Vacation recap and Lilly

Greetings readers and a big welcome to my new followers! Our vacation was wonderful and went by so fast. We went shopping, ate too much, strolled on the beach, went swimming, played Bingo, watched cable tv (we are "Old Skool" at home and don't have cable/satellite) and hung out with the family. It is nice to be back home and back in a routine.

We took a photo of Camden by the "Historic Camden" sign (in Camden, SC) as seen on the right sidebar. I've always wanted to take his picture by it. He wasn't named after the town, it was the only "C" name Tim and I could agree on since we wanted to keep his initials CTS. Next we need to go to Anna, Ohio and get Anna's picture by the "Welcome to Anna" sign. Now that I think about it, I could take her to an Anna's Linens store and not have to go to Ohio :)

I love going shopping at the beach because the Belk's at the MB Mall carries Lilly Pulitzer (thanks Mom for the Belk's gift card for my birthday, it was put to good use). I bought a navy top for fall. Speaking of fall and Lilly, this came through on my e-mail today and I love this top! I may have to spring for it. It's the Cassie top and the print is Trill of the Chaise.












Stay tuned tomorrow for Food Friday! Thanks for reading!
XOXO,
Melissa

Vacation..aaaahhhhh

The title above could be said two ways: "Vacation..aahhhhh" as in relaxing, forgetting to wear your watch, and total destressing. Or it could be how I am feeling now: "Vacation..aahhh!" as in "I have so much to pack, I need to clean my house, finish the laundry, pack the food, who will get out mail and water my plants, will all our stuff fit in the van, etc."

Have a great week everyone, I'll be nice and relaxed once we actually set foot on the beach! We're going to Sea Watch in N. Myrtle Beach.



Until next time,
Melissa

Murray's Mill Festival

Last weekend we went to Catawba, NC to the Murray's Mill Harvest Folk Festival. Murray's Mill is an old mill (no longer in service) and has a neat general store on the premises. We loved the candy barrels! You can also tour the mill as part of a school group or on festival day.

There were woodcarvers, lots of Boy Scouts, blacksmithing demonstrations, Civil War re-enactors, a lady who gave a neat talk about parrots, hayrides, bluegrass groups, and much more! Touring the mill was fun and we got to see wheat being ground into flour, powered by the huge water wheel.

The festival was a fun way to kick off the fall season even though it was 90 degrees outside!

Vacation!

I hope you all have a great week, we're headed to the beach!
~Melissa

Anniversary Wrap-Up: Destination Charlotte

Greetings! Tim and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary Halloween weekend in Charlotte since our anniversary date is October 30th. We took advantage of a weekend away without the kids. Here's a recap.

We stayed at the Dunhill Hotel in uptown Charlotte. This small, boutique hotel is right in the middle of uptown. I highly recommend staying there! We ate at Outback Steakhouse then hit Goodwill, Target, a natural foods store, and World Market. We had dessert at the Mad Greek Cafe. Our favorite cuisine is Greek and this place was outstanding! Tim had kataifi, similar to baklava, and I had galaktoboureko, similar to egg custard. Absolutely delicious! I can't wait to go back and try the place out for dinner.

The next day we had breakfast at the Monticello Restaurant next to the hotel and Tim had shrimp and grits, I had Creole Benedict. Next to Greek food, Lowcountry cooking is our second favorite kind of cuisine! Both dishes were excellent and a nice departure from my Honey Crunch 'N Oats cereal I eat every day.

We walked to the Epicenter complex which has retail shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Dale Jr.'s bar Whisky River is located here. The restaurants were gearing up for Halloween parties that night.

We wanted to do things we really couldn't do if we had our kids with us so we spent about 2 hours in the Levine Museum of the New South. This is a new museum which has exhibits showing the history and progress of Charlotte from farming, to textiles, to banking and everything in between.

We checked out of the hotel and headed towards the Amber House for lunch. Unfortunately it was closed for lunch on Saturday so we found the new IKEA. Oh. My. Goodness. IKEA was fan-TAS-tic! We wandered around in there for I don't know how long. I love housewares and kitchen stuff and home goods and I was in absolute heaven! We also loaded up on cookies, pastries, and a pan of cinnamon rolls. YUM!

We came back home and we were happy to hear that the kids did great! We all rested then did the trick or treating routine. We finished up just as it started pouring down rain! It was a wonderful weekend full of great memories!

Going on Vacation

We are leaving for vacation next week and I have SO MUCH TO DO! Blogging will commence after I get back.

We are staying at Sea Watch in N. Myrtle Beach. We have stayed there every summer since 2000. I highly recommend it!


Have a great week everyone!

Zoo Field Trip

On Thursday I was a chaperone to the NC Zoo in Asheboro with my daughter's first grade class. It was a great field trip! Everything ran smoothly, the weather was perfect, the children behaved themselves, and I got lots of exercise walking around the zoo.

We are members of the NC Zoo so we go a few times a year. However, there is always something new at the zoo (that sounds like an advertising slogan) when we go. This time it was the African pavillion. It used to hold birds and meerkats, but now it is home to a plants and flowers exhibit. The building will be renovated soon and all the animals have been shipped out to other zoos. The orchid display was gorgeous and it was like walking through a jungle.

Here is my daughter hamming it up on a rhinocerous sculpture. She is such a girly girl and loves her sunglasses! It was a great day and one she will remember for sure!

Day Trip-ImaginOn & Ridin' The Rails

Saturday we took a day trip to downtown Charlotte. We parked our car and rode the new Lynx light rail system into downtown and it was such a neat experience for the kids. It was easy to buy tickets and the cars were clean and the ride was smooth. The light rail system is definitely an asset to Charlotte.

Once we reached downtown, we got off the Lynx practically at the front door of ImaginOn, the children's library/children's theater complex. We love ImaginOn! There is so much to do there such as dress up, have a puppet show, look at the art displays, catch a show, and interact with the traveling museum exhibits. The exhibit currently installed was about art and sculpture.

The centerpiece of ImaginOn is the Story Jar, filled with marbles, each of which represents a story. Hanging above the giant jar are a variety of toys and items which serve as story starters.

After we left ImaginOn, we hopped on the Lynx train back to our car and ate dinner. Since our tickets were good for the whole day, we parked our car at a different station and rode south, hopped on the northbound train, and went back to our car. The Lynx light rail system was expensive to build but ridership has been great. The cars were getting full as we left since the Quail Hollow Golf Championship was finishing up.

Of course, we can't pass up hitting a few Goodwill stores while in Charlotte, and we found some nice treasures. It was a great day!

Day Trip!

Since Tim had been MIA since February due to cranking out tax returns, he decided to spend some good quality time with Anna. They went to Carowinds on Friday and had a blast! For those of you unfamiliar with Carowinds, it sits on the NC/SC border and is about 45 minutes away from us. There are a dozen roller coasters from mild to absolutely insane! They also have a water park, which opens Memorial Day weekend.

Tim & Anna stayed in the Nickolodeon area pretty much the whole time, and he got her to ride Thunder Road, pictured at left. He said she liked it until the big hill, then she covered her eyes (can't say I blame her, I don't like roller coasters either)!

We got season passes so I forsee many summer days spent at Carowinds. I haven't been to Carowinds since 1984! I lived in Charlotte for 9 years and never went when I lived there. I went when I lived in High Point and our church youth group went every year.

Tim said "It wasn't Disney"! We went to Disney in June and didn't have the greatest trip. Anna liked it, but it was a huge hassle for us, which I will provide the details for another blog post at another time. Next time we go to Carowinds, I'll take my camera and get some photos of her with Spongebob, Dora, and the Nickolodeon gang.

Many thanks to the Carowinds PR Department for the above photos.

Priceless!

One Minnie Mouse ears hat: $14.95 (Good lands, I can't believe I paid that!)

Name embroidered on the back: $3

A happy girl: Priceless!

And Mommy was happy too, it was hot as blazes and that store was nice and cool! Gotta love a/c!

Disney, Here We Come!

We are on vacation this week at Disney World. We made the trip in a record 13 hours from NC! Monkey Boy did not take a nap and BOY was he a cranky pants! So we had to stop and stretch our legs a few times. We are taking 2 days to drive back instead of one.

We stopped in Jacksonville at The Avenues Mall and the Belk's had a GREAT Lilly department! I tried on a few things (since my birthday is coming up) but nothing really jumped out and screamed "BUY ME!" It was nice to actually try on the clothes that I see in the catalogs since the nearest Lilly shop is in Charlotte.

Anyway, we are settled in, the kids are in bed, and there are computers in every unit. So I'll try to blog periodically this week and try to get some photos posted, we'll see. Thanks Mom and Dad for the new digital camera!

Talk soon!

Charleston, SC

Inspired by a post on Preppy Sue's blog, here is my favorite vacation spot ever: Charleston, SC!

I discovered Charleston back when my husband and I were dating. He is a graduate of The Citadel (back when the men were men and the women were visitors).



All the buildings look like this, Kangaroo Girl called them castles when we went down for a reunion.

If you like looking at big houses, then Battery Park is awesome. It is right on the river and tok a direct hit from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Cobblestone streets, big mansions, the whole nine yards.



At the edge of the Battery is White Point Gardens, a lush park with benches and a gazebo. I have fond memories of this place. See the bench to the left of the gazebo? That is where Tim and I got engaged. We love Charleston so much, we went there on our honeymoon (Edisto Island actually, but still).



There is so much to see in downtown Charleston. You have to take a carriage ride through the streets and take it all in.



The restaurants are fantastic! You won't go hungry in Charleston. Whenever we visit, I have to eat shrimp and grits from East Bay Crab Shack (formerly known as Captain Stack's) or the 82 Queen.



Other excellent restaurants are Old Towne Restaurant, which has fabulous Greek food, Athens, Hyman's, Slightly North of Broad, and Bowen's Island Seafood on James Island.

And the shopping! King Street is GREAT. Lots of little shops, antique stores, and unique places. Just writing this makes me want to pack my suitcase and GO!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Date Night with Daddy

The NASCAR races are in Charlotte/Concord this week and Mr. Just Keep Talkin' took Kangaroo Girl to the truck races Friday night. Usually Kangaroo Girl has a standing invitation to spend the night at Grandmommy's on Friday nights but we promised her a trip to Chuck E. Cheese and she could spend the day at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's on Saturday and even wear her pajamas all day. It worked!

So Mr. JKT and Kangaroo Girl set out on their Daddy Date while Monkey Boy and I hung out at Grandmommy's. They went to the Amber House in Charlotte, as mentioned in one of my earlier posts, then hit the Chuck E. Cheese in Concord. Mr. JKT gave the Cheese a thumbs up, he said it was a nice one with a big indoor playground and a carrousel. Then they headed out to Lowes Motor Speedway for the truck races.

They met up with some friends from Lincolnton who had also brought their kids which really cut down on the boredom factor for KG. Said friends reserved a space in the infield. A big camper/bus pulled into the space beside them and KG had to take a tour of it! She and Daddy even went up on top where they had lawn chairs set up and got a great view of the track. Then they took a tour of the track, looked at all the rednecks then oohed and aaahed at the luxury campers/tour buses the drivers live in. They had such a good time and they returned home at 11:30 pm. Kangaroo Girl said "It was so loud and the trucks went VRRRRRRROOOOM!" LOL!

I went to the same race a few years ago and it really was neat. Lowes Motor Speedway is a nice track. I'd like to see a race in the stands and listen to the commentary on headphones.

Mr. JKT returned to the track last night to watch the All Star Race and it was driver Dale Jarrett's last race. For the his final lap, he drove a UPS truck around the track (his sponsor is UPS).

It was a fun night for them and the weather was perfect. Thanks for reading!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Last Sunday we went to the wonderful
Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury. This park is GREAT! It has playgrounds, a small zoo, paddle boats, carrousel, train, mini golf, a gem mine, and a splash fountain. We are going to have Mr. JKT's birthday party there in September. It wasn't too hot and the weather was perfect.

We had a full afternoon of playing on the playground, Kangaroo Girl and Daddy took a ride around the lake on a duck shaped paddle boat, we rode the carrousel three times, rode the train, and went through the zoo. Whew!

Monkey Boy actually took a short nap in the car as we were heading to the shopping mecca known as
Concord Mills and found some great deals at Eddie Bauer and the Gymboree Outlet. We ate at a nice little restaurant in Charlotte called the House Of Pizza. It was a long full day but a nice adventure!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Destination: Charlotte, NC

Continuing on our post-tax season weekend adventures, we visited Charlotte yesterday. I lived there for 9 years but wow, has it changed! And we only visited downtown (more or less).

Last year, we visited the new ImaginOn children's library and loved it. It is a huge building of just the children's and teen section of the main library downtown and it also houses two theaters which you can see children's plays. We caught the Cinderella Sillies (free!) show at 1 pm. Mr. Just Keep Talkin and Kangaroo Girl saw that while Monkey Boy and I ran-literally-around the library part. They also had an exhibit of interactive machines where you can make a bear play a xylophone, a big drum machine play, and other neat stuff. There are tons of events going on all the time at ImaginOn, I wish we lived closer to take advantage of all they offer.

Afterwards, we hit Discovery Place and saw the dinosaurs and Norman Rockwell exhibits. Discovery Place is a landmark museum downtown and it doesn't disappoint. It is closing for one year for renovations in January so if you want to go, you better do it before January! And if you want to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit, you need to go before the end of April.

The dinosaurs exhibit was good, but it was geared for older children. My two little monkeys liked the Norman Rockwell exhibit. The detail of the different scenes was amazing. Kangaroo Girl liked playing dress up in the house. You could also sit in the schoolhouse, the soda shop, and ride in a Model T and a Jeep. Very cool. They had easels set up with paper that had the "Saturday Evening Post" masthead at the top and you could draw something for the cover. Towards the end of the exhibit, they had all the covers displayed that Norman Rockwell had painted for the Post. We did/saw more at the museum, but to keep from boring everyone, let's just say we got our money's worth and there is so much to do and see there.

After that, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants, the Amber House. We all got spaghetti but Monkey Boy was antsy so I got mine "to go" and we hung out in the van until he settled down. We came back inside and he got antsy again so this time it was Mr. JKT's turn to deal with him. They waited in the lobby until Kangaroo Girl and I were finished. Oh well. This too shall pass!

Then we went looking for the new National Whitewater Center complex, we found it but it sure is well hidden! The Olympic trials are this weekend. This would be a nice adventure for Mr. JKT and I sans children.

After that, we were going to find a playground but a storm rolled in and we hung out at Chuck E. Cheese in Gastonia for about an hour. That was fun! We love CEC. Kangaroo Girl loves standing in front of the "blue screen" and mugging for the camera and singing along to the songs. Monkey Boy likes the indoor playground and again, running amok.

We arrived back home and hit the bed. It was a long day but so much fun! Stay tuned to where we will go next!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Whew! What a busy weekend. Friday, Mr. Just Keep Talkin' and myself left the kids with my parents and had a night to ourselves. We ate at a local steakhouse then went shopping. It was nice to browse through the glass and china section at World Market without fear of Monkey Boy grabbing (and throwing) something.

Saturday, we left Monkey Boy with my parents and we went to a wedding. This was a nice introduction to Wedding Behavior for Kangaroo Girl. She did really well and enjoyed dancing at the reception. The wedding is a whole 'nother post in itself. As we were leaving the church, I told Mr. JKT that "there's a short story in here somewhere". One example: after all the photos were taken, the Maid of Honor changed clothes and came out wearing a t-shirt that had "They Call Me Big Sexy" airbrushed on it, and sweat pants and flip flops. Seriously!

Yesterday, we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. We are members at the Greenville, SC Zoo and we can get in free to other zoos. We were having a great time until a storm rolled in about 1:15. We loaded up and went down the road to Seagrove, where there are many pottery shops. Around 3 pm we went back to the zoo to wait out the storm in the van, and it started hailing! It eventually cleared up and we walked around the newly renovated African section. They have really improved that part of the zoo. Here's a tip, don't go to the NC Zoo in the summertime, as it is hot as blazes and also very hilly, esp. in the African part. However, they have mini-buses that take you between the N. American section and the African section if you don't want to walk. The kids enjoyed riding on the mini-buses, they are painted with zebra stripes.

We headed home and ended up at University Place right outside UNC-Charlotte. There is a nice lake with shops and a playground for the kids. We ate supper at Mickey D's then got home around 8:15. It was a great day!