Aahhhh Summer!!

Carowinds

 So excited they could hardly stand it!!  

Mark had a three day weekend and declared we were breaking free of this new life the balanced us between Whole Foods and the kitchen.  

Carowinds here come!  With some extra prep work leading up to it we set out early Friday morning anxious for some family fun!!

 As we planned for the trip I assumed my older gals would be on some "bigger rides." Perhaps fast, perhaps quick turns, but upside down on the very first ride!!!

Let's go back to hugging Peanuts Characters!!

 There was a fun dance we performed as we continually switched up who partnered with who on big rides and little rides.  Then different pairs repeating the big rides so the one who may have missed out as they went in slow circles closer to the ground level could experience the thrill of the big ride.

 After a great day, exhausted (and Mark and me being reminded of our age) we were all too happy to be checking into a nearby hotel.  Everyone was scrubbed up and in PJs by the time our pizza was delivered (and Haleigh's chicken was warmed in our kitchenette- I may have gone into shakes if I hadn't been cooking something in the 24 hour span ;)

 Day two we headed back to the park set for a day in the water!!  Not many pictures from day two, but LOTS of fun none the less.

It was a GREAT get-a-way!! 

We were excited about how smoothly it all played out.

We were very surprised by the adventure side of our girls.  

Before it was all over Sophie, Haleigh and I rode the Cobra.  We were upside down 4 times as we twisted, turned and screamed and that was just going forward... then we did it all again backwards.  

After it finally stopped Sophie just looked over and said, "Mom, your hair is a mess!" 

Upstate Farm Tour 2012

Several months ago I heard of a farm tour that happens every year in our area.  I knew it was something I wanted us to do.  As we were cruising through Whole Foods around May 31.   I saw the flyer.  It could not have been on a worse weekend according to squares on our calendar.    We were disappointed that Mark couldn't take this adventure with us because he was working, BUT we threw caution to the wind, plugged in our GPS target spots, and set out in search of our first farm destination.

(The first day we needed to stay a little closer to home than originally planned due the flooring guys finishing up back at the house.)

RED FERN FARM

vegetables~herbs~lamb

and some delicious, all natural, fresh strawberry-hibiscus snow cones.

 BETHEL TRAILS FARM

pigs~cows~sheep~poultry~eggs

Haleigh asked our teen tour guide if she could pet the turkey.  He said, "If you can catch it!" Not realizing he had just challenged Haleigh to do just that.  The tour guide's mother was giving a tour to another family and realized what was happening and kindly remarked that the turkey may turn from the chased to the chaser soon.  We quickly heeded the warning and made it out before Haleigh was became the chased.

After a brief stop back at the house to sign off on the flooring installation, we ended the day at 

BUFFALO FARMS

It was pretty fascinating, this 1700 lb. Buffalo was only about 10 feet from us.  Amazing.  

Also very neat, this baby buffalo (below)  was born earlier that day.  To see her just walk up with the others as  John the Farmer yelled to come for food... breathtaking!!

DAY 2

We kicked the second day off at
HAPPY COW CREAMERY.
We were free of our need to stay closer to home so we traveled a little further on day two and we able to coordinate with our buddies and tour with them.  

Farmer Tom took a minuted between giving tours to have a picture with our kiddos.  He is such a kind man and cares so much about the quality of milk he can provide for our kids and the ideas and  understanding of health and taking care of the land God has given us.  He is passionate about what we are teaching the coming generations.

The calf below was born earlier in the day.  The girls were intrigued watching the mother care for her new calf.  (It also led to a much more in depth discussion of the birth process than I ever thought I would have with Mackenzie (4) taking in every question posed and honest answer given.)

BIO-WAY FARM

 ~organic produce~

These folks really had our kids interest peeked as they got to smell and guess what herbs they were seeing.  Then they were assisted in making their own salad dressing.  It was great fun!

THE EARLY BIRD WORM FARM

worms~compost~vegetables

Not a very girly stop, but perhaps one of the most interesting!  This farmer was a real down to earth, "good-ole boy" who has mastered working the land and making the land work for you.  I will be anxious to follow up with this farm in the coming years as hearing his plans for his greenhouses were fascinating. 

As we summed up our farm tour we all agreed on a few things...

~it was great fun!

~this would make it onto our annual to do list!

~if they could only pick one to go back to they all agreed it would be the worm farm!

Memorial Day Weekend Packed with Friends

Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend Mark called to see if we wanted to meet some sweet friends downtown for a pizza at the park followed by a parade.  "Sure!"

We hadn't been very "spur of the moment" since we started our allergy journey so we decided to try out "spur of the moment" in our new style.

After our picnic we found front row seats and watched with excitement...

 as the Scottish parade marched by.  

(This is where the video of Haleigh dancing was taken that was posted a few posts ago.)

We topped the evening off with some gelato for everyone!!

The next day we decided to give a Freedom Weekend Aloft a second chance.  We had been on this outing about five years ago and it was one of the worst events we attended.  

We were hesitant about what we would find... 

Much to our surprise, we had a GREAT time!!

  

The crowd was not overwhelming, for the most part ;)

there were fun rides,

 and just as we settled into the field where there seemed to be a lot of action...

 the flag was switched from yellow to green and the balloons began to fill right in front of our eyes.

 It was truly amazing, beautiful, fun!  

I'm not sure who was more excited the girls or me.

At one point I started to move the girls back because I thought we were in the way of a balloon being set up.  They told us we were fine where we were.  I'm telling you we were less than ten feet from several balloons as they were being prepared to launch.

 

And before you knew it, the sky looked like this as the one hundred balloons took to the sky!

 To wrap up the holiday weekend we spent Sunday evening with many of our small group families.

It was a sweet time to reconnect and be!

CC Field Day

A few weeks after CC ended we just couldn't stand to not see our friends.  One of the neat mamas organized a field day.  It turned out to be much more fun than I imagined it would be.

The teams were assigned when we arrived as each team was defined by the color of their shirts.  Even the young ones were invited to join in all the fun!

 Everything from spinning around on a bat relay...

 

to the great shoe hunt (finding your own shoes in the pile of about 60 pair of shoes, getting them on and running back to your team.)

 

Getting the hula hoop around the whole team circle without breaking the connection was a super fun one.

 Egg tosses were wild.  One mom ended up the center of attention when an egg splatted right on top of her head.  (So glad it wasn't me!)

 Balloon tosses were refreshing.

 

The three legged races were amped up as moms got to throw water balloons at the racers.

 Once all the planned games were over we took the opportunity to picnic with friends and play at the park for the rest of the afternoon.

It was a great day!!