the mann family: from manteo (-ish) ...

way back when i was in maybe fourth or fifth grade, our P.E. teacher put together some sort of exercise program for the school to promote running. she called it From Manteo To Murphy and hung this enormous north carolina map on the gym wall. i don't remember the specifics of it all, but we were all supposed to keep track of how many miles we were running and report them on a regular basis. she would then record the mileage progress on that enormous map, with the ultimate goal being that the school (or grade or even class? the details escape me) to have a total mileage that would equal a trip across the state -- from manteo (along the coast) to murphy (in the mountains.) (and full disclosure: i'm so bad at state geography that before i published this post, i actually had to look up which city was west and which was east. i guess the P.E. program failed me in that regard.)

anyway, i felt a bit like we had submerged ourselves in our own version of From Manteo To Murphy with the basses this month. we spent a long fourth of july holiday with them at topsail, returned home for four days, and then spent the next weekend with them at bill's parents' house in west jefferson. there's something really special about hiking up a mountain trail on a saturday evening after supper, and looking at your watch and realizing that exactly seven days prior, we had our feet strolling in the wet sand by the ocean's edge. we never forget how blessed we are to live in a state where we can do both -- and to have access to vacation homes generously shared by our parents.

we had way too much fun to contain these pictures to just one post, so consider this our manteo installment, with murphy to follow.

the kids and i were actually down for ten days. susanna and i headed down first and joined my parents for lunch before they headed home. as we were about to pull into the driveway, we braked for a new friend -- and had to get out to say hello, of course

chris had to go home to work, so i had two full days with just the kids before chris returned with the basses. on day one, i was quite pleased with myself for successfully erecting our new sun shelter. on day two, the wind snapped the stupid thing in half and "i am woman, hear me roar" was no longer on my lips

whiffleball on the lawn with a leftie batter

after dinner most evenings, we headed out to the beach to work up an appetite for dessert

little did we know that dessert would be served to us one of those evenings, courtesy of a woman packing up to leave who was eager to get rid of the popsicles in her freezer. she found four eager helpers

... make that five

our ears were glued to the weather radio bill brought in anticipation of some major issues with hurricane arthur. here's susanna and chris, getting in a few last rides before we holed up inside to watch the storm blow in