Music Camp

Skylar and Maddox have had music camp this week at the church. Mason, Jojo, and I have to figure out how to entertain ourselves for the 3 hours that they're gone, and since driving home 30 minutes away doesn't seem worth it we have spent our mornings at chick-fil-a.

After camp I take the kids to my mom's to go swimming. On Monday the kids found a bat in the patio umbrella! Skylar and Maddox came running, shouting "mom look! A precious bat!"

Ahhhh! The kids were oooo-ing and awe-ing while I was trying to keep my cool long enough to take his picture.

Yesterday after music camp Skylar and Maddox were able to bring 2 friends over to swim and spend the night. I love watching them have fun with their friends.

I hope they're enjoying their summer! But a part of me is ready for structure and getting back into the routine of school.

30th birthday

Turning 30 wasn't a depressing milestone for me like it is for some, I didn't even go into it thinking, wow I'm old. Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that I had my first child at 19, and motherhood meant having new friends who were moms, and everyone always seemed to be 10 plus years older than me. Turning 30 meant finally joining the adult crowd, a club that felt like I had only been sneaking into since my 20's. So though I don't feel "old",  I finally feel like I belong, instead of the baby in social groups.

Mitch is always so good at treating me on special occasions, and on non special occasions as well! For my birthday we took a trip about an hour north of us to a winery called Horse Creek. We sampled different wines at the bar before taking our favorite glasses outside to a secluded place under a pergola in full view of the vineyard. Truly romantic!

For dinner we ate at Steel Magnolias on the rooftop in downtown Valdosta. The breeze was just right, live music was playing, the food and atmosphere was perfect. We drank wine and ate bruschetta as appetizers. For dinner I had roasted duck,, and for dessert we ate a banana pudding creme brûlée. Everything tasted amazing.

After dinner and dessert we took a small walk around downtown. Of course everything was closed, but we ran into a cigar bar, and feeling nostalgic we decided to stop by and give it a try. Neither of us has ever smoked, nor do we ever plan on taking this up as a habit, but it just felt like something fun and adventurous to experience together. 

The owner of the bar gave us a tour of the bar, showing off the different cigars as we picked each flavor up to smell and decide which one was right for us. I picked a cigar out of a category that the owner said most women who came in enjoyed. It was a mixture of vanilla, Java, and mint. I can't remember the cigar Mitch picked out, but it was big, fat, and strong. As a beginner, he felt it best to chose an expert cigar. 

The owner showed us how to properly light the cigar, how to puff, and not to inhale. We had fun puffing on our cigars, pretending like maybe we were some 1920s gangsters. We didn't finish them, but enjoyed the fun that we had.

Turning 30 was great and I feel so blessed to be growing old with Mitch.

Farming Story: Pig Killed a Chicken, Snake in the Coop

One night last week Mitch had to butcher a chicken, because earlier that day the poor chicken had been injured by a pig.

Maddox was eager to help and asked for me to take their picture. We ate this little guy 2 days later, the same day Skylar decided to become a vegetarian.

That wasn't however our only excitement for the day. 3 year old Mason is running around the house with his toy gun pretending to shoot snakes because we also discovered a grey rat snake in the chicken coop, but by the time Mitch got home to take care of the situation with his gun, the snake was gone. Mitch figured it would be. 

We haven't seen him since.

Our 10 year wedding anniversary

On July 16th Mitch and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary, so I guess we're officially an old married couple!

Honestly our marriage has been so blessed, and busy with kids that these past 10 years have flown by. 

For this anniversary we decided to travel down to St. Simons and spend 2 nights at the beach. It was a very romantic short trip. Together we usually listen to music to pass the travel time or lay on the beach, but this year we tried something different and listened to a podcast series, titled Serial. This radio series had us hooked, listening to a story from 1999, about a man who has spent 16 years in prison for killing his exgirlfriend, but who is claiming for the past 16 years that he is innocent. We listened to this on the way there, lying on the beach, dipping in the ocean between each episode, and finally finishing the series on our way home. This particular series didn't even have a proper ending! It was almost humorous as we finished the last radio episode together with no ending, we felt left hanging.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel, and fortunately this hotel offered a free made to order breakfast in the morning, and free beer, wine, and cocktails at night. These were fun free dates for us!

The first day we arrived we checked into our hotel right at lunch time, we immediately changed into our swim suits and headed to the beach. The beach was so quiet, and the water was so calm and shallow. We were even able to watch a storm out at sea, that fortunately didn't make it to our beach. 

That evening we enjoyed free drinks at the hotel bar before heading to an Italian restaurant across the street. 

The following day was our anniversary and we spent most the day at the beach right after breakfast. Sand dollars covered the shallow sea, people were walking out of the ocean with handfuls of them. I couldn't help but step on them every few steps as well, but I didn't bring any home. We even found a few hermit crabs, and unfortunately a jelly fish found me! I was lucky that the sting was mild, lasting only 30 minutes.

Another night of free drinks at the hotel bar, I felt fabulous in this beautiful green dress, and blessed to be with my amazing husband. We headed back to the beach for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Iguana where I had snow crab legs, and Mitch ate fried oysters, shrimp, and crab cakes. After dinner we took a walk out onto the pier. Our vacation together was short, sweet, and very romantic. I look forward to another 10 years times 10 with this man.