Weekend Away

Hannah and I went away for a special mommy-daughter weekend in August. We left on Friday afternoon, and headed to the mall for a little shopping and ear piercing. We then headed to Chili's for dinner. Hannah had her favorite, ribs. We had fun, being out, just the two of us. We then drove a little ways out of town to a bed and breakfast I found. It sits at the base of a mountain, just outside the enterance to one of the many caverns in the area.

On the drive into the home, we followed a small river, which runs along one side of the property, it was evening so we saw much wildlife, we stopped and watched this doe and her fawns drinking and playing in the water.
The original house was built in 1790, with subsequent additons, mainly in the early to mid 1800's. It is known in the area because of it's beautiful setting and it's surviving intact during the Civil War, with troops and skirmishes taking place on the fields outside the home. Woodrow Wilson, FDR and others enjoyed staying here.

Our room was the on the second floor on the far right, in the section added in the 1870's. It was the Andrew Jackson room, furnished with period furniture and accesories.



After checking in we took a stroll around the property, after finishing our Molten Chocolate Lava cake from dinner!


This is the original Spring house that was used for storing milk, doing laudry etc. It has been renovated into a small cottage.
In the evening we sat on the front balcony in the rocking chairs and watched the sunset. It was peaceful and beautiful, we watched the deer come out into the pasture as well as a family of foxes. Unfortuanately it was too dark to get any pictures.

We spent some time in the room, doing some fun activites and having some good discussions.


Breakfast was served in the original 1790 log cabin. The owner had some neat photographs from the home and had an adjoining room that he has turned into a small museum of the home with historical documents, artifacts and pictures. The stairs are not original, but the fireplace, windows, and all the woodwork was.


We learned that there was a giant yardsale occuring all along the highway through this area, miles and miles of yardsale. So we drove along to see the sights. The area along this road is full of small towns, with lots of historic buildings so driving through all the small downtowns along the way was fun. We stopped a few times to walk around and then headed to our next desitnation.

This was a surprise for Hannah. I arranged for us to take a trail ride in the mountains. She has been horseback riding for awhile and I thought this would be a fun thing to share together. We rode for a little over an hour, up and around the mountain. It was beautiful, lush green trees, small brooks, deer, turtles, groundhogs, lots of birds.

It was a special weekend to share with my special teenage girl.

Summer Birthdays, the girls version

Lauren and I share the same birthday, and she is always eager to share this with others, of course it's always followed by "well not the same year" and giggles. We both awoke to a birthday breakfast, made by Hannah, of chocolate chip pancakes with candles.



Lauren turned the big 9 this summer. We had a family party at home with her favorites~ stroganoff for dinner and chocolate cake which Hannah decorated per Lauren's instructions. She is delightful, silly, inquisitive, affectionate, tender hearted, a wonderful big sister, loves horses, nature and art.

She enjoyed opening gifts books, trading cards, movie

Hannah made us official parents of a teenager this summer, she turned 13. Hard to imagine. She had a friend over for homemade pizza and a movie. And of course cake and ice cream.

Special birthday loving from a little brother, who adores her. He knew something special was going on and just ran over and gave her a big hug.

Getting a little harder to fit all the candles on a cake and then blow them out.

She got her ears pierced, no pictures to post ; ) of that, she also wanted a desk for her room. We found one at a used furniture place. She and Ken sanded, painted, fixed up some drawers and added new hardware. It turned out great and she is thrilled.

She and I also went away for a mother-daughter get away, I'll post about that later. We had a really nice and special time together.

She is turning into such a wonderful young woman. She is even tempered, incredibly helpful often without being asked, thoughtful, responsible, still willing to be a little silly and goofy, a terrific big sister. She loves books, creative writing, photography, her own blog, horseback riding, music and of course talking to her friends.

We enjoyed celebrating two wonderful young ladies whom we are so blessed to have in our family.

Summer Birthdays, the boys version

This year I really struggled with what to get Aaron, I wanted it to be something fun, that was really just for him, and really wanting to find something that was just for pleasure, no therapeutic or learning aspect needed. I was stumped, until I saw this......




It was perfect, Aaron loves balloons, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, but especially helium balloons, the possibilites of fun are endless. And now he could have them on a regular basis, until the tank ran out.



I think I made a good choice..........





He also enjoyed a t-ball and bat set and we all enjoyed the rocket balloons.

He's more of a brownie fan than cake, so we had cookie dough brownies with ice cream. Didn't even know there was such a thing, but it was a big hit.

Caleb also celebrated turning the big "2". He is crazy about trucks so it was fun to see him be delighted in his gifts.

He loves to eat outside on the deck, so we had dinner and cake out there. He loves sweets and so was delighted when he realized that the cake was for him, he wasn't sure about the rest of us eating it, but ended up being willing to share.

We had fun celebrating our boys. They are both uniquely wonderful and keep us laughing, loved, busy and well entertained. It is fun to see them together and how much they enjoy each other.