Oh my gosh, can we go back??
Over the weekend, we journeyed to to Lillian to see Jordan's family for the Fourth. Now, I'm back in Asheville writing this post, and all I can think about is how I wish we were headed back to the coast!
This weekend was just one of those dreamy, everything-is-wonderful occasions. We had so much fun, so I thought I'd share a little bit about our trip with you - including the most wonderful news toward the bottom of this post!
Friday:
We arrived in town only to be sneakily whisked away to Mobile (about an hour away from Lillian) where Jordan's parents, along with his aunt and uncle, revealed that they bought a boat! We got to ride the Southwind on its maiden voyage from the harbor all the way to their house -- a ride which featured a family dolphins (including a baby) swimming RIGHT NEXT TO US. Y'all, they were so close that I could see their eyes under the water watching the boat. It was so dadgum magical.
Saturday:
We had a big breakfast, followed by a stroll in the Scotts' garden. So y'all, I was proud of our three measly little squash plants - please observe what my in-laws have grown. If you're thinking to yourself, "Is that OKRA??" the answer is, "Yep." Of course, we couldn't cook with it, but we could've entered it in a county fair.
We spent the rest of the day lounging on the boat and trying not to die of a heat stroke. It's funny how quickly Jordan and I forgot what Alabama humidity is like after having lived in North Carolina for only a year. We were SUFFERING.
We also got to play with the pups a lot Saturday. Fun fact: Abbey (Jordan's family's dog) is Tom Hanks' mom. For a while, she really didn't like him whenever we came to visit. But now, they're besties! Here's a (not very good) picture of them together:
Sunday:
On Sunday, we celebrated the Fourth in earnest with a lot more family members pouring into town. Thankfully, though the temperature was certainly still high, the humidity level dropped, allowing us to be outside for more than 20 seconds at a time.
A highlight of this day was that Ryan, my brother-in-law, decided to jump off the top of the boat and land on this big blue float that we'd been using to lay out. I think his thought was that he could hit it and roll off into the water, but instead, he ended up jumping THROUGH the float and getting stuck up to his armpits. I wish we could say our first impulse was to help him, but really it was just to take pictures.
But the best part of the weekend was still to come!
After we'd all been in the sun all day, we wanted to shower and change for a sunset boat ride to watch the fireworks. Little did we know that something wonderful was in the works!
We were all gathered at Jordan's grandmother's house, when suddenly, Jordan's sister Kaitlyn and her boyfriend Wil arrived back from their walk with some news: THEY WERE ENGAGED! These two have been dating for a little over five years, so it's been a long time coming, and we could not be more excited. I mean, just LOOK at these two.
After we all (okay, I) finished crying, we hopped on the boat for the most perfect engagement nightcap: a cruise around the Bay where fireworks were going off in every direction. Ahhhh! Perfection!!
Kaitlyn and Wil are those people that you want to hate, but you just can't. They are beautiful, smart, and talented (Kaitlyn is an insanely gifted artist and Wil is basically Pete Sampras), but they're also two of the kindest and most down-to-earth folks you could ever meet. I knew I was hitting the jackpot getting Kait as a sister-in-law, but I had no idea how blessed I'd be to end up getting to be in the same family as Wil Amanor.
All in all, this weekend was one for the books. I hope your celebrations were just as joyful, and that you ate as many mashed potatoes (read: almost an entire pot) as I did.