Doug and Suzanne's Visit

Tyler's dad and his girlfriend made it out to visit us for a long weekend in February.  They arrived late on a Friday night.  The next day we brought them to Wilmington and decided to make our own beer crawl taking them to some of our favorite places.  We made it to Dock Street Oyster Bar and the Copper Penny before heading to Wrightsville beach to get more drinks and dinner at the Oceanic Restaurant.

Sunday we hung out at our house in the morning and spent the afternoon at the beach.  Tyler and Doug played bocce ball while Suzanne and I went on a long walk. 

We taught them the game Skipbo and ended up playing it every night.  Suzanne and I were partners and Tyler and Doug just could not beat us! I think they won one game out of twelve, was it?  Tyler and I prepared a meal for them on Sunday night.

Tyler was off on Monday (I still had to work) but I met them for lunch.  Monday night we ordered pizza and enjoyed each other's company.  Tuesday was the nicest day of their visit but Tyler and I both had to work.  Doug and Suzanne dropped me off at my office and went back into Wilmington to do some shopping and have lunch at another one of our favorites - Elijah's on the Cape Fear River.  After work, we went to soak up some more of the sun at Daddy Mac's on Surf City Beach before dropping them off at the airport.

We had a wonderful weekend!  Can't wait for them to come again!

Winter in NC

We had an abnormally cold winter in NC (or so I've been told).  I know, I know, I am not complaining because all my Minnesota friends and family had it way worse than us.  Despite two big ice storms, we still had some beautiful days that we took full advantage of.

My big new year's resolution was less talk and more action.  I talk about projects I want to do, restaurants to try, places to travel, etc., and now I am making those things happen (or trying to).  One of the big ones was to establish a workout routine and meal plan healthier meals.  Tyler and I have always been active but we go through exercise phases and I like my sweets and pizza!  So far we are doing a pretty good job but still room to improve ;) 

Both of our ice storms were in February.  We both missed work because there was no way to get there.  It was below freezing out and our county shares one snow plow.  With no ice trucks, we literally had to wait until the roads melted.  For Christmas (and his birthday), I surprised Tyler with tickets to the UNC v. Duke basketball game.  The day of the game a storm was expected so we got on the road early.  The drive started out fine but ended up being horrible.  A 2 hour drive took us 4 1/2 hours and we passed 147 vehicles that were stuck or abandoned.  We did have one stretch where our car was sliding but other than that, Tyler was more nervous about the North Carolina drivers that had no idea how to drive in that condition.  Ten minutes from our hotel, the game was rescheduled :(

We ventured out to a sports bar for dinner instead.  Although we were upset, there were tons of people that traveled way farther and even flew in for the game!

North Carolina's "snow storm"

The next day the city was literally shut down.  Nothing was open - not Starbucks, not the mall, nothing.  It was actually very comical how people reacted to the weather.  

The game was rescheduled for the next week so luckily we could take off work and head back for round two.  We both decided that we were UNC fans over Duke even though Duke was expected to win.  The game and atmosphere were CRAZY.  Everyone at the Dean Smith center were on their feet the entire game cheering just as obnoxious as the student section.  UNC came back in the 2nd half and won!  Definitely a fun game and a good experience but now Tyler thinks he needs to go every year!

What else have we been up to?  Tyler used Christmas money to buy a new grill so we both have been enjoying it.

We attended a gala for the Pender County Rotary Club with my coworkers.  It was at the most adorable country club - I wish I would have taken some pictures of it. 

One of Tyler's coworkers has a boat and invited us out for a day on it.  We cruised up and down the Intracoastal Waterway. 

 Alligator in the bottom right

We have gone on more intentional dates 

We finished a DIY project that we love!