Harrington House

TEXAS!

We just got back from spending a couple weeks in big, beautiful Texas.  I could not wait to see it with my own eyes ... and it did not disappoint.  I admit, it was slightly different than what I had imagined (dust, brown everything, and the Ewings).  I could not get over the terrain.  It was so flat I felt I could see a million miles!  (In fact, we saw an actual tornado during our trip!  I was too petrified to take pictures!)  The flatness of the landscape let me see pastures that didn't seem to have an end.  It was nothing but breathtaking.

I also fell in love with the stone!  Both of the neighborhoods in which we are interested have many older homes built of stone.  I have always wanted to live in a stone house.

We spent one day over the holiday weekend at Lake Travis.  The water is such a beautiful color!  I cannot wait to spend more time here, exploring all the banks and tiny islands and the wildlife.  It would not take much to convince us to live on the lake...

Y'all know we ate good.

Looks like we've found a new home!

Flew The Coop

We finally made it back home, back to our little nest, and it feels good.  We were blessed with many more wonderful memories with Chewmomma, Dad-Dad, and crew to add to our growing collection.  And now they all probably need a vacation now that we have left...haha!

 

     

Free & Easy Down the Road I Go

 

Well, we are alive and well as we continue to traipse our way across the great state of Kentucky.

 

We landed in at the lake on Sunday evening after being in the car 45 minutes past the point that all the "car surprises" I had packed lost their luster.  I half expected the babies to kiss the ground once we finally arrived.  Instead,  Jack Jack did his own version and just ate some rocks.  Y'all know how he does.

 

   

  Trying to keep Amelia Kate out of the cornhole game was just plain wasted effort...

 

Oh, let me tell you, she came down with a major case of puppy love.  This is Skippy...whose real name is Lilly, but we continue to lovingly refer to her as Skippy.  She belongs to a gentleman who owns the farm where we stayed.  He lives in a tiny log cabin that earned its stripes by raising up a family of fifteen.  Anyway, AK adored this dog.  And I think Skippy adored Amelia even more, if that was possible.  It was just about the most precious thing I have ever seen...ever.  I almost wanted to bring Skippy home.  Almost.

 I also ate my weight in s'mores...but that is only because AK would roast a million marshmallows every evening.  Of course, each one had been drug through ashes and across smoldering logs.  And you had to catch them mid-air, because she would swing her stick with such ferocity that we were either dodging or attempting to capture flaming hot marshmallows as they whizzed through the air.  And when I say flaming hot, I mean they were actually still flaming.  What a sight, right?!  Who wants to go to a campfire with us??  Haha!

 

Next stop...Chewmomma and Dad-Dad's.... 

 

Bluegrass Bound

 

The time has come once again for me to take the babies up into the bluegrass for some quality family loving.  Heaven knows they are in high need of someone to cater to their every whim (namely Chewmomma and Aunt Sue).  We are leaving directly after church tomorrow afternoon, and we are stopping by the lake for a few days to visit with the ones who will be out there for the week.  Amelia Kate has asked me every morning for a week if it's time yet to go fishing with Aunt Sue.  AK and a fishing pole...Lord help.  ;o)

Mike is staying back due to business, so we will not see him for two whole weeks.  I am sure that he is going to miss us like crazy and soak his pillow with gobs of tears every night.

I'm sure he will miss the immediate and constant chatter that greets him at the door in the evening when he comes home and the singing (extra portion of drama included) that erupts from the backseat...

I'm positive he will miss hearing about Larry's lost hairbrush over and over and over...

 

...and he will, of course, miss the bedtime binky hunts...

  

...and reading (for the zillionth time) all about the Yinks and the Nooks and Ned and his little bed.

   

He might even look over to the right side of the bed and miss ME!!

 

And miss me freezing him blue with the fans (yes, fans..plural) that I run in the bedroom at night...  ;o)

 

Oh, I'm sure he will miss it all something awful, but he will be big about it and suffer through some Mellow Mushroom pizza, uninterrupted poolside reading, and maybe even a couple rounds of golf.  ;o)  
 

Time to run!  I haven't packed a thing...

...and I've got binkies to hunt.  

Yeah, I'm Leavin' GA

(On Hwy 20, no less....  ;o)  )

We are all packed up and waiting on Mike to get home from the airport, and then we are heading out west.  The MIDwest that is....to Kansas City, Missouri.  YEA!  So excited!  

We are going out for a church conference and to visit my SIL and BIL.  We are *hoping* to make it as far as we can tonight while the babies sleep in the car.  I'm taking my breastpump with the car adapter so I can just keep some bottles pumped for when Jack Jack wakes up.  :o)  And we have a healthy mix of Buffett, DMB, and Loretta to keep us adults going.  ;o)  I know Mike is happy to have actual music....and not me sitting co-captain singing "Bobby McGee" a cappella.  (Who's wanting to take a 15-hour road trip with me??   haha)     

So I've got us all packed up....shorts, summer dresses, bathing suits, and then turtlenecks and big blankets.  I really didn't know what to pack.  And I hate not being prepared for *anything.*  (I did talk myself out of packing the babies' snow boots.)  

Speaking of shoes....Jack usually just goes barefoot.  Is there nothing sweeter than babies barefoot in the summer?  I think not.  Amelia didn't wear shoes till she was 18 months old and cold weather was hitting.  Sweet babies barefoot in summer...precious.  However, Chewmomma got Jack some yellow Crocs for when he is stepping in rough grass or rocks.  He is forever trying to put them on....like tonight as I was finishing packing...

 

Bless your heart, my baby.

Happy weekend to everybody!

Bellefonte Bound

 

Since Mike had a lot of stuff going on for work during the next couple weeks, I packed up the babies and headed up to Momma and Daddy's.  I am so excited for some time to rest up while there is a new crowd to entertain Jack and Amelia  :o)  And, as always, I am excited to visit with all my family.  

It's just a wonder they opened the door when they saw us a-comin'....

Big Beautiful Bowling Green

This past week, Mike had to make a trip up to Nashville for some meetings, so we all tagged along and invited ourselves up to Kiki and Derrick's in Bowling Green for an impromptu visit.  Kiki and I usually do a fair share of antiquing, but we are both broke these days on budgets.  So we did our next favorite things:  clean and cook.  :o)  

The highlight of the trip was the Friday night game.  

 

We went to watch Uncle Derrick at work.  He's a high school basketball coach...see him out there? 

After we found our seats in the bleachers, Kiki and I quickly abandoned our pride and spent about 10 minutes snapping shots of Uncle Derrick, I mean...Coach Clubb, taking care of bidness.  And then another 20 minutes taking pictures of Amelia.  This was her first sporting event (I think...??), and I thought the poor child's eyes were just going to fall out and roll down onto the court.  The sights and sounds, the band, the cheerleaders, Uncle Derrick out there throwing basketballs to someone other than her...it's just a wonder she didn't end up out there.  This is what she looked like for the entire first quarter...completely frozen in awe...

 

(Notice her in the top picture in this post...you can see the smile plastered on her face and her eyes as big as quarters glued to the action.  HAHAHAHA...I love it....)

Before leaving town, Mike was so sweet to drive me through campus and let me reminisce and tell him all sorts of stories about me and my old stompin' grounds....

 

 

 

 

This is my old dorm...South Hall.  Also known on campus as the "Dirty South."  Lovely, right?  Anyhoo, we had community showers and no air-conditioning.  (Maybe that's why it had that nickname - HA!)  I assure you, I bathed...usually twice a day.

 

There's my old dorm room...South Hall No. 240...the second floor window on the end, right behind the tree.  OH!  Seeing all this made me want to run to the campus bookstore and pick up a new backpack and some scantrons and walk the hill up toward Thompson to go to Dr. Hoyt's Anatomy and Physiology lab.  But, thankfully, I returned to my senses and realized that I don't ever want to sit in a formal classroom again.    

 

 

 

Yes, I realize Jack Jack is in the girl one and Amelia is in the boy one.  Whoopsie!

 
 

 

 

 

It was gameday...hence....

 

Here I am... on the steps of Van Meter Hall for a reason.  Back in the day when I was a senior (well, it was my fifth year...otherwise known as my "victory lap"  ;o)  ), I stood on these steps and thought," One day I'll be back here, and I'll stand on these steps as a mother."  And there I am...

 

Momma and her future Hilltoppers... third-generation Hilltoppers, that is!  :o)  GO TOPS!

Ahh...Home, Sweet Home!

Pheww!  Amelia and I just made it home from a three-week trip to Momma & Daddy's.  Mike had had some out-of-town business, so we decided to pack up and visit with all my family in Kentucky.  We had a WONDERFUL time.  It's always so hard to leave, but it's always nice to be back home, too, you know?  We flew up there and back.  How many of you are jealous that I flew solo with an 18-month-old??  Haha!  Let's just say that this mama packed a WIDE variety of toys and snacks.  It truly wasn't that bad!  ;o)

Waiting on the plane to come in...

 

Look at my big girl sitting on the plane!

   

Amelia had a ball getting into the leaves...

 

   

 

   

and getting into the Halloween candy...thanks to Grandaddy!

 

We, of course, got into some good antiquing!  I got lots of goodies, but some of them, I had to leave at Momma's since I couldn't fit them in my suitcase.  :o(  

   

 

  

Amelia has always taken up good with Momma, but this time she really got attached.  She constantly wanted to be wherever she was and be on her lap!  And she would run around the house and hollar for her.  hehe!  It was so sweet!  It's always been hard for me to live so far from my family, but now that I am having children, it is even harder.  

    

And just about every night, she would sit up in the chair with Grandaddy and eat ice cream.  Oh mercy!

 Oh, me...so now we are back home and trying to get back into our routine.  Like I said, I'm always glad to get home because I do love being at home.  Whenever I am away, it seems like I get a renewed sense of motivation to do my work at home, whether it be projects I have been postponing or even simple things like getting back into my routine of housework and cooking.  I'm always so ready to return to that.  Are y'all like that, too?  And since I have been gone for three weeks, and prior to that I was suffering from the all-day morning sickness for about 8 weeks, my house is in MAJOR need of attention, let alone the projects I have going!  So, I have my big list posted up and happy to be crossing things off of it.

OH!  It's good to be home! 

My Mackinac

One of my favorite places in the world is Mackinac Island.  It's beautiful!  The style of the homes, inns, hotels, bed & breakfasts, shops, flowers, gardens, and tall, old trees are so inspiring to me.  And, being that it is an island, views of the water are everywhere.  It's perfect, I'm telling y'all! 

   

This is the phone booth where I called my family to let them know Mike had proposed.  Wow!  That was about 7 years ago!

In June, the island celebrates their lilacs with a festival.  We were there on the heels of lilac blooming season, but I still got to see some late-blooming varieties.

One of my favorite things about the island is that you walk, ride a bicycle, or ride in a horse-drawn carriage.  That's because no motor vehicles are allowed on the island (save for the fire and medical emergency personnel).  It makes everything so peaceful. 

And the only way to get to the island is via ferry.  (We always ride Shepler's because Mike went to school with them.)

Some views of Mackinac Bridge from the ferry...

Coming up to the island, there is a string of incredible, historic summer cottages lining the bluff.

I would give my "I" teeth to live in one of these.  Can you imagine?

And then...Oh My!  It's the glorious Grand Hotel!

 

I think one of my favorite things about the hotel is the color palette.  I adore those rich reds and greens with yellows and blues, all next to that crisp white.

 

And, of course, I'm all about the wicker... (Those floors were so shiny, I just know I could have put my makeup on in the reflection.)

Out in the gardens, little Miss Amelia was happy as a lark to be running free in the soft grass.  And chasing the seagulls...

Bye bye, Birdie!

We went up to the Cupola Room to enjoy a drink and the view from the highest point in the hotel.   

 

 

One of my favorite movies Somewhere in Time, starring the late Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, was filmed here at the hotel.  I'm not sure which came first...my love of the movie or my love of the Grand Hotel...

Bye for now, my Mackinac!  See you next time!

Vacation or Bust

Phewww!!!

We just got back a few days ago from spending several weeks on vacation.  It's so nice to get away, but...OH!  It's so nice to be back home!  We drove from Georgia to northern Michigan.  Yes, we DROVE...across the United States...with a baby...and lots and lots of STUFF!  We always joke that we look like the Clampetts (you know, the Beverly Hillbillies) when we travel, and this time was no exception.  We had everything but the kitchen sink, including Granny in her rocker (okay, so it was Amelia in her carseat...).

We stopped in and saw almost all of Mike's family on our way up north.  Mike grew up in a small town right on Lake Michigan called Harbor Springs.  It's such a beautiful little town.  It's on the bay (Little Traverse Bay) across from Petoskey.  This is a view of downtown Harbor Springs...

This is part of Petoskey's downtown overlooking the bay...

Don't they look like postcard towns?  Well, the downtown shops of both really look like postcards, but I was too busy shopping and chasing Amelia around to take any pictures.  (Okay, really...I just didn't want to look too fudgie-y.....all of the folks who live in these areas call the out-of-towners who come up in the summers "fudgies" because they usually buy lots of fudge from the many, many fudge shops). 

We stayed in a great cabin right on the lake just outside of Harbor in a little village called Good Hart.  There is a general store in Good Hart that sells the most delicious pot pies and fresh baked goods! 

We had the perfect place for some dining al fresco!  ;o)   

This is the road you drive to our cabin...it's a highway called M-119.  This part is known as the Tunnel of Trees.  It's such a beautiful drive, and it's always on those scenic highway lists of must-drives.

Here are some more views from our cabin...

Can you see the pair of swans below?

Even though we packed a lot into this vacation, it was completely relaxing.  Another wonderful family vacation with lots of wonderful memories...