Notes in Mom's Lunchbox

For years, I have tried to put notes in the children's lunch boxes from time to time!  Well, I have been substitute teaching and today, when I opened my lunch box, I had these 2 notes!  Made my day!

Thanksgiving at the Ritz

Barrett & I went to the Ritz at Reynolds Plantation a few weeks ago for our anniversary and we loved it yet again.  And as we were leaving, the valet mentioned "You should come back on November 22nd when we light the lake for Christmas and Santa comes!"  He didn't have to give me too many details as I was booking the trip even before we were off their property - especially when I realized it was for Thanksgiving!

To be honest, this year has been hard!  Palmer has only come over for Barrett's birthday party and there is just so much drama having to deal with Stewart & Lindsay - who are still friends with Allison.  Sometimes when I hear people - or even I catch myself saying "We are a blended family" - that we are actually in a blender and people from everywhere are throwing all kinds of things into the blender to keep us from operating smoothly!  Anyway, the holidays are hard for us and when I mentioned to the children that we might be going out of town for Thanksgiving, Bonner immediately said "But, we won't be together with our family!"  I told her that I thought it would be better if we did something with them the weekend before Thanksgiving and then we were able to just be together the 4 of us at a fun place.  She completely agreed to that so that's what we did!  And it was worth it!

Saturday before Thanksgiving, we fried up a turkey and had my parents, Joyce, and her friend, Jane, over to eat a full Thanksgiving meal!  Unfortunately, Barrett's parents were sick so they didn't get to come.  I meant to get a picture with everybody, but you will just have to trust me that the food was cooked well and eaten up!

That meant on Wednesday around lunch, the 4 of us loaded up in the Rolls to head to the Ritz - we even got to take the dog with us!  Wednesday night, we enjoyed a wonderful concert outside on the front lawn - John Hopkins of the Zac Brown performed delightful Christmas tunes with the Atlanta Symphony!

And apparently, each year, Santa shows up in a secret way - one year, he apparently came by helicopter; one year, by boat; and even one year, by reindeer!  This year, he came in an ice cream truck which was awesome and he parked to get out right in front of us!

Thursday was Thanksgiving so we started with Breakfast in Bed!

And, then we honestly spent the rest of the day completely enjoying ourselves!  The Ritz is a beautiful property with so much to do - beside just swim in the lake or the pool!

They set up an ice skating rink which Bonner thoroughly enjoyed!

Everyone enjoyed a friendly game of Foosball!

Bonner enjoyed the swing and I enjoyed the fire out by the lake!

There was even an arcade that brought smiles to the crew!

& who doesn't love Cosmic golf? It was so cool - they set it up in a dark room and the balls light up!

And, of course, we all love an intense game - or five - of checkers!

Belle even got in on the relaxation - from standing guard outside our room to watching the annual Dog Show from the bed!

We didn't eat turkey on Thanksgiving - instead, we got all dressed up and headed to the steak house for a delicious piece of red meat!

After eating our dinner - which Ian did wish his steak was much bigger than 4 oz. - they brought cotton candy!  The day was terrific and the smiles were big throughout our time together!

We headed back on Friday and caught the late afternoon showing of Wreck It Ralph 2.  It was super cute and I was thankful to have such a drama-free Thanksgiving break with everyone I hold so dear.  The kids left Saturday morning after Thanksgiving and this was the first year that I didn't cry when they left!  Barrett knew I would be out of sorts for the rest of the weekend so he took good care of me!

Ian's Eye Appointment

Ian told me a while back that he couldn't see the board either, but I just thought he was trying to be like his sister.  But after I noticed him squinting more and more, it was off to see Dr. Rast we went!  And, guess what, he is actually blinder than his sister!

I have no idea what these two were doing, but they insisted I take a picture of Bonner sitting on top of him!  And, voila, here he is with his new spectacles!

Mountain GetAway

The kids got a couple of days out of school for Election Day so I convinced them that we could rent a cabin and go to the mountains.  They only agreed to it if they could take all of their electronics and that it was actually going to be a vacation and not a trip!  I found an awesome cabin - or rather house - near Banner Elk and Barrett agreed to it.  Apparently, as a boy they would drive up to Valle Crucis to get their Christmas tree and go to the original Mast General Store so he was all about it taking a trip down memory lane.  And the cabin was on a mountain stream so he was looking forward to trout fishing!

Kids loved staying in their PJ's all day; I read 2 books; and Barrett caught a few fish.  We even tackled the hiking thing again and went on an easy hike at the Cascades.  I must say, though, that when we got to the house, the kids freaked out because their were animals on the wall, a bear rug, and "creepy Raggedy Ann & Andy Dolls" so they both pitched a big fit right when we arrived.  My feelings were hurt and I told them "never again will we go anywhere"!

Needless to say, after they realized how bad they had acted, they apologize profusely.  Bonner even included her apology note in her "blog" that she kept during our trip!

 On Saturday, we went to the original Mast General store which is pretty cool - they actually have several buildings now to support all the visitors.  Of course, the children just wanted candy!

On Sunday, we waited for an hour for breakfast at Sunrise Grille and it was worth it! Bonner enjoyed a yummy hot chocolate while we waited.  And then we went on our little hike to the Cascades!

Bonner with her hot chocolate!

On Tuesday, we went back to Sunrise Grille to eat breakfast there again!  We hit the road and headed home in time to vote!

Halloween 2018

This Halloween, the kids decided to dress up - Ian wanted to be Harry Potter so I made him a costume and Bonner wanted to be a teacher.  She actually said that she wanted to go as "the new & improved Bonner with earrings and glasses" :-)  But "a teacher was easier to explain" as she said!

Joyce came over to hang out with us and she was dressed up like a "Pink Lady" - so fun!

Ian & Spencer went trick-or-treating together and Spencer had this panda head that Barrett tried on ...