Beach Vaca

A few weeks ago, the hubs and I enjoyed a much needed little vacation in Florida. We're generally more of a "city folk" than "beach people," but we wanted to relax after our first half of 2012, and we had a great time doing that on the coast.

P.S. Please excuse all of the very amature photo editing. I was having fun on my software. :)

The sand was white, and the water was clear. We spent most of the week reading and/or napping on the beach. It.was.wonderful. (Except for the severe sunburn that came from all that reading and/or napping on the beach, but shh.) 

I may or may not have gotten burned badly enough that Brad had to go buy me a souvenir t-shirt to wear instead of the tank tops I packed, just so that I could leave our hotel room.

But it was totally worth it, because he surprised me with a horseback ride on the beach!

Our last day there, we went snorkeling together and saw all kinds of cool water creatures! Sadly, we could not keep them. However, I did steal a few of Florida's finest sea shells!

And, yes, I am wearing a super cool, emergency purchased, surfer girl shirt in order to protect my roasted skin and still be able to get in the water. I was just that awesome.

I believe this is the first appearance of B's finished tattoo on my blog. It makes him look even more B-A, huh? Combined with the aviators... Humina, humina. (Or is that just me?)

Anyway, all sun poisoning aside, we had a really great time hanging out together on the ocean. We're just going to keep on planning and enjoying "babymoons" until that's what one actually is! However, with my fair complexion, the next one may be in the forest!

Beach Bums

Oh my goodness. Brad and I spent the most glorious extended weekend on Ocracoke Island. Aaaahhhhhh. It was wonderful. Look how much fun we had!

Alright. Let me start by describing how great the island ocean was. The sand was smooth and white, the water was nice and warm, and the beaches were completely secluded and empty! Ocracoke isn't a very tourist-trappy kind of island, so it doesn't get overly packed. Also, since school has already started back up, it was even less crowded than usual. Brad and I basically had the luxury of enjoying a private beach! (Which is really great, but also a little sad, because there was never anybody to take our picture! Oh well, we managed...)

We stayed at the Beach House Bed & Breakfast. It was so nice to have a real, home-cooked breakfast each morning. We did eat breakfast with the other couples that were staying there, as well, but it was really fun to get to meet some new people. It was also convenient having the "insider information" about where to go for certain meals, shelling, etc. from the caretakers. Not to mention, it was a very good thing to have a reason to wake up early (well, 8:30 early) each morning. If we didn't have to be down for breakfast, I'm sure we would have slept the day away and missed out on a lot of great island time.

Each morning, right after breakfast, while the tide was still low, we headed to the beach and walked up and down the beautiful shoreline and passed the time looking for shells. We really found a lot of great ones, but many of them were still inhabited. Since we didn't want to uproot any sea life from their homes, nor did we want any crabs or oysters running loose in our room, we politely left them where we found them. But that didn't stop us from taking pictures of their pretty abodes!

Friday, we rented some boogie boards and spent the day riding the waves. We are definitely not professionals, and most certainly looked ridiculous, but we had a great time, regardless.

Each day we were there, the wind and weather picked up and so did the waves (silly tropical storm out there somewhere). Instead of risking getting caught in the undertow (Brad was very nervous of that, actually) we traded the boogie boards in for some beach chairs and an umbrella. We spent the entire day reading on the shore. It was so peaceful and serene.

As the day progressed, the waves climbed closer and closer to our haven. Brad created a defensive sand wall around our chairs to keep the water from reaching us. It worked quite well until one particular wave was so aggressive that it rudely overcame our little structure and then was bound there at our feet in a pile of white sea foam. Eventually, we scooted further up the beach and enjoyed the breeze turning the pages of our books for us until the night fell.

We woke up obscenely early on Sunday morning (before breakfast; even before the sun!) to catch the ferry ride back to the mainland. We were so sad to leave our secluded island and head back to the real world. But it was definitely glorious while it lasted!
Now, just because the story is over, doesn't mean the pictures are. Here are a few more I couldn't resist sharing.

This is our favorite. My incredible husband tapped into his photography skills for this shot. It has happily become the desktop background for our home computer.

You had to walk through these giant dunes to get from the road to the beach.

They were pretty, but they were filled with mosquitoes! We quickly learned to douse ourselves with bug spray before trekking through.

Just look how pretty!

Here's the early morning beach full of shells just waiting for us. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? God is so good!

Can you tell whose is whose?





There is a lighthouse on the island. We couldn't go up in it, but it was still neat to visit.

There's some sort of history with Pirate Blackbeard on Ocracoke. I think maybe he was executed there. Or stationed there, or something. We didn't really do our research. But that didn't stop us from taking advantage of this great photo op!! Pirate Mehaffey looks mean!!

A lot of people that were visiting on the island said they do it every year. Many people had been there 7, 13, 26 years in a row. Brad and I have decided that we're going to be some of those people. In preparation for our future trips, we've taken a picture with the year in the sand. Years and years down the road, we'll have a nice collection of others just like this one, only with different years drawn.

We really had an incredible time. It was so great to just spend time together, cut off from the outside world. God's glory was evident all weekend long in the beauty of His Creation. We are so very blessed...

Of course, if you're interested, there are even more pictures. Who's surprised?

Castaway

I've been kind of MIA from the blog scene lately. Work has been busy, and a lot has been going on in our lives, in general. Which, of course, means many great blog posts are currently on back order.

However, they're just going to have to stay there for a little while longer, because Brad and I are leaving today for a much needed mini-vacation!

Promptly at 4:00 this afternoon, we are heading to the beach! But not just any beach. We're making our way to an island! We'll be heading due-east to the outer banks of North Carolina, to hop on a ferry, and enjoy 4 glorious, relaxing, intimate days together on Ocracoke Island, lounging on the beach and getting kissed by the sun as we leisurely read books by the shore. We haven't had any alone time away since our honeymoon, over four years ago, and we're totally ready!

It's kind of a celebration of sorts. We've made it this far, through job stresses, personal struggles, three different summers with "roommates," and we still love each other. I guess it'll be much like an anniversary trip, only this is "just because we deserve it" trip. Well, and it's a little celebration of some changes in our future, but those are other blog posts altogether. (Before you even go there, no, we are not pregnant.)

Anyway, I'll be MIA for a little longer. We'll be being beach bums on and island and loving it.

Stay tuned for recaps next week, of course accompanied by tons of pictures. Oh, and maybe I'll find time to post about everything else that's been going on, too. We'll see how I'm feeling after I've been castaway.