Our Fall Break Adventure!

We had so much fun on our recent trip to Asheville, NC, and Greenville, SC! Fall Break is our very favorite time to travel and it was even better because the weather was amazing and the colors were beautiful! We went to Asheville first and walked around downtown - there are so many neat shops - and ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Carmel's. Chris had a steak he loved and I had the best shrimp scampi ever!! Bailey had root beer so she was happy! It's a very nice restaurant but also family-friendly and always delicious. The next day, we had brunch at Tupelo Honey (another local favorite - try the grits cakes - YUMMY!!) and hit some of the shops that were closed the night before. To be so young, Bailey absolutely LOVES going into every shop there is! Chris found out that there was an REI store not too far away so we set out to find it and it was truly amazing! Even I was impressed! Once Bailey & I had seen all the camping equipment we could stand, we checked out the other shops in this new center and that's when Chris went CRAZY!! Apparently, he bought one of everything they had! He was in his glory! After an exciting shopping spree ;) we went to Greenville, SC. Our first stop was at Furman University, where I went to school from 1989-1990. We haven't been back since then and it was amazing to see how it had changed, but also how familiar it was! We drove around the campus and then headed to our hotel downtown. We walked our legs off and then ate at a restaurant called Smoke on the Water. Yum! The best crab cakes I've ever had! Greenville has a wonderful downtown area - lots and lots of shops and restaurants and a beautiful park with a really cool suspension bridge. The next day, we had breakfast and then rode our bikes through downtown. It was AWESOME!! The weather was cool and sunny, and Bailey was a pro on her bike. So was I! I just "learned" to ride again not too long ago, so it's exciting when we can ride together as a family. We shopped along the way and checked out the park again. If you're ever in Greenville, be sure to check out The Cook's Station - it's one of the prettiest cooking stores I have ever been to. After a wonderful morning downtown, we headed back to Furman to check out the Southern Living Green House, an eco-friendly abode that is just too beautiful for words (http://www.furmancliffscottage.com/). After our tour, we rode around the lake at Furman and took lots of pictures at the famous Bell Tower. The urban legend is that the person you kiss under the Bell Tower is the person you'll marry and, in our case, it's true! Furman really is one of the prettiest college campuses in America and we were so lucky to be able to visit on an especially glorious fall day! I can't wait to go back to Greenville - it might just be my new favorite city!! Enjoy all the pictures!

Hurray for Dollywood

OK, so I blinked this week and the weather was cooler - YEA!! FINALLY!! So today turned out to be the perfect day to go to Dollywood for the Harvest Festival. We started our adventure at Starbucks (of course!) and then headed on up to Smokey Mountain Knife Works. It was recently remodeled and it is HUGE!! Bailey was in her glory. She loves anything that Chris loves, and Chris LOVES knives, swords, practically everything sharp and metal! So we killed enough time there to let traffic thin out so we could actually get to Dollywood. The decorations were so beautiful. I have never met a pumpkin that didn't inspire me!! There were lots of colorful displays and we took Bailey's picture next to all of them! Bailey & Chris shared a GIANT turkey leg for lunch and I had homemade biscuits and warm apple butter. YUM!! Then, we had the obligatory frozen lemonade and went on our merry way. It was a great day!

Autumn in Townsend

Since Chris was in Kentucky this weekend, I decided to take advantage of this most glorious fall day and go to Townsend, TN, to look around the shops and take some pictures of Bailey with all the beautiful pumpkin displays. It was way too hot for this sweater, but she looked so cute in it and it photographed amazingly well! We had a great time! Bailey fell in love with a pair of reading glasses she found at one of the stores and I think she looks like Sarah Palin in them!! When I took her picture, I told her to say, "I want to be Vice-President" and "I'm from Alaska!" After shopping and checking out the Visitors Center, we went to eat at Deadbeat Pete's, a very interesting little hole in the wall by the river. We ate outside and it was so peaceful. The walls at Pete's are covered in "decorated" $1 and $2 bills and Bailey had to add one of her own creations. It was so much fun! We had a great day!

Have a great week!

Race for the Cure 2008

Today was the Race for the Cure and Bailey & I walked with friends from church in honor of our friend, Ashley, who's been battling breast cancer for about a year. We had a great turnout from our Circle. There were more than 11,000 people registered for the race and it was just AMAZING to be part of something so huge and such an important cause. Bailey did GREAT! She walked the entire 5K - she looked so cute with her CamelBack backpack on. It's the coolest thing - a backpack with a container for water and a "straw" so she could drink the whole time. I took lots of pictures today - the best ones were of our group praying and putting our hands on Ashley. It was so emotional and meaningful. We just had so much fun supporting a cause that is near and dear to our hearts. Have a great weekend!

Lunch with the girls

I had such a great time with Amy & Page and their sweet daughters today at The Creamery! I hadn't seen Page in forever and it was so good to see her sweet Chloe, too. Amy's daughter, Della, dutifully ate the fries I fed her and listened to my silly songs. She is a cutie! Charley Rose is so funny and laughs this great big laugh. With our 20-year high school reunion coming up next year, it's so great to reconnect with our wonderful old friends!!!

(Sorry the second picture is blurry - the light was bad and my camera had a hard time focussing!)

If friends were noses, I'd pick YOU!

Yep, that's our precious little girl! We had the best time last night when we went downtown for the evening. We had a delicious dinner at the Downtown Grill & Brewery, and then we went to bliss home for an art show featuring the husband of one of the second grade teachers at Shannondale. It was really cool! Bailey loved seeing so many teachers outside of school! This picture was taken at the man in the rowboat off Gay Street. There are so many cool shops downtown and we went to almost all of them. It was a great family night out!