TOPSAIL '09

We made it home from our week of vacation about 2 hours ago. We are all unpacked, the laundry is started, and we are enjoying those last few moments of relaxation before it's all over. Yes, our much anticipated trip to Topsail is now over and we have been left with a ton of wonderful memories.

We had a great week!I pray all year for a sunny and enjoyable trip full of quality time with our family and we had all of those things. Well, almost all of those things. We had only two days of less than desirable weather (one with rain, one with clouds and wind), we definately enjoyed every minute, but unfortunately our Granny Royal wasn't able to make it this year. She typically goes with us and the trip just wasn't the same without her. Granny had some complications following a minor surgery she had the week before and was admitted to the hospital while we were at Topsail. I will update on that when I have more information. All I know now is that she will be transported to Duke on Tuesday for the removal of some sort of digestive track blockage.

Grayson had a fantastic time at the "beesh". He loved the sand, which wasn't a surprise to us since he loves his sandbox at home. He was happy in the water as long as he had daddy or another adult with him, and he loved playing and relaxing at the beach house. Grayson did venture out to the water once on his own with use watching him a VERY short distance away. He didn't get very deep at all (ankle deep) before a big wave came and he lost his footing. Daddy ran over to scoop him up right away and Grayson learned an important lesson about being careful in the ocean.

Some of Grayson's favorite things about our vacation was playing in the sand with Peyton, walking on the beach with daddy, rocking on the porch and singing with grandpa, waking granny and grandpa up in the morning to cuddle, and finding shells to bring mommy. Grayson also went on his first boat ride at Topsail with Granny and Grandpa. Dad took him out in the floudering boat with his life jacket on. It was adorable. They said he enjoyed the ride, except for when bigger boats passed in the sound and made big waves for them to ride over.

We had a few visitors throughout the week. Anne and Adra came for a day from Wilminton. Grayson really like playing with Adra on the beach. He followed her everywhere. Adam and Lisa came for the last weekend to spend some time with us. It was really nice to share some vacation time with good friends.

We were all together as a family the whole week which was wonderful. Justin and I even got to go out for a dinner date thanks to granny and grandpa keeping Grayson. Other than that and a men's outing for some golf we didn't really venture far from our little cottage. In fact, Grayson didn't even get in his carseat from last Sunday until last night when we rode out to the point to watch the sunset. That is how I like to do vacation. Long days on the beach and memorable nights eating dinner as family and just relaxing at the cottage with a little floudering in the mix.

Yes, I said floundering. We go flounder gigging at Topsail. My dad has been doing that for as long as I can remember. You go at night, drop lights down into the water, and gig the flounder we see laying on the bottom of the sound. It is really fun. We gigged a total of 25 flounder this week. Mostly by Justin and dad. I went out one night and got one and Adam and Lisa both gigged some flounder while they were there. That all made for a yummy fish fry on our last night. Yes, Grayson loved the fish!

So now we are back to the real world. Grayson starts preschool this week and we have lots of other things going on. It will be a whole year before we return to Topsail, God willing, and do it all over again. I will be couting down the days until.