Raleigh, NC

We arrived in Raleigh Sunday night.  We got a Panera dinner (delish) and checked into our hotel.  The next day we visited a State Park.  The boys entertained themselves with catching little critters on our hike down to a lake.  Here are some more shots of beautiful North Carolina.  We noticed a big difference moving inland of temperature.  We all missed the ocean breeze of the coast, but Raleigh was super green.

 Baby toads were everywhere on the trail.

Adult toad

 After our nature exploration we headed into the main part of the city for some rockin' BBQ.  The joint was called the Pit and it was amazingly good.  If you're ever in Raleigh, eat at the Pit.  Remember that.
It didn't look like much, this is a picture of the area:  We parked in front of this building.

There's a historical street in downtown.  We passed the capitol building and drove past the historical houses:

Getting onto the freeway you see:

Not your typical city.  Immediately the city is lost in the trees.  We then drove to Durham to see the campus of Duke in honor of Tristan's brother.  It was a beautiful campus and we were able to drive right up to the chapel to take pictures.  Usually the area is blocked off and we were lucky.

 We also wanted to see the Raleigh temple.  It's just like the Columbus temple.

It was a great trip and we were able to see a lot of cool places.  We really enjoyed our time in the car with the Prestwich family.  Thanks for going with us!

Wilmington, NC

We arrived in Wilmington Saturday afternoon.  To keep with the trend, we headed "downtown" to get a flavor of the area.

After looking at some shops in the downtown area we found this picturesque lake in the middle of a neighborhood.  I love the pictures Tristan was able to capture of the spanish moss.  There was a sign posted near the entrance that warned visitors from harassing the alligators.  

Our little charmer at it again!  So happy after so long in the car.  She really wanted to get her hands on my camera.

Sunday morning we attended sacrament meeting for the ward in Wilmington.  There was a great mix of families with older kids, young kids, and some older folks.  We enjoyed having a bit of spirituality before heading to see the beach.  Wilmington Beach was SO crowded.  We drove through the island (took an hour) and couldn't find parking so we headed north once again through Hampstead to Topsail beach.  It took about 45 minutes to get there, but it was totally worth it when we immediately found parking and headed to sand and waves.  The day was perfect for being at the beach.  I mean perfect.  The water felt great, though Amalyn wasn't too sure at first.  But I guess a slightly grumpy baby can be expected when it's naptime.  I had a hard time picking favorites, so here are all of her cute expressions:

She didn't like the feel of the sand much, and was unsure of the water.  We stuck with it and she did come around a little bit, but by then we'd put the camera away.  Tristan took me into the waves to face my fear of the undertow.  The power of the Ocean has always scared me, but if we do decide to live near the beach, I need to kick that.  This trip went a long way to easing my fear.  The waves are so fun to play in.  Amalyn finally fell asleep.

I love that the girl's swimsuits matched!  Same brand but different colors of the same dots pattern.

Tristan and Brendan really got into construction mode and had almost as much fun in the sand as Aislynn did (once she figured out it wasn't for eating).

After some playing in the sand the boys headed back to the water and Danelle went to more private quarters to feed Aislynn.  I was sitting on the blanket alone enjoying the day.  I watched the tide come closer and closer.  Suddenly a wave washed up and began pulling our towels into the ocean!  I didn't have much time, or much hands as I was giving Amalyn a bottle.  I was trying to take everything further up the beach while still feeding Amalyn (I didn't want to put the bottle down and get it sandy) when a group of "frat guys" as Tristan calls them, came to my rescue and moved everything for me.  Tristan looked up the beach and came out of the water to see what the guys were doing with his wife.  We thanked them for their help in rescuing our stuff from getting soaked or swept away and pack up for our drive to Raleigh.