2014 Flower Parade...

There were lovely blue skies during the parade. The theme of Energy led to many weird floats. These are a few of the more normal floats.

I did a lousy job capturing this float as it was rather funny: a whale eating a taxi.

I also did a lousy job capturing this float, which was my favorite: a cow riding a motorcycle.

Love the Kiddie Flower Parade...

This year Jimmy and I cycled to Voorhout to watch the Flower Parade. We always choose this particular city to view the parade because of its wonderful Kiddie Flower Parade. The theme this year was Energy, which explains the Energizer Bunnies, I mean Duracell Bunnies, making an appearance.

Check out the solar panels on this wagon.

Not sure how energetic this puppy was, but he was cute.

A greenhouse is definitely appropriate for this parade.

Not sure how this snowman fit into the theme, but he was adorable.

Ready for the Ball...

The Junior Ball was coming up shortly and we’d asked to see Rachel’s dress. Ironically, Veronica had purchased a navy blue dress to put away for her Year 13 Ball that won’t be until next June.

How nice to see our lovely young ladies together for some final photos before we left for the airport to return home.

They also posed with the little ones, who aren’t so little anymore.

Last Day in Beaufort...

Sunday morning, I went kayaking with the girls. It was a relief to finally get in the water after the long haul of carrying the double kayaks from the house to the launch. After we cruised around for awhile, we made the long walk back to the house.

Afterwards, we did a little shopping and then grabbed some lunch and ice cream.

Just before we left, we grabbed this photo by the big bell at the church across from Erika’s house. 

Erika dropped us off at Carolyn and Steve’s, where we met up with Jimmy for a delicious dinner of homemade pizza from the grill.

Exploring the Island...

There wasn’t much to see besides the wild horses, but that didn’t stop us from taking a walk along the coast.

Veronica again managed to capture a better photo than me from the exact same spot.

It’s so great to see how close Veronica and Rachel are still after all these years.

We ended this busy and fun day with dinner at a local Beaufort restaurant.

Wild Houses of Shackleford Banks...

Shackleford Banks is one of the few places on the East Coast where wild horses can be seen. We were thrilled to see them as soon as we arrived.

According to the National Park Service, there are 110 horses on this barrier island, but we saw less than 10.

There are no humans living on the island, so the feral horses are free to roam as they please. Natural food sources and fresh or brackish water allow the animals to live off the land without human intervention.

Heading to Shackleford Banks...

Erika’s friend Beth was also in Beaufort for the weekend. We were happy to take her up on her generous offer to take us out on her boat.

Beth is hilarious! When she wasn’t expertly playing skipper, she was giving the girls dating advice. Veronica especially loved her deep North Carolina accent, which we rarely came across in Cary since it’s mostly full of Yankees.

Of course, Beth also came ashore, but she waited until she had the boat positioned exactly how she wanted.