Cousins, Camps, & Canoes!

This month, we made our way to Louisville for the annual Spurlin family reunion, where we stayed at Rose Ann and Jeremy’s house. As always, we had a fabulous time. Cathy put together a series of activities over the course of three days, the first of which included a visit to Huber’s Orchard and Winery. There, they have a restaurant inside as well as a farmer’s market, a vineyard, hayrides, a tasting room, and lots of ducks and geese for the kids to harass. A few of us went upstairs to sample their wines and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. We ended up buying a few bottles to take home! That evening, everyone met up at a place called Recbar, which was full of arcade games. We had an awesome time catching up with everyone and talking about times of the past and hearing hilarious stories (shout out to Roy Roy!). All of the cousins then left and visited a brewery that was built inside an old church. The next day, we had an educational lesson by visiting the Falls of the Ohio River, which is actually quite interesting. There were fossils there that were hundreds of millions of years old. We could also see where previous major floods had risen to in terms of water levels. That afternoon, Mark and Lisa hosted everyone in their beautiful backyard and new pool, where we got to relax for a few hours and play and eat tasty food. It is always so great to see everyone, albeit once a year.

On the way back to Charlotte, we made a pit stop in Blowing Rock, where we spent the night at the Macholz’s home before dropping Brayden off to stay with them for four nights while she attended Appalachian State University’s field hockey camp. It was so nice of them to host her! She did great and absolutely loved the camp! The ASU field hockey coaches were her mentors throughout the week, so it was great to see her pick up tips from more experienced players! We hung out at our neighbors, the McCardle’s, house one evening for a get-together, which was relaxing and overdue.

The next weekend, we headed back toward the mountains (a LOT of driving this month!!!) where we dropped the girls off at Camp Pisgah in Brevard, NC. After dropping them off, Trent and I quickly checked into our absolutely adorable mountain bungalow right near downtown and made our way to a former coworker of mine’s house (Joe and Whitney) for an delicious dinner and spent some time hanging out and catching up. We decided to rent a cabin versus driving a total of 12 hours round trip while the girls were in camp nearby and I’m sure we’ll do it again next year! Each day, we would get up and either jog along a local greenway or we would ride bikes, followed by a regular working day, and then dinner out on the town each evening. It was great to sample all the local restaurants and check out a new town. And the stars must have been aligned in our favor because every night, the restaurant we would visit had 50% off bottles of wine! Lucky us!

Trent left early on Friday morning to make his way to his annual guys “Canoe the New” river trip. This year, there were only four of them that went, but it looks like they had a blast. Hilarity ensued and there were lots of belly laughs. After a full day on the river, it was early bedtime for most.

Both of our dads celebrated their birthdays (Mike: 69, Terry: 76), so Happy Birthday, Dads! I joined a bunch of girls from my kickboxing class for afternoon of pedicures and lunch to support our friend, Michelle, who lost her son way too early. It was a great way to help lift her spirits and let her know that we are all by her side. That evening, we went over to Terry and Fran’s house to celebrate his birthday with a delicious dinner and cake.

Hanleigh attended another theater camp, themed “Christmas in July”, while Brayden spent a week taking online driver’s ed courses. She passed the test with flying colors and got a one hundred on it. The next phase is for her to have six hours of driving behind the wheel, which looks like it won’t be scheduled until around mid-September, based on the backlog of students waiting to take their driver’s tests. It’s hard to believe she’s old enough to even take these classes. I’m nervous, but she’s responsible and I have confidence that she will be a good driver. 

Hanleigh continued her weekly gymnastics classes, while Brayden had field hockey practice a few times a week. I met up with Erin to have dinner one night at the Waterman and see her (it had been way too long!). We spent a weekend at Lake Tillery with Aunt Patty, Uncle John, and the Bufords. We took turns skiing, visited the ice cream boat, played on the splash pad, road in the tube, jumped off the boat, ate fabulous food, and Abby and I did some super awkward and weird body balancing one evening in the den. It was hilarious. Check out the video. We always have such a great time when we go there.

Hanleigh had her last camp of the summer, “Heros vs. Villains”, I had a massage and we took GG out to dinner to Little Mama’s. She had not eaten inside of the restaurant before and it’s always nice to spend some quality time with her. Kendall and I met up for dinner one evening as well. Even though the month was filled with lots of driving, they were all for wonderful trips where we spent time with fabulous friends and family, so it was well worth it!

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