500+ miles and 662 photos later, we have made it home from the beach and are taking some time to recuperate! Many more photos to follow... stay tuned!
sneek peek
500+ miles and 662 photos later, we have made it home from the beach and are taking some time to recuperate! Many more photos to follow... stay tuned!
four glorious days...
in the outer banks of north carolina... that is where we are! This image is borrowed, but I will be back with many photos of my own to share!
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Photo Credit: Florida International University Media Relations Office
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Photo Credit: Florida International University Media Relations Office
Excursion
This weekend we went over the river, well, lake, and...
through the woods to embark on a new Fall activity. We took a wonderful Fall drive to Matt's hometown of Charlottesville, VA to go with my mother-in-law to the Carter Mountain Orchard. Unbeknownst to us, they were having their Apple Harvest Festival, so it was a little more crowded than expected. We enjoyed apple cider doughnuts, apple cider slushies, and these AMAZING views...
I am kind of jealous of these apples. They have beautiful 360 degree views day in and day out!
We brought home some great looking granny smith apples and a few candy apples. The candy apples will not be coming home with us again. The granny smiths were perfection! I made an apple crisp with the granny smith apples. They were perfectly tart with the sweetness of the ice cream. I also picked up some sweetango apples the other day at Wegman's, and highly recommend them if you like sweet and super crisp apples!
After our apple excursion, we headed to Michie Tavern to play tourist and eat lunch like Thomas Jefferson did many many years ago. [side note: the apple orchard and this tavern are on the same mountian as Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson. Matt's parents live just a few miles away. ]
The view from Michie Tavern.
We went back to the in-laws for a few minutes and took some photos of their Jack Russell, Albert. He is afraid of cameras and anything that beeps or makes noise. He was patient for a minute or two....
then he got shy and hid. What a cutie!
Then we headed back home through the countryside with the windows down, wind blowing through my hair, savoring the last of the warm days ahead.
Wonderful day!
Round Here
With all of the beautiful weather, we have spent a lot of time outdoors. Spring has a wonderful appeal and signifies many wonderful warm days ahead, but I have to say that Fall is my favorite season of all. I love all things Fall and feel more compelled to do things and partake in Fall activities.
The boys are happy and healthy. They love the cooler temperatures and it has been a little harder getting them to come inside recently. The shedding is slowing pace somewhat. I still spend 5 minutes every evening either picking up hairballs or swiffering. As they say, this too shall pass... until Spring!
My hydrangea is still going strong. This bloom looked different than the rest and I just had to take a photo before I don't see any blooms until Spring.
The first color of the season, yay!
We spent our Sunday afternoon at Busch Gardens for round two! We got to ride all of the rides again and enjoyed some of the Halloween/Fall shows. The best ride by far is The Griffon. Once we rode that, none of the other rides compared, but because all of the rides had lines less than 2 minutes, we rode them all just for the fun of it. We made the mistake of riding the water rafting ride that wasn't supposed to get us wet, but drenched us and we walked around in wet clothes the last part of the evening. Ick! We kind of outdid ourselves on this trip and don't really see ourselves returning until next year. I did enjoy the scrumptious pumpkin fudge/carmel/walnut covered apple pictured above... yum!!
Breath of Fresh Air
This weekend was a fresh air, windows wide open kind of weekend! My favorite kind of weekend! On Saturday, we played with the boys, cleaned house, and partied the night away like college kids with a single + dating crowd. On Sunday, we relaxed like old people!
We hope everyone else enjoyed the fresh air!
We hope everyone else enjoyed the fresh air!
