mountains, wine, and a cop with no couth

This past weekend, two of my girlfriends and I went to the mountains of Virginia, home state to two of my bloggy sistas (hi Debbie and Lula!).

We stayed up late, we slept in. We ate junk food, we drank wine (at a winery!). We hiked, we napped, we talked, and we laughed. It was great and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful. The scenery was pretty good too...

view from Lover's Leap overlook




Mabry Mill




Katie, Jennifer, and me looking a little squinty at Philpott Lake



Chateau Morrisette Winery

Lovely.

On the way to the mountains, we stopped at an ABC store in Greensboro because Katie wanted to make some daiquiris on Saturday night. As we walked in a cop sauntered over and asked to see our id's. We joked about how flattering it is to get carded even though we look over 21. Jennifer said something about her mother and clearly the cop had selective hearing because he then turns to me and says...

"Are you her mother?"

Its really hard to describe the look that came over his face immediately after the words escaped his lips. I thought he might pass out. Then, I thought I might grab his nine and pop him with it. The shocked look on my face told him the real answer and he skulked away.

Honestly, I was insulted, but I did think it was funny. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm 31, and in my opinion, don't think I look older than 31. My friend Jennifer is 25 and yes, she does look young, but dude..., didn't you just look at our id's for crying out loud? Do you think I would have been capable of birthing such a child at the tender age of 5? I think not. I had to wonder if he hadn't been taking a few shots during a lull in customers.

So, now I'm over it, and I'm enjoying a glass of Sweet Mountain Laurel whilst updating you on my fun and girly weekend. Hope your weekend was sweet and without run-ins with idiot police who should have just kept their mouths shut.

vacation - sun and sand

On Tuesday morning, we ventured to the beach for some sun and sand. This was the redhead's first time at the ocean and no sooner had I put him down on the sand and placed our bag in the "perfect spot", and off he went (regular diaper still on).

The redhead sat himself down as the waves rolled in over him. He tried to lay on his tummy, but got pounded in the face several times by rogue waves moving toward shore.

C-man fared much better on his tummy however - he is 12 and a good swimmer. His mom said that he was probably scaring people floating on his stomach like that, but C-man was unphased. Say no to crack C-man.

Once the redhead acclimated himself to the water, he noticed the sand. The redhead was a smidge apprehensive about the whole sand thing. Um you're at the beach...its all sand.

Tinker Bell is a beach girl. She's all about some water. Here she is with the redhead and Mr. Baseball making sand piles castles.

The redhead noticed a kite or "tie" flying overhead and ran along the shore trying to catch it. He would sign please as if to ask us to get it down for him. Precious. We happened upon the woman actually flying the kite and she was kind enough to let the redhead "help" her fly it.

The redhead's first beach trip was successful, if we don't count the temper tantrum he threw for not being able to play with another little boy's truck, and the fact that he cried about it all the way home. I will give him the benefit of the doubt though, he was starving and extremely tired. We'll definitely have to go back - with food and drink.

vacation - bottles, "bows", boards, and bubbles

On Friday, August 8th, Mr. Baseball's vacation officially began. Instead of sitting on our butts at home, we made another road trip to the NC coast to visit Mr. Baseball's family. His mother, sister, and her family all live near the beach, and his dad and a friend were driving up from Florida to see the grandkids (the redhead, C-man (12), and Tinker Bell (6)). It was to be a fun-filled trip with lots to see, do and eat. I'm still full from all the food we ate. Ugh.

On Saturday, we took a trip to Airlie Gardens with "Mimi" (Mr. Baseball's mom), Princess Buttercup (Mr. Baseball's sister), C-man, and Tinker Bell. It was hot as MESS, so we didn't stay that long, but we did see some really cool bottle art and mosaics while we were there.

After sweating it out at the Garden, we dropped the redhead off at Mimi's for lunch and a nap and headed out to lunch with Mr. Baseball's dad and Princess Buttercup's family.

The afternoon brought with it some showers along with this beautiful sight...

I love rainbows. I've never seen more rainbows in succession than I did while I was in Ireland. This rainbow was really bright and we actually saw another faint rainbow above this one, but it didn't photograph at all.

On Sunday afternoon following the redhead's respite, we took him swimming in the pool at the hotel where Mr. Baseball's dad was staying. Let me just say, this kid has no fear, hence the flotation device attached to his body. He LOVED the pool. He went underwater, played with toys, and even rode on a boogie board.

He also liked to run around the pool, much to our chagrin and slipped in a puddle of water, falling on his elbows and bonking his head on the pool deck. He wasn't hurt thankfully, just had the wind knocked out of him. Maybe he'll listen next time when we say "Stop Running!".

Redhead also contracted a condition common to individuals spending excessive amounts of time in the water - its called "PRUNITIS".

On Monday morning we all went to Cracker Barrel to bid farewell to Mr. Baseball's dad and his friend Bebe. Breakfast at the CB is always yummy and enjoyable, that is, until a whiny toddler is thrown in the mix. However, said whiny toddler can and always will be soothed by toys with wheels. Thank you Cracker Barrel for having a store attached to your restaurant, and for having cars in that store attached to your restaurant. Amen.



In the afternoon, Mimi busted out the bubble blowing machine and entertained the redhead for a few minutes. Here she is in her gold-medal winning performance. Just look at that technique. Only a tenth of a point will be deducted for not pointing her toes. (I'm sorry, I'm sitting here listening to Olympic commentary and just had to throw that one in.)



Chateau Mimi - a quaint haven of respite for weary travelers




...coming tommorow - the sandy side of vacation...

noonzie madness

Many of you have probably seen comments from one "Mrs. Noonzie" on my blog. Many of you have probably clicked on her name thinking, "Gee, how creative and funny, I'd like to read her blog." Many of you have probably been disappointed to see that the author of such funny comments does indeed NOT have a blog. For shame. I am still working on this travesty.

I will however, pacify you with this picture, identifying that at least she does exist. There is, in fact, a whole Noonzie family. Here they are...

Ain't they cute?

Mrs. Noonzie is the friend I've known the longest. We go way back - well, at least to 1993 when we were sophomores in high school and part of the Eco-Family (only the funniest thing to ever hit Providence High School - that's another post though). My visit to Charlotte put me close enough to Noonzie to make a day trip of it. She had never met the redhead, and I had never met her wee-est one either.

We hung around her house for a bit, watched the kids play, ate a little grub, put the boys down for naps, went to Starbucks for frappucinos, and took the kids to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table and such while we talked. Our plan was foolproof, but it seemed the kids had other agendas.

As soon as we arrived at the train table and settled into our chairs, wee lil' Noonzie filled his diaper with the stinky to beat all stinkies. The redhead, who normally would have to be pried away from the train table, was more content to roam, train in hand, around the children's section. Lil' miss Noonzie was good though, she tried to pacify the boys with sweet little stuffed animals. It didn't work, but she gets an A for effort.

We stayed at B & N for a while, then headed home for Mrs. Noonzie to whip up some dinner and teach the redhead a new saying..."ta-da!" We got a good laugh listening to him yell "ta-da!" with much enthusiasm and a mouthful of yogurt.

After dinner, it was time to say goodbye, but not before pictures on her porch swing.

Mrs. Noonzie, thanks for the great visit!

tales from the queen city

On Monday, August 4th, the redhead and I ventured to Charlotte to visit with my parents for a few days. This trip had been in the works for while and Nan was going to be in Charlotte with her two boys while they attended music and arts camp for the week. We decided to take advantage of some free babysitting (courtesy of the grandparents) and do what we do best when there are no kids around.

Yes, we are at Starbucks, and yes, we stayed here as long as possible while savoring frappucinos. And while we were taking this picture, I realized that this is the same shirt that I am wearing in like all of the pictures of me on this blog. Yes, I do own other shirts people and no, I do not plan it this way, throw me a frickin' bone.


Here is one of the grandparents I was talking about. This is my dad, otherwise known as "Papa". The redhead ADORES his Papa and is still talking about Papa and his "bee tru" (big truck).

On Tuesday morning/afternoon (Aug. 5), Nan and I went to visit a friend from college who just had a baby boy in July. Susan really had to twist our arms to get us to come visit her and baby J. It was a stretch, but Nan and I sacrificed of ourselves and went to see her. (I'm totally being sarcastic in case you didn't catch on) Here's the little guy.


Beautiful, isn't he?


Here I am cuddling with the little burrito. He was such a good baby and slept much of the time we were there. Precious! And don't I look good holding a baby. Mr. Baseball, if you're reading this, can we have another one soon...please?

Here's the new mom with her precious son.
She looks great and she says that she's getting to sleep in about 4-5 hour stretches at night. I know, sickening isn't it?

Stay tuned for more installments of the most exotic vacation in the history of the world!

home again, home again, doodly squat

Oh the fun we had on our vacation! I'll have to regale you with stories and pictures tomorrow as I'm tired and I've got some suitcases to unpack. However, I will share these two pictures with you.

Here we are in the car sitting in traffic on I-40. How long had we been on the road you ask? FIVE MINUTES!!!! Thankfully it only lasted 20 minutes. The cause of this slow-moving traffic? Onlooker delay. I'm not even going to get started on that right now.




Four hours (we had to stop to eat and stretch our legs) and three full bellies later, we arrived here...

There's no place like home.