sweetness. sweet-niece.

my niece, courtney, is getting so big.  i must say that one of the things i dislike about living in asheville is not getting to see my niece grow up except mostly through pictures.  here are a few of her doing what she loves- swimming.

end of the rainbow.

alternately titled:  i do.

alternately titled:  happy 4th anniversary.

where to start?  4 years ago today jay and i walked down the aisle in front of family, friends, and God and became husband and wife.  what better way to spend an anniversary than on vacation?  it wasn't intentionally planned that way, but we lucked out for sure.  (last year, i believe, we both worked.)  so today's been a good day.  low-key.  relaxed.  who can complain?  not us for sure.  or the dogs for that matter.  the video below is from this evening.

i am usually on top of things when it comes to hallmark and having a card for all occasions.  well, maybe not all occasions.  but birthdays and anniversaries of those close to me, for sure.  but i did not get one to bring along.  so i made one.

i finished making my "card" and sat down to relax in my chair.  we'd probably been on the beach about 15 minutes.  and then the rain started.  and the sun was still shining brightly.  and then it started raining harder.  well, there was a beach house that had a large deck and had been unoccupied all week, so we ventured underneath the deck to wait it out.  i'm so glad we did.  i have never seen the end of a rainbow until today.  and now you can, too.

it ended right in the middle of the ocean.  beautiful.

and just for a little nostalgia and looking at jay and i in our fancy clothes (as my little second cousin calls them), here are some of my faves from our wedding day.

seeing each other for the first time that day.

officially married!

relieved and ready for the reception.

yep.  he did that.

unleashed.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

so we cheated and let the dogs off leash this evening so they could freely romp and run through the waves.  as you can see, they loved every second of every minute.  

highs and lows.

Q:  what leaves as soon as it comes in?     A:  the tide

and that's no joke here.  when it's high, there is no beach left to walk on.  and when it's low, there is almost an entire football field's length of room to choose your spot.  now that the long holiday weekend is over, there aren't many people on the beach.  i am not complaining either.  :)  i'll let you see for yourself.

high tide + sunset

mid-afternoon low tide, looking in the same (hazy) direction

looking straight down to the water (yes, that's jay)

same vantage point for all three pictures.  just different days.  ebb and flow.

dogs meet the ocean.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the girls weren't sure the first day when we took them to the beach but quickly decided they did, in fact, like the ocean.  after all, it's water and labs love them some water.  but the second morning (when we filmed this snippet) we took them back, and they knew that putting on their collars meant we were going back to that "place" we took them the day before.  they were so excited.

they have rules down here, though.  they aren't supposed to be off their leashes at all and can only be on the beach before 10am and after 6pm.  makes sense, really, as it is still quite hot during the day and the beach is usually crowded during the summer months.  (the time limits are only from may 1- sept. 30.  the rest of the year they can be on the beach all day long, but still have to be on-leash.)

now that the long weekend has passed, it isn't really that crowded down here.  one of these remaining mornings we plan to cheat and let them run off leash.  just for a few minutes, anyway.  :)  we'll try to get some more pictures, but honestly, it's not easy staying dry and keeping their leashes untangled while trying to take pictures.  hopefully this video will keep you satisfied for now.   enjoy!  they did.

(mom, you may not want to enlarge it.  it may make you a little dizzy!)

(and i'll get around to uploading pics and video of the first outing to the beach.  it's on a different camera and has a little bit more of barley in it.  this video is courtesy of jay's iPhone 4.)

morris island lighthouse.

we took a short walk after dinner tonight to the edge of folly island to see the morris island lighthouse.  it happened to also be high tide, and when i say high tide, i'm not kidding.  there literally is about 3-5 feet of walking space on the beach during high tide, where as during low tide there is about 50-60 yards.  big difference.  we've been enjoying the sun and sand and the dogs have too.  they enjoyed it a little too much on monday so they had a rest day today.  we do have video, which i'll get on here one day.  when i figure out how.  anyway, here's a few pics from our evening walk.

picturesque, yes?  (i also love iPhoto and i think i would absolutely go crazy if i had photoshop.)  anyway, it was beautiful, as you can see in the pictures.  

finally...

Ready to spend my days here.  All week.  Will post better pictures later.  And a video of the dogs.  :)

happy birthday to you!

(yes, it's a day late.  technically just an hour-ish.  it would have been done on his birthday but he beckoned me to run errands while the picture was slowly uploading.  so, i guess the title should be happy belated birthday!)