Thursday, April 28, 2016

Books...

So after my last entry of what I've been reading...I got on the spy genre and stayed. So far I have read the first 9 books written by Vince Flynn that are the Mitch Rapp series...I'm on the 10th book which is "Protect and Defend."


Obviously I like them and would recommend them if you like spy genre books. I was sad to hear that Vince Flynn had passed away as I think he was such a smart writer. Reading these books actually makes me ready for another Dan Brown book to come out and of course I'm anxiously awaiting Terry Hayes new book "The Year of the Locust." But I have loved to find a series later in the game so they are all available at my library which is where I have been getting them from to read. I also now feel committed to finish the series!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Catching up...

Wow! April has flown by! So busy! This is a pic of a rare moment of peace...Norah with Darcy and Finn. So sweet. :)
I was lucky enough to get asked to go to the Volvo Open Tennis Tournament with friends. We had court side tickets...it was a fantastic experience!




You wrote your phone number on the ball and tried to throw it on the court into the boxes...then they pulled names for prizes...needless to say...I did not win!


Something that has been taking a lot of my time lately is painting my kitchen cabinets. This is my first experience doing this and it is crazy! I am definitely learning as I go so I hit up our local ACE for paint a lot. One day while getting paint...I turned to see this dog just hanging out. They say the dog just gets up there all by himself and just chills out. Too funny!

The weather has been absolutely perfect lately and we are getting a lot of use of our screened porch.

Also Norah is loving playing badminton at home so either Jeff or I play with her...and it is really fun! I snapped this pic as Jeff had his classic sock/flip flop look going which cracks me up!



Luckily I still have been subbing at the sweet preschool which has been the perfect fit this year. I'm still in shock that next week is May...summer is around the corner!

Monday, April 25, 2016

Spring Break 2016


Okay...Spring Break actually was back in March but life gets busy...so here is the picture update! Originally we had a family Spring Break planned...Norah wanted to head back to the DC area but Jeff ended up having to do two work trips back to back (Colorado and Jamaica.) So since he missed a week of work...he hated to miss another one. So plan B...a Spring Break I could handle on my own. But first...Easter weekend we went to Aiken to enjoy the Steeple Chase!! The weather was good on the most part...but a little rain happened!

They had an Easter egg hunt at the race!

Seriously this is a preview to Norah as an adult...she looks like a grown up!
Excuse my squinty (SP?) eyes...I forgot my sunglasses!!!




She liked when the races were about to happen!

The rain came for a little bit...
The next day...the Easter bunny had visited!
Next we left for our adventure! First stop was the Greenville Zoo! Since it was a cloudy day (but no rain!) it was not busy at all! A really cute zoo!








They had a great playground out in front of the zoo that Norah played before we went in and after we came out!
Next stop...Asheville, NC! I debated about where to stay for awhile. The help from a friend...and I picked the Hilton that I felt that I would feel safe and could get to everything at night without driving and of course had an indoor pool! One of the best parts...we met a family that had an 8 yr old girl that was on Spring Break too! We hung out both nights at the pool and Norah loved it!

The Hilton is in a shopping/dining area so we walked to Brixx Pizza the first night for dinner...perfect and I felt completely safe!
The next morning I gave Norah options...but she wanted the breakfast buffet at the hotel so I got the salmon-bagel off the menu...it rocked!

Then we headed to Biltmore where we spent 6+ hours!!! We toured the house and then the grounds. We could have done more! It was amazing!!! The weather was picture perfect too!!



The Gardens were beautiful!




This frog was so loud!!!
We visited Biltmore Village too! Ice Cream for the win!

And back to the pool to meet her new friend!

Our last night in Asheville...we walked to PF Changs...always fun with my girl!


We both got souvenirs...book for Norah (about Biltmore) and wine for me! Yes...white wine...crazy!

We headed home the next day and someone was worn out from our adventures!!!
We got back to Pawleys Island and my friend Julie and crew was in town...so we went swimming at Litchfield by the Sea...it was freezing...but the kids didn't care!!

We then went to Brookgreen Gardens with friends and it was fabulous! I LOVE all the animals and the LEGOs were too cool!









Spring Break was busy and great! We are now in a busy time because we are winding down in the school year and summer is around the corner!!!