The Junest

This month was mixed with some extreme highs and lows!  The end of the school year closed out, we got to go an the awesome Ag & Art Tour, Zoo Night, and had some little adventures in-between.

We had a special (and sweaty) time celebrating Uncle Aaron's father's life, Kevin.

After a lot of play on the playground, we had a big picnic lunch together.

Followed by a time sharing special memories about Kevin.  It was special hearing all the great stories about him.
I didn't realize Shiloh didn't fully understand what was going on when she went up and shared on the microphone how she enjoys her own grandma making cookies.  I just held my breath, prayed that she would be quick and then motioned her to come back as soon as I could.  Aaron's mother was very gracious in her response.

We were in Spartanburg (their home town), so we stopped by a local coffee house on the way home to check it out.

There were a couple of fun little things to explore...

Then on the way home poor Shi still fighting the motion sickness but fortunately fell asleep (with a throw-up bag at the ready).

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After one rough Sunday (was pretty worn out from the day before)....Beach brought me avocado toast in bed.

My little visitor.

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The last co-op date with these two....sigh....the end of an era!  They have become such good little playmates!

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We actually had a great time at the dentist, with no cavities, little wait time, a friendly staff and lots of prizes to go home with!

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Then it was on to the library for their summer kick off reading program.  

The girls are really into the climbing wall!

They got to try their hand at archery, too, which was a fun novelty.

Glitter tattoos.

And a hug from a friendly cow.  (Zoe had already picked out some books to read!)

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Somebody's big sister got Ezra to dress up!  It is a little eerie how much he looks like Zoe at that age!

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Fig hosted their latest release party, which means always a good time for a date night!

Cheers to you my dear.

So I ended up splurging on eating some of this ice cream sandwich.  First dairy/gluten I have had in forever and it was yummy!

Thankful for a night out with my love!

Check out the latest fig to see more of Beach in action.

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Despite her (very) loud screams and squeals, silly Shiloh loves all types of animals and insects.

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Trying to pick back up with the one on one dates with the littles. 

Beach and Zoe were the first up to go together.

Zoe's first ice skating experience and she loved it.

She attempted to lift her leg like she saw the big girls doing!  I would say it was a successful time together!

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On the summer bucket list....homemade ice-cream!  Check!  Zoe said it was the best dessert she ever had (and so easy with just frozen bananas, a can of coconut milk, and vanilla and some chocolate chips mixed in).

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The library often has some fun events happening during the summer.  The first one up was a type of magic show.

Zoe was happy to participate and her card ended up being part of the trick!

Girls can't pass up the photo opt set up!

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Summer time calls for staying up late and the occasional nap with my middle!

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The girls enjoyed their first week of VBS at Riverland Hills.

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Another VBS in the books that they really enjoyed!

They had a photographer around for a few days and captured some fun shots!

Acting out Bible Stories...

And dance lessons! 

Zoe showed off her new skills of violin playing at our family dinner.

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Mom's cousin and boyfriend were in town visiting so they got to see the show!

Such a good time, I wish I had gotten other pictures!

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Little man was my voting buddy and, thus, got two stickers for that smile!

The last part of the month was a getaway with my love!  So thankful to have a couple of "normal energy" weeks to feel like a person again!

Upstate Escape

My travel bug has been getting me since we returned from California last summer.  Such another big trip was out of the question but an in state little getaway, totally doable.  So for our anniversary we decided to explore the upstate of SC with the thought of hitting up as many coffee houses on the way to stir up the creative juices that will be put to good use in the near future.

First up, Spartanburg; I know not the normal tourist destination BUT we found many little fun stops!  We started with this beautiful Hatcher Garden right outside of town.  It gave us a nice break from the car ride to stretch our legs in such a gorgeous little property!

Then our stomachs were talking to us, as breakfast had been many hours prior, so we hit up a place recommended by our brother-in-law and so glad we did!

 While the outside wasn't all that impressive it made up for it 10 fold in the amazing tacos!  Beautiful presentation and just as yummy!

After that we took our full bellies to a fun shop! (We also hit up a more upscale thrift store with a thought that it had a coffee house in it...ended up being closed but we left with a couple things for the littles.)

  Full of new and old treasures they way they had it decorated inside was eye candy!

 Beach being "artistic" with a photo shot.

 Now whenever I see old trucks and cars I always think of my little man!

Then it was on to downtown, where we loved the location of this coffee shop, Little River Roasting Co.

 I broke my (almost) three weeks of a coffee fast with this pick me up!

 With new found energy, we explored more of downtown and the fun nuances that it had to offer!

Murals are always a must.

I even got Beach in on posing with this one.  He LOVED Spartanburg (and told me no less than 10 times during our day there) but he also truly loves where we live!

Many a light bulb sighting...

 

 Spill the Beans coffee shop was just down the road, and while we were full of coffee, Beach still didn't mind partaking in some ice cream.  We loved all the lighting going on!

 

We then walked around quite a bit and enjoyed the mix of the new stores with seriously old store, that hadn't been changed in over 50 years.  We have never felt like we were walking back in time so much!

I'm thankful that Beach was able to become carefree enough to be silly with me.

We visited an interesting distillery (in which I only ended up with this one picture) of Motte & Sons. After some fun sampling and talks it was off again.

The novelty of the outdoor eating/beer garden drew us to try out FR8 yard.
 
Beach's Purple Drank...

With not being all that hungry from a large lunch, we settled for some appetizers.

We must have been there during a not so busy time and it was pretty hot but doable next to the AC.  The entire place was made out of shipping containers!

Before heading out....one more photo opt.  This was as close to the Beacon as we were getting (we have learned our lessons in the past)!

We were staying in Greenville that night and there was one more coffee shop we wanted to try out in Greer on the way...

 Clearly caffeine does not keep Beach up!

It was Beach's favorite stop and I enjoyed my tea while reading while Beach chatted it up with the baristas and took it all in.

On the way "home" we drove by a "Mater" and had to turn around to take a picture to send to Ezra.

He was thrilled!

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The next morning we came prepared for our AirB&B's keurig machine.

Then it was on to the next small town...

We had been looking forward to hitting up Tandem Creperie for a nice brunch...

and coffee.

It did not disappoint...

The only thing that did was my memory....I forgot to ask for the ones without gluten....uggg...something my stomach reminded me about at our next stop!

Beach with his wheels turning!

Then it was off to Jones Gap to work some of that deliciousness off! 

It was a beautiful and challenging hike for us along a river...

and up a mountain!

But we did make it!

A little perspective about how big Rainbow Falls is to little old me on the left.

We enjoyed basking in God's glory in one of His large rocks for some time.  I didn't think about how the hike ended up being about seven miles but I was so very thankful that I was able to do it!

Being such a hot day we had gotten pretty sweaty but we headed back to town to check out another coffee house in the area before they closed.  It was, by far, the most disappointing on the trip (and not worth any pictures).  We then checked out the rest of the downtown, popping in stores to try to cool off from the intense heat.

Then we had an early dinner, bacon pizza and yummy summer salad with my love.

We both decided to head to bed early that night, as the heat had worn us down.  But after showers our minds were changed and we headed to some dear friend's house.  It was a sweet visit BUT I managed to not take any pictures of our dear friend's Chad and Mandy.

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We said goodbye to our cute little AirB&B cabin and headed to downtown Greenville.

Brunch at Tupelo Honey was up first and we both ended up with skillet meals that were truly awesome.

Our first coffee house of the day was very near by, Methodical.

We loved some of the details around...

The coffee was roasted a bit differently, you can ask us what we thought.

We walked through the Saturday market and stopped in a store or two...

Nothing to exciting....I didn't need this book I found about how to brew the best coffee, as I had already figured it out - answer: marry the best barista.

Walking around it was hot!  But we still had a good time.

These pictures crack me up...when I try to take a selfie on the bridge with my sunglassesless babe and the brightness is to much for him.

(Beach don't kill me for posting it...just to funny.)

When you find a picture on your phone that you didn't mean to take...

It was so warm that I had to feel the cool water....and asked Beach to take a picture but he missed the waterfall in the background (so it is just me sitting awkwardly).

We enjoyed the shade of a swing for a bit before paying homage to our favorite tree.

Another round at Spill the Beans' Greenville location, as it is at the corner of the park.

 
An amazing spacious location and this time Beach opted in for the coffee (iced of course) instead of ice cream.

We hit up a few more stores on the way back to the car, enjoying the slower pace of the day.

Stopped in to Billiam and had a great talk with the owner about potentially using them for our business in the future.

One last coffee house before we head out of town?  Of course!

 I was able to get in a little more quiet reading time before we left!

 This spot was probably one of my favorites, as we were there during a very quiet time and they had so many beautiful hanging plants!  I want them for my house!

We decided we better get a very late bite to eat before hitting the road and stopped in the Swamp River Cafe that was near by.

Perfect...and left us (or at least me) wanting some more of the area and trying the bike trail the next time around.
 
And that is a wrap....so enjoyed this time with my love (even if it did take me days to recover).  Until next time!