A taste of the Tarheel state....

Sequoia and Colleen went down to the Tarheel State to visit with Sequoia's grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousins for a week.

Sequoia has always enjoyed her travels and apparently her visit to the Estuarium in Washington, NC was no different.

She had the opportunity to try out her new boat - the SS Rubber Ducky - in the pool at the plantation. OK, the plantation is really just a very nice community where her grandparents live, but it does come complete with a wonderful pool and docks and parks etc...

Sequoia's joy at owning her own boat is quite obviously something she got from her daddy. Evidently it also makes a great lounging toy on the deck.

Sequoia also got to meet her Aunt Julie and Uncle Mike (Colleen's brother) for the first time. From what I hear, Sequoia was quite fond of her aunt Julie ... not to leave uncle Mike out - she liked him ok as well.

The theme of the week was definitely the Doyle-Murphy girls. It is neat that they are able to get together as often as they do since they are spread across three states and three time zones. This is largely made possible by Kathleen's willingness to take the time and effort required to fly east from Colorado to spend time with her family. That's pretty groovy in my book.




Sequoia's cousins have been enjoying trips down to Pop-pop's and Mamasita's house for years and a highlight has always been crabbing from the pier.

Sequoia had a lot of fun with an almost endless stream of entertainment and enrichment coming at her full speed all day long (including her first sighting of bubbles) ... her mommy was pretty well worn out since the normal rhythm of life was all but destroyed. Sequoia adapted slightly better to the new schedule, but I can attest to how tired both of my girls were when they finally got home.

It's always nice to get some good family portraits before loading up in the car to head home.

So with kisses from Mamasita it was time to say goodby until the next visit.