The Fourth of July is one of the busiest times of the year in Southport. About 50,000 extra people come into town for the festivities.

Oak Island celebrates their anniversary on the 1st with Beach Day activities and Fireworks. This year, we didn’t venture to the beach for the fireworks. Instead, we went to the water and watched them from SPT.

On the 2nd, we rode our bikes to the ferry and headed to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher where we would meet our wonderful friends Paula and Don from Oregon! They were on an East Coast vacation and we were lucky enough to get them for 2 of the days. It had been 6 years since we had last seen them! I was so excited to see them again and for them to see where Scott and I had ended up. We may not have seen them in a long time, but we kept in touch and texted at least once a week for the entire time. We spent some time going through the aquarium and then made our way back to the ferry to bring them to Southport. It was nice to take the ferry so that we could spend that travel time hanging out and talking. Once we got them to our house and unpacked, we hoped on the golf cart and went to Provision for lunch. We also made them members at one of our favorite places, American Fish. We had a few drinks with wonderful view and we were even treated to a pod of dolphins playing around. We strolled about town a little and did lots of laughing and catching up. For dinner, we tried Bambini’s which is a place Scott and I had not been to. It was a nice meal.
We got up early the next morning so that Paula could see the sunrise from the east coast. Afterwards, we had breakfast at Carolina Coastal Cafe and then toured around town a bit. We also went to the Maritime Museum. It is tiny compared to the one by them, but charming all the same. After some downtime at the house, we drove over to Oak Island to see the lighthouse. We made it just in time to be able to climb to the first level and get the information from a tour guide. We took some pictures and then made our way to the beach so Paula could touch the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Dinner was at Fishy Fishy and then we made our way home were we enjoyed some wine and a few games of battleship. We took the dogs for a walk and gave them each a turn in the box bike. Even Paula got to give it a try. Last event for the night was going to the waterfront to watch the Sunset. Once again, we got up early and went to Locals as soon as they opened to have breakfast. After breakfast, Paula and Don packed up and headed out to their next East Coast stop. We were sad to see them leave, but so happy that they came for a visit! Can’t wait until we get to hang out with them again.

Fourth of July! I met a group of my friends on the street to watch the parade. They had saved our spot the day before. It was a primo spot! Scott stayed home to let his social battery recharge. It was a great parade. After the parade, it was kind of a low key day at home. I had to prepare for work the next day and for my brother and his family to visit for the weekend. That evening, I met up with Chelsea and Jay and we rode our bikes to the waterfront to watch the fireworks. Scott stayed home to be with Moose. He is a big chicken and scared of loud booms and since this was his first 4th, Scott didn’t want him to be alone. Once again, we had a primo spot. We secured space on the Marsh Walk walkway. It was a very comfortable evening and a great viewing spot for the fireworks.

On Friday evening my brother and his family (everyone except Talon)arrived. We went for a golf cart ride and stopped at Spikes for ice cream. On Saturday, we packed lunches and headed to the beach for the day. Again, it was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. On Sunday, we had breakfast, packed lunches, and headed to the ferry to go kayaking to shark tooth island. We ate our lunch on the ferry ride over. The water was a little choppy but we made it to the island. Everyone found some sharks teeth and then we made our way back. It was a short but nice visit.