West Jefferson

Dad told me and Laura back in the spring that he wanted to take a trip to the mountains over the summer. We thought it sounded like a great idea. Laura used to be a Scottish Highland dancer for like a gagillion years and she competed at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games every year. This is one of the biggest games there are and competitors even come from Scotland. Dad said he wanted to go to the games since we hadn't been since Laura stopped dancing, before going to college. Dad booked a cabin and we made plans. Ed & TJ couldn't come because TJ started his AAU basketball nationals that weekend so they were out of town too. One of the nice things about moving west to Greensboro from Chapel Hill is that it knocks off an hour when going to the mountains.  It only took us about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the cabin. Once we arrived, we immediately had to play baseball. Ever since the College World Series, Deuce has been obsessed. He has 3 bats in the house and he wants to play all the time. This thrills my dad to no end because baseball was his life growing up.

I don't know what kind of ball player he's going to be as he gets older but I can tell you he's going to play ball. Some form of it.

After playing baseball we decided to go down to the river. The Neuse river ran right in front of the house and Deuce was so excited! Can't you tell??

The house was beautiful and had a recliner in the corner. This was the boys' spot all weekend. They sat together, ate there together and played in that chair together.

When we got up on Saturday morning it was raining so we didn't want to go to the games and sit in the rain. I did not want to do that with Deuce. No way. So we hung around the house until the weather passed. Then we decided that we would go fish and play in the creek. We had a blast!

Well we had so much fun playing in the water that we totally lost track of time. We knew we had basically missed all of the highland dancing for Saturday but there was still a Celtic rock band playing that night so we headed back to the house to shower and get ready.

He loves his Pop.

He loves to dance too.

I know I've said it time and time again. And I've posted several videos as well but it's such a part of who he is. Music is on and Deuce is dancing. No matter what kind of music it is.

He had the attention of everyone in the bleachers behind us. It was hilarious.

We decided that next year we will get to the mountains early enough on Friday to play in the river and go see the highland dancing Saturday morning, as long as the weather is nice. It was still a nice trip though and I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad and my sister.

Here are some Instagram shots from the weekend.

The scenery is amazing.

And Happy Birthday to my dad. He's 58 today.

We love you Pop!

Trip to Knoxville.

A few weeks back Deuce and I went up to Knoxville with my dad and sister to meet the rest of our family for my cousin Jessica's wedding. Any time my family gets together we have a blast. No matter what we're doing we have a lot of fun together. We arrived in Knoxville around 5:30 on Friday afternoon and immediately made our way out back to relax by the pool & the fire.

As is customary for my aunt & uncle's house, there are always people over. Whether it's family or friends, there are always visitors there. So we start up the fire, usually put the race or some sporting event on the TV (unless Grandma is in charge of the remote and then we watch Andy Griffith), drink a  few brews and play games in the yard. Deuce immediately decided to play football with Jordan.

Deuce loves him some Jordan! Then Pop got in on the action.

Then Deuce found Courtney. Courtney's boyfriend Chad is the neighbor and they might as well be family. She has a daughter that is 18 months old and I don't know if she just oozed of mommy vibes but Deuce loved him some Courtney too. Poor girl. She had 2 nights in a row out without her child and mine was glued to her lap the entire time. He's a ladies man.

We called to check on daddy and make sure he was alright at home without us.

Then wedding day arrived. The wedding was at a cute log cabin chapel in Gatlinburg and with it being the opening weekend for Dollywood and some car show in town, it took us 2 hours to get from Knoxville to the wedding. This made for a long journey. We split up into 2 cars and about an hour and a half down the road we had to stop for a bathroom break. We stopped at this country store in the middle of nowhere and went in all dressed up. We definitely looked like true city folks while the store was full of mud covered, overall wearing farmers. So in true country folk style, we picked up a couple of beverages to complete our long journey to Gatlinburg. Shhhhh......

We finally made it to the chapel with only a few minutes to spare before the ceremony started. Luckily someone noticed that Grandma was headed into the chapel with her bedroom shoes on.

Lawd.Have.Mercy.

Jordan had to take her back to the car so she could put her dress shoes on. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. Including Grandma.

My cousin Robin and her son Weslee. The setting of the chapel was beautiful!

The bride & groom: Jessica & Jason.

While Jessica & Jason were outside taking pictures together, we seized the opportunity to take some family pictures in the chapel. Pop kept Deuce at Aunt Rita's house in Knoxville and I'm very thankful for that. The 4 hours in the car for the 15 minute ceremony probably would have been a little too much for him.

Jordan, Aunt Rita, Uncle Jeff, Ricky

Aunt Rhonda, Ryan & Brandon

(Ryan & Brandon are getting married in September!!)

Aunt Rhonda, Ryan, Laura, Lindsay, Me, Aunt Rita, Ashley & Hailey

Me & Wawa outside the chapel.

Pop brought Deuce to the reception which was back in Knoxville and he was so proud of himself. He had fed Deuce lunch, gotten him to nap, gotten him dressed for the reception and found his way through Knoxville to the banquet hall. He did a darn good job!

And can I just say, my child would not leave the dance floor the entire night.

Like at all.

He threw a tantrum when it was time to go.

The embarrassing kind of tantrum.

I guess I kind of do the same thing when I have to stop dancing too.

Vacation in Chesapeake

I mentioned before that Laura and I took Deuce to see my dad in Chesapeake for a few days back in December. The purpose of the visit was to get away from the chaos at home and spend some relaxing quality time with dad. We had such a good time. Laura had to work on Thursday so we waited at mom's house for her. We walked to see the horses, visit Rascal's grave and played in the grass. When we got to Virgina, Pop had a spaghetti dinner already made for us.

We took Deuce to see Santa on Friday and did a little shopping. We ate lunch at the Picadilly (aka K&W for you Chapel Hill folks) and then headed over to Hampton to make a special visit. We went to see the lady that kept me and Laura when we were little. We lived in the house across the street from her and she watched us every day until we made the transition to daycare. I can't even tell you the last time that we saw her but she looked just as I remembered. Deuce was so loving to her and he gave her hug after hug after hug. It was so neat to think that her memories of me were from when I was the same age as Deuce...29 years ago!

After we left Hampton, we stopped to pick up dinner and then went back to dad's. We stayed in for the rest of the night and watched some Christmas specials on TV. We were in bed at a decent time and I woke up at 7:30 feeling relaxed and refreshed. Saturday we went to Yorktown to my Uncle Ricky's house. It was a treat to see him two weekends in a row {he was in Knoxville with us the weekend prior}. That is rare. Uncle Ricky lives in a waterfront home on the Potomac River and he and Alice prepared a yummy Mexican lunch for us. My cousins were all there and we even got to meet Baby Carter. It was strange to see Deuce with another baby and him be the toddler and not the baby. He kept wanting to hold Carter. Then when I was holding Carter, he would immediately want my help with something or would want to get in my lap. I got a brief taste of what my girlfriends with 2 under 2 go through. And that's why I'm not planning on having another baby any time soon, lol!!

After we left Uncle Ricky's house we went to a Christmas party for one of my dad's best friends from childhood. He lives in Washington state now but was home for the holidays so there was a holiday gathering. We met several of my dad's friends from childhood and Deuce had a great time running around and being the center of attention. He was not shy at all! After we left the party, we drove around Hampton to look at all of the Christmas lights. I really wanted Deuce to see them because I knew he would enjoy saying "oooooh and ahhhhh" but he conked out as soon as we got in the car. So he missed them. But we still wanted to go because Laura and I have memories of going to see the lights every year when we were little and lived in Hampton.

We spent most of the day Sunday hanging out and watching TV before we left about 2:30 to head back home. I think I will be making more visits to Chesapeake in the near future. I really enjoy seeing my dad hang out with Deuce and I think my dad may enjoy it even more!

he ate just about the entire bag of goldfish in one morning.