When family comes to town...

Living out here in North Carolina, we feel very far removed from Hawaii, Brazil, and even Utah, where some of Marcos' family live. So we were thrilled when Marcos' brother Danny called us up a few months ago and said that he and his family were planning a trip to visit us!


Danny, his wife Marie and their nearly-3 year old girl Kaitlyn arrived on October 6th. Our incredibly kind friends let us use their beach house at Kill Devil Hills (Outer Banks) for a few days, so after packing up the car with five warm bodies and nearly the entire kitchen, we headed out to one of the most beautiful of the North Carolina beaches.

And how incredible! Our first beach day was beautiful... for early October, the weather was perfect, and the water was only cold at the first touch. It was Kaitlyn's first time to the ocean, and she found a small (dead) fish on the beach, which she named "Nemo" and carried around with her all day. She was very proud of her find.


This photo of Marcos reminds me of that show Babe Watch, with the hunks running through the waves. And me below, striking a happy pose.


Marie and Danny, and then with monkey girl Kaitlyn. It was sooo much fun to be together!


These two brothers are really close, and it's fun for me to observe them, as I didn't have any siblings in my home growing up.


One of the highlights of our first beach day was boogie boarding. After we had all warmed up a bit, we spent hours and hours catching waves. Even Kaitlyn joined Danny on some tandem rides before she started to get too cold and we bundled her up.


Marcos trying his hand at body surfing (no pun intended, really). I have spent many hours in my life looking at surfing magazines, and I always notice that surfers make very distinctive monkey faces at the peak of their concentration. Marcos is here on the verge of a great monkey face...

Danny, Kaitlyn and Marie walking home from the beach after a long afternoon in the ocean.


Our friends who own the beach house also surprised us by leaving a birthday cake and balloon for my 28th (*gasp*) birthday. With good food and good dessert and my family around me, it was a happy, happy celebration.

The next morning, we headed back to the beach, but this day was much different. The weather was a bit darker and more ominous, and the waves were a bit too big and too oddly shaped for catching anything good with the boogie boards...


Uncle and niece playing with shark egg sacs, which were all over the beach. Funny, that didn't really deter us from getting in the water...


The waves were much different on day 2... we left the boogie boards on the shore and just practiced not getting white washed by the force of the water.


And after a few days, we headed back to Chapel Hill. Marie's younger brother is very much into firefighting, so we stopped by the station to pick up a souvenir and check out the Carolina blue firetrucks. In Chapel Hill, NC, our firetrucks, ambulances, and buses are mostly Carolina blue, with the UNC mascot "Ramses", or the "tar heel" logo on the back. There is a lot of school pride in this town...


On our last good-weathered day together, we took the family to Duke Gardens. It was Danny and Marie's 5th wedding anniversary, so we tried to capture some lovin'....


And no visit to Chapel Hill is complete without a stop at Maple View Farms to have ice-cream on the porch of the Country Store sitting in big rocking chairs. We happened to arrive just at sundown, and it was a perfect end to a great visit. Danny and Marie and Kaitlyn, please come visit us again!