Grandma McQueeney Visits!

Last weekend Grandma McQueeney came to visit us . . . or Audrey ha!

She arrived on Saturday and we immediately took her to one of our favorite local restaurants in Swansboro . . . the IceHouse! It's right on the water and just has a beautiful view of the shrimp boats. We normally eat on the outside deck but because it had just rained (summer shower) we had to sit inside. I love to sit outside because a friend once mentioned that they had dinner there one night and got to watch a large male otter play in the pilings underneath them the entire time! I have not seen an otter there yet but I will never stop looking!

Here are some pictures Elaine took of the view!

She loved that we were only a couple of miles from our house and there were Seagulls!

Miss Audrey was really good during dinner, as long as I continued to rock her (vigorously I might add!) she stayed asleep and we got to eat in peace! Right as Daddy finished his dinner she decided that the rocking just wasn't doing it anymore and demanded dinner!

Then we just went home and rested for the big Saturday that we had ahead of us!

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On Sunday I stayed home with Audrey while she took her morning nap and Elaine headed off to the beach with Mike and of course Johnny Cash!

(Does anyone notice Cash's shadow here? He looks just like Scooby Doo! You can even see his long tail!)

They got the beach to themselves! Beautiful dunes!!

*Random Note*

If you know us well then you know that Mike used to have a large Dodge Ram Hemi that he absolutely loved! Well, in a bout of judgement lapse a couple of years ago during the gas price spike he decided that he needed something better on fuel and we ended up with a Jeep Grand Cherokee Hemi. (Do you seem a theme here?) Well, I think the buyers remorse kicked in about 24 hours later and we have been very unhappy with the Jeep! Over the 4th of July he finally traded in the Jeep on his new dream vehicle! A brand new Ford F150 Supercrew! Here is a pic I stole offline because I don't have any pictures yet . . .

Here is the proud new truck owner driving his new vehicle!

And of course, the main reason we needed the "supercrew" cab . . . is that both Johnny Cash and Audrey in her car seat can ride comfortably in the back!!

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After Mike, Elaine and Cash got back from the beach we loaded up and headed off toward one of our favorite lunch locations! New Bern, NC! This super cute little town is only 30 minutes away and has a super cute historical downtown area. This town was the original state capital and you can tour the original Governor's mansion. What is funny about this is since my parents spent some of their youth in Havelock, NC (that is where they met) which is only 20 minutes away my Mom remembers taking a tour of this mansion in middle school! Anyway, here are some pictures from our afternoon in New Bern! This town has a mascot of a black bear and the town is just full of them!

Police Bear!

LumberJack Bear!

Don't Drink and Drive Bear!

Giant Carved Bear Outside the FUDGE Shop!

Another Carved Bear . . .

Patriotic Bear!

Furry Beach Bear!

Colonial Bear!

New Bern-opoly Bear!

And here are a few pictures of us enjoying the afternoon . . .

Mike and Audrey Cruising

The Whole Family in Front of a Bear

Mike, Audrey and I

Mike and Audrey Playing

We also saw some other sights in New Bern besides bears!

Bear Claws Painted on the Cobblestones

Beautiful Antique Clock

New Bern 300 Years Banner for their Anniversary!

A Beautiful Old Church

And We Ran Into the Tin Man!

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On the way home we took the "scenic" route which included driving through Morehead, going over the Atlantic Beach bridge and driving through Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle back to Swansboro! It was very pretty and Elaine enjoyed seeing the palm trees :-)

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You would think after all of this we would be tired but we wanted to show Elaine one of our favorite evening activities . . . hanging out at Chuck and Peggie's house! You may have heard me mention them before, they're our best friends in the area and they have 14 acres of land with two ponds, a beautiful garden, a vineyard, an orchard, a blueberry patch and a POOL! We love to take Audrey to his "salt water" pool which is easy on her skin while the dogs run from one end of the property to the other until the collapse to the ground! It is great family fun! We have affectionately nicknamed these two "Tio Chuck" and "Tia Peggie" since Chuck is Hispanic. Here are some pictures from our walk at Tio and Tia's house!

Audrey loves to be outside in the warmth so she loves to visit Tio Chuck's and Tia Peggie's house!

This is me in front of the garden where we planted 500 POUND PUMPKINS! They are still little right now and to be honest with you aren't looking so great right now, but I really wanted our own pumpkin patch to take pictures of Audrey next to huge pumpkins in the fall :-) Don't worry, we're planning on visiting a better pumpking patch as well! There will be many pictures :-)

Elaine walking with Audrey . . .

Chuck pointed out this beautiful flower vine that had grown into his grapes and Elaine raced home to do research and we discovered that it is a passion FRUIT vine! I didn't know that these were native to NC but they apparently are. It did have big green kiwi size fruits on it which they will be able to eat when they turn passion fruit yellow!

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I'll leave you with one last adorable picture of Miss Audrey and Mike after bathtime!