Mountain Vacay

We returned home last night from a 5 day mountain trip. MOUNTAINS! I love them. We had such a great time. My parents used some of their timeshare option to book a week at a resort in Banner Elk, NC. We escaped the Charlotte heat, relaxed, and enjoyed each others’ company. I have been itching to get up to the BLue Ridge Parkway, so this was wonderful for me. Now, I just have to make it during the early fall, when all the leaves are changing color.

During our trip we panned for gemstones (to Chris’ delight). I was kinda hoping we’d find a huge ruby or something, and be able to fund our adoption with it, but alas, no such luck. 🙂 We also visited Linville Caverns and Falls, Banner Elk Winery, Mystery Hill, and lots of good eateries. The “cabin” we stayed in was a two bedroom condo with a loft, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms. Chris and I read to each other on the balcony one evening, sipping sweet red wine and munching on kettle corn. We paddle boated on the lake at the resort, brought Austin to the playground, and grilled chicken on site. We checked out a game called Imaginiff and played it while Austin was napping one day, while our chicken was roasting in the oven. Good times!

 

 

Austin kept us all entertained, by running around, eating like a champ, and learning new words. Much to my dad’s delight, Austin now knows him as “Goom-pa”. His new thing is finding things to make music with. One day it was a sample of toothpaste in a box that he was shaking and banging with, the next day it was a packet of raw sugar. He loves music and danced and watched videos of orchestras to his little heart’s content! The best thing, though, was when we were all in the kitchen/dining area. We were all doing different things, and it was kind of quiet. I was sitting at the table next to Austin, and I put my hand on his head, leaned near to his ear, and said , “I love you.” His response? “I louwoo.” Gah! My heart melted and I might have teared up a little. And everyone was there to hear it! After that, they all kept trying to get him to say it again, but he didn’t. That was reserved for  me. Hehehe.

We didn’t really have any agendas during the trip. We just got up and did things as we decided to. I worked out every morning, at the fitness room downstairs. Still working toward that 10 mile race- even on vacation! We watched movies, cooked, had good conversations, and laughed a lot. I watched more TV on this trip than I have in a long time, but mostly because it was on while I was working out, or just on in the Living room as we were going about our day. Chris and I worked on adoption paperwork one night after everyone had gone to bed. So… some of the same stuff we do at home, but in a different environment.

SInce my parents were so wonderful to let us join them, and we brought tons of food, we didn’t spend too much on this trip. Which is amazing considering we were gone for 5 days and got to do a bunch of stuff and spend so much quality time with family. I’m glad to be home, and feeling refreshed and happy! I am still glad that it’s only a two-day work week for me, though. 🙂 I hope we can do another trip like this again!

when are weekends NOT busy?

We had another extremely busy weekend, and I’m glad to be back at our normal, workday pace. Friday afternoon, I baked some red velvet cupcakes for our new neighbors, and then Chris and I went to a party that was being thrown to celebrate our old friends’ upcoming wedding. The party was 1920’s prohibition themed, and was a lot of fun. We caught up with lots of friends we hadn’t seen in a long time, tasted some home-brewed beer and yummy themed concoctions, and munched while we mingled. It was a beautiful night, and warm enough for us to hand out on the front porch. It was really lovely. You can read the hostess’ post about it here.

We left early that night, because I had to be up early Saturday morning. I was getting my hair done- finally! It had been since November, and I was so looking forward to seeing my loctician again. I had a luxurious wash and retwist, and left all smiles. It was good to see her after so long. Not to mention good to feel cleaned up. 🙂

My Uncle Arthur (my dad’s brother) surprised us all with a visit, so after my hair was done, we all went out to brunch to hang out and eat good food. Then we went back to our place so that he could see our new digs. He really liked our home! We sat around talking and laughing for a while, and then Chris and I went down the road to bring the cupcakes to the new neighbors and introduce ourselves. After that, my mom, brother, and I went to Costco while my dad and uncle went home. Chris stayed at our house, as our neighbor was coming over to take a look at our taxes. She has her own accounting firm, and was generous enough to offer to help us, as she knew this was our first year with rental properties, and living and working in different states. When I got home from the store, she was still there, and working her magic to save us money. 🙂

Shortly after our taxes were looked at, some neighbors of ours came over. They had offered to take some photos of Chris and I to have ready for our adoption file. It was really nice just hanging out, talking, and of course smiling a lot for pictures, but also because of the company. Trying to get Aramis & Leia to cooperate was not easy, but we managed. They took some awesome shots.

Not 10 minutes after they left, one of my best girls showed up with her son. We were going to make white chicken chili and play games all night, which is exactly what we did. It was a lot of fun. We (the grown ups) stayed up late and went through two bottles of wine. It was wonderful. It had been way too long since we had all had quality time together, and I am so thankful that we could finally do that.

Our schedules got changed and mixed up on Sunday, so we missed church, which was a bummer. But we had lunch with our small group, then deviated from our normal schedule. After we ate, we all went to the park. Our great friend, Jacob, took a few pictures of us, also hoping to come out with a great shot for our adoption file. It was really great of him to do that. Then the guys played spike ball there at the park, and us girls headed back to stay warm and watch the little ones. It was kind of nice to have some girl time with these ladies, as we are always with our hubbies when we are together. I really enjoyed the time with them. Once the guys returned, we dug into our book- Two Becoming One- that we have been reading together for some time now. We were discussing a really good chapter, and had lots to talk about. I really cherish these Sunday afternoon meetings. I love the group, get a lot out of the book, and really appreciate the honesty and openness that these friends provide. They are great for support, always hold us accountable, and we trust them. We closed in group prayer, but not until almost 6 PM.

The group was going out for dinner to have burritos, but I begged of. We had been going, going, going all weekend, and I just wanted some time alone with my husband. We went and had Indian food for dinner, just the two of us. It was nice. Then we came home and dug into a new book in our Bible- Acts. We read the first chapter and talked about it, then called it an early night.

So that was our weekend. Monday was a frustrating day for me,for lots of reasons, but mainly because our washing machine stopped working, mid load. Grr. It’s always something. Tonight, Chris and I are going to a Bobcats game, courtesy of my parents. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a win, but won’t hold my breath…

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quality time with my Daddy-O

I went to the Bobcats game last night with my dad. We had such a good time. I felt so special going out just the two of us. We haven’t done that in a long time. In the car heading to the game, walking from the garage to the arena, during the game, and on the way back home, we talked and talked and talked- about all kinds of things.

The match up was with the Philadelphia 76ers, and everyone said we would get creamed. Yes, we were behind for most of the game, but at the end of the 3rd we closed the gap to three points! Everyone was out of their seats, yelling and screaming. But, we didn’t pull it off. We lost 98-89. It was a good game- really fun. We were near some loud (and at times, slightly obnoxious,) sixers fans, which kept things fun. There were lots of kids at the game, and people were dancing and cheering and laughing all night long. We shared a tub (or two…) of popcorn, and I indulged in one of my favorite game treats- pink cotton candy.  🙂 It was such a fun night!

me & daddy

 

pink & fluffy cotton candy!