midatlantic: that's how we roll!

we're now back from our midatlantic tour, which ended up being a tour of 3 shows perfectly spaced out--a day of rest & fun in between each one. it was not too rigorous, and we were able to enjoy time with friends along the way. one virginia beach show, then two outer banks shows--one in kitty hawk, the other in frisco on hatteras island. a cold front blew in, so we never made it to the beach, but cozy times with friends were exactly what we needed anyway.

: heron cozy in her carseat :

we had a great time catching up with josh and terresa shaw, and their babies jacob and anela, in virginia beach. heron encountered stairs for the first time in their home, and quickly conquered them! she was climbing so fast (like she'd climbed thousands of stairs before) i could only get blurry pictures...

we've been waiting for an excuse to visit the outer banks again. this was the third or fourth time out there since being married, and we've been cultivating friendships with people there over the years. a relaxed tour schedule allowed us to spend some time with nic and jessica mclean (thanks for the hospitality!), whitney and jessie hines (thanks for the banana pancake breakfast!), brittany diggs (thanks for the hairdo & the merch help), kim diggs, the shells... and we were able to visit their church, too, which we loved. we love the outer banks community, and of course it's another place we dream about moving to someday.

: hanging out with papa at work :

: heron meets nic, jessica, and whitney in kitty hawk :

: josh and jessie :
(we love his "american by birth, southern by the grace of God" license plate)

: heron and brittany :

: hanging out with the mcleans :

: friend jason andre, who accompanied & opened up for josh :

josh played a bar, an art gallery, and a skate park. and we tried three different sleeping options for now early-to-bed heron. she used to be up until 10 or 11 at shows with us, often falling asleep while i wore her in the ergo. now that she's a crawling toddler, however, there's no way to contain her energy at shows! in virginia beach i put her to bed at josh & terresa shaw's house then headed to the venue while terresa stayed behind with heron & her two kids. in kitty hawk i stayed behind with heron while brittany worked merch for me. in frisco we put her to bed next door in the century 21 office & kept a monitor with me at the merch table! we're still trying to figure out this parenting on the road thing (we think this experience will form her into a very flexible human)... someone buying merch at the frisco show looked a little puzzled by the monitor, to which josh replied, "yeah, man, that's how we roll!"

to anyone who thinks the fun stops when you have kids--having a child is a grand adventure!