Pop's Gardens . . .

After the wedding celebrations were done in Knoxville, we headed to Jim's parents' beautiful home in Elizabethton, Tennessee to spend a few days.  It was the first time that all of the cousins were together under one roof there.  : )

Learning how to pick asparagus.

Their "Pop" took them outside and showed them his gardens.  Megan and Brendan had seen them before when we visited last summer but my nephews, Andre and Jason, were seeing them for the first time.  

Pop and Megan.

If I'm remembering correctly, these are onions.  : )

Blueberries.

Grape vines.

Baby grapes.

Nephew Jason and his trusty sword!!

Still more asparagus to be picked!!

Broccoli, potatoes and tomatoes.

Pears.

The view at the top of their yard looking up.

The view at the top of their yard looking down.

Should we or shouldn't we???

What the heck!!!  It'll be fun!!!

Climbing back up didn't seem so bad!!

Really Mom/Aunt Wendy???  You want us to face the afternoon sun and pose for you???   Well, this is as good as you're gonna get!!!!  : )

Megan, Andre, Jason and Brendan.

Oh the drama!!!  LOL!!!

 I hope you enjoyed your tour of Pop's Gardens!!  : )

 ~ Wendy  xo

A Little Randomness on a Wednesday . . .

Our rustic little cottage in the woods.  That's my gorgeous Mother's Day gift hanging on the lamp post. 

This is the road we live on.  There are actually two roads.  This is the one that leads into our very peaceful neighborhood.  (We're probably the noisiest house on the block!!)  There is a grassy median and on the other side is the road that leads out of the neighborhood.  There are no houses on the other side of the street.  Just trees, a very deep ravine with a beautiful brook at the bottom and then more trees and the New York Military Academy on the other side of those woods.  This is the infamous military academy that Donald Trump attended when he was a wayward boy.  : )  He visited our neighborhood when he was campaigning.  I saw his little Trump helicopter land and take off.  The whole visit lasted less than an hour but brought lots of excitement to this little upstate New York town of ours.  : )

This is Mr. Bigglesworth.  I almost didn't post this photo because you can really see just how badly we are in need of landscaping.  Ugghh!!!  Not enough time and not enough money but it will get done eventually.  Like everything else.  : )

This girly learned how to ride a two-wheeler the day before her birthday.  Jim came up with the great idea of removing her training wheels and her pedals so she'd teach herself how to balance even before getting on her new bike (thanks again for the beautiful bike Mimi and Grandpa!!).  It worked like a charm and she was able to do it the first time she tried!!

I started looking thru photos for some "Megan on her bike" shots and I found a few that I wanted to share. 

The photos below are of the time I gave her a piece of bubble wrap to play with and she wanted to run it over with her bike.  I have to laugh just thinking about it!!  She must've driven over that bubble wrap a hundred times and she was happy as a clam while doing it!!!  Lol!!!

 Life's simple pleasures!!!!!  : )

Now she's moving so fast I can't get a decent photo of her!!  : )

She's also been busy with lacrosse.  She had what they call a "jamboree" on Sunday.  It's where a whole bunch of teams from the area get together and play quick 25 minute games against each other.  Well she played 5 of those quick 25 minute games with some breaks in between so we were at the lacrosse fields ALL day.  Those girls were amazing and ended up winning all five games.  It really is so wonderful to see how they go from knowing next to nothing about the sport at the beginning of the season to looking like an honest to goodness team within a few weeks!!  I believe we have one more jamboree next weekend and then the season is over.  She's already said she wants to play again next year.  It really is a fantastic sport and we're thrilled that she enjoys it so much.

My girl loaded up with sunblock on her face.  She's not really that pale normally.  Close to it though.  : )

One more day of school tomorrow and then they're finished for the week.  It is Memorial Weekend here in the states this weekend.  What we consider our unofficial beginning of summer.  So hard to believe but I think we're ready for the break.  I know the kids are!!  : )

Wishing you a beautiful rest of your day!!

~ Wendy  xo

Lacrosse at West Point . . .

Megan and her friend Grace.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we packed up Megan's lacrosse gear and our rain gear and headed to West Point for Megan's first official lacrosse game.  If you're not familiar with West Point you can visit here and read all about it.   It's only about a fifteen minute drive from our house thankfully because we had to be there by 8:15 am.  Megan was very nervous that morning and even said she didn't want to go but once she saw her team mates and how excited they all were she was fine.  Honestly, it's just as much about hanging out with your friends as it is about playing lacrosse at that age, isn't it?  : )

The weather forecast said it was supposed to clear up later on in the morning but, unfortunately, it never did.  Is it me or does it seem like predicting the weather has gotten worse instead of better??  : (

The grounds of West Point are beautiful and huge.  I haven't driven around there in many years.  Not since I used to go to the semi-formal dances they held when I was in high school.  A bunch of girlfriends and I would dress up and drive there and mingle with the cadets.  I met some really nice "southern" boys that way.  There's something about a man in a uniform!!  : )  Lots of fun.  I'm not sure if they still have the dances anymore.  They're much more strict now about getting onto the grounds of West Point. 

A covered foot bridge. 

I walked across that bridge on my way back up the hill after the games were over.  This is what the interior of the bridge looks like. 

An old fort with a cannon. 

A few cadets (soldiers in training) on their morning hike.

The sun trying to come out.

After Megan was finished with her games, we walked back up to the parking lot where there were tents set up for a big tailgate party.  Everyone brought something to contribute and it ended up being a really great spread.  Unfortunately, the rain picked up though and we decided we weren't going to stay and watch the West Point girls' lacrosse team play like was originally planned. 

Eating under the tent.

Megan's adorable team and her coaches. 

So now it's time for me to start checking off some of the things on my mile long TO DO list for our trip.  I had my hair colored and cut this morning so that's out of the way.  I honestly can't stand all of the money that you have to spend to go away.  I have to go out and buy travel size toiletries because you're not allowed to have more than 3 ounces of any liquid for safety reasons when you're flying.  You know what else bothers me??  The airlines started charging for your luggage to help make up for the huge increase in the cost of fuel years ago when the price of oil went thru the roof.  The price of oil came down but the extra charges are still in place for lots of different things.  With all of the problems our airlines have been having lately you would think they'd be a little more competitive with each other and offer more freebies again.  I just don't get it.  Okay . . .  rant over!!  : )

I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos in Tennessee and sharing them when we get back.  Have a great week everybody!!  xo

~ Wendy