Weekend in the Mountains

I am a tad behind here, sorry!

Last weekend, we went to visit my parents for Veteran's Day. We left early Friday and stayed through Tuesday morning and definitely enjoyed the western part of North Carolina. Friday was all driving and a nice turkey dinner and an early bedtime.

Saturday they made me climb a mountain.

 I am so not in shape. I take ballet once a week and that is about it. Climbing a mountain is not my cup of tea anymore! Ryan went into Marine mode and my brother Stefan quickly joined him. The two of them and Rylie left me in the dust as they raced up the steep trail. Luckily my dad was nice enough to stay with me, forgetting the fact the boys had the sandwiches and the water! But once we got to the top it was worth the view... and we only got lost once. To get to John's Rock you have to go off the main trail and my dad took the wrong turn but we found it in the end. The boys passed it completely and had to double back. But it was gorgeous.

Luckily Ryan had enough of pushing himself and walked down the mountain with me. Then we rushed quickly drove back to town, went to mass, flew home to shower and change and then spent the night at the Cherokee Casino. We all had the buffet together and then my dad and brother went home while my mom stayed with us. The last time I was here they only had slots and computer games, but in August they added dealers and table games! Naturally Ryan and I played roulette. I lost, Ryan made $5, but we had a blast!

Sunday we slept in, went shopping and then and went and saw the elk down in Catalootchie.

There was a beautiful church down in the valley that I couldn't resist taking pictures of and to my surprise it was actually open! It had tons of leaves inside and a very weathered bible, but it was gorgeous.

Further down the road was stunning foliage (sadly nowhere near its peak anymore but still more than where we live!) more elk and turkies! I had to zoom in as you really cannot bother the elk without a massive fine or rangers attacking you, but I still managed to get some good shots (I think) from a distance! I will happily stand back and watch nature unfold. No need for me to interrupt.

The one who I think enjoys our visits the most is the Dup. Rylie girl loves running around in the moutains, swimming in the stream, and hanging with her granny, grandpa and uncle Stefan. She is so nosy all the time and really gets to let some energy out when we visit!

 First she had to help Grandpa pull some mums and weeds. Daddy was just being chatty.

 Then Rylie would climb her way up the stream, hopping slowly and sniffing and drinking.

 Then she would fly down as fast as she could in her own version of a Dup waterslide! So so cute!

 Then there was fetch with Uncle Stefan.

 Leaping over rocks like a baby deer.

More fetch.

Pausing to try and jump up to Mommy on the deck.

 

And then running back to the creek! She definitely had a great time!!!

Monday was low key, getting nails done and shopping some more and a nice family dinner before we left Tuesday. My parents have an exchange student for the school year named Ramon and we finally got to meet him as well. He was away in DC with the program until Sunday night so our visit with him was short. He is a very quiet, sweet kid from Spain and his English proficiency wasn't very high but he is getting there.

It was a great weekend and a perfect get away.

We will be back for Christmas and I am looking forward to my first Smokey Mountain Christmas! I will miss being with my New Jersey family though :(

South Carolina and the First Day of Work!

My title is very descriptive of my post, no? :P

Thursday Ryan got off at noon so we drove down to South Carolina (no South of the Border stops this trip, the "I have to go to the bathroom!" thing works only once). We got there just in time to watch the Gamecocks slaughter Southern Miss! It was a lovely, relaxing weekend. My Mother-in-law and I got pedicures, Hannah (my sister-in-law) and I played board games, and we had so much good food!!!

McAllisters, and awesome sandwich shop was one. Ryan of course got his Chik-fil-A fix. We also went to a Spansish restaurant near his house, had some yellow bbq and boiled peanuts and his grandmother's cooking which was amazing. His grandparents got me a big birthday cake (yellow cake with chocolate icing, the best!) a card, and a balloon. Very sweet.

We saw all of his family, went bowling (I broke 100!! Ok I got 100 but it counts), and spent a day on the lake on my MIL's friend's boat. Ryan tried waterskiing and actually got it! A video will be posted soon, I promise. Some of his attempts before getting it are kinda hilarious.

Last night we had dinner with Josh and Richie when we braved the awful traffic of 95N back home. It was a delicious dinner too!!!! I had a bread with tomato basil and mozerella fried lightly for appetizer, mahi mahi with asparagus risotto, and mango sorbet with an amazing cabernet sauvingion. YUM.


Now, work. My first day! Everyone is very nice, the phone system is crazy complicated but I got on it after lunch, and I like it so far! The drawer of chocolate under our desk helps. My co-worker is very sweet and I think once I get comfortable with everything I should be pretty happy. No blogging at work though! And I won't talk about the name or clients or anyone to jeopardize my newfound career... vague yes, but safe!

I turn 23 tomorrow. Holy cannoli I feel old!

96s

Sorry for the lack of entries! Ryan is on his post parade season 96s, so we've been busy! This weekend was filled with walks, trips to the gym (I did 4.25 miles on the elliptical!), and a trip to King's Dominion. King's Dominion Monday was amazing. It was empty! We went to the water park first and waited on literally no lines. We went on all the slides multiple times, played in the wave pool, and got a little sunburned. After we went to the actual amusement park and we went on all the big rides we wanted to.

There is a huge rollercoaster made for Dale Earnhardt that is the biggest, fastest coaster on the east coast. It was huge! Sometimes when I go upside down on rollercoasters the blood rushes to my head (or away from it?) and I see black temporarily. Yea probably not a good thing, but I am used to it. But on this rollercoaster, I blacked out. Majorly. Like a good twenty or thirty seconds of where I saw nothing but blackness! It freaked me out!!! I was so woozy after that. Yikes.

But we were bad dietwise that day! We split McDonalds on the way down, I had a cheeseburger and he had an angus snack wrap, then we had two small fries and then split a three piece chicken select. In the park there was corn dogs, funnel cake fries (think funnel cake but it long skinny pieces, amazing), french fries, and more chicken fingers! So yummy!

Ryan had work yesterday and we thought he was going to have duty, but he didn't! Josh had it, but he was called for Dover Duty ( :( ) and Ryan was going to take his regular duty. Dover time got pushed back and suddenly my husband was home! Yay! We were bad again and went to Chipotle last night (baaad craving) and then went on a loooong walk to make up for it.

Ryan just got off work and when he gets home we're getting in the car and driving to South Carolina for the labor day 96. Woohoo. So we'll be there til Monday spending time with his family for the first time since the wedding. Wish me luck!

Hopefully I will update Monday when we get back. Tuesday is my first day of work (EEEEK!) and Wednesday I turn the ripe old age of 23. Oh Mylanta!

Enjoy the weekend girls! I hope you all have 96s to enjoy with your men!