our card as soon as they realized that we 1. never used it at a gas station before 2. never used it in Kentucky or Tennessee before. We got that cleared up quickly while we played phone tag with several friends back home who were trying to break into our house. (Know what? We have a SECURE FRIGGIN' HOUSE!)

We finally got that figured out (thanks to several handy friends who figured out how to get it open without breaking it and without us paying a locksmith!) but had to wait two hours to get into the beach house. With two tired and cranky kids. And 90 degree heat. And two tired and cranky parents.

The good news is that the rest of the week went FABULOUSLY as we bounced from one coast of Florida to the other in between Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna. We spent hour upon hour on the sugar sand beach which was literally across the street and hours at the pool which was right outside our cabana house door. (K called it our "Cabama house"... isn't that cute?) The wedding was BEAUTIFUL and we are thrilled for our dear sister and her husband.

And yes, K got to spend 24 hours at her dear Mac's house in Jacksonville. I'm not sure what she talks about more, playing at Mac's house or the ocean. Thanks to Mac and family for their hospitality! And thanks to Jenn G, the Irwin's and the Wickens' for being such great friends as to give up their Saturday morning to help get into our house so our dog could pee!

Look... I told you some stories anyway, didn't I! I'm such a chatterbox. I will download pics soon. We got some great shots of the kids!