The day after the robbery, we went to visit my sister for a quick day trip to celebrate her 30th birthday. She had a county-fair-themed party, and we had a lot of fun! She planned this entire celebration herself, complete with all of the decorations, etc. Such a creative girl! Everything was so cute, the food was absolutely delicious, and it was good to visit with family and friends!
A welcoming chalkboard of events
The drinks table, complete with cute Mason jars
and old-time paper straws
Festive county fair decorations with blue ribbon winners!
My cute date!
My sweet nephew has decided not to smile
in pictures during this phase of his life.
Snacks!
Door prizes & tickets
Annie being silly with her friend Emily
The brothers-in-law
A rare photo of the birthday girl--
the only one I had!
We had a great time, and went out for supper with my family before we got back on the road. We were also technically celebrating my mom's birthday, since hers was three days before Dusty's. I worked on making them both a cute Spring wreath out of burlap as a present... and still haven't quite finished. Maybe next birthday? :)
Soon after Dusty's celebration, John came to visit us! He had an graduate school interview at a university nearby. Since we have a guest book for people to sign when they stay with us at the "Belmont Hotel," we took a picture with him to include on his page. He wrote that he would have given us five stars... but it looked like the place had been robbed. Ha!
A picture with my "little" brother before he left
Next in the line-up of March events was... SPRING BREAK! We had a nice time and were able to come back with a few days of relaxation to spare. First we went to Illinois to visit Belmont's grandparents. There are five March birthdays in the family now (myself included), so we had a March birthday celebration on St. Patrick's Day. What a feast! His grandparents treated us to a lovely Irish dinner, complete with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and Irish soda bread (homemade, courtesy of our cousin Ellen). I had never tried corned beef before, and I was pleasantly surprised. After spending a few days with them, we parted ways and headed South to Tennessee to visit my grandparents. We probably both gained about 20 pounds over the course of our week's vacation, but we ate quite well. My grandmother's Southern home cooking cannot be beat! (Although our arteries may now be clogged... haha!) My grandmother had to work while we were there, but we saw her in the evenings. During the day, we hung out with my cousins and my grandfather. It was pretty chilly outdoors, so we watched westerns, went to an antique store, and looked at old family albums. We hope to be able to visit again in July for the 4th!
Here we are with Grandpa before we headed home.
On our way home, we stopped at Patti's 1880s Settlement. We had seen the sign for it many times on our trips through Kentucky, but had never really known what it meant. I was envisioning a historical village somewhat like Jamestown or Williamsburg, but of a different era. Belmont looked it up on his phone to get details, and we learned that the restaurant on the premises was its claim to fame. We stopped and ate yet another incredibly delicious Southern meal. There actually were a few old-looking buildings on the property which were made to look historical. The actual idea of the place, however, seemed to be somewhat of a low-key entertainment area. In warm weather, they have putt-putt golf, race cars, Olde Tyme photos, etc. We'll have to stop again some time when it warms up!
These were the older-looking buildings we found.
Pretty cool!
We had a great month, and a really relaxing vacation!
We celebrated my birthday yesterday, which was absolutely lovely! Belmont treated me like a queen all day and let me pick our entire day of events. He woke me up with a homemade breakfast, and then let me open my present. He got me Amazing Grace, which is a biography on William Wilberforce that I have been asking for over the past few holidays. I have read a couple of chapters so far and am really enjoying it! We stopped to see our nephew for a while, and he napped in my arms. So sweet! We had lunch, dyed Easter eggs (sort of), and read during the afternoon. Later he took me out for a nice dinner-- and then had our friends surprise us afterwards for drinks! I had lots of phone calls, texts, and messages wishing me happy birthday over the course of the day. It was a great day and I felt so loved!
Today, of course, was Easter Sunday. Christ is risen!! My brother Jacob came to church with us, which was a treat! The weather has been gorgeous all day, with the exception of the mosquitoes who seem to have found their way back into our back yard. Yikes! We had a delicious brunch with the Belmonts after church, and even got to see the Easter Bunny. I always wish he looked a little more normal-sized like the Cadbury bunny. Something about life-sized bunnies is too creepy for me... Life-sized bunnies and clowns. Anyway, after brunch we accidentally napped for about two hours, which was quite pleasant. This evening we had my brothers over for dinner, and then ended the night with an Easter egg hunt. Belmont had the quickest time this year, which made me slightly grumpy since I had been winning for two years straight. Haha! We had fun, though. The history of our egg-dyeing problems is too long of a story... Suffice it to say that healthy-for-you vegetable-based food coloring does not have the same chemical reaction with vinegar that regular bad-for-your-health food coloring does. We left our eggs in the dye for over 24 hours and this was the bland result:
Oh well! We will just have to dye some more next year. :)
Well, I think it is time for bed. I am having brunch with a couple of friends tomorrow, and then going grocery shopping for healthy things. I am off again for Easter Monday! (I think, however, that this is my last day off for the entire school year!) I hope you have all enjoyed this update.
But then again, maybe I made this all up?
You'll have to decide. By the time you read this, it will be April Fool's Day. :)
You'll have to decide. By the time you read this, it will be April Fool's Day. :)
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