More Fun in NC - Bowling, Birds & Birthdays

Sorry I've been MIA this week - it's been pretty hectic since getting back to Boston!  I thought I'd share a few pictures from some of my other adventures while in NC.

First of all, I can't believe it's taken me this long to post a picture of my car for the week.  If you weren't convinced I have one of the coolest grandma's ever before...this'll win you over.  I drove her Neon Turbo Bug all week...it was so much fun!  It sure did zip around.

Friday morning, I got up pretty early to put in a few hours of work, then we took the dogs for a long walk around the neighborhood.  Afterwards, we decided to go bowling at Clayton's fabulous Rainbow Lanes.  The day before, I'd called to make sure there would be lanes open on a Friday.  The worker on the phone said that we should definitely plan to be out of there by 5:30 because there are NO lanes open on Friday nights due to leagues, and recommended we come around 3:30.  With his description of how popular Fridays were, we were expecting a semi-full house.  Turns out it wasn't that necessary to come early.  It was just us and another duo there - we basically had the place to ourselves!

Poor Mark in his crazy-colored, size 14 bowling shoes.  

Dad, of course, got a 176 on the first game.  (Last time they went bowling he got a 200...crazy, huh?)  The surprise was MY TURKEY!  Yep...I got three strikes in a row in the 9/10th frame of our last game.  Talk about going out with a bang!

Such a fun time.  Mom dubbed our lane "The Lauren Alford Memorial Lane" because of my...err...interesting (incorrect) form.  I have a tendency of letting go of the ball too late, semi-launching it down the lane.  Oops.  Hey...it got me a turkey...whatever works!

Since I was working from home, I spent a lot of time at my parent's kitchen table.  They have a beautiful backyard, which turns into a bird sanctuary in the spring and summer.  Most of the time you can see 12 male cardinals out there!  It was such a nice thing to watch while I worked.  Here are a few shots of the birds:

I also enjoyed hanging out with the pups (if you couldn't tell).  It made me miss MINE a lot, though.

Sunday after church, mom drove me to Travis' parent's house.  He was done with his time at ECU's New Music Festival, so we had Sunday to spend with his family before heading back to Boston.  His birthday was the 27th, so it was a perfect time to celebrate with his family - after all...it was the big 3-0!  His sister, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Michael, came down from Virginia Beach to hang out for the weekend, too.  Such fun!

Jenny made Travis' favorite cake for his birthday, red velvet - YUM.  She also decided 30 years deserved 30 candles.  It looked like his cake was a ball of fire!

After lunch, cake, and a little hanging out, it was time to head to the airport to fly home.

It was a fantastic trip home...one more blog to go to cover the trip coming next week!  Check out the other blogs here:

Raleigh, Sewing, a New Picture, and Old Friends
Fun Lunch Breaks & My First Trip to Hula Girl
ECU's New Music Festival & Revisiting Greenville

Playing with our camera

A few weeks ago, I headed to Burlington with our new fancy camera to take some pictures for our friends', Ann and Terence's, Christmas card.  It was a beautiful day (a beautiful day this time'a year is upper 40's) and sunny.  I was a little nervous I was going to wreck their Christmas card since we've only had our camera for a few months and I am NOT a pro, but was really pleased with the results.

They decided the photo should have themselves plus two of their fuzzy children (pups Amelia and Sara), and all were dressed to the nine's in their festive garb (the pups had little red bows).  So cute!

Check out some of the shots from the day!

I also took a few pictures at their house before we left for the park.

Merry Christmas!