Fourth of July Weekend. Happy 250th, USA!

Did I mention in my last post that after graduation Sarah and her friends were spending three weeks in Europe?  Well, they did!  They visited Germany, France, Italy, Amsterdam and Holland.  She had a wonderful time but I sure did miss having her in my time zone.

On the last day, she passed out in line waiting to go into the Vatican.  And as she lay on the scorching hot pavement for about a minute until she came to, she got 2nd degree burns on her arm.  Because she passed out, they called an ambulance and took her to a hospital. That was a fun call to receive.  I did my best not to panic and all my sweet friends at work began to pray immediately.  It's hard not being able to be there for your baby when she needs you!

The care she received in the hospital was a little lacking.  They popped the blisters on her burns.  I was shocked that they did that.  Everyone knows not to pop blisters on a burn! They also did not give her any fluids.  I am assuming she was dehydrated and would assume fluids would be given.  They did give her one bottle of water while she waited.  They did a scan and everything was normal and after 6 plus hours in the hospital they sent her on her merry way. 

Thankfully, this happened on the last day of her trip because her burns were pretty gnarly. They ran all up the back of her left arm. She literally had about 6 hours from the time she was released from the hospital to go back to the hostel pack up and head to the airport.

When she got home she saw our family doctor.  They redressed the wounds, confirmed that they were indeed 2nd degree, gave us antibiotics in case of infection because three days later we moved her into her apartment in Raleigh.  

That was a fun weekend.  You know how sometimes everything that can go wrong does?  She moved into this apartment sight unseen. Joe picked it out for her after touring several complexes that were in her budget.  The layout is perfect for her but it's kind of dark and receives minimal natural light.  So that was a bit of a bummer for her.  

There were a bunch of things in the apartment that needed attention.  Three weeks later, everything is fixed now but it was a disappointment that these things weren't addressed prior to her moving in. She now has a new door, a new washer and dryer, and an AC that actually works among other things. (Did I mention that the heat index was over 100 degrees when we moved her in?)

We had purchased furniture before the move and it was delivered while we were there but the couch they brought was the wrong color so that was an ordeal (and a lot of time on hold with Bob's Discount Furniture) to get corrected.

Dan and I were in Raleigh with her helping her move for an entire weekend (Friday morning to Sunday evening) and I can confirm that we did some damage in Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshall, Target and Walmart getting everything set up.  But her apartment is really cute and she's happy with how everything looks.  And I think she is enjoying having her own place. 

She started a new job with a marketing firm as a public relations account executive.  She's working from home (which she hates...my girl is too social for that) but she's learning a lot.  

So now both kids are in Raleigh, and I miss them both so much but....

they both rode home together last Thursday night and spent the entire weekend with us for the Fourth of July!  My heart was so happy!

Thursday night we had dinner together at home and sat around the dinner table and chatted and got caught up on life.  Peter has also just moved into another apartment.  He's living with one of his fraternity brothers who is also one of his best friends from high school.  I think he is really enjoying only having one other roommate and being in an apartment as opposed to being in a house with from between 3 to 8 other roommates which has been his living experience the past 4 years.

On Friday we had brunch at Miam Breakfast House.  It was delicious! If you've never been, I highly recommend.  After that the boys did yardwork and Sarah and I did laundry and things around the house.  Then Peter and Dan headed out for a drive and to check out a flea market.  Sarah and I tried to hit up a local store/coffee shop but they were closed for the holdiay weekend.  So we stopped at Starbucks because they were open.

That evening we headed to Truist Stadium to watch the Winston-Salem Dash play baseball and then saw an awesome fireworks display.  Because it was the 250th anniversary of the country the fireworks were longer and bigger than ever!  They were fantastic!!!

On Saturday evening we went to Mass and then we had a cookout and invited my mom and brother over for burgers and hotdogs.  Later that evening we headed outside to enjoy the sunset and some drinks around the firepit (sans fire because it was in the upper 90s) and we also got to enjoy a great fireworks show that occurred in a neighborhood behind us.  We had a great view from the fire pit.  It was only semi obstructed by the tree line but that didn't matter because we had seen such a great show the night before.

On Sunday we had Sunday lunch at moms and then we went to Foothills Tasting Room for some drinks.  Peter works from home every Monday and Sarah works from home every day, so they were both able to spend Sunday night here and work from here on Monday. 

I was so excited to have them at home for four nights!  I really do sleep more soundly when we are all under one roof! 

On Monday evening they headed back to Raleigh, and I came home from work to an empty house.  Whomp whomp.....

But they will both be able to join us in a few weeks when we head to the Cape for vacation!!!!  

Here are a few photos from our weekend.

Walking to the ballpark.

.  Had to get a shot with a view of downtown Winston-Salem in the background.

Selfie with my girl!

Guys selfie!  They always humor me.

And Dan is always so kind to humor me with a family selfie.  

View from our front porch on Fourth of July morning.

My girl loves an Aperal Spritz so we had to make them for the 4th!

All decked out in his Patriot Grateful Dead garb!

Mom and Brad!  Aren't they the cutest?

She Did It!!!! Graduation and Mother's Day make for quite the weekend!

Last Friday, we attended Sarah's graduation!

She graduated Summa Cum Laude (with a perfect 4.0 GPA, I might add) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (my alma mater, I also might add)!  She is now the proud owner of a BA in Communication Studies with a minor in Public Relations!!  

We are so proud of Sarah.  She worked so hard for that GPA!  I remember after her first perfect semester freshman year, we told her that she probably wasn't going to be able to get a 4.0 every semester. Well, I guess she showed us!

Peter happily took the day off of work and came in from Raleigh. Cathy and Eric came in from Virginia. My brother joined us and we headed to Charlotte.  Sadly, my mom wasn't able to join us as she has had some leg pain and wasn't able to walk without a lot of pain and a walker.  We sent her pictures to try to keep her in the loop, but we sure did miss her.  

Sarah's ceremony was at 3:00 in Halton Arena. The 3:00 ceremony included The College of Humanities and Earth &Social Science and the College of Engineering. There were 1200 graduates between these two colleges, and they read off every single name. It went pretty fast though thanks to the AI voice that was reading the names.  

After the ceremony, we met for pictures and then headed to dinner at Flatiron Kitchen and Taphouse in Davidson. Afterwards, Sarah headed back to her apartment and we all headed home.  It was a long but lovely day.

Sarah stayed in Charlotte on Saturday because she had some parties to attend.  Dan, Peter, Eric, Cathy, and I went to a little farmer's market in Winston-Salem on Saturday morning.  It was such a nice way to spend the morning.

We got coffee/tea and cheese danish.  We bought gorgeous flowers (which Cathy gifted me for Mother's Day), dill pickle ranch, dill pickle humus, and some tasty dill cranberry relish.  Cathy and Eric bought mushrooms and tomato plants.  The weather was perfect for walking around looking at all the offerings,

After that we came home and I made a lunch of beans and franks with B&M brown bread.  Dan's mom used to make this every Saturday for lunch when he was a child and since Cathy had gifted Dan a can of brown bread, I thought it would be the perfect lunch.  The brown bread is a New England staple but you can't get it here in North Carolina.

After lunch, Cathy and Eric headed back to Virginia.  We headed to mass and then picked up pizza for dinner and watched the Hurricanes advance to round 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

On Sunday, Sarah came home to celebrate Mother's Day.  I cooked lunch for my mom, and it was pretty tasty if I do say so myself!  I made teriyaki chicken (with homemade teriyaki sauce), Asian slaw, vegetable medley of sugar snap peas, broccoli, and carrots and rolls.  I also made a delicious chocolate mousse cake.  

On Sunday afternoon we headed to a brewery where we enjoyed some adult beverages.  The brewery was hosting a Mother's Day market with a lot of vendors, and I purchased a nice smelling candle for myself.

And then, just like that, our long weekend full of celebrations was over!

But never fear, I've got lots of family photos to share...

My smart, kind, beautiful Sarah...

Quick Carolina Beach Getaway!

Dan has been travelling a lot for the last few years and thankfully, has reached the end of it for a while.  He has no work trips on the books for the foreseeable future! So, to celebrate, he took last Friday off and we went to the beach, just the two of us.

I found an affordable ocean front condo at Carolina Beach. We've never been to this particular beach, so we were excited to see what it had to offer.

We arrived around 1:30 and had a late lunch at Sunny Daze BBQ which was located on the boardwalk.  We both enjoyed delicious brisket sandwiches with an ocean view!

After lunch we checked into our VRBO and hit the beach!

The beach will always be my favorite.

Dan didn't realize the sunscreen I handed him was white and wouldn't rub in!  I didn't realize it either so he spent the afternoon looking like a lifeguard from the 1970s!

After several hours on the beach we headed to dinner.  We chose a place called The Spot and got flatbreads.  We were still full from our late lunch.  The were quite tasty and left us room for ice cream at Squigleys.

Since it was our first time there, they gave us stickers.

Beach hair, don't care!  

The next morning, we enjoyed coffee and bagels on the porch. 

After our relaxing breakfast enjoying the beautiful scenery, we got ready for the day and then headed  to Carolina Beach State Park. Fun fact: Carolina Beach State Park is home to the Venus Flytrap.  Another fun fact:  Venus flytraps are native only to North and South Carolina and they are carnivorous!  We had one growing up and I remember watching one trap and consume a fly.  So cool! We spent a long time on the trail trying to spot one. 

Thankfully we bumped into some other people trying to do the same thing.  They weren't successful either so they found the ranger and he told them exactly where to go so we followed them.  And we found some growing in the wild!  In our defense, they were very tiny as they are just starting to come out and don't reach full size until mid May.  And even when they are full grown, they are still small.

After that we headed to Fort Fisher.  Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort that protected Wilmington's port from 1861 to 1865. They have a great museum on site that just opened last year.  We looked around the museum and then toured the grounds.

One thing about Dan - if we go to a museum, he's going to watch the video!

After touring the fort, we grabbed lunch at Island Burgers and Bites. Their specialty is smash burgers and they were delicious!! Then we headed to the beach where we enjoyed the sun, the waves, some music, some reading and an adult beverage or two.  It was the perfect afternoon!

The temps were in the mid to upper 80s, there was a strong breeze, and the water was chilly only for a minute after you hopped in.  We were in heaven and didn't come off the beach until well after 5:00.

We went to dinner at K38 Baja Grill and it was quite tasty!

On Sunday morning we enjoyed another bagel and coffee on the balcony and then got the VRBO cleaned up, packed, and the headed to Mass on our way out of town.  

It was the perfect little two-day getaway!  The weather was beautiful, it wasn't crowded yet, we had plenty of time to relax on the beach but were also able to visit some local sites.  And now, I'm ready to go back!!!