Star Spangled

Happy belated 4th! We had such a nice holiday weekend. First up we had the Lucas family for the night on Friday! They drove back to this area to catch an early am flight on Saturday. We were so happy to have them again! I made a tomato pie which Ben and Amie had never had and Amie tells me she is making this same recipe for her bookclub dinner. Yay! We also had this lemon coconut poundcake, berries and cool whip for dessert.

All cool whip and no poundcake OR berries

Hair - effortless, beach chic

Sadly Ben, Amie and Lucy left early Saturday and our fun with three of our favorite CA residents was over. Hurry back soon! Jimmy did school work during the day Saturday and I read and sunbathed on the beach with my mom. Dinner Saturday was Omaha Steak burgers - compliments of Martha and Ron (huge thank you!) and these completely on a whim, but extremely delicious homemade onion rings. A must try! I'm all about links and no visual evidence these days...

Sunday we decided to head out for a paddleboarding/fishing adventure at the Basin in Fort Fisher. It was, let's just say, disastrous. The goal = fishing on Zeke's Island. Transportation = Jimmy & Kaylie on paddleboards across the Basin; My mom on foot via the rocks that close in the Basin. As my mom sets out on foot, Jimmy and I walk to beach of the Basin to drop our boards in. About a 15 min walk. About a 15 min paddle. We'll meet on Zeke's island. Well 15+ mph winds coming right at us made our paddle, or shall I say, kayak on a paddleboard, a 1 hour and 45 min affair. It was horrendous. I am still sore days later from the arm, legs and core strength it took to keep paddleboarding when the wind made me feel like I was going nowhere.

Jimmy and I got to Zeke's Island and my mom was nowhere in sight. Luckily a lady on a kayak had a cell phone. I got a hold of my mom only to find out the tide over the rocks closing in the Basin made the rocks extremely slippery, and she had fallen... and had a giant bump and open wound on her shin. We both felt really bad and we all were completely exhausted, so we headed back to the North End for a cocktail and some effortless surf fishing....

My mom - such a trooper!

Fireworks on Sunday evening, some chores around the house and dinner out on Monday and the long weekend was over. Can't believe it's already Wednesday!

How does one actually capture the beauty of a firework in a picture?

Jimmy spent the day today revisiting our beloved Basin and Zeke's Island on paddleboard and this time came back with a delicious flounder for dinner. Success!