New Bern and Cherry Point

On Thursday we drove from Kure Beach to Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station near New Bern. My second cousin Monty and his wife Alison live here with their two sons Luke and Matthew and their international exchange student, Julian. We arrived after dark on Thursday but had dinner in Dericka before settling in for the evening. On Friday, we woke up to cloudy skies but had a leisurely morning and then met Monty and Julian for dinner in downtown New Bern which was fun.

On Saturday we spent time with Monty and Alison and the boys doing typical Christmas stuff at their house. Monty and BD worked on cleaning leaves from the yard to get ready to do outdoor decorations and Marleigh and I helped Alison make Christmas candies for the boys’ teachers. It was nice spend time and to have Christmas crafting- Mar was able to do something artsy that we could never accomplish in Dericka. That night Big Daddy had booked tickets to see Tryon Palace, the former North Carolina Governor’s mansion. It was fun and they had tons of period dressed men and women guiding a tour through the sprawling residence. Marleigh was quite intrigued and especially enjoyed watching them dance to a violin and hammered dulcimer play a waltz.

After visiting the palace we found a seafood cafe and pigged out on more fresh catch before heading back to Monty and Alison’s for more crafting. The boys took Mar and they went and saw Jumanji 2 while Monty and BD visited and Alison and I went out for drinks. What a great time for all of us and I am especially grateful that Marleigh could hang with some kids her own age for a while. She really enjoyed the cousins and we ended up hanging out altogether until after 1 AM!

Sunday BD woke up with a cold so we had a slow start to the day but made it to New Bern to take Monty and Alison’s Christmas card photo along the waterfront- what a gorgeous day! BD and I headed back to the Marine Base so we could grocery shop and he could nap, and Mar decided to go with the boys again to see Frozen 2. What a treat for Mar, two movies in two days with kids her own age! Awesome! We said goodbye to the Bowsers and will leave the New Bern area today or tomorrow to head to the Outer Banks for a couple of days.

We were having so much fun with the fam that I didn’t take any pictures except their Christmas card, pictures from my daily Lilly walks and some photos of the waterfront from Alison’s parents house, but here you go!