departure and arrival.

Emmy, Liesel and Meggie helping me pack

The morning we left the beach house, my sister Sarah and her family invited Brian and I to go to Battleship North Carolina-- a WWII battleship that now serves as a memorial. You can walk through the entire ship. It is stifling, claustrophobic and incredible. 

 The girls shooting the automatic rifles on deck. 

It was great to have my parent's home as a hub for flying in and out of NC. We, along with Sarah's family and Catherine and Lindsey all hung out there over the weekend. 

Liesel and Emmy playing with grandma

My dad is great about giving kids independence. Sometimes it is startling. I walked outside and saw Joshua with the drill, a 2x4 in the vice grip and he had that thing looking like a pock marked teenager. Thomas had crafted a little boat with a nail and string to sail at the pond, named "General Lee" after the 'big fish' that Uncle Brian told him lived in the pond-- it's a legend, Aunt Angela. Oh, gotcha. 

We all got to meet Lindsey's boyfriend, Jacob. Liesel still mentions 'Aunt Lindsey's Jacob.' She told me he was cute (and that my brother Ryan was cute). Where did this come from? No encouraging of mine for sure. I mean, she's 2 and a half and already acting shy and flirting with boys? Holy Mackerel. Regardless Liesel, Jacob's taken. 

We snuck in a game of Ultimate Frisbee with the lightening bugs and were sweating our brains out. We made earrings with Catherine and I got an afternoon out with just Sarah. Not even Hannah came along. We were going to go to the mall, but as soon as we parked we decided against it and took a long drive in the country to a local dairy. We opted for eating ice cream while staring at the corn fields instead. 

Then it was time to go home. We flew. Then we drove. And as amazing as my 2 months in North Carolina was (and as needed as it was-- I still feel recharged) -- when we arrived home to this I thought to myself, you know Ange? You're in the right place. And you've got it good. 

So welcome home.