Summer Vacation Part 3: Holden Beach

The last part of our super long and awesome summer vacation took place at Holden Beach, North Carolina. The same beach were the Nicholas Sparks books take place and the movies are filmed. It is such a beautiful area. The beach is lined with little beach houses that can be rented. Each summer for the past several years, Jacob's family has spent a couple weeks there in August. We were lucky to be able to make it out East this summer in order to join them.

Jacob's Family + 2 family friends, Mary Blodget and Kate Corbet

We were there for a total of two weeks and stayed in a different beach house each week. All of Jacob's siblings made it, his sister Jessie and her daughter Clara even made the trip from Chicago to be with us the second week.

Our activities consisted mostly of laying out in the sun, reading books, watching movies, playing games, swimming in the ocean and fishing. I was pretty successful with fishing, I caught a small fish and a stingray as well as a tiny shark that Jacob pulled in on my line. I also got to try boogie boarding for the first time which I really enjoyed. However, I don't really like just swimming in the ocean, something about the water and hidden sea creatures really freaks me out.

While at the beach Linda taught me how to crochet. She is always making these cute hot pads so I asked her if she could show me how. The hot pads are more complicated so after a couple lessons I decided to practice my skills by taking on the easier (but much more time consuming) project of crocheting a blanket. We went to the nearest Walmart to buy me some yarn and tools so I could get to work. I ended up working on it quite a bit at the beach and got a great start.

Being at the beach for such a long time was an interesting experience for me. Growing up in Idaho my family was obviously not frequent beach goers. When we visited California we would always stop by the beach but usually not for more than an hour or two per vacation. In summary I am not very used to beaches and don't really know what to do with myself while at them. Don't get me wrong, Holden beach was beautiful and I felt blessed to have the opportunity to join Jacob's family on this great vacation, but I also found myself with an excessive amount of down time. It probably didn't help that I am also used to vacations being jam packed with activities and outings so it felt somewhat strange to use a vacation to just relax and do nothing. I know Jacob, however, loves these kinds of vacations. I enjoyed seeing how happy he was to be there and how much fun he was having. We'll both have to learn to meet in the middle for our future vacations together. It's funny how the way you were raised in your own family can affect and shape you in such random ways you never even realize until you become married.

All in all though our time at the beach was very enjoyable and it was great to spend time with family and have some relaxation time before heading back to school. Jacob's parents decided to let us take their old but reliable Toyota truck out to Utah so we ended our vacation by driving across the country. Jacob's two sisters Amber and Katelyn were also bringing out a car so we drove together in a little caravan. It took us three days and a lot of driving, but we made it fun. Jacob and I ate mostly lunchables and I probably doubled the length of the blanket I was crocheting. I appreciated the time to get to know Amber and Katelyn better two as we took turns driving with different people to break up the drive.

Going back to school is a little sad but I have no regrets about the summer. Jacob and I were able to go on so many fun adventures and visit cool new places. I feel like we have already made so many great memories together during our marriage and it has only been four months since our wedding. Crazy, it feels like it has been much longer.

Summer Vacation Part 2: Virginia & New York City

For the second part of our extended summer vacation, Jacob and I caught a plane to Virginia to visit his family. The first couple days we spent at Jacob's home, relaxing and doing some back to school shopping at their great outlet mall. We also got to hang out with his mom Linda, which is always great. Jacob always likes to joke about how similar Linda and I are, as far as personality goes as well as quite a few preferences and tendencies, I'd have to say it's pretty true. Anyway, back to our outing. The three of us decided to take a day trip out to the Airplane museum. Jacob and I had just recently bought our new camera and were excited to use it so we took lots of pictures.

On Thursday it was time for our much anticipated trip to New York City. I was unbelievably excited, New York City being some where I have always wanted to visit. Jacob's dad, Doug, took the day off so he, Linda, Brooke, Jacob, and I all piled into the suburban early in the morning so we could get ahead of the traffic. I always forget how close together everything is on the East coast. I didn't even realize that New York City was only about 5 hours away. That's like driving from Idaho Falls to Boise, crazy.

Our first stop was Independence National Park to see the Statue of Liberty.

We boarded a cute ferry boat and headed out for a closer look of the statue. We also had a great view of the New York City from across the water (we started on the New Jersey side). When making the loop by the Statue of Liberty we also stopped by the historical Immigration stop off, Ellis Island.

New York City Sky Line

Ellis Island

Twin Towers Monument

(if you look in between the two walls you can see exactly where they used to stand)

Our next stop was Times Square. It was weird feeling to stand in a place I had seen so many times on TV. The city was exciting and beautiful but also somewhat claustrophobic and a little dingy. We had one day there and there was so much to see. Of course, it was only the first time there for me but Jacob and his family love New York and were happy to take me on a tour. We walked all over the city, at least it felt like it, I thought my feet were going to fall off (I probably should have worn tennis shoes). But it was all worth it, I had a blast and I think everyone else did too.

The Rockefeller Building

The New York Public Library

Inside the Empire State Building

The view from on top

That evening Jacob and I had the opportunity to attend The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. It was fantastic and fulfilled a long time dream for me. I loved it.

The next morning we left New York City behind and made a stop in New Jersey to visit the Carlo's Bake Shop, the famous bakery from Cake Boss. The line to go in and buy something was super long, but luckily Jacob's mom Linda had pre-ordered us a cake. They brought it to us outside so we did not get to go in but it was still fun and the cake was delicious.

On our way back home to Virginia we traveled to Philadelphia, PA to visit its historic center. We saw the Liberty Bell as well as the room in Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It felt pretty amazing to stand inside and think of the Founding Fathers sitting in the same room hundreds of years ago.

Independence Hall

Room where the Declaration of Independence was signed

Saturday, before leaving for our next summer adventure, I attended a political rally for Presidential Candidate Romney, with Jacob and some of his family. The weather was hot but it was still a fun experience. Unfortunately we did not get to see Romney in person, the line was so long we would have needed to arrive much much earlier. However we found space just behind the amphitheater he was speaking in and watched the presentation on a large jumbo screen instead. I'd never been to anything like this before so I was glad we took the time to stop by before we packed up to drive down to the beach.