G-Ma/G-Pa Robinson Visit, Outer Banks Fihsing, Hiking at Eno

Gramma Deb and Granpa Rob came down on a NC scouting trip last week and spent several days with us and checking out the area.

While the women stayed in Raleigh and caught up on girl stuff, Rob and I took an overnight trip to the outer banks. It was the first time either of us had been there and we did a fair amount of exploring (and fishing!). The outer banks offer miles and miles of great beaches, most of which you can drive your vehicle on. Makes for easy fishing and great justification for buying a four wheel drive truck five years ago!

We arrived in Nag's Head, poked around a while and headed further south and fished for a while at Oregon Inlet. After an hour or two of inactivity and soaking up UV rays we headed on to Rodanthe to find a place to stay for the night. We settled on renting a small cabin at a KOA which, unbeknownst to us, didn't have heat or any sort of linens for the beds. Got pretty chilly that night!

We fished that night for a while at the beach right outside the campground then headed to the Rodanthe pier where we each caught a half dozen or so skates (like a stingray minus the stinging hardware) then sucked down a couple frosty beverages at a little bar.

After we thawed out the next morning we decided to head further South to Cape Hatteras, fished for a while, caught another couple skates and a couple little bluefish and headed back to Raleigh. We'll get the big one next time.





Sunday offered a cool cloudy fall day so we decided to take a hike in Eno River State Park outside of Durham. Norah tolerated 3 miles of hills and branches smacking her in the face and was justly rewarded with a few strawberries while sitting on a rock in the middle of the Eno River. Good kid!

Beach!

Hey ya'll! er maybe "How you doin'?" We're finding out that Raleigh seems to have been invaded by New Jersey/Yorkers... Some days it seems I hear more Joisey-speak than what I think North Carolina should sound like. Weird.

Anyway, Nisha's Dad (Pops) came down and stayed with us for a week and treated us to a long weekend trip to the beach! Good times were had by all except for the last night for poor Pops who got into a kicking match with freakishly sharp shell on the beach and got to tour the local ER for a fresh tetanus shot.

It was Norah's first trip (non in-utero) to the beach and she had a grand time:

Cool spider web pic before we left!

At the beach condo:






Hmm... what's that face mean... Nisha, Norah wants you! :)

Beach!




Pops giving Jabba-the-Baby a mile long piggy-back ride (ouch!):


Fun times! Thanks Pops!

Norah playing and our day trip to BBQ

I promise no replicates this time. ;)

Norah loves to play with her activity set, now that she has mastered most of the buttons, hoops, and levers.

Hey, Norah, do you want to go for a ride?

Oh no! Norah attack!

Oh, she got us! (I think that means, YES)

...so Norah, Justin and I traveled to Wilson, NC for Justin to get his fixin' of BBQ (Parkers is the restaurant and has been rated pretty high for good inexpensive BBQ). Norah seems really excited.

We drove past Parkers since it was packed by the after church crowd.

...so we decided to linger at a nearby park. Don't worry Norah, we'll go back!

Norah and Daddy spending some relaxing time in the warm weather.

Awww they're so cute!

(we don't have pics of the BBQ or Parkers, but Justin said it has his approval of Eastern NC style BBQ)

Back at home, Norah wanted her own food.

She sucks on this crab's legs all the time! (It's weird because she has a smaller different colored stuffed animal crab that she sucks on too). I guess she's just born to love seafood! Good thing!

All that work, now it's time for some play.

Oooh, wires are her favorite!

"Ooooh, a computer mouse is sooo coool!"

"I'm gonna get you."

"Ha!"

norah crawling

quick update

I just wanted to give you a quick update from previous days. Hopefully we will be somewhat current soon.

Please refer to the picture of Norah and Daddy in"Easter and Family trip" back in April.

This is a picture of the two of them about 5 months later at the same bench.


Here's Norah in her new room with all of her stuff plus some.


She doesn't mind though.

Here's her room after we fixed it up.

and just a usual occurrence of spillage.

...and of course this post wasn't quick for me (took 2 hours of my sleep time) because I forgot how to make animated .gifs. Well I figured it out and now you can see that Norah is really getting the hang of crawling!
...ok, well I didn't fully remember, but the video is posted above!

On the Government Dole

So this is what unemployment is like. Not to shabby!

Yesterday was the last day at the jet motor factory and for all I whine about work I was pretty bummed when I left. Lots of good people, a few smart ones and more than a couple characters.

So, what did I do with myself today? Well, I:

1. Unpacked boxes - the end is in sight; by next week we should be fully unpacked.
2. Made an iTunes account and downloaded the new Black Crowes album. Excellent.
3. Set up the "bonus" room. Its more like a Swiss army room as it is:
a. Our fitness center
b. Nisha's sewing station
c. A shared computer room
d. Our home office
4. Rowed on the rowing machine
5. Jogged on the trail behind the house; part of the Raleigh Greenway System
6. Went to the grocery
7. Stopped by Ace Hardware to buy a new grill burner and propane tank
8. Replaced grill burner and propane tank
9. Cooked dinner
10. Typed this post! <--- Well almost... sleeep won out over the satisfaction of accomplishment.

Can't wait for yankee visitors! Every time I hear someone say Fay-yutte-veeeel or Suhweet Tuheee I chuckle... Come on down, Pops!

Supposed to be 80deg and sunny today... better start planning the day's activities!

A few previously unreleased pics for the baby junkies:

Moving Sucks.

The title of this post pretty much sums it up. Moving sucks. But suck though it may, we have been having fun adapting to life down South.

The movers showed up Tuesday morning with what we believe to be all of our stuff. All 18,000 lbs of it! Nine tons! Good thing Nisha's new gig footed the bill!

The movers unpacked and set up some of the essentials, but we were essentially left with piles of boxes in several rooms and the garage reminded me of this:
(Geek trivia: what biblical treasure is hidden in this secret gov't warehouse?)

No telling what treasures, biblical or otherwise, are in here:

The movers found it prudent to unload our shelving units first and pile them in the back of the garage behind the 8'x 12'x 10' stack of boxes. Thanks.

Norah's room resembled a warzone but she didn't seem to mind:


We spent all day today (Saturday) unpacking and sorting stuff. Some boxes and packing material to get rid of, but floor space!:

After a long day, Nisha made a yummy pot of chili and started teaching Norah the Quadrophenia album by The Who.


Three days left working for the worlds largest manufacturer of jet engines, dishwashers and light bulbs. Bummer. At least I'll some time on my hands to get the house in order... and Nisha keeps mentioning needing a toy chest for Norah... and I haven't been able to play much Xbox lately... Hmm, maybe a few weeks off won't be that bad. :)