Pre Holiday trip to Beaufort

I had the opportunity to take a few extra days off before Christmas and decided that we were due a trip to NC, so Quinn and I loaded up and got on a plane without Dad. I was nervous about how the munchkin would do on such a long flight at such an active age, but he was a trooper and handled the travel days with ease. It felt like a very short trip, because we didn't have enough time to see/do everyone/everything we wanted to do, but I'm so glad we went. Below are a few of the highlights.

As soon as we arrived Quinn began noticing all of the boats. As we drove from the airport in New Bern to Morehead City he chanted "boat" the whole ride home. One of our first orders of business was to hit the Beaufort waterfront. He was awestruck by the many boats!


Most of our evenings were spent at Courtney and Melissa's house, but we managed one evening out with Craig and Michael at Ruddy Duck. This was Jeff's and my favorite restaurant when we lived there. They always do great Christmas decorations!


The crew...Courtney, Elise, Melissa and Michael. Unfortunately many folks were out of town, so we didn't get to see all of our peeps, but it was great to spend some QT with C and M and to finally meet baby Elise!


Quinn laughing it up with "uncle" Craig!


Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the NC Aquarium. Even though we live in San Diego and have a nice aquarium, it's nothing like the one in Pine Knoll Shores. I never realized how lucky we were to have such a great resource so close by! Quinn is finally at the age where he can really enjoy it. It took us over an hour to actually make it from the front door to the exhibits, because we were visiting with all of my old coworkers and volunteers, but he had a great time with all! He especially enjoyed running along the marsh boardwalk.



This was baby Elise's first time at the aquarium. I think she had a good time!


Another "must do" while we were in town was getting together with Matt, Allison and Eli. Eli is 3 months younger than Quinn and we've missed not getting to see him grow up in person. We tried to meet up at the aquarium, but since that didn't work out we crashed Eli's daycare Christmas party. Here is cute Eli getting some love from his mama.


These two boys know where the fun really is....outside!


Perhaps the best part of the visit was getting to meet sweet baby Elise. She is now 7 months old and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her baby brother next month. :) Quinn gave her a taste of what it will be like to share her quiet home with a rambunctious boy! I don't think she minded too much though. Quinn definitely loved her. Every night when I was putting him to sleep he's say "baby?" - wanting to see her whenever she was out of sight. He also said her name (sounds more like "Lees"). He doesn't say many names (just Mama, Dad, Em (Emily) and Lees), so Elise is high up there in his book! :) Here's a little smooch they shared:


The family! We loved getting to see you ladies! Can't wait to meet baby brother!!