the verdict is in...

Sue struck gold this time... she put quite a bit of time into finding our beach house and it paid off. We had so much fun during our stay at Blue Moon that we followed it up (2 years later) with another NC vacation - this time at "The Wave" in Holden Beach. Patty and Jim even joined this time... all wondered if Jim could actually relax.


Here, we see three very stylish beach house residents taking in the scenery and some delicious shrimp and chaos courtesy of the Provision Company restaurant. The bridge over to Holden Beach (and our posh digs) is in the background.


From the top floor living room, you could watch people devour Chips Ahoy, play cards on the porch, the big tv, or this...


It was a very special week indeed. Other than being in this house on the beach instead of being at work, we had many reasons to celebrate - 3 to be exact.

#1 - August 6th: Fran turned 25 (did I just make you a year younger?)
#2 - August 7th: Patty turned 25... x2) + 11
#3 - August 8th: Sue and Doug sealed the deal on 38 years of marriage!

How did we celebrate? We had Doug roast in the kitchen all morning making the legendary Musacchiosauce. He volunteered, we accepted and managed to keep it surprise until it smelled like Little Italy in the house before 10am. There really isn't much you can do to make a dinner any more special - or is there...

Add crab cake! Even though we were beachside, this was still my kind of crab cake. Poor "crabby" didn't look so good as the week came to an end. He finally cried out for mercy and Sue and I finished him off.


I'm not sure if Fran is trying to decide which cake to make a dive for first (the one on the right was a Carvel ice cream cake) - or - if he wants to say something about how many candles really should be lit! Happy Birthday to Fran and Patty!


Anytime this crew ventures out to dinner, it proves to be an event. Thankfully, we didn't have to take Kristen and Todd outside to stop them from fighting - they were on their best behavior.

Can't say that for the rest of the bunch... Happy Anniversary Sue & Doug!


Thanks to my family for being so fantastic, to Kristen for not cheating in Rook, to Fran for making me feel like a famed masseuse, to chance for giving me a Yahtzee and to the powers that be for the ridiculously gorgeous weather and the opportunity to enjoy it in style.


Oh yeah... the verdict is in: Jim CAN relax! He had the structure (um, beach house) checked out in about 20 minutes - figured out where the water came in and checked out the supports... then went straight for the pool and Bud Light Lime. Cheers, Dad!



Until next time...

YAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

jamie.