back to school

What an adventure it has been with these fun-loving brothers the last nine months since they left school! I can't even explain how grateful I am for the extra time with them at age 10 and 7 - I hope the memories last forever. I really felt like our summer was the perfect blend of down time too. As they excitedly hopped off to school, I just hoped they wouldn't miss each other or me too much ;)

bday treats

This last birthday of my thirties the boys absolutely spoiled me rotten! Not only did they agree to another road trip, but it included my unofficial yarn crawl to a grand total of nine yarn shops (two included the cutest shop dogs)!  The boys were so sweet and cooperative. J nailed it on the most delicious homemade boston creme pie before we left - I mean so, so good... Then we found plenty of treats along the way ;)

monticello

We cruised up to Charlottesville (three more yarn shops!) Continuing the history tours, the boys really enjoyed all the Monticello hands out activities. They have a kid friendly tour inside the house that was very well done. These Hamilton lovers liked to hear the bit that related and how Jefferson and Hamilton tolerated each other ;)

greensboro

Headed east out of Asheville through the Black Mountains (another yarn shop!), we hit Greensboro (two more yarn shops!) for lunch. They know how to make some good tacos - and they didn't come out of J's ear ;)

asheville

Downtown Asheville is charming! Another yarn shop stop at a shop full of sock monkeys and other knit fun guys! The old Woolworths has been transformed into a two story art gallery and still has the original sad fountain.

great smoky mts

Just a little bit west of Asheville, the Great Smoky Mountains sprawl from NC into TN. There were so many butterflies on our hike up past the Applachian Trail. The farm and mill were great places to learn a bit about what life was like in the Great Smokies. These junior rangers earned another badge at their 27th park.

biltmore gardens

It was such a fun day spent exploring all the expansive grounds all around the Biltmore. It is an amazing place full of farms and gardens.  We found a statue of the boy's favorite Cedric at the tavern named after him where we enjoyed live music and dinner.

biltmore estate

The Vanderbilt's 250 room mountain retreat was dazzling covered in a special Chiluly glass display. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the kids audio tour hosted by Cedric, the mountain dog.

johnson city

The drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains included these views - serious blue ridges!

We found a highly recommended Tupelo Honey restaurant in Johnson City... Yum, the biscuits!

roanoke pinball

We'd hear about this fun pinball museum - and it delivered on the cool factor. Each row had machines from a different decade. I liked the oldest ones that best... I guess Guitar Hero snuck into this vintage-y place already?!

roanoke childrens

If we lived in this area with little ones, I would've lived in this children's museum (adjacent to the science museum)... It was still fun for these big guys too.

roanoke science

We had this amazing science museum in downtown Roanoke nearly all to ourselves. There were so may fun things from a touch tank to a butterfly garden to programmable robots.

roanoke treats

We scratched some plans to slog around NYC in the heat advisory weather and headed for the mountains!  Our first stop was Roanoke which was full of treats.

"Something wonderful is about to happen" is written on that glass door to this amazing cupcake shop! The green treat and lemon cupcake - omg!

Right across the way was my first stop on the birthday week yarn crawl!  The owner (who is a quirky knitting celebrity) took a jumping photo with me, because that's her kinda quirk - but our hair came out to play!

tidbits

Brunch at a place with Into the Mystic lyrics (our wedding song) painted on the walls?! And an oyster bar?!

 Meeting up to fly some mini drones with some buddies.

We missed our milkshakes at Ted's ;)

Saw some good comedy at the State... a perfect date night!

climbzone

This place never disappoints! We switched up water park plans with our friends to take a trip up for some climbing. The boys have now mastered the walls and even made it up the ninja ramp without help.

lego 2

The boys were excited to find a Zelda scene and Link creations.  I was pumped that they had some lego creations sponsored by the National Parks - because that is our jam this year!  The woman that created the entire Harry Potter village was so nice to bring each building down to show the amazing interiors. We came home with a new set of mini figures the boys were thrilled to buy with their own mula.

lego 1

We caught the annual lego fair which has amazing new displays every year! We played some lego mini golf and the boys raced their lego cars. They built their best design - Aiden came in first, Keaton second, and J last place ;)

good list

An actual warped loom in my house! Feels like this is many years coming ever since I had that giant floor loom that would've needed at least three people to warp properly and was just overwhelming... I still remembered the basics from the class at the Art League but need to work on my tension.

This cupcake at the National Harbor was so memorable it has become the cupcake he compares all other to! It has a huge hunk of cookie dough on the top.

Reorganizing all the tsum tsums into his new cool shelf - will need another one!

Unleashing all the legos that were with us in Arizona and finding new spots for them ;)

tidbits

So much excitement for this Teen Titans Go movie and it met all their expectations and made the favorites list!

So many opportunities to get together with friends this summer and play outside (in between all the rain storms)

Make your own sundaes are a big favorite.

We made it to the Disney store for their mickey special pin release - since Mickey turns 90 in November! We were in the line before it opened with the second to last spot to purchase the pins ;)

good list

Ever since we left Disneyland these boys have been excited to collect more pins - thanks to this monthly subscription box we get deliveries of some surprises each month!

My sister, the giveaway master, asked as many questions as possible in this AMA (ask me anything) giveaway with this quirky yarn shop owner that was giving away this super expensive yarn bag. She won the bag and surprised me by sending it along with my parents filled with treats (like this yarn camera pin!) as an early birthday present! It makes me smile because every time I see it it reminds me of that rush of excitement when I saw she won! And now I win too! ;)

Playing Dweebies and making Dweebie sandwiches in this simple fun game we found at the book fair a while back. Card games keep us happy around here...

Finally getting this guy’s eyes checked and cleared up meant a funny pair of dilation glasses that he rocked on the way home.