A Nice Getaway...

This summer Tony and I were able to get away for a weekend without the kids. We have some dear friends, the Carlson's, that we trade off babysitting with. We usually do overnight date nights each month but this summer we decided to try something different. We each picked a month and went on a three day getaway. Tony found a wonderful bed and breakfast in New Bern, NC which was about 2 hours away. It is a small town but reminded us of Charleston. The town sits on two rivers with a riverwalk, has great restaurants and shops, a lot of historical homes, and you can walk to everything. Our bed and breakfast was in a perfect location and we literally walked everywhere. Thursday we at lunch at a great little place called, Pollock Street Deli, met the B&B hosts and got unpacked, took a trolley tour of the town, toured the Tryon Palace, enjoyed a social hour at the inn and met many guests, and then had a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant called, Chelsea Restaurant. On Friday, we enjoyed a 6 mile run throughout New Bern, had a fabulous breakfast at our B&B, toured the rest of Tryon Palace and the gardens there, toured the historic John Wright Stanly house, had lunch at a quaint little place, toured some antique shops and then came back to the B&B for a nap before the social hour. We had a great dinner friday night at a place called, Morgan's Tavern and Grill. Saturday, we had another amazing breakfast and had to say goodbye to the wonderful innkeepers, Mike and Marty. They were so hospitable, friendly and so fun to talk with. We spent our last day down at Atlantic Beach. We toured Ft. Macon and got to see a civil war re-enactment that was taking place. Then, we went down to the beach and relaxed and read a lot. We had a late lunch/dinner and then headed home Saturday night to pick up our kids. It was such a wonderful getaway. The kids were great while we were gone and are still talking about their fun time at "Camp Carlson." The kids all chose camp names for themselves and named their rooms (cabins) where they stayed, made all kinds of signs for the camp and did all kinds of fun science experiments and craft activities. Mary Carlson was quite the "Camp Counselor." :) Thank you Carlson's for taking such good care of our kiddos and for giving Tony and I the opportunity to getaway. We cherish your friendship! The Aerie Bed and Breakfast where we stayed.

Our room at Aerie Bed and Breakfast.

A view of the bathroom

The birthplace of Pepsi Cola.

New Bern Academy. We got to go into this schoolhouse while on our trolley tour.

First Episcopal Church in New Bern. We toured this church while on our trolley tour.

The entrance of Tryon Palace. Tryon Palace was the first Govenor's Mansion in NC. We took this photo to show the girls how tall sunflowers can get.

A neat walkway through the gardens at Tryon Palace.

Gardens at Tryon PalaceMore gardens at Tryon Palace

We toured this house which is the John Wright Stanly House.

New Bern has bear statues all through their town. Each bear has a name and theme. I had to have my photo taken with the "tooth beary" bear that was outside a dental office.

We got a kick out of this little boat causing the drawbridge to go up. We could not believe they did not make this drawbridge higher so that they did not have to open for boats this size.

The riverwalk at Union Park in New Bern. We enjoyed strolling, running and sitting along this river relaxing. It reminded us of a smaller version of Charleston.

The entrance to Ft. Macon.

The flag at Ft. Macon. Tony was trying to get artistic with his photography.

Ft. Macon was having a re-enactment the day we were there. It was really neat.

These kids were so cute. The little boy was so adorable with his toy gun. At one point he went behind a wall and then jumped out and yelled, "bang, bang, bang" as he pointed his gun at all the soldiers. Everyone in the audience started laughing and the man that was talking to the audience looked over and said, "someone needs to get control of that boy" in a joking way. I think the soldiers were doing there best not to laugh as well.

The canons with the ocean in the background.

A view from the fort looking out at the ocean. The soldiers were explaining to the audience about their uniforms and guns.

Getting ready to shoot...

Tony loved this!

Here the soldiers are pretending to charge at the audience with their bayonets.