Our lives as parents » Mountains

Private Home Art Show

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:21:29 +0000

Wow! October starts tomorrow and it is my absolute favorite month of the year! My husband and I were married in October and this year is our five-year anniversary!

Cooler (relative) weather is supposed to reach Florida tomorrow. I’m so excited because I am hosting a private art show featuring seven local artists at my house! I’ve been busy preparing for a few weeks. As this is my first show of anything like this I am anxious to see what happens.

A special thank you to the following women who will be participating in tomorrow’s event.

Tina Adkins
Danean Hoenicke Ermentrout
Kate McKuhen
Joni Rollen
Beth Smith
Elizabeth Sullivan

~Life as Mom

Anniversary in Highlands, NC

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:30:22 +0000

Cooler crisp weather. Beautiful earthy colors. Sinking into a devine feather bed. Soaking in a giant jetted tub. Smoking a fragrant cigar. Devouring Dove ice cream bars. Inhaling white tea soap. Listening to gentle jazz.

These are the things I look forward to next weekend when we go to Old Edwards Inn and Spa in Highlands, North Carolina for our annual Fall trip to the mountains. Unfortunately it will only be for a very short weekend but it was the only time this Fall that we could get away to enjoy the leaves change.

We are leaving the child at home this year. We could take him and we are going to miss him terribly but the short weekend and long drive there and back would make for a very cranky Mom, not to mention kid.

Our aspirations for the weekend are to visit Dry Falls where Kevin asked me to marry him and to sleep as late as possible in the feather bed. Then get up and go take a nap in the huge soaking jetted tub. Then get back in the lovely feather bed for another nap. Maybe go out and view the Fall leaves. I know the color won’t be at peak just yet but as long as the weather is cooler than Florida I’m a happy wife. Did I mention the heat index is at 105 degrees today?

The challenging part of the weekend will be in how many times we call Aden to see how he is doing. This will be our first long weekend without him. If it wasn’t Old Edwards, it might not be worth leaving him behind. But Son, when you read this, this place was worth it to Mom and Dad to leave you with Noni.

We love this place. Luxury in an old english style way that makes us feel absolutely wonderful! I can’t rave about this place enough. Definitely worth the visit. From the champaigne arrival to the stocked butler’s pantry, this place is the epitomy of service and style.

And yes, I do smoke cigars. Rather, a cigar. I get to smoke one about once a year and not every year. Obviously for special occasions with a wonderful wine and NOT in front of the kid. He’ll be traumatized enough from seeing us run around the house naked that I wouldn’t want him to remember us smoking cigars as well. Although, Kevin likes to smoke a pipe. That really smells a lot better than my old smelly cigar!

I can’t wait.

~Life as Mom

Aden’s First Mountain Trip

admin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:00:27 +0000

We took Aden on his first vacation to the mountains this week. It went so much better than anticipated but in some ways traveling with a seven week old baby was a little frustrating. I am glad I have a husband who helps out so much, although I kept finding myself getting extremely frustrated very quickly especially at night when I was tired and hungry. Kevin got the worst of it then. I’ve noticed that my frustration increases dramatically after 9:00 p.m. and of course that is when Aden gets the most active. I’ve read that traveling with a baby this age is the easiest. I can totally understand that as the couple were traveling with have an 11-month old and that seems so much worse. She did a lot more crying and whining and demanded a lot more attention. As well as it went with Aden, it was still stressful and all I could think of was of leaving him with Grandma the next time. We did have a few fun moments but for the most part I feel like I didn’t get to relax. Because I was constantly watching Aden, I missed out on some things. I like taking lots of pictures, enjoying a relaxing dinner without having to get up to change diapers or worry about disturbing everyone in the restaurant.

When we stayed at our friend’s cabin and it started snowing all day, I got really stressed. All I could think of was being snowed in with an infant and no food or water. Luckily there was nothing to be concerned about but to a Florida girl who hasn’t any experience with snow, that was quite worrisome. It snowed all day Thursday. I wish I had gotten to play in the snow more. Kevin was out there making a snowman and snow angels.

We took Aden to the Grove Park Inn and Spa for dinner and a photo. Grove Park is so wonderful. They had a photo-op set up for the guests to use and we did get our Christmas shot. Their gingerbread house competition was displayed and they were marvelous. The fantastical creations inspired lovely visions of Christmas. Between the snow and the beautiful Christmas decorations at Grove Park we had a lovely holiday experience. I just hope we didn’t do the wrong thing with bringing Aden along. I’m so worried he’ll get sick. Then I’ll be labeled a bad mother. How could I possibly even contemplate taking out an infant and risk exposing him to so much? Is this what parenthood is all about? Constant worry and stress? How could anyone want to do this more than once? I keep reminding myself that people far less intelligent than myself manage to raise children, I guess I can too. It doesn’t seem to help my stress level at all though.

Family in the snow

Missing the mountains

admin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:14:42 +0000

Now that the end of the pregnancy is near I want to think of everything else but the round protruding belly. We got these crafty wooden birds last year in a little gallery in Ashville, NC. I fell in love with them and they make me think of our annual leaf gazing trips. These little birds remind me that our time as a couple, just the two of us, is nearly over.