Mountains and more!

Another summer weekend well spent!  We went up to Granby and Grump's Sugar Mountain house this past weekend.  Mom and I took the kids on Thursday, and Brian and Dad came up Friday evening.  The weather was gorgeous (we heard we missed the exciting, yet destructive, storms on Friday in Charlotte.  SO sad to hear about Southpark Mall!)  We all even put sweatshirts on for an outdoor dinner, Friday evening!  We went on walks, I ran a little, and we spent most of our waking hours outside.   I love it up there!

Griffin entertained us while sissy finished her nap.

Watching Granby exercise

Silly, silly girl!  (poor turtle)

Yep.  That's my girl!

Saturday we took the kids to Tweetsie.  I hadn't been since I was very young, and my first trip was when I was Payton's age.  Payton was SO excited to ride the train.  She kept talking about riding the "Choo-Choo" for the week leading up to the trip.  She wasn't a big fan of the sheriff on the train, or the loud gun-fire.  Griffin loved it all.  Among other rides, we also took a ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl...you know, the old "fair" ride that spins and spins?  Neither Daddy or Payton was a fan.  The animals were a big hit.  I think both kids could have stayed there all day.

Playing around...until she saw the train coming into the station. This is in mid "choo-choo!!!!!"

Granby and Payton waiting to get on Tweetsie!

This was her expression for a long while...she wasn't sure what to think when the engineer came over the loud speaker.

Griffin loved the train ride!

The Sheriff came to shake everyone's hands...Payton wasn't having it.  At.all.

Griffin...giving 5's.  He thought the sheriff was cool.

Brian had to put his hand around the railing so Griffin wouldn't chew on it...G used Daddy's fingers instead.  Ouch!

Now she's a happy girl!  She HAD to ride the horse with pink on it. (well, the closest thing to pink as we could find).  Griffin was trying to get his horse to actually go.

I guess the sheriff thought we were bad.  Really bad.

Whew...I paid our bail.  Payton was having NOTHING to do with these guys!

Both kids were rock stars at Tweetsie...but crashed as SOON as their heads hit the car seat.

And we couldn't visit the High Country without making a stop at our favorite winery!  After naps, and my run, we headed down the mountain for some wine and croquet.  The kids LOVE, love, LOVE Grandfather Winery.  It's SO kid-friendly...we can pretty much just let them go do their thing.  I highly recommend this place, and the wine isn't bad either :)

Cheers!

Practicing croquet for our annual beach trip...I told him he should learn to walk first!

G$

Grumps and Payton at Grandfather Winery

Sneaking a very tart taste!

Sunday, once we got unpacked, naps taken, and settled back in, we headed out to my favorite sushi spot, Cowfish.  The kids LOVED their dinners, and Brian and I destroyed some sushi.  There was no better way to finish our weekend then to go get some yummy fro-yo at Pinkberry.  Yum.

Griffin's PB and J roll "bento box"...how freaking cute is that?

Brian and I destroyed this.  Yum!

Brian's "burgushi."  Yes, hamburger rolled like sushi.  He said it was YUM-O!

Edamame!

G checking out his peanut butter and jelly roll.  So cute!

Mommy's Favorite!!  Pinkberry :)

All smiles here!

Payton, although still having occasional accidents, is completely out of diapers now, with the exception of pull-ups at nap and bedtimes, and she has one of her 2 year molars in.  She loves to sing and perform. Griffin is completely off bottles, and we've started mixing in some whole milk with his formula, in preparation for NO MORE FORMULA once we run out of what we have left.  Wow.  No more diapers for Payton and no more formula for Griffin.  It's quite liberating, at least to the bank account :)  Griffin LOVES to dance, and has some great dance moves.  I really need to keep that camcorder handy.

Yes, she'll kill me one day for posting...I love that she's looking at "fashion."  She must get the reading thing from Daddy ;)

Griffin is still not trying to walk, but he SO wants to.  He "runs" when we hold a hand, but sits when we let go.  Every once in a while, when he's distracted, he'll stand on his own for several seconds.  Griffin has another tooth (bottom left), and is working on one of his top ones.  It's just under the surface.  Oh, and while teething, he has also been busy growing hair.  Yep.  And it's curly, as I had guessed.  I have NO idea what to do with curly hair.  For now, we're just going to let it grow!