4th of July weekend in North Carolina!

Its been a while since our last blog post so this one is filled with lots of exciting things!

Zak and I decided to drive down south for our holiday (week). Our first stop was Kathy's house in Charlotte, NC. We had a blast white water rafting (yes I took on the rapids again!) and boating on Lake Norman. I was able to meet up with a cousin I haven't seen in a looooooong time.. ok like I was in the womb last time we met. Laura and her husband are renovating an awesomely old home from the 1900's if you are interested read her blog about it here. It is great to meet up with family..considering I don't have much of it in the United States! After we met up with my cousin we went to South Carolina to see a live band play and catch July 3rd fireworks. Below are photos of our night!

(Kathy and I)

(Zak and I waiting for the fireworks!)

(Zak's sis Brittany and Kathy!)

On 4th of July we all headed to The U.S. National Whitewater Center. They have everything from rafting to kayaking, hiking, rope courses, zip lines...etc. We had so much fun! (Pictured Below)

Zak loves to be adventurous, as do I (ok..well, im trying!) so it was definitely an awesome day. The whitewater rafting is all done on a man made river that was/is used for Olympic Training. They have rapids ranging from Class 1 to Class 4, and each boat sits about 6 people.. plus a river guide... as long as your river guide stays on the raft and doesnt fall off on the biggest rapid and leave you wondering what the hell you should do without him... good thing we decided to pick him back up..

Here are some photos of our rafting adventure..

                                               Gearing up to go!

Heading down the rapids with Brittany and Kathy in the front! (Kathy later realized that this is the roughest seat in the house...and it later landed her in the water..good times, right Kathy?)

Next we went flat water Kayaking and it was a great break from the thrill of the rapids.. I tried to get all of us in this one... 

The best part of the day (in my opinion) was watching a lady being coaxed of a giant tower that you are supposed to walk off and simulate falling to your death. Ok so its not that bad, but really this lady would.not.jump. Kathy and I chickened out at first but decided since that lady could do it.. so could we! We kept reciting "Just walk off, dont give yourself enough time to think about it.. just do it!" Here we go:

(This one is Kathy)

(This one is me!)

(and this is Zak and I) 

The Whitewater Center had the best fireworks show we had ever seen! It was at least 30 minutes long, and I think everyone in North Carolina showed up for it! The next day we went out boating on Lake Norman, we arrived on time for our rental to find out that the secretary is playing hooky (darn those 4th of July brews eh?) and the Marina guys had no idea what to do! But eventually we got in our boat and then found out we had no gas.. and lucky for us, the whole marina was out of gas too! So the manager came up with a plan and we followed him to a nearby marina with the fumes we had left in our boat and filled 'er up! After that fiasco we headed out on the lake, enjoyed a few coronas and lots of sun! I think Zak is a natural...

More blogs to follow on the rest of our trip...