B & Jennifer's Visit

My brother and his girlfriend visited us this past weekend and they couldn't have picked a better time to come.  They escaped the cold Minnesota weather for 80's and sun their entire visit.  Tyler and I were very excited for their visit.  My poor lucky brother is the only boy among three sisters.  I don't remember the last time that I spent good quality time with him without my entire family.  I also have not had the chance to spend time alone with Jennifer so it was so great to reconnect and get to know each other so much better.

Ignore our blank walls still...our house is one giant work in progress 

B and Jen flew in Wed. night.  Tyler and I both had to work the rest of the week but luckily I work close to home so I went home for an early lunch and had our guests drop me back off at work so they could take my car.  They drove down to Carolina Beach State Park to do some hiking and picked me up on their way back.  We took them to dinner at Elijah's on the riverfront in Wilmington that night.  Thank goodness I love seafood now (who would have ever thought this was possible) because that seems to be all we eat when we go out!  We shared crab dip, Jennifer and I had blackened grouper and the boys had crab stuffed shrimp.  Yum!

Thank goodness for my self-timer app on my iphone ;) 

Friday morning I only worked until 11ish and picked up B and Jen to spend the day at the beach.  It was perfect!  The sun was so hot but there was a cool breeze.  Tyler was able to join us after work around 3 (he left a little early).

Beach bocce

Of course we had to stop by Buddy's for some drinks and appetizers.  B and Jen tried their first ever hush puppies that I have come to be obsessed with.  Tyler was giving me crap for carrying around my money/phone in a zip lock bag but I thought this was the perfect "purse" for the beach!

I received an email Friday morning saying that it was Military Spouse Appreciation day - so of course I requested flowers.  Even though my brother had to remind Tyler to get them, I think he did a pretty good job. 

Friday night was the Wild hockey game so we planned to make dinner at our place.  We grilled kabobs and made sweet potato fries and a southwest chicken pasta salad.  It was all SO good!  The little leftovers we had didn't last very long.  We also had a couple from MN that were in town looking for housing (they are coming here next year) over for dinner and the game.  

Sat. morning we slept in (thank god) and then went to a fire station in Wilmington for a tour.  These sorts of things become a habit when you are in a family of firemen!  Two firemen showed us around and were great.  We asked so many questions which I think they enjoyed because most of the tours they give are to little kids.

We had to get pictures in front of the dive truck because Brandon has his dive certificate

Wilmington is opening a bunch of breweries (Tyler is so excited) so we went to check out the grand opening of one of them.  To be honest, we were a little disappointed.  I only liked one of the beers and the venue was not the greatest.  Still a fun experience though!  After, we went back to historic downtown and walked down the boardwalk on the river and down Front Street.  

Dock Street Oyster Bar for dinner - a visitor favorite 

We had a little extra time so we brought them to the Copper Penny (another favorite of ours) for a drink before we went on the haunted pub crawl.  We had so much fun!  It was fun to hear all the old stories and I actually believe all the ghost ones! Yikes!  We went to four different bars and one of them actually had surveillance cameras and caught part of it on video.  There was a head of a little boy running behind the bar and then one at a time bottles from behind the bar fell down.  Very creepy since there was no boy actually there.  We even talked with some of the people that were working that night!  

We loved all the bars we went to and will definitely be going back.  Our tour guide (the guy Tyler is looking at) is an actor so now I am excited to look for him in some of the films he had appearances in.

At the end, we went back to the bar our tour started at, the oldest pool hall in the U.S., and listened to live music and played multiple games of pool.  I need a lot of practice!  

Sunday morning Tyler gave us all a base tour and then we checked out the northern tip of North Topsail Island.  We went on a very long beach walk and even got rained on for two minute and then it stopped.  We had a late lunch/early dinner at Daddy Mac's before taking them back to our place to get ready to fly back home.  Such a wonderful weekend!  They were our first visitors that did their research before they came and gave us a list of what they wanted to do.  That is so incredibly helpful because it takes a lot of the stress of entertaining off of me!  This is the first time since we moved here that we don't have any planned visitors on the horizon.  Luckily we have planned trips home for weddings so we won't have to go to long without seeing familiar faces.

Quick MN Trip and April Recap

Holy moley have we been busy!  Busy with all fun stuff though!  April came and went so fast because we were barely here.  First, the last week of March we were in Washington DC, then going into April we went to Atlanta, I went to Nashville, and we both ended the month in MN.  Besides our  travels, Tyler we managed to get a lot of yard work and stuff around the house done.  We are excited for this beautiful weather we are having - high 70s-80s - and are excited for a somewhat quieter May.  I plan on spending most of it at the beach :)  

 Finally some beautiful beach weather!

 Starting our garden....small this year and big plans for the next

 I missed Stacy's baby showers but was able to facetime in for 20 minutes of it! (My mom made that amazing quilt) 

We celebrated this guy's birthday by a wonderful date night to Portland Grill

Tyler had planned to attend the MN dental convention in St. Paul and a joint bachelor party for two of his very good college friends the last weekend in April.  At my parents' urging, I joined him last minute and was so glad that I did.  Although the weather did not welcome us home, it was such a wonderful time with family and friends.  I apologize that I was horrible at taking pictures so there aren't very many.  

These are the little planes we take from the coast

Our flight was late and delayed so we didn't land in MN until 1:30am Wed. morning.  Tyler's dad picked him up and Tyler spend Wed. morning with his dad before meeting up with his mom for a lunch and movie date.  My sister, Stacy, is off on Wednesdays so she picked me up and we spent Wed. working on the nursery decor.  Stacy already had lots of ideas and some supplies so we ran to some stores to pick up everything else we needed and got to work.  We found some great frames and also put together a wall collage that we spray painted different colors.  Wed. night, I drove up and met Tyler and his family for a pizza night.  Doug and Suzanne bought all sorts of different toppings and sauces so we all made different pizzas and tasted each.  After everyone left, Doug wanted to play cards so we ended up staying up late for two games of skipbo!  

 The beginning of a pinterest project for the nursery - made out of cards from her shower

Spray painting for the nursery decor

Thursday Tyler was at his convention in St. Paul.  I slept in a little, had coffee with Doug, then met my friend, Amelia, for lunch, followed by coffee with Jenny, and another coffee date with Sara.  Lots of caffeine for this sleep deprived girl.  My little sister and her boyfriend of 6+ years just got engaged so we wanted to see them to celebrate.  Since Danielle was studying for finals (PT school), Tyler and I met my parents and D and Aaron at Annie's on the U of M campus for burgers, fries, and milkshakes.  Thurs. night we went back to my parents house to watch the end of the wild game.  Friday morning my parents prepared a brunch and invited my grandmas over so we could spend some time with them.  Then Tyler was off back to his convention and then to have drinks with friends and his brother for his 22nd bday.  I enjoyed a quiet afternoon with my mom - a walk and some shopping - and then went back to the cities to meet two of my very favorite friends for dinner at Wakame.  

Sat. morning I ran to my sister's house quick to finish spray painting for the nursery.  Then it was off to the twins game with my high school friends to support my friend, Britt, and the MS Society.  We had drinks and dinner at Pizza Lucce.  Tyler was at a bachelor party all day/night and had a blast but did not take any pictures either.  Sat. night my sisters both came into town and we stopped by the NP fireman's dance.  My dad and uncle both are retired volunteer firemen and my brother has been a volunteer fireman for the past six years.  We are very proud of them so wanted to go show our support (and see some more family that was there)!  

 My dad (in the middle) and my uncle standing with the retired firemen

 brother

My siblings in birth order ;)

Sunday morning we were lucky to meet Tyler's grandparents and aunt for brunch at Bonfire in Mankato.  Then my parents had a big dinner at their place Sunday for all the April/May birthdays and so we could see everyone.

 My dadio in his old school gymnastics sweatshirt

 One sister preggers, the other engaged!

We flew home bright and early Monday morning.  Although it is always hard saying our goodbyes, it makes it easier knowing that we will both be back in June and I will be back in July for weddings.