Welcome to Charlotte!

On Sunday evening, my cousin, Robbe arrived in Charlotte after a loooong weekend of driving. He left the Rockies Friday night, drove all day Saturday, and drove into my parents' driveway around 6pm. He was here for work last summer around this same week, and we just loved having him. We got a call two weeks ago that he had a job opportunity to work with his company here at the Charlotte office, and he accepted. He and my brother, Curt, are looking for a place so they can rent together. Welcome to Charlotte, Robbe!
Here's a little video of his arrival....little E was so excited!

Thankfully, Robbe had his friend, Andrea to co-pilot the long trip, and we enjoyed having dinner together, and then a quick tour of Charlotte before she had to fly out early Monday morning.

I'm always finding something to do....

I just love being at home with Elise, and being home has given me time to work on a few projects. I'm always finding another project to work on, and most recently I've just done a few small updates with new pillows in the family room & wall art in our foyer.

I've also readily found some of my problem areas. Does anyone else have these? Here is my problem closet. I need it to function in many roles - hang coats, store my sewing supplies, store my tablecloths, linens & placemats for the dining room/kitchen, as well as house some of Elise's art supplies like paper, stickers, etc. My mom loves to design & organize closets, so we've come up with a plan. Even now as I write, it isn't complete...but we've started and that's what matters.
Stay tuned for a makeover picture...

My dad came over to help me work with moving some of the shelves and hanging new ones, and Elise was thrilled to be helping out, too. It's been very warm here, so pardon her "attire."

Since we've been working in this closet, little Miss has also found all her winter gear & has been wearing it all around - including outside in the humid & 90+ degree weather.

This is the face we get when we say, "Smile, Elise"

This is another face we get when we say, "Smile, Elise."

What else has been going on here...we just got a new Super-Walmart that opened less than 4 miles from us! We went on opening day & it is so nice to have this convenience so close! Also, since Elise's most recent 3-year old check-up, the doctor told me that I can start to really try to limit her thumb-sucking by teaching her that this behavior isn't something we do, especially in public. She usually resorts to this when she's going to bed, but if she's bored, she'll relapse, too. I try to remember to explain before we go into stores that we are in public, and we shouldn't suck our thumb, and that we can get germs. So now, throughout our day she'll ask me, "Mommy, are we in public?" She's starting to catch on...but it's definitely a process.
We are getting excited for the Fall! Elise starts preschool the week following Labor Day. She will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and next week we will get a call from her teacher to schedule a visit in the next couple of weeks. I think it will be such a nice time for her to interact with friends & be in another environment for a few hours. Well - I'm off to get a list together to make dinner tonight. Thanks for reading!

Boating

We are in the dog days of summer here in the Carolina's. Very hot, very humid, and no relief in sight. We have been trying to stay cool by enjoying the water! This past weekend Elise went tubing for the first time. She really doesn't mind trying new things. We enjoyed a few hours out on the lake with the Walker's.

Smith Mountain Lake

This past weekend we explored a new part of Virginia - Smith Mountain Lake. We have wanted to try to meet Paul and Jodi here for quite some time, and finally we picked a weekend to go. We had a beautiful rental house with views of the mountain and lake and the water was very clear and refreshing!

John is taking in the view

Mountain View

One of the things this location is known for is the film, What about Bob was shot at a home on this lake.
We enjoyed the paddle boat, floating around on the water, a pontoon ride & just relaxing without any of the responsibilities of home...ahh!

There was even a "doggy dock" to enter the water

Bailey could even "swim" (but mostly relaxed)

Mom, Dad, Elise and Maggie paddling

We anchored to swim & John and Elise found this lean-to & played Cap'n Hook

Even Maggie likes to float!

Beautiful evening by the lake..Elise was posing for us.

Fun in the sun.

This was the place to be - near water. The temps this past weekend were in the upper 90's with very high humidity. Thanks for meeting us for a long weekend, Paul, Jodi & Bailey. We'll have to do it again!

11 Years

John and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary on July 17. The past decade has just flown by, and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful man to share my life with. We drove to Dobson, NC and visited the Shelton Vineyard. We also went to Mt. Airy, NC the hometown of Andy Griffith & had lunch at Snappy's. As you walk down the main street they have the theme song (whistling) for the Andy Griffith show looping again and again. I think if I worked on their main street, the repetition of that tune would drive me crazy.

Snappy's Lunch

Yummy Dinner at the Harvest Grill

We toured the winery & sampled a few of their estate wines, and our favorite was the Riesling. We had a wonderful dinner at the little restaurant on the vineyard & then enjoyed a summer outdoor concert there as well. The weather was raining off and on throughout the day, but it cleared in time for the outdoor concert.

Shelton Vineyard

Beautiful views along the Blue Ridge Parkway

It was such a nice getaway, and we are so grateful to have each other! Love you, John.

A note from the Editor

I'm sorry about my long break in updating this blog for many of you regular readers! It's been a busy few months here, and so I've just managed to recap May, June & fill you in on our lives so far in July. Please keep reading since I've just put up many new posts.

Spontaneous Weekend Get away

Last week on Thursday, Jodi called and asked if we wanted to meet her half-way off I-81 in the mountains. Well, we looked into some options, and found that many places required a 2-night minimum, so we looked at options throughout the day on Friday, and then decided to stay at the General Lee cabin and left Friday night around 6pm to head to Lexington, VA.




Beautiful mountain views. The air was such a welcome relief from the humidity in the Piedmont.

Virginia Military Institute. Very pretty campus. Stonewall Jackson was once a member of the faculty.

The city of Lexington is very hilly. In fact, once the town was beginning to see more trade, they were having trouble getting the horses and carts up and down the steep terrain, and so they began the process of digging out the hills to make them less steep. Since there is also a lot of limestone in the area, they would often run into rocks too large to move, and so they just built around them. On many of the buildings you can see where the original street level was - much higher than today.

We had just been reading a book about climbing trees. I told Elise that when I was little, I would climb in the apple trees in our backyard. She wanted desperately to try her hand at climbing as well, and while waiting for our carriage ride in Lexington, we found the perfect tree for her to try. After she straddled this branch, she was done. Maybe that's good for me - no more climbing in her future?

We took a scenic drive around the country side and followed a creek. The water was so clear. It was just beautiful to be outside in nature.
"Who is your favorite aunt?" said Jodi as she took off her shoes and waded in the creek with Elise.

We had a huge jacuzzi in our bathroom, and warm, fuzzy robes. Elise tried out the much-too-large robe after her bath.
We also took a short hike to explore the natural bridge. It's just a beautiful area, and was surveyed by George Washington when he was a surveyor in his 20's.
Perhaps it was the vivid color setting on my camera...but isn't the green grass in this picture just stunning?

Near the Natural Bridge is another not so natural landscape. This is Foam Henge. It is an exact replica of Stone Henge in the English countryside. Pretty funny - so we stopped to take a look.
I'm probably incriminating my daughter by posting this picture - but here she is with Bailey & a chuck of styrofoam. Hmm, where did she get that?
What a fun, last minute weekend get-away. We enjoyed it so much that we're planning to meet Paul and Jodi again in 2 weeks (probably at another location along I-81). See you soon!