Vacation!

At the end of July, we headed to North Carolina for our first "family of three" vacation! This year we decided to go to Raleigh, North Carolina area to visit some of our very dear friends from college, Erin and Mical. They got to meet Hannah for the first time and experience her first beach trip as well we got to visit with them just a few months before they are expecting their first daughter! It was a fantastic trip!

We knew it would take a day and a half to get there so we left right after Tim got done with work on a Thursday and made it to the Kentucky/West Virginia border that evening. After getting some much needed rest, we left early the next morning and made it to Raliegh by that afternoon. We started our trip with a wonderful dinner at Bahama Breeze.

Our lunch stop on our first full day of driving...Hannah loves to eat, but she also loves to be nosy and look around. The result: a very messy face!

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Surf City beach which was 2 1/2 hours away. Sadly, Hannah was not super fond of her first trip to the beach. It was pretty much par for course with the other experiences we had this summer with water. It probably didn't help that she accidentily got tackled by a wave, and not once but twice! Oops! Even though that part was not so much fun, we loved being on the beach for the day! Tim even enjoyed it for probably the first time in his life!

Family photo at the beach! We hope for some better beach trips as Hannah gets bigger!

Sunday we had a nice morning at church and afternoon at home before heading toward the Durham area. First we went to Duke University to walk the campus a little and visit the Duke Gardens. It was very hot, but a fun afternoon. I really enjoyed playing "photographer" with the scenery. We finished our day by going to a Durham Bulls Triple A Minor League baseball game. It doesn't take much convincing for either of us to watch some sort of baseball when we take trips.

The chapel at Duke University - absolutely gorgeous!
At the Durham Bulls game - very fun, but definitely the end of a very long, hot day!

Monday morning, Tim went to play golf (at a really sweet course) and Erin and I spent some time shopping and just enjoying each other's company. That evening we stayed in, enjoyed dinner and some quality time together. Our visit with Mical and Erin was fantastic!

Tuesday morning we left early to head to Louisville, Kentucky. Before leaving NC, we found the UNC campus and drove around for a few minutes. Then we spent the rest of a really long day in the car to make to Louisville by Hannah's bedtime. This was sort of a last minute decision to extend our trip, but it was a lot of fun!

We spent Wednesday exploring Louisville including taking a tour of the bat factory, walking around downtown and seeing Churchill Downs. We did a little shopping in the afternoon and finished our vacation with a fantastic dinner with a view of Louisville across the river (we were in Jeffersonville, IN).

Outside the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum - a perfect tour for this baseball family!

I am so glad that we were able to take this trip this summer! It was (hopefully) the first of many family vacations! Thank you Mical and Erin for being such gracious hosts and making our first family vacation so memorable!