Weekend Trip to Beautfort, SC

The Southeastern Palm Society reunited in Beaufort, SC a couple of weekends ago and we had a great time! Beaufort is a great little town - a miniature version of Charleston or Savannah which are both about 45 minutes away. Great little shops and restaurants and a spectacular state park called Hunting Island where we secured an amazing camping spot. It is uncommon for me to say the words "camping" and "spectacular" in the same sentence but you might be able to get a very small idea in the above pictures. The top pic is approximately where our campsite was - about 25 yards from the ocean. We were able to hear waves crashing all night. This came in handy the first night when our air mattress sprung a slow leak. So at least I was able to alternate thoughts of "I'm so uncomfortable" with "the waves sound amazing". The best thing about not sleeping at all is that you are awake to enjoy amazing sunrises. We walked on the beach to wear out the dogs morning and night. You can see they enjoyed it very much.

The meeting was nice as well. We saw some great formal backyards that we wouldn't have been able to see without trespassing and some very coastal, casual gardens right on the water. Some garden owners had dogs which I enjoyed. I am a huge fan of the Akita since I used to have one. One gardener had 2 - Cajun and Ronan (Japanese for Rogue!) and they were a lot of fun to play with.

We plan to visit Beaufort again this summer when we take a belated anniversary trip to Charleston. It was a great town to tour in Aaron's jeep and the people were very friendly. We would go again for the meal we had at Panini's. Aaron had iron skillet mac and cheese with prosciutto and shrimp! Wow! Unfortunately we were also there at the time of the air show that took place where the Blue Angel tragically went down. We did not see it happen but saw the planes flying over the historic streets all day.

Working Dogs!

I had to include these pics of the dogs. In the top shot, Aaron had taken them (remember they are shih tzus not labs!) into the creek behind my parent's house in Kentucky. Judging from the gleeful barks and massive amounts of mud on them, they had a great time! Needless to say they were hosed down ASAP which wasn't as much fun as the water in the creek for some reason. Theh bottom shot shows them at work with mom in the car. This is pretty much what they contribute work-wise to my day. Fitzi was very sneaky trying to get into the bed with JoJo so he wouldn't move. She managed to squeeze herself in very quietly. She really likes to snuggle. He'll do it when he thinks no one is watching.

Now Its a Party!

This past weekend Aaron and I went to Kentucky to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday! We had a great visit. The highlight was his suprise present - Sharon, my sister-in-law, was cool enough to fly in with Jacob, their only granchild even though my brother couldn't come! Dad had no idea and we are TERRIBLE at keeping secrets so it was a miracle that we pulled it off. The look on his face when he walked into the living room where we had Jake was worth it all! Mom and Dad hadn't seen him since he was around 8 wks or so and now he's 7 months! He was so much fun! He's crawling like a champ and standing/pulling up. He endured the Antique Show at the Tobacco Barns and he went out for Dad's birthday dinner without complaint! What a trooper!

The Dog Days of ...... Spring

This is a great time to be anywhere but we love NC in Spring! One of our favorite things about the triangle area is Duke Gardens. These pics are from the Sarah P. Duke Gardens last weekend. There were a million people out with their kids and dogs enjoying a beautiful day and the height of tulip season. You can see JoJo and Fitzi playing with new friend Yurby, a red chihuahua. Anyone who has visited us has seen the gardens at Duke. Frederick Law Olmstead helped design it years ago. He is the same person who designed Central Park in NY. It is an enchanting place year round. We have been known to picnic here with the dogs quite often.

Angel Baby!!

A few weekends ago we had the honor of attending the baptism of our friends Jeff and Julie's son, Harrison. It was such a special day getting to see 12 different babies get baptized. Of course, Harrison was the cutest and best-behaved of all even when the priest decided to sneeze on him! This must mean he is extra-blessed. The second pic looks like J & J gave him a bink-a-tini to get him to behave but he redeems himself in the next picture with his beautiful baptism outfit. After the ceremony we went to a neighborhood Italian restaurant to celebrate. Many of J & J's family and friends were in attendance and most of our neighborhood gang. I have attempted to capture these friends on film and most were cooperative. You can see me with Aaron and Todd in the first one. Jeff and Julie looking proud and then some made me promise to wait until they could produce an incredible picture simulataneously before posting them. Everyone gets one pass, Richard and Dwayne!! It was a great day!

Cumberland Island Pics

Last month Aaron and I attended his SouthEastern Palm Nerd Society meeting in St. Mary's, Georgia. Okay, its not really called that but probably should be. Just kidding (kind of). The people are so friendly and it attracts the most diverse group of which we were by far the youngest. These people really love their plants so Aaron fits in quite well. It usually starts off with a meeting and plant auction. I took this time to catch up with Lindsay on cell phone but Aaron participated. After the meeting we took a ferry to Cumberland Island to take a beach hike and check out the plant life out there. It was a lot of fun. Cumberland Island was home to the Carnegie Family at one time before it was devastated in a fire years ago. It is a fairly large island - 17 miles across or so and is really lovely. We dodged jelly fish corpses on the beach hike and took a tour through a very Alice -in -Wonderland- like area filled with hallucinogenic coastal oak trees that were quite a trip. The island is also home to many wild Spanish ponies that have been there for a very long time. They are fairly small and will come quite close to you. You can actually camp on the island. We tried to do this but were far too late to get a spot. Instead Aaron tried to get us a spot in a park that sounded fine on the phone but turned out to be a trailer park with a boarded up house that was a dead ringer for the one on Psycho. It also had a biker bar. The 150 cats in residence there seemed to be very happy but we chose other digs.

Aaron's New Toy

This is what happens when you ask your husband to sell his 2-door truck for a more family friendly 4-door vehicle. It actually was a great compromise. We get the 4 doors and extra room and still have a fun car to go to the beach and camp in. Aaron has never had a brand new car and this was a really fun one with which to have that experience! We got both the hard top and a soft top so there are a million ways to configure the roof so that you have varying levels of messed up hair. Mine seems to get messed up no matter what configuration Aaron chooses. There will be no picture documenting this.