Almost three weeks since my last post.... just when you think life can't possibly get any busier - it does! We've just returned (and I have laundry to prove it!) from a wonderful vacation. We spent three days at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. We wanted to venture out to a new place and explore something other than the beach (that's not to say we don't LOVE the beach - we do, more than anything, but we feel like we've neglected some other really great parts of the country!). We had a wonderful time.
Never heard of the Greenbrier? Click
here.
Thanks to my great friend, Jessica (she suggested this place), we enjoyed a vacation full of activities, fun, relaxation, beauty and all things fancy. I feel like all 5 of our senses were tickled. The drive up, once we crossed over into Virginia, was full of magnificent landscape.
We haven't taken the kids out west yet, so the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia were the biggest my boys have seen. Once we hit Virginia, this is what our mountainous drive looked like (please note that many of the pictures in this post were taken with my iPhone and some may be a bit fuzzy)...
It felt like we were in a fairy tale... We went in and around farm country and it was all snow covered - just enough to make it look pure and beautiful and clean... I think I told Matt after driving for a few minutes in the snow covered country that I'd be fine if we turned around and drove home because my senses were fulfilled by the beauty of it all...
We arrived at the Greenbrier and were just amazed by the vastness and grandeur of the hotel....
Isn't it grand? We stayed in a little cottage about a minute's walk from the side entrance to the hotel. This was the view from our front porch...
If you look closely, you can see a horse and carriage down the road a bit.
Our little cottage room was so cute - it had a sitting room with a real wood burning fireplace, a nice big bathroom and changing area, and then a bedroom. It fit us all really comfortably. If that wasn't enough, we had room attendants who would get the fire all ready for us each day to burn - turn down our beds and leave chocolates on the pillows, bring ice every afternoon... it was just wonderful from top to bottom and inside out...
What did we do there, you ask? It'd probably be easier to say what we didn't do - we didn't sit around, we never wanted for anything as our every need was met before we could even need it, we didn't go hungry...
We snapped this shot upon arrival...
Oh, we ice skated...
We bowled!
We swam in the beautiful tiled indoor pool which was built in - get this - 1913!!!
The boys went on an off road driving excursion with a guide in the mountains. The boys played paintball. They fished...
And our meals were impressive and delicious. Check out my breakfast one morning...
And let me just tell you just what's on that plate. It's a piece of smoked trout (YUM) with a scrambled egg and the most delicious sweet/savory bacon you've ever tasted - then some sauteed arugula and roasted potatoes. That and my cup of coffee made me one happy lady.
Brooke and I got dressed up and went to afternoon tea each day at 4:00 p.m. We loved getting dressed up! And let me just say that I LOVE the idea of afternoon tea! Brooke loved the cookies - she learned that we don't take one off the pretty table, bite it, decide we don't like it and put it back :) - she learned how to carry a small plate with two hands... So fun! Something about everyone coming in after a full day, getting cleaned up and meeting in one location all dressed up for a cup of tea, a few cookies and conversation... for being an informal gal, I really enjoyed the structure and fancy-ness of it.
And check out Brooke's new "satellite dish" headband/bow. It's big, it's pink and we LOVE it!
Those of you who follow my Instagram have seen most of these photos. :)
It was a wonderful trip. There was even a casino! We left Matthew in charge one evening after we put Brooke to sleep and we went over to check out the casino for about half an hour. We made $2.75 and came home. Yep - what big high rollers we are! Ha!
And out of all the activities and the fun we had, I think I most loved the fact that we were all together - around different people in a different land doing things TOGETHER. We played games with each other - we laughed - we joked around - we had none of the typical pressures of school and work - it was several days of love and fun and enjoyment. I'm so thankful for my family and for this trip. I think when kids look back on their childhoods - at least this rings true for me - they'll remember the trips - the holidays - the bigger "events", if you will. I certainly have memories of the day to day - mostly just the feeling of being a kid growing up in my house - but it's the trips to Europe, California, Florida, Wyoming, Canada, Mexico, etc. that I remember. (Thanks, Mom and Dad for such an incredible upbringing!). And that was the 80's right? Times were good - money was being made exponentially - the economy was booming... things are a little different now for many - BUT there are so many places to which you can take your family - within driving distance - and enjoy. It's not so much the place as it is just the getting away from the
everyday to enjoy being with your family.
After three days of feeling fancy, we got through our 8+ hour drive home and here I sit - running to fold laundry between each paragraph of this post. How is it that the more laundry I do, the bigger the pile gets? Makes no sense but I promise that's what happening! I've written before about my want/need for a wife - I could really use someone to help me fold laundry, iron, shuffle kids, cook....
The night before I left, I was low on groceries (didn't want to buy anything that would just sit in the fridge for 5 days), so I was grasping for straws for a dinner option for the kids. I unwrapped a package of marinated curry chicken from Trader Joe's (I'll be mentioning this in Friday Favorites this week) - cooked it for all of 10 minutes and then made my own honey mustard and was so pleased with how it came out! I have always tried making honey mustard with honey and mustard and it has never really tasted right. I learned the secret ingredient! Mayonnaise! Who'd of thunk it?
I used a half cup of mayonnaise (I use full fat regular ol' mayo), 2 TBS honey and almost 2 TBS stone ground mustard (or whatever you have on hand).
Mix it up, add more of whatever you think it needs and whalaaa... you have yourself some tasty "homemade" honey mustard sauce. My kids devoured it!
You could make this to accompany roasted potatoes, chicken, pork...
Here's the recipe:
1 cup mayonnaise
3 TBS honey
2 TBS mustard
So, what's on the menu this week as far as the MAIN DISH goes (I'm including this because if you're looking for something to make for your family, sometimes a mere idea can spins something into fruition)...
Meatloaf
Chicken Pot Pie
BLT's
Taco Salad
Hope those of you who had Spring Break last week enjoyed it. And for those of you who are looking forward to your break in early April - well, I'll be right there with you as Champ's is the first week of April. To the beach we go...
