June

So here it is July 3rd and we are still not in our house. Kids disappointed, stuff still in storage, racking up all kinds of costs all over the place. We knew they wouldn’t make the deadline, voiced it multiple times along the way on days when the house just sat no work being done. I don’t know. I have so much to say but at the end of the day a simple apology would have been nice. But nope. Just passing the blame wherever they can.

But let’s back up.

The kids finished school. So proud of these two, especially who had start high school in a whole new place without knowing anyone.

We headed to Asheville to meet up with Blake for his orientation at UNC Asheville. Cole drove halfway there which was a bit crazy. He needs to clock a bunch of hours before he can get his actual drivers license.

Andy drove my car with these guys

Asheville is beautiful. I can’t believe that Blake will be living there.

Blake flew directly into Asheville so we switched to a hotel closer to campus. It took forever to get our new room ready so we just hung out downtown where there was lots of people selling artwork. Eva can fall asleep anywhere 🙂

SO great seeing Blake again. We went to Mellow Mushroom and sat outside for dinner.

I bought this drawing from a local artist because it reminded me of Hudson. LOL.

Andy and Cole went to the Biltmore. Kids get in free all Summer!

The view from the pool deck at the Aloft hotel was pretty nice. Our room opened right up to the pool. Very cool.

Cole turned 16 while we were there.

I’ve mentioned before that the Aloft hotels are dog friendly. This one especially so. They gave each dog a goodie bag with treats and a ball. They also had a resident dog from the local humane society. She was so sweet.

Dinner at Bartaco back in Chapel Hill with just Blake before he flew back to Ohio.

I was so sad I couldn’t be with Austin on his 22nd birthday. Being away from him is SO hard.

I love Bark Box and all the fun stuff they send. I had to switch to the heavy chewer one recently as my dogs destroy all the cute stuff 🙁

On the day we were supposed to close on our house we celebrated not closing on our house 🙁

Eva’s bff from Ohio stopped by Chapel Hill on their way to the beach. The girls were SO happy to hang out for a couple hours. Eva misses her so much.

We take pictures of things that remind us of Blake and send them to him.

Because we didn’t close on our house I threw the kids in the car and went to Bald Head Island. We needed a change of scenery and to get outta town for a bit.

And look what our fave island greeted us with.

The dogs were so happy to be back at BHI.

Time at our happy place is the best.

I love beach routine. Walk the dogs, grab a coffee, enjoy the view, and then head in and make the kiddos breakfast.

Eva’s routine included daily smoothies from the Shoals Club.

Oh BHI, you are the best.

When I was out walking the dogs I ran into our old neighbors from the last time we lived in Chapel Hill. So great to see them again. Then I remembered that our neighbors from Ohio were on the island for a couple weeks so I shot her a text and we spent the rest of the trip hanging out.

Chilling under our Shibumi Shade. There were a bunch of these on the beach. Seriously the best sunshade we have ever used. We had so many people under it plus two big Golden Retrievers!

BHI Conservancy is having a great year with the number of Sea Turtles. So excited to go back in a few weeks.

I heart lizards, this guy was one of the biggest I have seen on the island.

Cutest dog walker 🙂

We saw a shark in the water. Everyone just calmly got out and waited until he swam away. And then we moved to the pool at the BHI club with our Ohio friends.

Overall a great trip to relieve the house building stress.