Awful Arthur

This is only a month and a half late… What you are about to read was typed in the car… I delayed posting as we recovered from the ride and celebrated the 4th…and then delayed some more just for good measure…
 So here you have it… Thoughts from our OBX vacation that ended early thanks to Hurricane Arthur.

It's 1:30 am Wednesday night/Thursday morning... I'm sitting in the passenger seat of a very loaded down Jeep... In tears as my week long vacation is ending 3 days early... 

Hatteras Island faces a mandatory evacuation 5am Thursday... Ummm- I LOVE OBX but I have a strong dislike for lots of traffic AND for being forced to take the long way... Matt's dislike for those things is even more intense than mine... And so we packed and left...

And like any 31 year old- I cried... 

This was an AWESOME vacation... Some very much needed reconnection time with the man I love... The calm before we begin our fertility treatment journey... 

The OBX has always been our place- it was our first real vacation together and a place we have visited every year... Where we went on our honeymoon, and where we went after we lost TJ... It's just been out retreat from life- we love the slow pace, lack of "busy" things to do, and daily trips to the beach or sound... Not to mention its DOG FRIENDLY- Dutchess used to vacation with us!  

This year was Clara's first trip... This year should have been TJ's first trip… 

I was so busy enjoying the trip that my photos are limited… but here are a few...

We had fun taking Clara to bounce at the ocean!

We listened to Sundays message from LCBC while sitting on the beach (2 votes from the Dietrich's for a LCBC-OBX campus!)

We made a sand castle for TJ.

 

We rode wave runners! (Checked one off the bucket list!)

We spent hours floating over waves and sitting under the umbrella... Just relaxing- loving life!

We hit up our "must" stops- Howard's Pub & the Slushie Stand on Ocracoke (yay ferry ride), Top Dog, Village Conery (Clara walked there with us and had her first soft serve ice cream experience), and our last meal was crabs from Austin's South Island Seafood.  It was good eating!  

We broke in our new kicks.

OBX 2014 was all lined up to be an amazing vacation.

Until it was time to leave... Suddenly my heart felt heavy- like I was leaving without a goodbye- only what adult needs to say goodbye to the beach?!?  

Then I remembered I had wanted to write in the sand... 

All week my heart had been full, peaceful as I soaked up the beauty of God's creation. And then as I faced leaving it I felt a separation coming... 

I recognized that heavy heart- it had been hiding for a while... Always there but kindly keeping to its self UNTIL NOW- 7pm as we pack to evacuate and end our vacay.  Hello the heart if a grieving mother... There is not a moment that I don't miss my sweet angel, but this was intense!

I woke Matt from his nap, leashed up Clara and headed to the beach...  This needed to happen

But first we found TJs sandcastle, in decent shape considering we had built it 10 hours prior.

It was perfect to see- but started the waterworks.  We sat in the sand and talked about missing our boy... About how the beach seems to calm our hurting hearts... About how we weren't ready to leave- but were actually excited to have a nice house to go home to…

It was just a rough night... Even now- my heart has me wanting to just sob... The ugly cry- the cry from deep down that you save for the biggest of hurt... 

The beach should have been so different... Life should be so different... Most days I do ok with the fact that it's not... Today wasn't one of those days... 

Maybe tomorrow will be better... 

And if you are reading this- it means we have arrived safely home and are hopefully sound asleep.

What Happens in Vegas…

… gets posted on my blog!

You wanna talk about feeling LOVED!?!

After our trip to Punta Cana and then the loss of TJ, Matt and I decided we wanted to try to travel to see as much of the country as possible.  That adventure began with a trip "out west" to visit Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, and the Minute Man Missile Silo, Wall Drug, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park in South Dakota.  It was a great week!!!

We'd mentioned on more than one occasion that we could fly to Las Vegas for cheap and see some more sights in that area… but no plans were ever made…

Our bumpy ride of 2013 continued when Dutchess reached her last days and we found ourselves without a canine companion to consider which allowed a DC getaway to happen.  We came home from that weekend without a dog and headed into the week.

I had a 2 day sub job lined up for Monday and Tuesday… Monday was a great day of teaching Math and Social Studies.  I left school excited to come back to the same classroom the next day.  I called Matt on my way home (he was working night work) and he asked me a few questions about things on the schedule later in the week and then informed me that I needed to pack a bag for 2 nights in a destination that was someplace sunny and 75.    

WOAH.  

Stuff like that never happens to me.  

Spontaneous getaways… hubby taking charge of travel plans… (ok in his defense he does normally book the beach house that we find together- but I planned both the Punta Cana and out west trips.) I did my best to pack- what do you pack when you don't know where you are going?!?  

Tuesday morning I headed to school and freaked out made sure Matt had all my stuff ready to bring with him when he picked me up after school.  It wasn't until we were arrived at the airport that I learned we were headed... Vegas.  

Yes ladies and gentlemen… my wonderful hubby planned a surprise 2 night getaway to Vegas.  

The plane ride there was full.  We were loading group C for Southwest (aka the last group) and lucked out to score aisle seats across from each other.  

We arrived in Vegas, picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel.  New York New York.  Hotel- smotel… this place was like a resort.  

By the time we were settled it was late, even in Vegas time.  So we took a peek around, grabbed some pizza, and then headed back to our room to plan our adventure for the next day.  All the planning must have exhausted Matt because he crashed hard.

We woke up early and headed to ihop.  (It was my first time ever- YUM!)  While we were there I got a text message from Matt…

It's hard to see, but there was a man in uniform a few tables over.

On to the Hoover Dam.  

We spent the morning here.  We walked across the dam bridge and I failed to get a "welcome to Arizona" sign picture.  We drove over the dam, looked for dam parking that didn't cost an arm and a leg, walked around the top of the dam, looked at the dam clocks (again failed to capture in picture), and literally walked between time zones.  We did not take the dam tour… 

Have the dam jokes gotten old yet?  Yes, we continued with them the entire time we were there… and we laughed every time.  

Hunger started to set in, so we hurried on our way to find food and then seek out our next destination: Valley of Fire state park.  

Valley of Fire is pretty nifty.  The rocks are a beautiful red clay and if you catch them when the sun is just right they live up to their name.  We spent some time hiking and pretending to be rock climbers here.  

The sand pile in-between my sneaks is the sand the I dumped OUT of my shoes after our hike back to Mouse's tank.  

We decided to wrap up our day and headed out of the park at sunset.  Pictures do not do it justice!!!

Our plans for the night included dinner, touring the strip, and trying our luck on the penny slots.  

Lesson learned… Vegas is not quite our cup of tea.  It was neat to see all the lights and nice to have had the experience but we won't be putting a stay on the Vegas strip on the top of our travel lists.  

You can't go to vegas without "pressing your luck"  and well given our luck this year we decided we should limit our luck pressing!  We headed to the penny slots under the agreement that we'd each play $1- just to say we did it… and if we won anything we had a friend who was going to benefit.  A few button pushes, some crazy lights and spinning that we didn't understand and we had 20¢.  I printed my ticket and called it a night… but… we forgot to get a picture… so I played another game that looked a bit more exciting.  because exciting means you'll win more One more dollar played… and Matt snapped a photo for your enjoyment.  

No, we didn't win anything else… $3 in… 20¢ out… sounds like winning to me.  We came, We played, We decided not to go broke!

This time I was the one who was beat.  Back to the room and I was soon fast asleep.  

Our second real day in Vegas was also our last.  We had a red eye home so we decided to make the most of the day.  Back to ihop for breakfast- it's a good thing there isn't one close to home! 

Pleasantly stuffed, we headed for:

The views in this place are breathtaking!!!  

Never before can I remember experiencing the sound of NOTHING.  No cars or trucks, running water, rustling of trees or wind blowing.  No animals making noise or even people.  It was absolutely silent.  

The little clicks are me moving… there is literally nothing to hear.

We also visited the lowest point in the USA.

Daylight was fading and our time "in Vegas" (which was really not spent in Vegas) was coming to a close.  We headed back towards the airport, but not before snapping 2 more pictures for you:

I was so glad to come home and see gas was $3.25/gallon.

Packed up and ready to go… we returned to Vegas, grabbed some food and an amazing smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, returned the rental car and then found our flight home.  

The flight home was an experience… but we made it home in one piece.

Men:  You wanna make your lady feel Loved?  Plan a getaway!  It doesn't have to be a crazy last minute trip to Vegas… something simple will do!  

Three states in two days with no real planning ahead made for an awesome time with the Love of my Life.  

Thank you Matt for making sure I know that I am Loved!!!

Loved DC edition

What do you do when you've had dogs  continuously for 9 years and you suddenly find yourself dog-less? You start looking for a new dog!

Matt and I had decided we needed to rescue another dog so we quickly checked out the organization that connected us to Dutchess... And they had a lab adoption day this past Sunday in Burke, VA.  We agreed to make the trip to see if we could connect with a lab seeking a "forever" home.  We were going to make the trip early in the morning (because we had plans the night before) and then turn around and come back so Matt could work that evening and I could make the evening services at LCBC.

I got a phone call Saturday mid-morning from Matt (who was at work) requesting a bunch of items for him and instructing me to pack an overnight bag for myself and meet him at work.  I was in the middle of cleaning and laundry... All of my jeans were mid-wash... So my departure was a bit delayed... But I packed up and headed to meet my hubby.

Our lifegroup topic last session was about saying "yes" to adventures and not always needing to follow a program... That these adventures can be some awesome experiences God is providing us... In keeping with the way of our lives as if late- God wasted no time in allowing me an opportunity to practice what He was teaching me.  It was something new for me- not having a plan, not knowing what I was walking into...

When my jeans were all dry, I pulled on my skinny jeans followed by heeled boots, jumped in the car and headed to see what this adventure was going to be... When I met up with Matt he shared we were going to stay in Washington DC for the night.  Some friends of ours were there (the ones who experienced the loss of their sweet baby shortly before we did) and we were going to meet them for dinner.

We arrived at our hotel... Located just off of the George Washington University campus and learned parking was $47.50- YIKES!  I circled the block while Matt checked us in and I managed to score an amazing spot!  But this meant the car was staying put until our stay in DC was over.  

We dropped our items in our room and departed on the 5-6 block walk to meet our friends... Only our GPS suggested walking path took us all sorts of craziness and it took longer than we thought... Once we met them, we picked where we were headed to eat and began the walk. Our first choice restaurant had a 2 hour wait... So we back tracked to our second choice place and ate totchos (tater tots prepared nacho style) on a nicely heated patio.  As we wrapped up dinner we discussed going to see some of the sights... My hubby was kind enough to suggest we go back to the room so I could put my piggy toes in more comfy shoes- yay!!!

In my sneakers (with very grateful feet) we walked a much faster route to meet up with our friends again.  

First stop- the Lincoln Memorial.  (There may have been some jay walking in our attempt to reach our destination) It was like 9pm... I had visited the Lincoln Memorial numerous times as a kid but not one visit was after dark.  Folks this place looks awesome all lit up against a black sky!

Matt had never actually been to see the memorial so we walked the stairs and paid a visit to good 'ole Abe.  (He's my great great great great great uncle twice removed or something crazy cool like that.)

After we had our fill of the man "sitting in an uncomfortable firehouse chair" (thanks K) we looked out on the Washington Monument and reflecting pool- another awesome sight at night.  There may have been some debate about how far away it was (.6 mile) and we decided to go check out the "new" WWII memorial.  

We trekked the length of the reflecting pool and looked in awe at the amazing tribute to the men and women who fought to protect my freedom.  The mister half of our friends has served in the Navy and was part of an event to give WWII vets a chance to see their memorial.  He shared some cool facts (like it was funded entirely using donations- not a cent of taxpayer money) and recommended we make the trip during the day and take a guided tour to learn all the details.  You can bet that I added that to my bucket list!  The memorial is beautiful!!!

The night was brisk and we decided to head back towards "home."  We stopped on the way to pay respects at the Vietnam Memorial Wall as well.  Afterwards we returned to our hotels by way of passing the  department of state.  They have some serious security measures to get into that place!!!

That was the end to the excitement if our DC trip... We were beat when we got back to our room so it was off to sleep and then waking up to head to the lab adoption event.

 We mapped our course of travel and determined we covered 5 miles in our short visit.  (The part done in sneakers was much more comfortable and was done at a faster pace.)

Our DC tour was short but breathtaking!!! If you ever get the chance to go after dark- DO IT! 

And I can tell you that a surprise adventure is pretty great!  

P.S. I typed this at 32,000 feet on my way to LasVegas... Surprise trip #2 in a weeks time... Gaurantee you there will be a post or two about it in the not so distant future!