At the Beach, Part I

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The week before we left for the beach, I went down to Troy on Thursday morning to take the oral portion of my comprehensive exams, which I passed! Thanks to everyone who sent me words of encouragement. Thursday afternoon I had a meeting with Ron (my advisor) and Jess (his other advisee) at First Choice Caribbean in Troy, which was excellent. I then went home, cut the grass, did some work in the yard, and helped Kelsey pack for the beach. We left on Friday morning at about 10.

It took us about 8 hours to arrive in Silver Spring, MD (outside of Washington, DC), where we spent the night at Jenn’s apartment. Kelsey and Jenn went out for a girls’ night out while I stayed in with Jenn’s son Jayden. He slept while I watched Whale Wars and worked on our website, which now has all of the blog posts dating back to our road trip in 2007.

In the morning, we left early to meet our friend David at La Madeleine in Tyson’s off of the DC Beltway. At about 10, we were on the road again, heading down to the Outer Banks. We rolled in at the house in Duck, NC around 5. So far, we’ve had a very relaxing week of making food, eating food, lounging by the pool, doing puzzles, playing games, going for walks, and witnessing the boys’ noodle battles in the pool.

Monday morning, we took a baby bump photo. The walls in our room at the beach house are roughly the same color as our walls in our bedroom at home, which was kind of cool.

A photo of Kelsey's baby bump at week 32.
A photo of Kelsey’s baby bump at week 32.

On Tuesday, we kayaked out into the sound to watch the sunset, then went mini golfing at Professor Hacker’s Lost Treasure Golf. (Warning: Their website was created in 1997 and never updated, and looks TERRIBLE.) On Wednesday, Kelsey and Jill went up to the shops at Timbuck II, and I biked up to meet them for lunch. It was 12.5 miles, and it took me about 37 minutes. On the way back, I was fighting a 20mph headwind, and it took me about an hour. I have nicely sunburned arms now.

I’ll leave you with a few photos from the first part of the week. All of the photos for vacation are available here.

A photo of Kelsey holding up a finished puzzle.
A photo of Kelsey holding up a finished puzzle.
Karl, Brenton, and Ahmed passed out in the afternoon.
Karl, Brenton, and Ahmed passed out in the afternoon.
This was the view from our back deck of the sound.
This was the view from our back deck of the sound.
This was our (totally awesome) pool, which had a swim-up tiki bar, built in hot tub area, and shallow sitting area.
This was our (totally awesome) pool, which had a swim-up tiki bar, built in hot tub area, and shallow sitting area.
Kelsey making a strawberry rhubarb pie using fresh strawberries from the Grandy Greenhouse (on the way to the Outer Banks) and rhubarb from our market in Hudson Falls. We did not have a rolling pin so she had to use an empty beer bottle. Kevin was chopping onions and peppers for sausage sandwiches.
Kelsey making a strawberry rhubarb pie using fresh strawberries from the Grandy Greenhouse (on the way to the Outer Banks) and rhubarb from our market in Hudson Falls. We did not have a rolling pin so she had to use an empty beer bottle. Kevin was chopping onions and peppers for sausage sandwiches.
Kelsey drew a starfish on the top crust of the pie for creative ventilation.
Kelsey drew a starfish on the top crust of the pie for creative ventilation.
Competitive doubles in Wii tennis. Kevin and Karl lost. Twice.
Competitive doubles in Wii tennis. Kevin and Karl lost. Twice.
The sunset over the sound, viewed from the back deck.
The sunset over the sound, viewed from the back deck.

We’ll post again when we get home with more pictures from the trip.

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