apple festival

Every Labor Day weekend, Hendersonville, NC has an apple festival. We've never been able to go because Clemson normally has their first football game then. This year Clemson played against Georgia in Georgia so we were free to go! 

Of course this weekend is still sweltering hot, even if it is the beginning of September. Quinn was grumpy at first, but we got him an ice cold apple sipper and all was good. He kept telling me, "I like my apple sipper!" He went through three of them!

We walked up and down Main Street looking at all the goodies in the different booths. There was a booth will tons of wooden toys and I noticed these duck flappers. I immediately flashed back to my own childhood as I had a penguin version of it. My mother likes to tell me how I drove her crazy flapping that thing all around the kitchen. We opted NOT to get Quinn one, hehe.

To take a little break from the heat, we decided to go to the children's museum. It's called Hands On and it's fabulous. Quinn lives for places like this now. He can crawl, jump, slide, touch, and bounce around. I was thankful for the AC and a real bathroom, ha.

He loved building lego race cars and then sending them flying down the ramp where they would bust into a million pieces at the bottom. I believe he's going to love derby car races when he's a little older.

The hubs always seems to have just as much fun as Quinn does at these type places. He followed Quinn around from activity to activity and joined in all the fun. Watching them play together is simply the best. The father-son bond grows stronger each day.

We took a little break to have a hot dog and while the hubs was off finding Quinn another apple sipper, bubs decided to do a little dancing in the street. It was so funny. He bobs his head to the beat and stomps around in circles. Of course as soon as I tried to get it on video he quit.

I got a little souvenir from the festival. One of the booths had many many hand made clay ornaments that could be personalized. I had to get the apple tree! I originally picked the tree with only three apples, but the hubs said I should include all the furbabies too.

Monday I realized we hadn't done the grocery shopping yet so the executive decision to go to Cracker Barrel and the park was made. Quinn didn't want to color on the kids menu while we waited….but somebody else did.

Quinn is finally big enough to climb all over the playground on his own. It's pretty awesome. We try to get him to run around and go down the slides as much as possible before he locks in on the swing.

But it's no secret that the swing is his favorite. He'll tell us to go faster and that he's not done yet.

I wasn't going to let him go on this part of the play ground because I didn't think he could do it without falling. Yep, he totally showed me. He climbed up it multiple times like a champ.

After nap time (3.5 hours!) we had fun rediscovering all of his toys in the back of the cabinet. Trucks, pirate ships, and building blocks galore. I don't know what we're going to do when he gets a fresh batch for his birthday and Christmas.


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clemson vs boston college game

Woowhee, that was a game! It definitely should not have been as emotional as it was. Thankfully Clemson pulled through in the end.

Our weekend started late late late on Friday night. The hubs had been working all week in Florida, so he had to make the drive all the way home Friday night. Quinn and I got to Clemson around dinner time, but the hubs didn't pull into the driveway until midnight. I stayed up waiting for him which I definitely shouldn't have because someone decided it was time to rise and shine at 6am.

I tried to distract him with some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse watching hoping I could at least close my eyes, but that wasn't good enough.

There was dancing, snacking, and lots of lego playing. Thankfully his cousin Eric came out to play and they could entertain each other.

While we headed off to campus for the afternoon, Kathy and Kevin took all three kids to a pumpkin patch. I believe they ended up having more fun than we did ha!

90 Minutes Before Kickoff is always a good show. Tiger Band never disappoints!

The drumline put out a great show! Love when they add tricks into their routine.

It also happened to be Twirler and Dancer for a Day during pregame. I think there was over 200 little ones out there! So cute! If we have a little girl you better believe I will sign her up for stuff like that haha.

While I struggled to stay awake during the game, my sister-in-law texted me all of these adorable pictures! Proof that Quinn had the BEST time with his cousins. His clothes also served as proof. They were filthy. I even found a couple corn kernels in the washing machine the next day!


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niagara falls {alternately titled: canada, eh?}

The stars aligned and the hubs and I were able to take a trip together to see Niagara Falls. I had won two plane tickets, the hubs had enough hotel points, and my mom was available for babysitting!

Our plane took off on Thursday and we returned Sunday, so we had the rest of Thursday, all of Friday, and all of Saturday to explore. Thursday we stayed in Buffalo where our hotel was and went to their military park along the Erie Canal. It rained for a little bit, but quickly cleared up.

Friday, we dug out our passports and headed to Canada. I was a little disappointed that they didn't stamp them. Apparently you have to ask?

It was overcast, raining off and on this day too. So we darted in and out of antique shops on our way to Niagara Falls on the Lake.

The entire trip we kept spotting signs of South Carolina. Our rental car had a SC plate, we saw this boy scout uniform in an antique shop in Canada, and there was a sticker of the SC flag on a pole at a restaurant we had dinner at.

When we were in Savannah, the hubs had spotted these candle center pieces made out of wine barrels. He loved them, but not the price tag. Wouldn't you know we found them in Canada for half the price! He was very excited ha. We purchased one and then shipped it home.

We were told the best pictures of the Falls were from the Canada side, so of course we checked it out.

We also made sure to stay until they lit the falls with all the pretty colored lights. We had dinner at a place called Edgewaters that provided the best seat in the house. Not to mention I had pulled pork mac and cheese! So good.

Saturday was beautiful and sunny with white fluffy clouds in the sky. We started with a trip to the aquarium. I highly recommend this one. They have lots to look at plus a sea lion show.

We then went to see the Falls from the NY side. Because of the sun, there were rainbows everywhere you looked. It was so pretty. We also went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour that takes you right up to the bottom of the falls. It was pretty magnificent to see them from all angles like we did. I highly recommend it. I do not recommend taking your 6 month old baby on the boat tour though. There was a couple that did and he screamed the entire time. I felt so awful for that poor baby.

We ended Saturday early with pizza in bed at our hotel and football watching. Our flight home was at 7am which meant we got up at 4am to start the trip home. It was a great experience and I'm glad I can check it off the bucket list!



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apple picking

Earlier last week, my coworker and I started talking about apple picking. With it still being August, I really hadn't even thought about apples. That's a fall thing, duh. You should be wrapped up in scarves and sweaters while you pick apples and then sip on hot apple cider afterwards to warm up.

Well while all of that is still true, she pointed out that the highly coveted honey crisp apples are in season NOW. I texted the hubs that we needed to go to Hendersonville on Saturday and take Quinn on his first apple picking adventure. He agreed!

I persuaded my mom to come visit for the weekend so she could join in on the fun. We got up there around 11 o'clock on Saturday and the weather was just beautiful. Sunny and in the high 70s with a slight breeze, it was the perfect day.

The farm we went to was called Grandad's Apples N Such. They were only allowing the public to pick gala apples at the time so we headed out with our bags to pick a couple just for fun and for pictures. We came back to their barn and topped off with our beloved honey crisps. We also couldn't resist some cider slushies and cider donuts. So good!

After the picking we traveled down the road and had lunch at the local Harry's and Piggy's. It was just a little hamburger/hot dog/ice cream joint, but it had so many fun things to look at. We piled back into the car and not 5 minutes down the road Quinn was out.

I'd say it was a successful first trip! I'm now looking forward to going back in October for pumpkins!


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mish-mash

I haven't been so good at keeping up with blogging lately so it's time for the good ole bulleted list and iPhone picture dump. Do you ever find that the longer since your last post, the harder it is to get going again?

• The hubs went to Asheville to work on a press there and he stopped at one of my favorite stores, Bloomfield's. They carry one of our china patterns. {Yes that means we might possibly have more than one...maybe five} This is the pretty he brought home.

• Quinn has been sleeping in his crib for a little while now and I always get so tickled at the different positions I find him in.

• When you announce you're in the mood to bake something, this is what you'll come home to ha!

• We moved Quinn into a big boy car seat. He loves it! It's a little more challenging when he falls asleep, but so far I like it. 

• I was unpacking some more boxes and came across my grandparents' china. This was their everyday stuff. Lucky for me my married name starts with the same initial as theirs!

• Our friends Jessica and Bryan had their beautiful baby girl Parker on October 4th. We went to visit while they were still in the hospital. I'm itching to visit again soon!

• On our way into Clemson, the hubs and I decided to order a pizza from Papa Johns. I found it so funny that when I went to give them my phone number for the order they still had it stored in their computer under my maiden name. I definitely had my fair share of pizzas at college.

• For the Clemson vs Georgia Tech game, the bestie and her beau came to town. It was such a great game! We decided to skip tailgating and instead ate at TD's downtown and did a little shopping. It was the perfect decision.

• The Sunday after the game, we ran errands as a little family. I love days like that. We had breakfast at Denny's and picked up pumpkins. Quinn loved riding in the race car cart.

• I'm so happy it's soup weather! I've been bringing soup to lunch almost every day and my mom even made a batch of chicken noodle that's in my freezer. Yum.

• Some cuteness of my baby boy.

• This weekend we decided to make a trip to Ikea. It all started because the hubs saw this sink. I've always wanted a farmhouse sink in the kitchen but not for the price they normally cost. Ikea's version is much more reasonable!

• We ended up leaving with a red table for the breakfast room, a rug for the den, and some toys for the kiddo. We picked out chairs to put on our wish list and save for plus I'm inspired to make a version of this circus top to hang in Quinn's room

• The new rug for the den led to this remodeling project last night. 

• My little Sophia snuggling in bed with me.

• And one last picture of the kiddo to wrap it up. He loved bouncing while I worked on unpacking in the breakfast room.