Thursday, May 31, 2012

Memorial Weekend (aka My Birthday)

I’m not sure how to start this blog post off so let me just say… I had a great birthday weekend. We had company visit which made it even more special. Nick, Travis and Abby (Joe’s brother’s and Trav’s girlfriend) made the trip to North Carolina. We must be special or something.

To sum up our weekend we ate, swam and had fun. I’m also happy to report our house was not damaged at all.

We got some great use out of the new grill. Almost every meal we made involved using it and eating our food outside on the patio. Our menu included beer butt chicken with foil potatoes. It took forever to cook, but was totally worth it.

We also made chicken, pineapple and green pepper kabobs. These included a glass of Olde Mecklenburg Brewery beer in a frosty mug. It doesn’t get much better on a hot day.

We enjoyed our community pool a couple times. Unfortunately we weren’t able to play tennis. Who knew you need a key to get into the courts? Well Joe and I did… we got locked in once before. We still haven’t asked the community association for said key, but that’s a long story… We all enjoyed a bit of sun, but Trav enjoyed it a bit too much. Ok there’s no way he could enjoy a sunburn, but it happens.

We spent one day at the US Whitewater Center. Remember when we went there with Joe’s parents? Well this time we actually got to white water raft. It was so much fun and refreshing on a hot day. I think each of us came away with some sort of war wound, but we also have some good stories. Here we got our harness on and are all ready to zipline.

The other fun activity at the center was the mega jump. This also wasn’t open when we were here previously. Basically you just jump from a platform, get the free fall sensation for about 2 seconds and then the cable lets you down slowly. I wouldn’t say I’m terribly afraid of heights, but this was a challenge. The whole mind game of making yourself jump got to me. Not to mention we happened to cut the entire line (people who were waiting to zipline) and so people were watching us and probably wishing I would just jump already. Abby and I were both pretty nervous, but we both conquered our fears and jumped.

We also got a little bit of use our of our fire pit this weekend. We have a great spot just off our patio to sit and enjoy. Unfortunately the wood we found in the backyard was a bit rotten and wouldn’t catch fire. No worries though, we made s’mores in the microwave instead. They taste just as good if you ask me.

Right when I was taking this picture the fire took off because Joe lit the newspaper below. I think it gives them a nice glow.

The last night we spent with our company we went out to eat. It also happened to be my birthday so I got to choose the restaurant. I have heard of this new BBQ place in uptown (Charlotte’s downtown… that was for you Jed). I figured we should give it a try since it was a local place and figured we’d all enjoy some Carolina BBQ.

The boys thought I needed to take a birthday shot (it was Sunday, but don’t judge… I didn’t have to work the next day). Luckily Abby was a good sport and joined me. The bartender gave me a shot that was pretty much a triple, but it was delicious.

Oh and remember the pleasant surprise I found the other day? Nick picked gave me one of the flowers to stick in my hair. How thoughtful of you Nick.

I think Joe enjoyed having his brothers visit and we both enjoyed having great company for the holiday weekend. Thanks for visiting!

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