Surf City NC and Norfolk Virginia

I am WAY behind in my blogging so there's gonna be quite a few new posts in a row so make sure you read them all :) So instead of going to Topsail we went to Surf City, swam in the ocean for a while and then met up with Bullis again for lunch. This restaurant had money ALL over the walls and some one the ceiling, it was pretty cool.

While we were eating it started POURING down rain and there was super loud thunder. Like, REALLY loud.. :) 

Surfer's still surfing even in the lighting and thunder :)

 Next we went to Norfolk Virginia and went to an old military base, Fort Monroe. It was a super cool and I found out that Edgar Allen Poe was in the military! Never knew that :)

Cool pipe that Tayler wants :)

LOVE HIS MUSTACHE!!

It's not even a fork!! It's like..  idk I wouldn't want to eat with it haha

Next up: Colonial Williamsbur, Virginia!

Battleship and New Bern North Carolina

Yesterday, Hope took us (plus one of Ryley's friends: Bullis) to a Battleship: the USS North Carolina. It was really cool to see, and read about. I really liked reading about the crew's memories of certain area's, it helped give it that sense of reality, you know?

The ship also had a couple planes on it 

I would hate working in such small spaces! I'm soo claustrophobic.. 

Mess Hall

I thought this was interesting. I had figured they would just label the pipes, this
seems just a little more complicated.

Too many switches and knobs :)

I hated walking on this grate, I was wearing flip flops and they would sometimes slip into the gaps :(
One of the stories for in here was that it would get SO hot (like 136 ish) that the sailors shoes would
melt onto the grate :( sounds miserable to me

I'm not sure which would be worse? Sleeping on the top and having to climb all the way up there,
or sleeping on the bottom and having people step on you trying to get up to their bunk

Dentist's office

Today, we went to New Bern, North Carolina to see the birthplace of Pepsi- Cola. On the way there I noticed Tayler was wearing his Coke shirt, and I was like "Really Tayler? Your wearing your COKE shirt when we're going to a PEPSI place???" and his response was "Yup.." Really? ugh.. my brother ;)

Tayler and Mom with the perfect shirt for the moment :) 

Anyone in the mood to make a TON of Pepsi???

Tayler decided to get the shirt lol :)

                                               

They of course had a cool Pepsi fountain thing and we all got Pepsi floats :) Yum!! 

Right across the street from the birthplace of Pepsi, there was a cool old church and graveyard, so we went and checked it out.

Bell tower still runs! We got to hear it while we were there

Ok so I think it's SUPER incredibly creepy to have a playground right next to a graveyard...anyone else
agree with me?? 

I liked the look of this tree :) 

There were a TON of cool looking buildings around!

I love this :)

Stained glass windows are beautiful!

We also discovered this cool mansion, and decided to go on a tour so we could go inside. Sadly the told us not to take pictures inside so I only got pictures on the outside of the main house. When we went into the kitchen, they had rooms upstairs and there was nobody supervising so I took some illegal pictures. Don't tell anyone ;)

Awesome, right??

HUGE keyhole :)

I loved the gardens around the house, reminded me of Downton Abbey, has anyone seen that TV show?

One of my illegal pictures :)

I CALL TOP BUNK!! ;)

Tomorrow: Topsail Island :)

Sea World and Georgia

Sunday was our last day at Disney World! We went around to all the parks and rode our favorite rides :) While in the Magic Kingdom, I found a fantastic sundress, and I decided to buy it; so, I went up to the cashier (my mom came with me) and he was extremely friendly. He asked us where we were from (which seems to be the favorite question here in Disney World haha), so we told him Oregon. He then proceeded to ask us "What's in Oregon?" ... Hmmm.. what IS in Oregon??? I told him waterfalls, my mom told him trees and then told him "well WE'RE in Oregon.." "Which makes it better" I said lol. During this conversation, he had put the dress in the bag without ringing it up so we were like SWEET a free dress! I told the cashier, that   it did say "Free" on the price tag, and he of course looked at me like I was crazy, but he pulled out the price tag, and lo and behold it DID say free on it! He told us that since that was false advertising, he would give us 20% off :) Such a nice guy :) After this conversation my mom asked me if I thought he was had been flirting with me or with her. I told her me cause it's less creepy.. ;)

ANYWAYS!! Monday was our day of rest :) We got to sleep in, and just lounge around all day. We all went swimming and then Tayler and I came back up to the room while Hope and Mom did laundry. I got to skype with two of my amazing friends, Rachel and Hannah! :D Which btw Rachel, we need to do again cause I swear I couldn't hear you guys half the time lol. 

Tuesday we checked out of our resort and headed off to Sea World!! It was super super hot, so we ended up just going to 3 shows and then leaving. First show we went to was a Dolphin Show! :)

Dophin Stadium

did I mention that I love dolphins??

ok, so I have ALWAYS wanted to ride dolphins like this!!! It reminds me of the Little Mermaid :)

All jumping together :D

Manatee's are like the laziest marine animals that I have ever seen! I think the only time I
saw one move was when it went up to get some air, and then it just sunk back down...

Turtle :D

Next show that we went to was a Killer Whale show :)

tricks :)

I'm always impressed by how trained these animals are! Maybe I should become
 a Marine Biologist? :)

Mamma Whale and her baby Shamu :)

Last but not least was the Sea Lion and Otter show :)  It was hilarious :)

Inspecting the ship 

Clyde (the sealion) being a goof :) 

Clyde and Seymore! 

First time I've ever seen a walrus and it was HUGE!

After Sea World we were back in the car and headed for Savannah Georgia :) Apparently the city of Savannah is haunted. So I of course dreamed about ghosts haha. This morning we headed out to see some cool houses and historical places.

The driveway for a plantation house. We were going to go tour it but it was too expensive for not
staying the whole day.

Green-Meldrim House which is in Madison Square :) For all you who don't know, this was
and pretty famous place during/after? the Civil War

Drayton Hall which is a plantation house.

We are now in North Carolina!! We are gonna be here till Monday I think and then it's off to Maryland to see pretty much the whole family on my Dad's side! I'm excited :)