THE last day of 2011...

This is mostly for documentation purposes... travel along in my brain with me... as I tell you about our last day and share pictures of somewhere you will WANT to visit someday if you haven't already!

The very last day of 2011 started off with an EPIC run. Well, epic in my mind... very very short for some of you, but 7 miles is the longest I've ever run, so for me it was huge! We (Becca, Taryn, Brian... Zach was kind enough to watch the kids and did his run later) had some sips of water and ate a few bites of bread, and off we went on our longest run of the training regimen to date. Being on the coast, it was FLAT and gorgeous. The weather was perfect- sunny and about 55-60 degrees F when we set out. We did it in 70 minutes, and I was proud of maintaining my 10-min-mile pace throughout! I only had a few twinges in my knee, but pressed through and changed my stride a bit, which fixed the issue. I should've taken a picture of us after the run... I'm sure we looked miserable yet happy!

We laid around while Zach went to run, and ate/hydrated. It felt SO good to have pushed my body past its limits. Then we set out to enjoy and hike the dunes! and to fly kites, of course...

hiking to a good spot

kites! 

check out the people behind Leah and Zach... they are running and boogy-boarding down that huge dune... SO MUCH FUN! 

Edge of the world... love this pic

After we spent a couple of blissful hours at the dunes, we took the kids to the Pier so that T and B could get groceries to make dinner. The new Pier in Nags Head is spectacular. While we were there, a school of about 200 dolphins swam around the pier and gave us a show. It was magical!

stunning sunset

watching dolphins!

adorable

as we ate, the kids danced and partied to ring in the new year (at 8:00 :). 

So that was how we spend our New Year's Eve. It was my favorite so far! The first day of 2012 got the year kicked off to a good start- and we are grateful. More pics soon! Happy Wednesday!