"Adventure is our life!"

After our week at the beach, we have settled back in for our last two weeks of summer in Kernersville. I realized that time was running out for a few of our 'staple' summer adventures, so this week we went to Reynolda Gardens, got donuts at Dough Joe's, played at Harmon Park, and had pretzels from Patriot Pretzel. We have always enjoyed these outings in the past, and we did once again this year.

Boomer and I had not one, but TWO, date nights this week. We had dinner on Monday evening at Rooster's in Winston-Salem after a meeting with our financial advisor. It was a good meeting where we discussed some long-term planning for retirement and for Emmy and Eli; we worked up an appetite and debriefed over our meal afterward. On Thursday, we had a double date with Seth and Jenny Alyn Key to Top Golf. Of course Boomer dominated and won two out of the three games. He is annoyingly good at everything! While Mommy and Daddy were off having fun, the kiddos were in good hands at Grammy and Grandpa's. 

With our remaining days, we have been chipping away on the last items on our Summer To-Do List. On Friday, we went to the Milk Bar in Walnut Cove and combined it with a hike at Hanging Rock State Park. We arrived at the Visitors Center around 9:30AM and set off on the Hanging Rock Trail just before 10AM. Ordinarily 1.3 miles to the summit, the trail had a detour, which extended the route to 1.8 miles (3.6 miles total!) The ascent was moderate and uphill, but with perfectly timed water and snack breaks, my crew stayed in good spirits. When we were about halfway to the top, two other hikers warned us about a rattlesnake on the trail. Sure enough, we saw it and even heard its rattle! There was a bit of fear and trepidation for continuing forward, but as a positive, the sighting put a pep in all of our steps, and we arrived to the top much faster in the second half than in the first. There was a beautiful view and a nice breeze at the summit. On the way back down, we saw two deer cross the path just in front of us. After the snake and the deer, Emmy remarked "Adventure is our life!" which became the new tagline for the day. After returning back to the Visitor Center, we did the shorter 0.4 mile hike to the Upper Cascade Falls, where the kids put their feet in the cool mountain water. Eli took a spill and got his shorts wet, and while I brought plenty of snacks, I was not prepared with a set of spare clothes. It was a funny picture of Eli falling asleep in his underwear on the drive back down to Walnut Cove, while Boomer dried his shorts out the window. Once in Walnut Cove, we stopped for a late lunch around 2PM at the Milk Bar. I got the pimento cheese burger, while Boomer got the catfish nuggets. And of course there was ice cream, too!  

On Saturday, we went to the Charlotte FC match vs. Toronto. I added this one to our Summer To-Do List after last year's trip to Manchester United, which peaked all of our interest in soccer. Grammy, Grandpa, and the Houstons came along, and we made it an outing for all ten of us. Even though the match didn't start until 7:30PM, we left Kernersville around 2:30PM to allow plenty of time for eating, parking, and navigating to the stadium. I reached out to some friends ahead of time for recommendations, and they were spot on with their suggestions. We had an early dinner beforehand at Midwood Smokehouse on Central Avenue, a restaurant made famous from having visitors like Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Justin Timberlake, and Bill Murray. Boomer and I shared the four meat platter with sweet potato fries and bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers. It was plenty of food for 2! After eating, we headed to Bank of America. Luckily once in the stadium, our seats were in the shade, but temperatures were still in the 90s for almost the entire match. We stayed hydrated and were glad for any bit of a breeze. It was exciting when Charlotte FC scored twice within 10 minutes in the second half. They kept Toronto from scoring and won 2-0. 

(Eli showing off the Kerwin Vargas bobblehead giveaway)

While we enjoyed the soccer match, baseball still reigns in the Kennedy household. Is it normal for a 5-year-old to practice the MLB logos, instead of the ABCs? Asking for a friend... :) Boomer recently unearthed an old baseball game from his childhood, and he and Eli have enjoyed playing it. We also got pictures back from Emmy's Allstar team. Her serious face makes me chuckle. Pretty soon we will be back at the ballfield again. 

Bakewell Beach Week 2025

We just returned from another week of making wonderful memories at Ocean Isle Beach. It once again proved why it is our favorite week of the whole year. What a blessing it is to have seven days of no schedule, delicious food, and quality time with our family. While this week has a familiar rhythm each year, there were several things that made this year new and different. The biggest change was our house. After several years of staying on the east side of the island in Memaw's Place and then Bingy's Bungalow, we moved to the west side and stayed in Sandpiper's Retreat. We found out on Friday that we could check in early, so we left Kernersville around 7:30AM and arrived in OIB a little after 12:00PM noon. We all were excited to check out the new place. After assigning rooms and unloading the cars, we still had a good amount of the afternoon left. We changed into our bathing suits, lathered up with sunscreen, and headed to the beach. With the unexpected extra time, it felt like a whole additional day to our vacation! After a couple hours in the sun and sand, Meg, Mom, and I set off to complete the task of grocery shopping. We didn't quite time our grocery run right, and unfortunately we got caught in the rest of the beach traffic entering the island. We called an audible by shopping at Publix, instead of our usual Lowe's, and then we made dinner at home, instead of ordering pizza as is our typical first night meal. Once the kids were in bed, Boomer and I went for our first walk along the beach. Vacation was off to a great start. 

For the rest of the week, we followed our same routine as in years past. Meg, Mom, and I would get in our run/walk between 7AM - 8AM, while the guys kept the kids from getting too restless. Then we would pack up for the beach, arriving between 10:30AM - 11AM. Emmy and Eli sure love the beach. Eli would run in and out of the small waves, while Emmy stayed busy either boogie boarding or making a creation in the sand. Both kids enjoyed going for walks and collecting seashells. But perhaps their favorite activity of all was spotting the yellow-and-black umbrella cart for Sunset Slush. Thanks to Aunt Megan splurging on the refillable koozie on the first day, the kids got a sweet treat not just one time, like in years past, but every day! Blue vanilla was a favorite flavor, followed by Creamsicle and Blue Raspberry. Thank you, Grandpa and Aunt Megan!

The kids weren't the only ones that got sweet treats! In the afternoon when we came back to the house to relax by the pool, Boomer started mixing up drinks. He made several different concoctions, but by far the crowd favorite was his strawberry margarita, complete with sugar around the rim. 

There was no shortage of treats throughout the week: iced coffee, Blondiez Donuts, and ice cream from Calabash Creamery. 

Perhaps the only downside of our new house is that the walk to the beach was a little bit longer. The walk didn't seem so bad on the way to the beach, but later in the afternoon, in the peak heat of the day and loaded down with all of our beach gear, we would be quite worn out for the walk back. So it was a wonderful surprise when midweek, our past neighbors at Bingy's offered their golf cart for us to use. It sure was nice to feel the breeze as we whizzed back to the house. The golf cart was a hit for old and young alike. (Disclaimer: Despite the photos below, none of the cousins actually drove the golf cart, just posed for pictures!)

On Thursday morning, while Boomer and I had our coffee/run date, Mom took the grandkids for the walk along the marsh. Aunt Megan went along so that Grammy wasn't too outnumbered. During their walk, they saw a lot of wildlife, including crabs, birds, and even a snake. Boomer and I branched out from our usual breakfast at Drift, and instead we had breakfast at The Pier Grill. Boomer got an all-meat omelet with hash browns, and I got the bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit. We will definitely be back next year, assuming we can rely on someone to watch our kids again :)

After a few hours at the beach and then a couple more at the pool, we would either change into comfy clothes for dinner at home, or we would get cleaned up for a dinner out. With the slight change in Saturday's timing, we had our spaghetti meal at home that evening and shifted pizza to Monday night instead. On Sunday evening, we had our first dinner out at Inlet View in Shallotte (always a favorite!) On Tuesday, we had tacos ("Taco Tuesday" of course!), and then we had our second meal out on Wednesday night. With the recent closing of Dockside Restaurant in Calabash, we pivoted to another restaurant nearby, Oyster Rock, where we were still able to take our annual dock photos afterward. We ate in on Thursday night with Mom's now-famous shrimp-n-grits, and then Friday night, we finished off all the yummy leftovers that were in the refrigerator. We have found that we love having two nice meals out and the rest of our meals at home; it's the perfect balance for our crew. 

Last night, Boomer and I had one final beach walk and went out on the OIB pier. We have come to enjoy these walks as bookends to our beach days. We were once again shaking our heads that the trip had so quickly come to an end. It is hard to believe that a week where we purposely slow down can subsequently go by so fast. After returning from our walk, I helped Mom and Megan finish the 1000-piece puzzle we had been working on all week. The last piece went in at 12:06AM - whew it was a tight finish! On the way back to Kernersville today, we stopped by Kalawi Farms and got some peaches and ice cream. Emmy and I shared a scoop of Nana's Banana Pudding and a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough, while the boys shared peach and blueberry. Grammy got caramel crunch, and Grandpa got a chocolate peanut butter. You can't go wrong with any flavor at Kalawi!

We are so thankful for another year of memories with our family. We will cherish these memories all year long until we are back at Ocean Isle again!