Endurance Relay.

Okay.  This is WAY overdue.  The Pope Air Force Base Endurance Relay was almost a month ago and I'm just now sharing this.  Airmen could choose to run 12 or 24 hours, individually or in a group.  Ben and some of his fellow FSS lieutenants formed a team and the 9 of them took turns running in 15-minute intervals over 24 hours.  They also dressed up as super-villians.  Some were dressed as Catwoman or Professor Chaos.  Ben dressed as a communist and made the front page of Ft Bragg's sports section:

He only wore the mask for the first few laps, but the hat stuck around the entire time.

bellamy mansion.

Last Friday, a friend and I had a girls' day in Wilmington, NC. We walked around historic downtown and did some shopping ($13 Gap jeans at Smithfield!), but the highlight was the Bellamy Mansion.

The front of the house is so close to the street that this was the best picture I could get.

The mansion was a little underdecorated, but this piano was my favorite by far.

These stairs went from porch to balcony on the back of the house.

Can you believe this magnolia?  It is taller than the mansion!

The back of the mansion.  Isn't it breathtaking?

If you're looking for a fabulous antebellum mansion, this is the one.  The fee was relatively inexpensive and though we didn't get a guided tour, the entire house was open and almost empty - perfect for exploring!  If you're ever in the area, you've gotta check it out!

Ben *hearts* Megs.

Even though we're not parents yet, we still pamper each other on Mother's Day and Father's Day.  So last night Ben made me a heart-shaped strawberry cheesecake with chocolate shavings on top.  Yum! 

It took some serious self-restraint to not eat the whole thing!

My tribute to Mothers is on my other blog, MegsStyle.  If you've never seen Mr. T sing, you've gotta see this!

happy mutha's day.

This says it all.  Happy Mother's Day!

Hammock.

Ben knows how much I love to hammock (thats all I do on campouts), so he made me a sweet spot to swing in our very own back yard. 

Today I fell asleep in it and got sunburned.  Happy hammocking!

Strutt Your Mutt.

Saturday was the Strutt Your Mutt at Pope AFB.  Actually, I think it was called Furry Friends Walk or Spring Fling.  Whatever it was called, it sure was fun!  It was basically a picnic at the park with your dogs (and one cat on a leash).  There were fun games and a cake walk.  But the best part was all the great socializing Lillie got to do.  She smelled a lot of butts and made a lot of friends.  So here's a cute family photo from the event:

Happy Summer!

South Mountains State Park.

On this Easter weekend, Ben and I decided to explore some of the North Carolina mountains.  After perusing the State Parks website, we settled on heading to South Mountains State Park, approx. an hour northwest of Charlotte.  South Mountains boasted beautiful green mountains and breathtaking waterfalls.  And they weren't lying! 

We hiked in to our campsite, about 1.5 miles straight up.  Or at least it seemed that way.  We dropped our stuff and went straight for the High Shoals Falls.

Here we are on the way up to the falls.

From our campsite, we had to hike down a little to see the waterfall, which involved SO MANY STAIRS!  My legs were like jello!

But we made it and were able to see it right up close.  Beautiful!

A little farther down, the waterfalls continued down the rocky river.

We headed back to camp and got things set up.  Here's Ben 'trying out' our new hammock.  It is so big and comfortable that we ended up sleeping in it all night, listening to the river right behind us.  And the bugs didn't even bother us!

This morning, Ben built a giant fire...

... until we packed up camp and walked back down the mountain.

I love living just a few hours from the beach to the east and the mountains to the west.  It was a great weekend trip!

Bentonville.

Last Saturday, we went to the Bentonville reenactment.  This time, it was a Civil War battle.

This cute Confederate soldier was so nice to take a picture with me.  But his English accent was a little confusing...

The North.

The South.

We had to stomp through the forest to find a decent place to watch, but we ended up with the best spot on the field!  It was amazing!  I guess they only do this reenactment every 5 years, so there were tons of people.  And afterward, we had dinner and shopping with friends.  It was a great weekend!