Weekend Roundup

I have been trying to compose this post for over an hour now, but have run into one technically difficulty after another.  I was close to giving up, but luckily for all of us the stars aligned and things started working for me at the last minute. 

Side note: one technical difficulty I've encountered is trying to figure out how to make a photo collage (for free) on my computer (I took a TON of crappy iPhone photos over the weekend and a lot of them are of the same thing but I was having trouble narrowing so I thought a collage would be a good idea).  Problem #1: I am using my work computer tonight because it is a laptop and I wanted to lay in bed, and oh my gosh has the process been annoying because it won't let me download anything (basically everything is blocked for security reasons).  Understandable, but still annoying.  Problem #2: I finally found some sites that will let you create a collage online with no downloading, and they claim to be "free" until it's time to download your photos to your computer at which point they either watermark them (free option) or charge you money to save them without the watermark.  Sneaky a holes.  I finally figured out how to make a photo collage in Microsoft Power Point.  I can only put in four photos at a time but it will do for now.  Whew!

This past weekend was the last one we'll get to spend at home for several weeks, so we made the best of it with a lot of relaxation and some fun! 

On Friday night, we got a sitter for L and went with a group of friends to see the Alabama Shakes in concert.  And we tailgated before hand.  I am seriously so old, I can't remember the last time I tailgated.  Dan busted out the tailgating grill and we had some delicious kabobs along with various other appetizer-like dishes and it was delicious.  Of course I managed not to take a single photo to share, rats.  Lilly had fun with her sitters, Hannah and Chaney, too. 

Frankie came in town Friday and went to the concert with us, and for most of Saturday we just relaxed and spent time together.  We originally planned to go to Bugfest downtown, but we all slept late on Saturday morning (it was glorious) and just couldn't seem to get it together and get moving, so we just played around the house (now is when I will showcase some of my Powerpoint skills, ha!).   Disclaimer:  All of the photos in this post were taken with my iPhone and are pretty terrible quality.  Sorry bout it.

We played with bubbles.

I LOVE this picture. 

And we also played in puddles.  This series of photos was taken right before Lilly tried to put her face in the water and drink like Layla.  Lord help us, she must be her father's child.

After the puddles, we moved the slide into the grassy area in the alley behind our house where all of the garages back up to each other and had some fun.

Note: I made this collage using www.photocollage.net.  It is easy to use but the uploading took forever, as did the edits I had to make.

After nap time on Saturday it was raining so we played inside and had a low-key evening.  After putting Lilly to bed, Billy O came over and watched football with Dan while I was a book worm and it was glorious.

On Sunday, the only real plans we had were to go to brunch because I had a serious french toast craving (which started at 3am when I had insomnia and couldn't sleep).  We haven't had brunch at Irregardless in a while and it was fabulous (and luckily satisfied my craving).



Our plan after brunch was to change clothes and spend some time at the park before heading home to get ready for the week.  I have been wanting to take Lilly apple picking, and we originally planned to go on Saturday with the Aldridges but then the weather was crappy. Sunday was absolutely GORGEOUS so Stephanie texted me to ask if we wanted to go.  We originally said no, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go because I honestly didn't think we'd get another chance before apple picking season is over.  Coincidentally, in talking to his brother that morning Dan found out that they were going to pick apples at the same place we'd planned to go, so that settled it.  We swung by the house after brunch for a quick change of clothes and headed to Millstone Creek Orchards in Ramseur.  The drive wasn't bad - it took us a little under an hour to get there.  The orchards are cute and kid-friendly (Lilly loved the hay ride).  The apple selection was dwindling and a lot of them didn't look all that great, I guess we were late in the season but we still had a blast and of course it was fun to hang with the besties and Chris, Andrea and the cousins.  Below is a collage of the few million photos I could narrow it down to for posting purposes followed by a few of my favs from the day.  

For the record, when it was all said and done I got my lazy butt out of bed and headed to the desktop to make a Picasa collage.  I'm sure it's hard to see some of the photos but I am too tired to fix it tonight.

Of course I can't finish this post without sharing two of the (decidedly not iPhone) photos that Steph took of our sweet girls (MUCH better than mine for sure!).  I'm sure she will have more to post so hop on over to her blog and be on the lookout, I ganked these from her Facebook page.  :-)

Overall, the weekend was fabulous and I hated to see it end.  We had a blast at Millstone, so if you live in or around the Raleigh area I would definitely suggest making the trip next year (maybe wait until then, though, because the pickings were definitely slim in my opinion, but they do have a pumpkin patch which opens this coming weekend)!  I would say that it was definitely worth the price we paid last night for Lilly's shortened nap.  What can I say?  Homegirl is like her mama: she loves her sleep.

Happy Monday!

Sarah