A remodeled bathroom

Nov

Clara has been wanting to remodel the old bathroom in our Beaufort home for a long time.

She made arrangements with a company that she had heard about, and we were committed.

Troy helped us "destroy" the old stuff, and then the crew came in and finished it out.

The finished product

Christmas

Anna's American Girl Doll

Dec 24-26

We took Dad back home on Tuesday and went to Slade's to celebrate the holidays with he and his family.

Candace welcomed us in her home for the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning gift opening by the kids.  This is the way Christmas should be celebrated, surrounded by love ones.

Evan and Anna proudly display the Christmas Eve gifts from their parents.  They said they didn't want their normal gift of clothes, so they both got deluxe toilet brushes.

Anna is an organizer,  Here are all her gifts, perfectly laid out.

Christmas present opening aftermath

Thursday, Anna and Evan, along with Evan's friend Zack, came back to Beaufort with us for a few days.

Crazy boys in the back of the car on the way to Beaufort

Saturday, Dec 28

The weather was fairly decent today (the temperature almost reached 60 degrees, so we decided to take the power boat over to Shackleford Banks.

Asitshdbe ready to go

Zack and Evan (the Captain)

We had the beach all to ourselves

Sunset on Taylors Creek

Nov 1

Nothing else needs to be said!

Asitshdbe Goes to the Boathouse

Oct 31

Clara has been trying to persuade me that we should be our power boat in the Boat House on Front Street http://www.frontstreetvillage.com/#!boathouse/c1nhz since they opened a couple years ago.

I have finally broken down and done it.  Sure hope we use the boat a LOT more.  She says she will.  We'll see!  I think about 20 times a month will make the investment pay off.

At the Cape with Slade

Oct 26 - 27

This weekend has been special!

Slade came down to Beaufort Friday night with two of his buddies, David Dye and John Whelan. Saturday morning, we loaded up Eureka (with adult beverages and some food) and headed out to Cape Lookout for an overnight stay.

Slade

John

David

The Captain

I had watched the weather forecast closely all week because a cold front (the first of the season) was coming in.  I was hoping for a good Northerly blow and some great sailing.  The front came through early and we ended up with light winds.  However it was relatively warm for the end of October.

On the way out to the Cape we did have enough wind to sail.  We came up on one of the largest school of dolphin I think I've ever seen and we were able to mess around with them for quite a while.

Then on to the Cape to settle in for a pleasant evening.

The dinghy looks like it could sink

Three Amigo's

Sunday morning we motored over to the lighthouse for a little history.  It was peaceful and quiet compared to the summer when the area is crowded with tourists and visitors.

Slade's Great Grandfather, John Quidley is featured in one of the panels at the Lighthouse

John, the "Crazy Irishman" (which David says is a redundant description), enjoyed the "cool" waters.

The boys can mess up a sailboat

Dad turns 98

Oct 18-20

This weekend, Clara and I went to Dad's home in Nashville, NC to help celebrate his 98th birthday.  Friday night we had a party for him with some friends at a local restaurant and Slade, Anna and Evan came to help celebrate.

Four generations
98, 69, 44, 12 and 10 years old

Evan and Pierce

Sat, Oct 5

On the way back from the mountains, we stopped by Cary and picked up Evan and his friend, Pierce.  They'll be staying with us this week.  Should be a fun week.

Sun, Oct 6

We start the day with what is becoming a tradition whenever we have someone visiting - a bike ride downtown and breakfast at the Boardwalk Cafe.  The boys do what 10 year olds do best - eat.

The boys get the bikes out and take rides downtown.  It's great to live where we feel comfortable letting them take off on their own to ride around.

Mon, Oct 7

We had planned to take the motorhome and head up to Cape Hatteras today, but the weather was great, so we took the power boat and went over to Shackleford Banks.

It was interesting on the banks - we were the only ones over there. which is very unusual.  After we got home, we realized that the National Parks are closed because of the budget impasse in Washington.  Supposedly, Shackleford Banks is off limits, which is ridiculous!

Evan and Pierce

They get a good workout drying to dunk each other in the waves

And they were worn out when we got back to the boat to head back to Beaufort

Tues, Oct 8

We've made reservations for the Cedar Island - Ocracoke Ferry and at a campground on Cape Hatteras.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast is completely messed up.  Yesterday it was supposed to rain - it was beautiful.  Today is supposed to be nice - and we are in the remnants of a tropical storm.  It rained all day.

The motorhome is ready to roll

But we went ahead with our plans to take the ferry to Ocracoke and then from Ocracoke to Hatteras.  It made for a long, VERY wet drive in driving wind approaching 40 mph.  Sitting in the motorhome on the ferry felt like we were in the cabin of our sailboat, Eureka.

Wed, Oct 9

I can't recall when it has rained as much as we've seen since yesterday.  It rained hard all night with winds gusting to 40 mph.  It continued raining on and off all day.

We did get a few minutes clear this morning so we walked down to the beach. The RV Park is right on the ocean.  The guys enjoyed the brief break.  The ocean is really rough and they could not get in the water.

Then we headed to the Aquarium on Roanoke Island.  We made the drive at high tide, and there were parts of the road that were flooded by the ocean breaking through the dunes and the wind was blowing the sand across the road.  The Department of Transportation was hard at work trying to keep the road from getting washed away.

The ocean is overtaking the dunes.  It seems that the DOT is constantly at work keeping the road open.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at Big Al's, a restaurant that is filled with Coca Cola memorobilia and then a pleasant afternoon at the aquarium.

The dudes wearing their new aviators at the aquarium.  They eventually figured out that you don't wear sunglasses in the aquarium, even though it does look cool.

By the time we got back to the motorhome, the rain had stopped long enough for the guys to go back down to the beach.

I took this picture off the internet.  It was taken only a short ways from where we are parked tonight.  It shows how severe this storm has been here at Cape Hatteras

Thurs, Oct 10

The skies have cleared and the wind died down overnight.  As soon as we got up, the boys were ready to head to the beach.  The surf was still very rough, but Evan and Pierce made the most of it.

Today is a travel day back to Beaufort.  The tide is extremely high and as we drive down the island to catch the ferry, we encounter several places where the ocean has washed over the dune line and covers the road.  The first thing we'll be doing when we get back to Beaufort is washing the salt off the car and motorhome.

The ocean waves are breaking through to carports of these condominium and crossing the road

The motorhome is NOT a boat

Mimi and the boys

The birds are enjoying the water is this yard on Ocracoke

Fri - Sun, Oct 11 -13

Slade and Anna drove down on Friday evening.  We've enjoyed a nice weekend, although the weather still remains cloudy.

Anna and Maddy enjoy the swinging chairs

Slade's birthday is this week.  He is forth something.  Nice to have him down here.