North Carolina

We've been wanting to take a trip to North Carolina to see Sean's parents, and when Sean ended up needing to go for work a few weeks ago, we thought it was the perfect opportunity. 

Jackson was beyond excited for the trip. He talked about it constantly and couldn't wait to fly in an airplane.  Naturally, he got the window seat!

The boys were great on the flights and for that I am very grateful. My friend gave me some good advice-- wrap up a bunch of dollar store toys and let the kids unwrap one when they start getting restless.  

We were all so excited to see nana and papa. We had pretty amazing weather the first couple of days and one of the first things we did was take a trip to the beach.  

It was Bo's first beach experience! 

I'm not sure what he's doing here, but I like it!

A little football with dad and papa

popping bubbles

The weather was nice enough for the boys to play in the water. We kept saying we couldn't believe it was November!

Hanging with papa

and poundin' it :)

Sean has a fascination with metal detectors as of late, so he decided to give it a go at the beach. No treasure found so far (unless you count pop can lids…) but he is undeterred! 

Warming up with nana

It was so fun to see where John and Sylvia live and explore a bit. I fell in love with their neighborhood. Full of charming Southern houses that look so welcoming!

The boys had fun walking over to a park with a big pond to feed the fish.

Nana and papa's backyard provided hours of fun with the tall trees and all sorts of places to explore. Jackson spent a good deal of time "slaying dragons" with this awesome armor nana had. 

We made a trip to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher one day. I had actually been there once when Jackson was only about 7 months old, but I knew it would be a totally different experience now that he is almost 4 and Bode was joining us! We all had a great time. They had an albino alligator, and Jackson was pretty impressed with these guys:

In the hurricane simulator

On our way back we saw these beautiful cotton fields! They were ready for harvest and they looked so cool! I may have brought a branch home as a souvenir...

We really had such a great time. Other highlights include going to the branch where John is branch president, watching a rainstorm snuggled up on a lounge chair on the back porch, looking for "carnivals" (cardinals), getting in the hot tub, putting puzzles together with nana, exploring cool neighborhoods, yummy food, etc! 

After flying home and finally making it to our car at the Salt Lake Airport, Jackson got really quiet and had big tears rolling down his cheeks. When I asked him what was wrong, he just said, "I'm sure going to miss nana and papa." He's lucky to have such a great extended family.

A big thanks to John and Sylvia for taking us in for the week. We hope to be back soon!