My Sous Chef

I've had a little helper in the kitchen these days.   I try to involve Avery in dinner prep when I can, so she has a lot of experience dumping pre-measured ingredients into mixing bowls and stirring.   On Sunday, she worked on her assembly skills and helped make pizza.   She really liked rolling out the dough because she had to use her muscles.

Even though her help leads to bigger messes, sharing something I enjoy doing with her is worth a little extra cleanup!

Last weekend, we celebrated Meme's birthday with a family trip to the High Hampton Inn.  The Inn, situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Cashiers, NC, has served as a family friendly vacation spot for generations.   I've been five times now and had the pleasure of introducing the spot to Greg.   Of course, now we enjoy taking Avery there, and this trip was her second.

The highlight of the weekend was not Greg and Dad's hiking odyssey or my paddling around the lake on a paddle board or kayak, but Avery fishing for the first time.   Equipped with a brand new Barbie fishing pole, tackle box, and her Dad's fishing skills, Avery found that the fish were biting!

 Avery caught a lot of Bluegill, and had no qualms about touching them and posing for photos.

Avery really enjoyed sharing the experience of fishing with her Daddy, and that will make this trip to the High Hampton one to remember for many years to come!

4th of July Company

This 4th of July, Greg's little sister Sara honored us with her presence and came to visit for a whole week!   Sara, owner of her own personal training company, had fun whipping us into shape with kickboxing, tennis, basketball, hiking and running.  When we weren't exercising, we showed off our diverse city.   On Sunday, we tolerated 103 degree temps to take Avery to her first Braves game.   Obviously, Sara and Avery know how to stay cool!  

 On the 4th, Sara joined me to run my 4th Peachtree Road Race.   We both enjoyed the scenic course and festive atmosphere of the 1argest 10k in the world.  

 Aunt Tara arrived on the 4th to spend a few days with us as well.   We all really got a kick out of  taking Avery to her very first fireworks show.  

 On Thursday, Greg discovered a turtle in our yard, which Avery promptly named "Pete" and wanted to pet. 

 After Pete went on his way, we headed to Gibbs Gardens, a 300 acre private garden turned public in Ball Ground, GA.   Below, Avery hitched a ride while visiting the Rose Garden then had fun checking out all the sculptures in the Children's Garden.

 We really enjoyed hosting our visitors and Avery especially loved all the attention her aunts lavished on her.   What a memorable 4th of July!

Father's Day 2012

This weekend, we trekked up to NC to attend an Inch family wedding and celebrate Father’s Day with Meme and Pa. Avery occupied herself with her DVD player and ponies on the trip up. 

Avery opted out of the wedding festivities and spent her day with Meme and Pa. She had a blast going to Discovery Kids, having lunch at Chick-fil-a, and then making “nilla” ice cream in Meme’s ice cream machine. By the way, Mom, the Smithsonian called, and they want their ice cream machine back!

 When Avery wasn’t busy with Meme, she “admired” the miniature doll house I kept. She wasn’t exactly gentle with the contents but a little wood glue soon made things good as new.  

As evidenced by a trip down the toy aisle at Target last week, Avery is infatuated with Barbie. I had quite the collection back in the day and figured my parents still had a few boxes of them up in their attic. After we had lunch on Sunday, Pa and I decided to tackle the attic and see what we could find. We scored two Barbies, a Ken doll and a Skipper doll along with two shoe boxes full of very fashionable 80s ensembles. Avery’s face lit up when she saw the collection and couldn’t believe I was giving them all to her. We had fun dressing and undressing them in the car that afternoon on the way home. When I needed a break, Avery watched her Barbie Mermaid movie with the dolls in her lap.

My only complaints about our trip is that it wasn’t longer, and that Avery's been referring to me as "Sweetie" ever since we got back.

Birthday Sleepover

Our friends the Chisolms joined us on Saturday night to help celebrate my 35th birthday.   Since we planned to consume our fair share of adult beverage after indulging in horseradish, cheddar and caramelized onion stuffed burgers (YUM!)  and grilled chili-lime corn on the cob (YUM!), we made it a sleepover.    The highlight of Avery's evening was getting to wear a nightgown just like her friend Naomi!

All of us were amused by Naomi and Avery's hairstyling the next morning.   Greg was a good sport, and looks quite fetching with hair bows!

As for me, I'm still celebrating my youth as I'm only 83% as old as Greg! 

"If you ain't first, you're last."

 After running 8 half marathons between 2004 and 2005, I took a brief 7-year running hiatus due to injuries, pregnancy, and in general, being very busy with a small child and full-time job.   I decided 2012 was my year to get back into distance running and signed up to run the Virgina Wine Country Half Marathon on June 2 with Heather, Jamie and Allyson.

My training wasn't as thorough as I'd intended, but I didn't let that deter me and decided to enjoy the race and run as much of the 13.1 as a I could.   I was far from last, but I was the slowest out of my girl friends who completely crushed it on the hilly course!  

 Of course, the real fun began after the race ended.   After a surprisingly delicious post run lunch at Bob Evans (Allyson, you know you want a cappuccino - just have one!) we enjoyed wine tasting at 8 Points North and Bluemont Vineyards.

 Everyone enjoyed the girl's weekend, but I'm thinking running should be prohibited on the  next weekend away!

Memorial Day in Greenville

We decided to take advantage of the 3-day weekend in honor of our country's fallen soldiers by visiting Greenville, SC. We arrived early Saturday afternoon and checked into our “show ‘n tell,” The Westin Poinsett. After a brief rest, we spent our afternoon at Falls Park on the Reedy, a beautiful park situated in Greenville’s West end on the Reedy River. The park features a 345 foot suspension bridge over Reedy River Falls, along with gardens and a kid’s fountain, which our little kid particularly enjoyed on a hot day!

 

On Sunday, we trekked out to nearby Simpsonville to spend our day at Freedom Weekend Aloft, billed at the Southeast's largest hot air balloon festival. We were a little ambitious with the day's schedule and as a result, someone needed to catch a few zzz’s after taking in the Frisbee dogs, bounce house, and playground.

 Though the windy weather ultimately prohibited a balloon launch, the balloons did tether and inflate, which was an awe-inspiring site for our little girl.

 Before heading home on Sunday, we hit the Greenville Zoo. Avery really liked the reptile house and the resident giraffes. I enjoyed the subsequent nap she took on the car ride home!