Myrtle Beach Part 2

On our last day in SC, we drove out to the beach so Ben could see the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a beautiful day and fun to spend the last day with family out and about!

Myrtle Beach and Asheville, NC

During Ben's spring break from school, we took a trip down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for Ben's very first visit to Grandma and Grandpa Ingle's house!  Karen, Chris and Alyssa planned their trip for the same time and it was great all being together for the first time since Ben was not quite 2 years old.

Due to flights to Myrtle Beach being outrageous (SPRING BREAK), we opted to save a few bucks and take the red eye.  Never again.  Ben is a pro traveler though, so the only issue was lack of sleep for Greg and I :)  Ben remained happy and unaffected!

During the first part of our stay, Greg, his dad, Karen and Chris played a few rounds of golf, we visited the Ripley's Aquarium (so fun!), played several rounds of 31, and ate some great food!

On Wednesday, Greg, Karen, Chris and I drove up to Asheville, NC to spend a day and a night brewery hopping!  Asheville is an adorable college town with 27 craft breweries and some amazing restaurants.  It was SO much fun!  We also had the best weather we had all week up to that point, so it was awesome.

We ended our day with a late dinner at Buxton Hall Barbecue, and the meal was epic.  We each ordered something different and shared - but I ordered the best in my opinion: Crispy Catfish Sandwich and Collard Greens.

The next morning, Greg and I somehow managed to wake up early and refreshed and ready for breakfast!  We walked through town and grabbed some food at a cute cafe before making the drive back to SC.

Meanwhile, back in SC, Ben enjoyed a day with Grandma and Grandpa!  They were BUSY!  They went to Wonderworks, Dave & Busters and Ben surprised us all by partaking in the activity pictured below: Going out in a plastic bubble on the water! He really enjoyed his one on one time with his grandparents :)

Meal Planning: April 15th - 21st

Review from last week:

I saw this recipe posted on one of my favorite food blogs and thought it would be a fun recipe to try for the night of the NCAA championship game.  It is baked spiralized sweet potatoes topped with turkey chili.  Greg liked it, although suggested the next time I make I use "meat" (aka beef). Insert side eye emoji here.

I made french dip sandwiches in the Instant Pot - SO good/crowd pleaser! 

Plan for next week:

Since we will be our our trip, I'm planning ahead for grocery pick up and meal planning when we return:

Sunday: Grilled Chicken Garden Salad or Sesame-Hoisin Salmon with Brussels Sprouts and Carrot Noodles

Monday: Pizza Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Rosemary Chicken Salad with Avocado and Bacon

Thursday: Dinner with mom!  It's her week :)

Friday: TBD

Saturday: Out to Eat! Ben has a birthday party in Woodinville so Greg and I will go out and grab a quick bite :)

Week(s) in Photos: Haircut Faces, Easter and Cougan-Kid Takeover

My mom and Ben made bunny masks!

My sweet boys brought me flowers!

We met Lisa and Evan at Seattle Bouldering Project for a morning climb session and lunch!  Ben surprised us all by being amazing at climbing (with no harness)!

Crazy Hair (pre-haircut):

We had a Sunday with no plans: we went to Lucky Strike, grabbed a Bloody Mary in the afternoon and then went home to make dinner with our neighbors.  So fun.

Ben is obsessed with my night serum that comes in these little blue plastic things.  He is always SO tempted to squeeze them and I get SO mad (because $$$).  This time, he was clearly getting into them again, but then re-thought his plan and left one out with a note for me instead ;)

These haircut faces absolutely kill me:

Rachel and Peter went to SF for the weekend, so we gladly had Raleigh over for 2 nights + Pepper for 1!  We all had so much fun - and Ben now agrees that "borrowing" some siblings is an okay alternative to us having more kids ;)

Since we had the kids on Easter Morning, the bunny brought their baskets to our house too!

Greg took the boys to Elevated Sportz for trampolines and pizza!

That evening, we went to dinner with my mom.  I asked Ben to take off his athletic gear for ONE picture (and had to bribe him with more candy to do it).