4th of July Celebration 2016

Spending 4th of July at home has become somewhat of a tradition for us. We can easily see the Lake Julian Fireworks from our neighborhood so there's no need for us to travel very far.  A walk down the street for a better view is all it takes for us to celebrate. With a newborn and a husband who needed to be at work at 4am the next day, I'm so thankful!

Food always plays a major roll in our day and it started with brunch.  A late breakfast ensures we can skip lunch and eat an early dinner. I was inspired by Biscuit Head and HenDough (our favorite brunch spots) to make this smothered biscuit topped with a poached egg. It was my first time poaching an egg. I turned to Alton Brown for a quick lesson! Check it out, here. They turned out fairly well, but next time, I'm going to take them off the heat sooner. I didn't listen to Alton completely like I should have! 5 minutes IS all that is needed. We prefer them to be a little more runny. Overall, though, they turned out great! Usually, I would try to make homemade biscuits and gravy, but with a newborn I opted for Pillsbury and a gravy mix. Shhh....

This year, we had one family over -- the Bagamarys. They have two sons, Joshua, who is Keira's age and Jackson, who just turned a year old.  I didn't get too many pictures, because Evangeline was in the middle of her 5-8pm freak out session!  It started with us trying to get her to nap in her crib. In retrospect, 4th of July probably wasn't the best time to try and transition her.  She lasted maybe 15 minutes! 

Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time in the bedroom feeding and/or consoling her and when I wasn't with her, I was prepping food.  I did manage to get a few good pictures though!

The dads grilled, while the children played. It looked like it was going to rain so we set the pool up in inside the porch, rather than outside. It's crazy how a little pool can bring so much joy! They could play all day if we let them.

Jackson & Evangeline hung out with the moms in the kitchen. Thankfully, Evangeline calmed down just enough for us to finish prepping all the food. Sweet Jackson kept trying to give her his Batman water bottle.

And now for the food! We had gone to a couple get-togethers the week before the 4th of July and at each one, I gained a new recipe or two from friends. I'm passing on the favor and sharing them with you today!

Keira's friend had a birthday party and his mom made this mac & cheese. It's the best mac & cheese I have ever had. Ever. Ever. Ever. You'll be hooked! Get the super easy, cheesy recipe here!

A couple days later we gathered with work friends. I learned that devilled eggs are not devilish enough without bacon, sour cream & chives. Purely addictive. Courtesy of Trisha Yearwood (and a friend from work), get the recipe here.

At the same party, watermelon never looked so beautiful. Ditch the salt, for more adult ingredients! I don't have a link for this recipe but it's pretty simple. Cut watermelon slices, sprinkle chilli powder, fresh mint & feta generously so they look like watermelon pizzas. Delish!

After dinner, I put Evangeline to sleep (let's all sigh with a bit of relief) and we waited until night fall to walk down the street to watch the fireworks with our neighbors.  Ryan stayed behind with the baby.  Don't worry, we didn't leave her alone!  

Keira was terrified as we walked down the street!  I had to beg her to open her eyes.  Neighbors where doing their fair share of very loud fireworks before the main show. She snuggled her head in my neck almost the entire time! She & I were a sweaty mess by the end! I was the same way when I was her age, though, so I completely understand her fright.  New Year's Eve in Hawaii would bring out the same reaction in me that I was seeing in Keira.  She's so much like me!  Once the real fireworks started, the ones in the neighborhood went quiet and luckily she was able to relax and enjoy it.

Once we got back to the house, our friends left and it was time for bed. Surprisingly, both girls slept through the night!  

The next day, I realized, we didn't get a picture of Keira on the back porch like we had the two years before. Why break tradition?  We got one the next day in her USA themed gear.  She's growing up so fast!  Until next year...

  

Sky Top Orchard

October's been flying by so quickly that I began to think we'd miss out on getting to Sky Top Orchard this year.  Well, we made it... too late to pick our own apples, though.  All of the trees have been picked clean, but there was still a lot for us to enjoy at this beautiful orchard in Flat Rock.

Look at how much Keira's grown in just a year!  She's shot up 6 or 7 inches.  She still loves pink!

 

I was looking forward to letting Keira play in Sky Top's large playground of slides, swings & club houses.  Last year, Keira was too little to play along side the big kids but this year I was sure she'd enjoy it more.

And she did for a little while, but her nose had been running and being outside didn't help!  Baby girl just wanted to be held, so we switched gears and headed to the tractor ride.  

It's 2 dollars per person, including the little ones.  It takes you through most of the farm.  The property is large so if you don't have the time to walk it or have a kid a little under the weather, this is the way to go!

 

Part of the reason I love Sky Top Orchard is the panoramic mountain view!  It's called Sky Top for a reason after all.  You can see for miles and the color this time of year is just beautiful.

Wouldn't you love to live in this house with that porch?  All you need to do is open a popular orchard.  Eh, simple enough.

 

Chickens, sheep, goats & peacocks call this barnyard home. We had no idea about this part of the orchard.  Maybe next year we can explore this area little more.  Keira did love seeing the animals from a distance.

  

 

After our tour, we headed to the main building to get what we really came for - apples & donuts!

 

 

The line for the apple donuts was not as long as I had anticipated.  Last year we waited for almost an hour.  This time we only waited for fifteen  minutes!  So here's the deal... if you want to pick your own apples come earlier in the season - late September, early October.  If you're in it for the donuts and don't mind buying a bag of pre-picked apples come towards the end of October!  They actually remain open until December 1st, so if you haven't made it you have some time to make the trip.

It was about this time that Keira really started getting sleepy.  Her poor nose was so red! 

 

She couldn't help but take a little catnap on daddy's shoulder as we waited.  I quietly snapped a family photo.

 We got up to the front and there they were - hot and fresh, the best donuts ever, a once a year treat!

 

Not only are these donuts delicious hot and fresh, they are also good the next day, so we got two dozen!  One dozen was not nearly enough last year.  Each dozen is $9.  It's a little steep, but hey, I totally get it.

 

We also got a small bag of Fuji apples for $6. I'll be making a pie soon!

 

Oh, by the way, they only take cash or check.  We didn't come prepared so we had to pay an extra fee to get some cash out of their ATM. Note to self.

 

Under the circumstances we decided to head home, but as soon as we were on our way we opened the first box of donuts. 

 

 I don't think we even made it out of the parking lot!

Even Keira perked up enough to get a bite! 

Yum!

A weekend in the sun!

This weekend was great.  It included a lot rest and recouping, but we spent it mostly in-doors.  I had to work a little and we went to the gym and attended an awesome birthday party but much of it had nothing to do with being out in the sun.  

LAST weekend, on the other hand, we spent basking in the sun and couldn't get enough of it.  After a very rainy work week the weather was perfect and we were itching to take advantage of it. It was the type of weekend I wish I could duplicate over and over again in the summer months.  Here's how our sun-filled weekend went!

Although it's great to sleep in, the best Saturdays, in my opinion, are the ones where you wake up early.  You can fit so much more fun into your day!  My alarm was set for 5:45AM.  I had to be at the station to meet friends at 7AM to head to Asheville's very first official Color Run!  Unfortunately, I didn't set my alarm right and it never went off.  I found myself scrambling to head out the door.  There was no way I was missing out on picking up some coffee from Starbucks no matter how late I was!  I can't function this early without it.  Luckily for me, everyone was running 5 minutes behind, so all was well.  Whew!

Also, lucky for me, my friends had everything planned out ahead of time, right down to our outfits.  For a mere $20, Julie (in pink) found us matching tutus, gloves, headbands and tank tops.  We were rockin' it!

Tessa (in purple), even personalized our tanks with our team name, Color Us Badd (pretty clever, huh?) and our names using puffy paint.  Can you tell she's a teacher? 

Yellow was my color and I felt a little more like a sun-shiny ballerina than a runner.  I was totally fine with that!  I haven't been able to run as much as of late, so the idea of running that morning had me worried.

I took this picture half way through the run.  There were SO many people participating that it was more of walk and nearly impossible to run competitively, a bit of relief for me!   It was estimated that nearly 7,000 people showed up and when I saw this sea of white ahead of me, I believed it.

I didn't really get any great pictures during and after the the run.  It's very messy and the plastic bag I held my phone in didn't make it easy to snap away.  To read more about our experience at the Color Run and to see some great after photos, head on over to my friend's blog, Running In A Skirt!  She pens it perfectly!

After the run, I headed home to Ryan and Keira.  She was fascinated by my blue-pinkish hands and yellow hair! She's still talking about it.  I jumped in the shower and was quite surprised at how easy all the color washed away.  Apart from blowing blue out of my nose for awhile, it was like it never happened!

It was still early in the day (benefit to getting up early!) so we decided to head to the Biltmore Estate for a picnic lunch.  It was the first time we've been able to use our new annual passes!  Ryan and I get free media passes every year and we've never been able to upgrade them to annuals, that is until this year.  When we took my Grandma Emma in June, we found out that they changed their policy and that we could upgrade at a discount.  It was a no-brainer!  Co-workers take note!

The property is large and a little overwhelming.  I'm sure the more we come on the more we'll learn to navigate the roads.  We weren't really sure where we could stop to picnic.  We drove past Antler Village and ended up parking near a small pond where a couple other families were also fishing and lunching. 

I think we came upon the boat used in the Biltmore Estate commercials last year.  I was tempted to take it out but didn't want to cause any trouble on our first visit.  But really, it's just sitting there and it doesn't look tethered down.  It's practically yelling row me out!  I believe the grand building in the back ground is the Inn. 

We set up our blankets in a big open field across from the pond.  Even Dutchie got to come along!  I'm so glad they allow pets on the property, which was a huge factor in getting the annual passes.  It's fun for the whole family!

 

We picked up a foot long from Ingles.  Spicy Italian on honey wheat... yum!

Keira got a Lunchable.  Of course she went for the Oreo cookie first.  I didn't realize they were in there or I would have hidden them until they she finished her meat and cheese! 

We really do love picnics! It was awesome to step away from the television, the computer and our phones and into one of the most amazing backdrops we've even seen. There is so much we have yet to explore on the Biltmore Estate and I look forward to all the memories we'll be able to create in the coming year.  While I don't wish summer to leave, I am looking forward to Fall & Winter here!

 

 

There weren't a lot of people around us after we finished eating, so we were able to let Dutchie off her leash for a fun game of fetch.

These are some of my favorite photos of the day!  We have a small yard and Dutchie HATES dog parks.  It was awesome to be able to let her stretch her legs and run around without feeling intimated or scared.  She is very good at playing fetch! 

Like me, Dutchie wears her emotions on her face.  You can totally tell when she's happy and on this day, she was very happy!

After we tired Dutch out, we decided to explore the pond and the road around it. Just a few minutes into our stroll we came across this little fella!  Ryan is terrified of snakes, so this is the closest he let me or Keira get to it.  It was probably harmless, but we quickly moved on!

 

While we were eating lunch it felt like we were the only family around, but as soon as we starting walking along the pond we passed nearly half a dozen families or friends fishing, eating or swimming in the French Broad River, which was on the opposite side of this little road. Everyone was very friendly and complimented our little girl on her cuteness.  I have to agree, she's pretty cute.

 

Of course, we had to take a selfie.  Not the easiest to do with a DSLR but I think it came out ok.  A little artsy!

We headed home, but their was still a lot of sunshine left in the day - again a benefit of getting started early, coupled with a long summer day!  Keira took a quick nap and then we headed to our neighborhood's pool.

Keira's not a fish by any means.  I wouldn't say she LOVES the water, but she does enjoy going to the pool.  She likes to splash around and push Ryan below the surface from the safety of her floaty, but God forbid you try to put her under water!  After a lot of coaxing we did get her to plug her nose and dunk, a huge step forward.  Lots of high-fives were made, but we could not get her to do it a second time! Oh well, baby steps.

You work up an appetite being out in the sun all day!  Before the Color Run, my friend Holly (in blue) had mentioned blue cheese burgers she had made the night before.  Suddenly I had a craving! I had to try her recipe out for myself.  I picked up some blue cheese and cream cheese which made up the topping.  It was perfected with caramelized onions and a side of sweet potato fries.  It was like summer in your mouth!  Thank you, Holly!  We will definitely make it again.

 

After church the next day, we hit up the Farmers Market in search of peaches.  Score!  I wasn't sure if her tastes had changed since last summer, but Keira loves them just as much as she did the year before.  It's like catching up with a best friend you haven't seen in awhile, but carrying on like you've never been apart. Southern peaches = heaven.  She could eat them all day.

Sunday turned out to be just as beautiful as Saturday, so I brought out Keira's mini pool. (Well, the day was just as beautiful.... the night was a different story.)  The pool is really too small for her now, especially after she fills it with ALL of her toys, but she enjoys it none-the-less.  Most importantly it fits on our back porch and I can watch her while I work in the kitchen.  Peaches, after all, meant I NEEDED to bake a peach pie!  I pulled up last year's blog entry with the recipe.

Reading last year's post made me realize that time really does fly, making weekends like this all the more important and valuable to me.  Keira's grown so much since last year.  She could barely talk then!  Now she talks constantly and insists on helping me roll out the dough for the pie.  Such a big girl, especially in comparison!

Yes, sometimes it's best and necessary to rest from the craziness of the week, but other times it's even better to get out and just do! In many ways it can be more rejuvenating then a quiet weekend at home.  Luckily summer's not over yet and we have many more weekends to fill before the cold comes.  I say, bring it on!  It's what summer is all about... lots of sun and lots of family!

Btw, here is the pie. We didn't get enough.  A second one is in our future!