Presidents' Day Weekend at the River

Looks like y'all are getting a heavy dose of life updates this week! Projects will return, promise, but I want to make sure I document some of the fun things we've had going on lately before the fresh memories fade. Do you know what I mean? Part of what I love about blogging is a chance to mark great moments in time - and we had some good ones this past weekend.

C and I began plotting a trip to my parents' river house back in December, and decided Presidents' Day weekend was the perfect time to invite some couple friends of ours from church to go with us. It's amazing what a difference a long weekend makes as opposed to a regular weekend in terms of travel and relaxation. Whoever decided to tack holidays onto weekends was brilliant. Especially onto dreary February weekends.

The the weather we had wasn't exactly ideal (lots of coldness), but I can't complain because it gave us an excuse to spend lots of time huddled around a fire, enjoy good company, food, and games, and even read a few pages of a book. {Current read: Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller.} To give you an idea of how we spent much of our days, a lot of this went down:

We did leave our warm fire to brave wind, wintry mix, and freezing temperatures Saturday afternoon for a little beach trip. I think we lasted all of half an hour out there, but I think it was worth it (not sure if the others agree with me on that!?). What I do know is we are all looking forward to a future trip in the summer when bathing suits are the appropriate clothing choice instead of winter hats. 

Before running back to the car to thaw our fingers and toes, we managed to pause for a quick second to Instagram some photos. Here are a couple of mine:

Looks like ideal beach weather, right? Don't you wish you could have been there? ;)

On Sunday, we traded the wintry mix for extremely windy weather, but we got some sun too. This made for a gorgeous, but blustery day, and in the afternoon, we headed to a nearby restaurant called Merroir for some local oysters.

{"Winterized" front porch of Merroir}

These are Rappahannock River Oysters, and Merroir is their "tasting room" located literally steps from where the oysters are grown and harvested at Locklies Marina. There's quite a story behind these oysters, and if you're interested in reading more, head over to the website to check it out. 

{Locklies Marina}

I couldn't resist a photo of the glass my yummy beer arrived in..."swallow the leader" - get it?

And here are our lovely friends!

{I would say it's the sun glare making me look so pale, but I'm pretty sure that'd be a lie, ha!}

Once we finished consuming our delicious oysters, we bundled up for a group photo by the marina before heading home:

And take a look at this cute couple - couldn't leave this one out!

Of course we had to get a photo too :).

All in all, I'd say the trip was a great success! I really loved (and needed) this long weekend to unwind and step away from busy city life. Thanks to our great friends for making it such a delight!