Friday, May 31, 2013

Huntsville with Dad & Rosie

Wednesday night, I received a message from Rosie that they would be in Huntsville on Thursday, and after they were finished taking care of the things they needed to get done, they would like to have lunch with us.  Bobby's working nights this week so he wasn't able to, but the kids and I made plans to meet them.

We met them at Taziki's and had a wonderful lunch.  That turkey club gyro is SO yummy, I can't seem to make myself order anything else when we go.  We chatted about lots of things and then ended up talking about rafting.  If we go for Father's Day, they're going to go with us!  Rosie is making a trade out of it though.  If she does this with dad, he has to go on a hot air balloon ride with her :)

I told them that I wanted to stay in town until that evening.  I've heard about The Greene Street Market and wanted to check it out.  They decided they would stick with us for the day, so we ended up going to Green Mountain for a bit to kill some time.  I made a quick call to Esther to get directions and we were on our way.

We've only been to Green Mountain one other time, with Karen and Keilee and that was over two years ago.  It's such a beautiful place, I don't know why we don't visit more often.   
















We only walked to the little log cabin and back out, then we sat in the wooden rocking chairs and just enjoyed the scenery and each other's company.  It's such a peaceful place.  Soon it was time to head on to our next adventure so I plugged the address into our GPS and we were on our way.

Can I just say that city parking confuses me?  There are lots, but you have to have a permit to use them.  Where do you get those?  We circled several times, ended up splitting up and each found parking spots about a block away in opposite directions.  At any rate, we were back together soon and we ran into a friend we haven't seen in forever.  Love those surprises!

The market is bigger than I imagined with LOTS of vendors selling local fresh fruits and veggies, homemade breads, goat cheese, hummus, salsas, flowers, herbs etc.  There's live music showcasing local talent. Oh, and 587 dogs!  Everyone brought their doggies ranging from a Doberman and Standard Poodle to teacup Chihuahuas.


Can you believe I forgot to stop at an ATM?  I went to a street market with NO cash.  I'm such a goob sometimes!  Rosie treated us to these wonderful frozen fruit pops.  Brit picked mango-habanero, Dakota picked a rainbow flavored one, Dad got a coconut (may have been pina colada now that I'm thinking about it), Rosie's was strawberry and I got peach-basil, which was VERY refreshing on a hot afternoon.  Of course, we all tasted each other's and they were all delicious! 





 


Soon it was time for Dad and Rosie to leave, and left me with $20 so I'd buy something.  We picked up a quart of strawberries, a bag of lettuce, a bag of spinach and a small bunch of radishes.  I can't wait to make a salad today!


It was a wonderful day.  I called them on our way home to thank them and tell them how much we enjoyed our time together.  Rosie said they were just saying the same thing and how when I was little, Dad had to work so much, he wasn't able to do spontaneous things with me and how he was so thankful he's able to now.  That made me tear right up.  I'm so very thankful for these moments :)

Ocoee!!

Esther sent out an email about a special one of the outfitters was running for Memorial Day at the Ocoee.  Even with the discount, I didn't really think it was something we could do.  Bobby and I talked about it a little, but kind of left it alone.  Esther mentioned it again and I told her I would talk to Bobby that night, but because of the wedding, I never even thought of it.  The next day, Sunday, Esther was like "HEY!  I am making reservations!  What are you doing?!!"  Haha...not really but since I forgot to talk to Bobby, that's how my brain read it...in a panic.  He was cutting the grass and I ran outside.  I asked him if we could spare the money so Brit could at least go.  He was like "Yeah, we can make that happen."  So I grinned really big and was like "Do we have enough so two people can go?"  He said, "But I want to go too!"  Haha...so within a very short amount of time, we decided that the three of us would go, I talked to Suzette who agreed to let Dakota hang out with them all day, reservations were made and everything fell into place beautifully.  Love when that happens!  I even let Beth know in case they could come over since they live in Knoxville.

The next morning, we were at Suzette's house at 8 am, dropping off The Boy and packing in The Crawfords.  Dakota was extremely excited about spending the day with Zachary, which made it much easier...I was afraid he would feel left out.  That was not the case at all!  Plus, we're going to plan a canoeing trip that we can all go on.

The drive was uneventful, which is just how I like it.  There were waves and people laughing and talking and then quiet again.  We passed through Hollywood and I waved in the general direction of Dad and Rosie :)  Chattanooga traffic wasn't horrible and we made great time.



We got to Quest and got signed in, looked at their gift shop, signed our waivers.






We went to eat our lunch that they provided in this particular special.  I expected pre-made sandwiches with stale bread (school lunch flashbacks?) and was pleasantly surprised!  It was a wonderful spread of breads, tortillas, deli meats, and all the fixings.  Oh, and homemade cookies and cupcakes.  It was delicious!  And everyone was so kind, asking us if we needed anything else.  I was quite impressed.


We had a little down time before things started.  I, along with all of the kiddos, have never been rafting before so there was lots of excitement!  We slathered sun block on and waited for things to start.



Then it was time to gather, discuss some safety, collect out gear and load up on a bus that would take us up to the drop off point.  It was a very exciting bus ride, laughing and talking and making jokes.  Bobby said we had been down that road before and nowhere in my brain did that make sense...even after he said that that was the way we went to Tellico Plains.  But then I saw something that I remembered and very loudly admitted that he was right and I was wrong.  People cheered and he knuckle bumped several men.  Evidently this was a big step for men everywhere!  Haha!

We got to the drop off point, they unloaded the rafts, we got up with our guides and started going over the basics of how to sit, feet placement, rowing, etc.  Then we got lined up and into the water.  To be honest, it wasn't as big and bad as I imagined it would be.  There were some rough spots and we got soaked, but it was fun...not scary.  Brit and Chan rode with me and Bobby and every time I looked at them, they had the biggest smiles on their faces.  Our guide was awesome!  I can totally see us hanging out sometime...so we're now facebook friends!  Hahaha :)  I brought a waterproof camera with me and am waiting...not so patiently...for those to come in.  Did you know you don't get negatives anymore?  They put your photos on a CD now.  Cool!  That's how long it's been since I got film developed :)

When we got back, Beth and Richard were waiting on us!  It was SO good to see them and on her birthday too!
The drive home was equally uneventful.  We stopped at the Taco Bell in Scottsboro.  I called Dad to see if he and Rosie would meet us, but they had had a long, busy day and opted to stay home.  So then we were back at Suzette's, chatted for a while about the happenings of the day and home by 9:00.  Everyone got showered and I realized that I neglected my legs in the slathering of the sunblock!  They were pretty red, but are now just tanned.  Yeah Native American skin!  We slept very well that night!

Ah, it was SO much fun and I loved sharing the experience with some of my favorite people!  I can't wait to go back!  There's talk of going for Father's Day!  :)

Hitched!

Our good friends, Ashlee and Brandon, got married on the 25th.  It was a sweet ceremony and we had lots of fun at the reception, which Bobby was able to make it to after work :)




Ashlee looked gorgeous and I loved her dress.  Brandon...well, he is the only guy I know who could pull off wearing a white tux!  They both looked amazing.





























I wish them every happiness.  Seriously, if anyone deserves it, it's these two :)

Where we've been as a family