Hooray for 30!

Well, I've been 30 for a week now, and I'm not gonna lie, it feels kind of weird. Just saying it is crazy. Who am I to be 30?! I still feel like I'm 16 most of the time. But I feel good and I am absolutely loving life right now. I hope it lasts!



I had the BEST birthday weekend I could have imagined. I was a little sad that I'd have a boring old birthday, so I convinced two of my BFF's to drive on down to my house for the weekend. Luckily my friends are rad, and they agreed to my crazy scheme. Melanie came on Tuesday night and started the party. We took the kids swimming at the O-Club on Wednesday, soaking up all the delicious summer weather. We made the first of many trips to Sonic for some tasty food and drinks. Thursday we went to the beach to check out the "before" of Hurricane Earl (which turned out to be a little sprinkling of rain for us). It was so fun to let the kids play in the pools that formed in the sand when the waves came up high. Stephanie drove in late Thursday night, and then the party was officially on!



Friday we let the kids play all day, while the three of us got caught up with each other. That evening, Richard gave me my first birthday gift: he watched all SEVEN children while us ladies went shopping and out to dinner. My famous last words were, "Don't worry about putting them to bed. It's not like we're going to be gone past 9 anyway." Well, 11 pm rolled around and we finally came home. We were just having too much fun at dinner. We sat there and talked for a couple of hours. I've missed them so much! Anyway, like the saint that he is, all the kids were in bed and asleep! Amazing!!!



The next day, we drove down to Wilmington to meet up with Jonas and Cate. We spent the day at Wrightsville Beach and had a great time. The kids all loved it and Richard and Jonas even did a little boogie boarding. We packed up in the afternoon and headed home where all six of us adults got showered and dressed in time to leave for dinner. I picked up our awesome babysitters and we headed out to a fantastic dinner...kid free!



We ate in the historic downtown of New Bern, right near the water, at a little restaurant called Morgan's. It was so good and we had a super fun time just chatting, laughing, and eating. I think this was my favorite part of my whole birthday weekend...this night. I was with amazing friends who I love dearly, and of course my sweet husband. What more could I ask for? I feel so blessed to have these people in my life. We've all been through so much together, and to have them all here, even after moving so far away, was an amazing gift. Just thinking about how far they came: Melanie drove over 14 hours from Buffalo with her 2 kids. Stephanie drove over 10 hours from Long Island with her 2 kids. Jonas drove 2.5 hours from Chapel Hill, and one of the perks of having my birthday on Labor Day Weekend, Cate was visiting Jonas, so she got to come too. It truly means so much to me that they all sacrificed to come hang out with me on such a special birthday. And I'm also so blessed to have Richard as my husband, who actually encouraged having 13 people sleeping in our house. I love it!!!!



We drove back after dinner, and learned waaaaaaaaay too much information about each other, but I don't know if I've ever laughed that hard! We got back and had some of the outrageously delicious Double Chocolate Mousse Torte that Richard made for me. Then we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing Settler's and were jealous that Steph pulled out the victory on her first time playing.



My favorite present that I got was from Richard. He got me a Nook. I didn't think I would like reading on a screen, but I really love it! It totally looks like a page in a book and I've already got five books just waiting to be read.



On Sunday, Jonas and Cate headed back to Chapel Hill, much to our disappointment. It's always so fun to have them here.



The rest of us decided to take the ferry out to Shackelford Banks. It's a little island off the outer banks that is home to some wild horses and is known for the amazing sea shells. You can collect tons of them, and since all the kids were obsessed with finding them every time we went to the beach, we thought it would be great. We went a little unprepared though. For some reason I was thinking it was like a state park with a little beach area to collect shells, so no one brought swim suits. Luckily, just before we got on the boat, Richard grabbed our beach umbrellas out of the car, or else we would have had a miserable three hours with no shade. The boat ride was fun and all the kids thought it was awesome to go so fast!



It was definitely a beach, so after finding a place to camp out, we let the kids strip down to their undies. We were total white trash. And of course, on this random island, who walks by? Richard's boss!!!! What are the chances? Hopefully he didn't notice our kids. They had so much fun finding shells. We found some giant ones, but they all had chunks missing, so we didn't get a perfect one this time. We did manage to fill up an entire reusable shopping bag full of shells though. Now that we have them home, I have no clue what to do with them. The kids started coloring them with crayons, so at least we found one good use.

Standing on the seashell pieces.

The wild horses. For some reason, I pictured them as galloping around, but they were just grazing.

Melanie left early the next morning. The rest of us just kind of hung out the rest of the day. We let the babies have much needed naps, and then we barbecued that night. Steph left the next morning and our house was way too quiet. I was so sad to see them go . I miss my friends so much and it was such a blast having them here all weekend. I am so lucky to know Melanie and Stephanie. We were able to just pick up right where we left off and share lots of great memories.



The kids had a great time too. We didn't even bother cleaning up the playroom, because it was a disaster in 2.5 seconds. But they sure had fun. I was amazed at how well they all got along the whole time. Truly, they were all great little buddies. Ella and Ruby were super bored after everyone left. They keep asking when their friends are coming back.

Ruby, Ciella, Ella, and Crew. The dress-ups were a favorite thing to play with!

The playroom...looks like this is where Hurricane Earl actually hit!

More dressing up. Even the fellas got in on this. Crew actually slept in this purple dress more than one night! I love him!

Girlfriends, hanging poolside.

Thanks for coming ladies! 30 is off to a pretty great start!