A lovely vacation came to an end on Saturday morning. I got up before the sun to see it rise over the ocean one more time before we left. I am so grateful to have spent a week beachfront with my family in Emerald Isle. You can see
the beginning of vacation in this post and pics I put up on
Instagram here. The full vacation post will be up on Wednesday. We left Emerald Isle at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. Travelling on the Fourth sucks it.
Trip home happenings: I made my own DD iced coffee at some Hess gas station in Vanceboro, NC; we stopped to pee and happened to find ourselves in Dismal Swamp where the water was...dismal; and I had a toddler-like hanger episode and ate McDonald's for the first time in over a year. Otherwise it was nine hours in the car and by the end it was like Survivor up in that bitch.
MFD and I got home at 5. Geege was overjoyed, Mae growled at us for a while. Gus was so excited before he remembered he was supposed to be angry. So he puked dramatically and then ignored us all night. Home sweet home. I love being on vacation but I miss my dogs so much even though I know they're in good hands with my dog sitter.
The awesome thing about a vacation with a washer and dryer is that you come home and all of your clothes are clean. So you have time to wash sheets and towels and all that you left for yourself before vacation and go through all of your mail.
Other Saturday night things: Wawa hoagies, Orange is the New Black, and restraining Geege and Mae for hours while 1776 fireworks went off every minute. Fun times.
There's no way in hell I was going food shopping, and we were totally washed out of food. Peapod wasn't delivering on Sunday so I used Instacart and had my groceries by 10 a.m. Sunday morning. Weekly food prep: breakfast burritos from the freezer for breakfast; strawberries/peaches/plums and celery for snacks;
greek orzo salad for lunches; grilled chicken thighs, steamed asparagus, and caprese salad for dinners.
I had to pay some attention to the flower beds too for the dead heading and all that crap.
Otherwise, I hung with the dogs, read, finished the third season of Orange is the New Black, and just enjoyed doing nothing before getting back into the swing of life.
Back to work for me today. Back to targeted exercise. Back to not eating a bunch of crap.
How was your Fourth? How have you been?
A week beachfront is the best. and you guys had no kids to occupy or take on rides, etc on crowded boardwalks. The 9 hour ride each way is the worst. Washer and dryer on vacation is a dream come true. Happy you had a great time.
ReplyDeleteLove, your Momma
Yes to having your laundry done when you got back!! I love that your pups all have different personalities, makes me smile. Poor Gus with the puking, though. I recently had a Dunkin' drink from a DD on the beach that I've never been to and it was not kind to my stomach so I'm staying away for now.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to miss the sunrise and sunset pictures you've been gracing us with.
ReplyDeleteThe boys typically ignore us after the first few moments of initial excitement, then they remember that we abandoned them. Lol! They sure look like the missed you though. ;)
I'm off starting tomorrow and working all of two whopping days over the next 2.5 weeks. I get to spend my days with five, yes five, fluffs, house/dog sitting while my mom heads to Spain for two weeks.
Good luck with your hellish commute and day. ;)
ReplyDeleteSucks that vacay ended but happy you had a fab one! Your iced coffee on inta looked so yummy!!
ReplyDeleteYour morning pictures were stunning - so glad you were able to enjoy those sunrises AND share them with me!! I can't stop laughing about the Pug Welcome Wagon. It's made my day since I saw it the first time. Way to be productive on Sunday. Guess I should get moving now if you can do it without a vacation hangover.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a perfect vacation! Those photos from the sunrises are incredible. I hope your Monday isn't too terrible!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was a wonderful vacation. Your Iced coffee pictures always look so yummie. Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteI died about your dog being so excited that he threw up and then was mad at you the rest of the night! So happy to hear the rest of your vacation was amazing! Glad you had a wonderful time with family! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston
ReplyDeleteSo awesome that you could do laundry before you got home, one less thing to do. Look like the pups are glad to have you home. I always hate leaving the pup on vacation. The orzo salad looks delish! How did you like OITNB?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you were that productive the Sunday after you came home from a vacation while I spent the day hungover on the couch until I had to go to another (less fun) bbq that evening makes me feel like a huge slug. But having a washer and dryer in a vacation rental is one of the best things ever. We had that when we went to OBX and it was fabulous for post-vacation recovery.
ReplyDeleteI do love the fact that you got to make your own DD iced coffee at a gas station.
I would miss my doggies so much, too. :) I don't go to McDonald's nearly as often because I am tired of bad customer service from them, but sometimes I have a craving for their French fries and chicken nuggets. Or the $1 sausage breakfast burritos.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home! Aw your poor dramatic babies. I love them. I'm always so proud of Hawkeye on the 4th. She always gets so many 'what a good dog' compliments - she could not care less about fireworks until it's after 10 and it's time for her beauty sleep and they're too loud.
ReplyDeleteYour post made me remember I haven't had Greek salad in forever. My mom makes that one with quinoa instead of orzo, I really should remind her to make it for me soon :) You know, because it's always better when mom does it.
I missed my dogs after 3 and a half days! i'm such a sad sap. looks like you had a blast! it's always the worst when vacation ends. I get in a bad slump.
ReplyDeleteI missed my dogs this weekend too although upon arriving home this AM I'm thinking none of them missed me. Whomp whomp.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a great relaxing beach vacation!
Hahahahah he forgot he was supposed to be angry and puked....sounds about right! Gotta love it! Gracie refused to give me kisses when I dropped them off, after she dramatically had to be dragged inside the place. Sigh. I go to pick them up in a few hours, Mac had a grooming appointment this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had a fabulous time on vacation!!!! I enjoyed seeing all your beach pictures on instagram. The hardest thing about going to the beach is leaving to come home, right??? Hope you have a great week!
That's why I love staying at my parent's for our Cape trips. I can just unpack all clean clothes into our drawers as soon as we get home. Your trip to Emerald Isle looked beautiful on Instagram. Looking forward to your trip post!
ReplyDeleteThat last sunrise picture is amazing! It looks like something that deserves to be framed & hung up. Your flower bed is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great vacay. A week at the beach to me is the most relaxing thing ever. I hate the day when you have to actually leave, I get settled in there in about 5 minutes it feels like my new home. I might miss my dog more than my kids lol
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. I know it sucks! =\ But as always, I'm impressed by how productive you are on the weekends. Especially post-vacation! I'm pretty sure I'm a waste of like for a good 2 days after traveling ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is always so sad when vacations end. On the plane ride home I always start planning the next trip!
ReplyDeletewww.amemoryofus.com
i miss our cats too, wish we could take them on vacation with us! that would be horrible though haha. i need to check out grocery delivery, so smart. love the new pictures up top!
ReplyDeleteI love love love love lovvvee hydrangeas. Good luck diving back into work after vacation. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYour vacation pictures were incredible. Justin and I decided that we should just crash your next family vacay because it looked fantastic.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it sounds like you had a holiday that was actually relaxing...! I am going to steal some of those tips (ability to do laundry, grocery delivery upon return, sunsets and oceans) for when I plan a break that needs to really be a break. I wish I could steal the dog welcoming party, too, their personalities sound hilarious!
ReplyDeletethat beach vacay looked DIVINE. you took some amazing photos. it's funny how you say dogs get angry when you leave them; whenever my friend goes away and leaves her dog with the sitter, he ignores her for at least a day...as in won't even look at her haha!
ReplyDeletei need to take a look at emerald isle for a possible next vacay....looks so great there!
Those drives home are the worst. But I'm always glad to unpack...I must take care of it before I can go to sleep that night.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a great trip...and I'm sure you missed those pups!
aw, the title of this post is the saddest term in the english language, lol. Hate that! And holy heck yes, coming home with your clothes already washed would be a huge asset!
ReplyDeletelooking forward to seeing the pics on wednesday! I love me a vacation post.
Coming back from vacation always sucks, but I'm glad you had such a wonderful week away. And LOL at the different doggy reactions to your homecoming. Mine was excited to see me, took her out she went to the bathroom, and then proceeded to still leave a revenge-pile in the dining room 10 minutes later :-P
ReplyDeleteHow did you like the DD coffee? I have a Hess/DD down the road from my but haven't tried their coffee. Great to come back on Saturday so you had an extra do to relax before going back to work.
ReplyDeleteComing back to real life is always the worst!! At least your garden still looks beautiful! That Wawa sandwich looks delicious too. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI'm lol'ing at your "toddler-like hanger episode"- definitely been there! I would think coming back would be easy because less traffic on the holiday? It's great that you didn't have a vacation load of laundry to do when you came back- that's the worst. Always makes unpacking that much slower for me. How did you like Season 3 of OITNB?
ReplyDeleteI never thought I'd say this.. but I miss Wawa. The South needs to get it's shit together.. and by South I mean NC/SC.
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