Hi everyone,
We left Waterfronte Marina yesterday, after spending over three weeks in Wilmington. A lot of the time was spent provisioning, stocking up on the food that we will need in the islands. We have something like 96 containers of Ritz crackers, 200 pounds of cat litter, and lots of other things that will be either hard to come by or more expensive in the islands. Usually Mom and Dad would spend the day shopping, while Julia and I would stay at Grandma's house and use her internet connection to get school work done. At the end of the day, we would all have dinner together at Grandma's house. Julia and I had very few opportunities to take time off from school, but it was wonderful to see Grandma and everyone else that we know and love in North Carolina. We still had fun, like when we had a happy hour with a few of Grandma's friends on Island Cat, or when we went to the movie theater to see Skyfall. We even went go-carting and mini-golfing! We ended up staying at Wilmington so long that we spent Thanksgiving there. We were invited to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our friends, Janet and Jim. We left Wilmington yesterday and headed to Wrightsville Beach, after hearing about a holiday boat parade and fireworks show that occurs there after Thanksgiving every year. The parade and fireworks were last night, and we have a few cool photos of boats covered in Christmas decorations in the parade. The parade gave out prizes for different boats much like any other parade might, however there was also a "People's Choice" award where people sent texts to vote for their favorite boat. The parade was very exiting and the fireworks afterward were spectacular. The event is very popular in Wrightsville Beach, and there were people lining the streets and having parties in the houses all around the edges of the bay. It was much like any fourth of July celebration, except it was to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season. Today we spent all day preparing for our upcoming voyages, and tomorrow we will set out for more amazing experiences and adventures. For now, I will leave you with pictures of our travels in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.
-Paul
 |
| After arriving in Wilmington, NC. |
 |
| The view from the top of the mast from our marina. You can see the ocean behind the houses. |
 |
| Having Happy Hour with friends on the boat. |
 |
| Serena confronting Grandma's cat Sable. |
 |
| And this is how the confrontation ended. Serena is very timid. |
 |
| Hanging out in the tiki hut with the next-door neighbors. |
 |
| Trying to get Serena into a pet life jacket. Needless to say, she was not pleased... |
 |
| River otters on the marina docks. |
 |
| Pelican near the marina. |
 |
| Before starting mini-golf. |
 |
| Julia just before taking a swing. |
 |
| Taking a break from playing golf. |
 |
| Dad waving from the go-cart track. |
 |
| All three of us lined up on a straight-away. Mom took pictures instead of racing. |
 |
| A seafood shack where we bought fresh shrimp for dinner. |
 |
| Mom and Julia at the Thanksgiving dinner. |
 |
| Julia and I on Thanksgiving. |
 |
| Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma and her friend Phyllis in the picture. |
 |
| Sunset at Grandma's. |
 |
Sunset at Wrightsville Beach. We strung up white lights around the railings and we brought our
Christmas tree out of the bow locker. |
 |
| All four of us. |
 |
| Serena sitting next to the Christmas tree. |
 |
One of the boats in the boat parade. This boat had wings wrapped in blue lights that moved up and down
to resemble a manta ray. This boat ended up winning the People's Choice award. |
 |
| Another one of the boats in the boat parade. |
 |
This boat was wired with lights that were timed to music. The lights in the rigging and
the railings changed colors and flashed to the beat. |
 |
| Fireworks over the water. |
 |
| More fireworks. |
 |
| Julia and I watching fireworks. |
No comments:
Post a Comment