Lucky Numero Seven

When we started out on our trip to celebrate our seven year anniversary, this was how happy we were. We headed up to South Carolina upcountry to The Red Horse Inn.

It was fine details like as simple as this gold vent cover that made our little cottage a piece of homely heaven. Beautiful finishings on these cottages, that were finished by hand by two hopeless romantics, kept me in awe. There hand written notes, rose petals, ribbons wrapped on wash cloths....etc.
Our private cottage, "Carriage Bay".

From this ten foot handmade door with antique hooks.....

To the self-designed main house that had constant angel-like music playing from ....the mountains for all I know. Was it my imagination?

To the breakfast placed carefully in our fridge for us to eat at our convenience...with freshly squeezed orange juice and creme fraische for our grapes and granola. YUM.

To the amazingly immaculately kept grounds.

Jason and I made sure to take time to enjoy the simple beauties and make adventure for ourselves.

We took a walk down an unmarked trail through the woods and even found remains of.....??? And turkey feathers....

We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, complete with ferns everywhere.

We ventured out to some local land marks. This is South Carolina's only remaining historical covered bridge built in 1909??? Does this not remind you of the covered bridge in "Beetle Juice"? Perhaps it was...

Thought it looked cool in B&W.

Then we set off on another adventure to find another historical landmark- "Poinsett Bridge". This was built in 1820. It was part of the main road from Greenville, SC to Asheville, NC.

There were HUGE beautiful monarch butterflies everywhere.

Another covered bridge. This was was cool but not as historical. Ballenger's Mill Bridge.

The restored Ballenger's grist mill.

Then on our way out of the Ballenger's Mill compound we stumbled across this house. I have always wanted to go into old houses, but never had the moment to....

So, we seized the moment...It was unlocked!

This was fireplace. We are assuming it was really inefficient once the house was updated and got heating and air and so they covered the fireplace with stone.

I wanted to take this fixture with me...no one is using it. I resisted. Jason's head almost touched the ceiling. And the house was so uneven (the ceiling, floor, walls, etc.) that I literally had vertigo just walking through it. You know those "Fun houses" at fair where the mirrored walls move and so you feel like you are moving??? That's what I felt like. Like the house was moving.

CREEPY.

We spent a lot of time walking through antique stores. Jason was admiring and trying on this....underwater gear??? We did make a few AWESOME purchases. Jason found a suit for $10....just his size. I found Q a rockin AC/DC shirt. And for myself I got this circa 1985 puma sweatshirt.....TBC later on that....:)

What I was trying to capture was.....

THIS. There were wild turkeys everywhere. These were right behind Jason's head in the above picture. Right outside our door.

The garden at the main house. With a lily pond.

Another funny Dad moment. Jason put pj's on the kids. These ones fit fine in his eyes. Even thought the top was a 5T (Link's) and the bottoms were 6-12 months. Insignificant difference. Quincy doesn't mind.

Don't mind the stains on my oven..(acutally those are inbetween ...I spilt liquid from the stove top into the slits of the oven....you follwing me on that?) just focus on Quincy's best friend in the glass.

There is something so squishable and squeezable about a baby on a onesie. I just wanna chew on him in this little star onesie. It's kind of hick I know, but I love him in them. Only at home though, not in public. :)

Again, Quincy's perma-expression. Don't you love his duck fuzz hair? Hilarious.

Ella got some one-on-one time with Grandma this weekend. Em and her family and Poppy went out of town and Ella took it upon herself to be Grandma's companion. Grandma took her on a "date" to see "MarmaDuke" (???I KNOW???) and then to Upscale Pizza (A really yummy pizza joint owned by Chick-fil-A...you wanna try it, I know) and then Ella got to snuggle with Grandma all night long with Poppy being out of town. And the date didn't end there....Ella got to stay a good part of the next day. Her and grandma swam laps together, had a tea party, Ella packed a picnic (consisting mostly of carbs- goldfish, saltines, ritz, etc.) and feasted poolside. Ella insisted on wearing these antennas all weekend long and the swimsuit Grandma gave her. The girl knows how to pose and how to take care of Grandma.

Jason and I are off this weekend (for a whole whopping three nights!!!!) to celebrate our 7 year anniversary. Mom and dad gave us a B&B for Christmas and we are using it now and Grandma Allred is watching the kiddos. Prediction on the kids:

-Slobber smelling cheeks from getting kissed

-Sugar high from going to DQ every day

-Prune-y fingers from swimming

-HUGE smiles from being at Grandma's

-Begging NOT to come home with us when we get back

Red horse in...........here we come.

There are so many preparations that go into the first day of school. It's funny how every mother pulls out all the stops and gets her child in tip-top shape. Then, after that it's every kid for himself. They can brush their own hair, wear dirty clothes, etc. :)

We clipped Ella's and Link's nails. I even ironed Ella's clothes. Trust me, they needed it.

We all bathed. Even Dad.

Got Father's blessings.

TA-DAH! SO cute. Ella, on the driveway waiting for the bus at promptly 6:59 am.

The bus turning on our street as our kids squeal with delight.

Is it me or is this backpack bigger than Ella?

The best picture I could get of her getting on the bus. I felt pretty silly for even taking one...so I didn't ask the entire bus to wait for to get a clearer picture.

Gone. My little tiny kindergartener is gone. Into the hands of....well, people I don't know. I had a few sniffles at the thought. And before you judge me....I had every intention of driving her the first day into school and walking her into her new classroom but it didn't work out logistically. I had to have Link at his school (with no bus option), 4 miles the opposite direction at 8 and Ella in the other direction, 15 miles away at 8. Tell me how that works? She was so excited to ride the bus so I didn't want to deprive her of that. Now Lincoln's turn.....

He asked me to get a million pics of his uber-cool spider man back pack. I always promised myself before I had children that I would not succumb to character ridden items. We'll get him a real backpack next year. He really doesn't even use this. It just stays at school to hold his blanket for nap time.

A little Clark Kent-ish...I know. We gotta work on that.

His little cubby. Ella's was in almost the same spot last year.

Lincoln was thrilled to find out his school had puzzles. He went right in, found one, asked me if I was going to come back and then said goodbye. And that was that.

Then it was just the two of us- Quincy and I. Quincy fresh from sleeping with his cute litte puffy face and all. We were able to accomplish an amazing amount with just the two of us today. And it was fun too! Wow...the things school can do for a mother's sanity.

P.S.- I didn't put this last picture it b/c it was necessarily cute....it's just sooooo Quincy. This is his perma-expression. The " I-smell-something-stanky" look. :)



These last two pics are of Ella coming home, running down the driveway to give me a hug. As you can see, she was all smiles and they both had nothing but good things to say about school. Lincoln even said his best freind at school is a boy with a surf board shirt and with some black on his chin. A beard perhaps? We are not sure. :)