Delightful Dahlonega

Dan and I had a wonderful mini vaca to Dahlonega this weekend.  It’s only about an hour from Alpharetta, so we didn’t venture far.  Our doctors liked this because with me being 36 weeks pregnant, they didn’t want us too far from Northside where we planned to deliver.  We had a wonderful time walking around in the square, enjoying the cute quaint shops, beautiful sunshine and a delicious meal at The Smith House.  Of course we had to stop at the Fudge Factory for the best fudge in all of GA.  They have a dark chocolate fudge that is to die for.  I think being pregnant enhances flavors of things that you normally love.  It’s not a fact, but I’m just saying…

Dahlonega is special to Dan and I because this was one of the first dates we went on out of town together.  I remember that trip like it was yesterday.  We spent the day riding horses at Sunny Farms, walking through the town square and experiencing the beauty of nature and had a romantic horse and carriage ride.  Ahh, the younger days… Here’s some of our photos from our trip in spring of 2004.

 

 

Now that we’ve been married for almost five years and expecting our first child, remembering those days when we were first in love is so special to us.  Right before all the change that a baby will bring to our lives, we try to focus on each other so that we can remember that no matter what that we were joined as one.  As cliche’ as that sounds, it is something that we strive for.  I don’t want to end up as another statistic.  It is so important to me that we have a healthy marriage not only for our happiness, but for the happiness of our kids and their future spouses.

Long Mountain Lodge B&B was just what we needed to reconnect and relax for the weekend.  Their rooms were super comfy and they had an enormous balcony that overlooked the beautiful forrest and mountains.  Later in the evening the weather was nice and cool and we were able to sit around and chat like old people and take in the cool summer air.  We enjoyed dreaming about someday having our own cabin in the woods where Dan can have his personal shooting range, and I can have my big country retreat. 

We had dinner at the Corkscrew Cafe’.  The ambiance was really nice with outdoor seating and old classics like Petty and Morrison being strummed live on the acoustic guitar behind us.  The food was fabulous as well.  This little mini vaca was delightful, and I’m sure that in the future will have just as much nostalgia as the trip in 2004.

  

  

Hawaiian Babymoon

We are so blessed to have been able to go on such a wonderful Babymoon to Hawaii

…the term has come to be used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage.

We intended to relax, but then we got caught up on all of the things that we could do that we probably won’t be able to do for a while after the baby, so it became a bit more adventurous than we had planned.  We did have some relaxing days though.  It was nice.  Here’s a recap:

We began our vacation in busy Oahu.  We decided to rent a car so we could go up to the North Shore.  We spent the first day driving up there, having lunch, lounging on the beach, watching the surfers, and hanging out in the little town there.  It was really nice, but MUCH smaller than I had anticipated.  I mean, this is Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater’s hang out spot.  I pictured something much more than a small town with maybe two restaurants and a shaved ice place.  But nope, it was a sleepy little surfer town!  After dinner we went past the North Shore to Sunset Beach.  Travel Channel claimed that you can view the BEST sunset from this beach.  We waited until the sun set to only be disapointed when it set behind vog (volcanic fog) early before it touched the water.  We got some great shots prior to that, but from what the Travel Channel said, I thought the sand would do a drum roll. I’ll let you decide if it’s note worthy.

Sunset Beach Sunset

We also enjoyed visiting the Dole Plantation where we learned how pineapples grow.  We toured the pineapple fields by an open air train, and it was a lot of fun.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Next we decided that we should go to Diamond Head.  This wasn’t too far from our hotel right on Waikiki Beach, and it claimed to have some of the most amazing views of the city.  So, we said why not?  We didn’t know what we were in for.

View of Waikiki from Diamond Head

The stairs leading up to the top of Diamond Head

View of the lighthouse and crystal clear waters

What you didn’t see was us panting all the way up to the top of this mountain.  Fortnately it got cooler the higher up we got.  It was totally worth it for the amazing view.

Our last day in Waikiki we relaxed and lounged on the busy beach before hopping a plane over to the Big Island.

Waikiki Beach

The day we went to the Big Island, we thought we had landed on the moon.  It was covered with volcanic rock and from the sky it looked like one big black lava flow.  We were in for a treat because the island really turned out to be a diamond in the rough.

We stayed at the Hilton Wikaloa Village.  This reminded me more of an asian theme park out of disney world than a hotel.  To say it was a mega resort was an understatement.  There was a metro train and a boat to get you around the place.  We stayed in the Palace tower which had the most amazing museum quality asian artwork that lined the walls leading up to the building.  We didn’t have time to photograph all of it, but you could spend hours just on the hotel grounds viewing all of the incredible pieces they have.  We arived just before dusk, and we were able to get some good shots of the property.

Waikaloa Beach

Hilton Waikaloa

View of the beautiful rocky beach

Pool Falls

Our first full day on the island we decided to take it easy and visit a local black sand beach.  The beach was nestled in a million dollar community that housed Priscilla  Presley’s vacation home.   The sand was so hot! We had a lot of fun goofing off and relaxing.  They had some huge rocks at the bottom of the water!

Rocky Black Sand Beach

Relaxing on the Black Sand Beach

Beautiful Black Sand Beach

Our first excursion we decided to go on the Body Glove morning snorkle and SCUBA cruise.  Dan tried SCUBA diving for the first time and absolutely loved it.  We saw so many dolphins on the way to to the dive site.  It was awesome.

Wild Dolphins

Dan SCUBA diving

We came back to the hotel and enjoyed a beautiful sunset before heading to bed for the night.

Buddha Point Sunset

Amazing Sunset

The Big Island is so unique and vast, and with a limited amount of time on the island, we wanted to be able to see as much of the diverse island as we could.  The only way to do this was to do a helicopter ride.  This was by far the best helicopter ride ever.  We saw everything from hardened lava fields that looked like another planet, to lush beautiful rain forest with enchanting waterfalls.  We did a valley landing and had lunch on the Hilo side of the island in the middle of the beautiful rain forest.  It was truly amazing!

The source of the "vog"

Paradise Helicopters

Lunch in the Valley

Dan in the helicopter

Beautiful Cliffs

On one of the evenings we decided to do a traditional Luau.  We had so much fun meeting new people and having a traditional Polynesian meal.  I know…it’s the cliche’ thing to do in Hawaii..but we really enjoyed it!

Preparing the meal

Luau

Dan with the hula ladies

Me with the Hawaiian Guys

Our last excursion was unique to the Big Island and absolutely phenomenal.  We did a night dive with Manta Rays!  Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures for that, only videos.  We took several pictures with our underwater camera, but we only got shots of white dots.  We left just before sunset and took a boat out towards the manta area.  After night fell we got into our wet suits and hopped into the water.  We all had flash lights and there were lights lighting up the bottom of the ocean like a mini city.  Manta Rays eat plankton, and the plankton is attracted to the light.  So the more light..in theory, the more Manta Rays.  We were amazed by these 100-1000lb creatures.  They are completely harmless, and incredible to see.  A bit scary at night, but it was well worth it.

I think we had enough adventure to hold us off until the baby arrives.  We can’t wait to start taking trips with Parker once he’s older.  It’ll be so exciting to learn and discover new things with him!

Sunny Weekend in Asheville

To celebrate our four year anniversary (and also our last anniversary without kids), we decided to enjoy the weekend in Asheville, NC.  We arrived late morning, checked into our hotel and went to grab a bite to eat.  Everywhere was so busy we ended up having to grab something to go in order to catch our “Historic Trolly Tour” through the city.

Historic Trolley Tour

The tour took us through the artist district, Biltmore Village, Downtown Asheville, Grove Arcade, The Grove Park Inn area, and various parts of Asheville.  It was so nice to get the overall history and get the scoop on the best shopping and dining!

We had our anniversary dinner at the Grove Park Inn’s Sunset Terrace.  It was wonderful.  The view of Asheville was amazing and the hotel was incredible.

Dan inside the enormous lobby fireplace at the Grove Park Inn

Taking in the spectacular views at the Grove Park Inn

Saturday Dan and I enjoyed the much anticipated Biltmore Estate.  I heard it was a beauty and definitely worth seeing, but I didn’t expect it to be as cool as it is.  The house was beautiful with every square inch carefully detailed and designed.  The gardens were colorful and just starting to take bloom.  The weather was perfect, which made for such a wonderful time on the Biltmore Estate.  We were suprised by how many acres there are and how many vast green fields and walking trails there are.  We had no idea how much land they had!  There were families with their picnic baskets enjoying lunch, and some couples were laying on blankets just soaking in the wonderful weather and scenery.  This is definately a place I want to go back to.

Biltmore Estate

Biltmore Gardens

I'm helping the Lion guard the Estate

Entrance Gate to the Biltmore

Our piece of Biltmore

We finished off the weekend by visiting the Asheville Nature Conservatory.  We continued the tradition from last year  by visiting animals.  Last year we went to the Atlanta Zoo.  We saw bears, deer, an otter, cayotes, and various other animals.  It was such a beautiful day that we enjoyed taking in the sunshine and just spending time together.

Monday Night Ramblings

Here’s to one week in the most beautiful place on earth…and what I’ve learned

• 9 hr plane rides are much more interesting when you have a great book like Twilight to read
• Sunset dinner cruises are so romantic…especially when I share it with my incredible husband
• Driving in a convertible in Hawaii is close to heaven
• You know that it HAS to be good when you wait for over an hour in the freezing, breezy cold weather to see the most amazing sunrise above the clouds at Mt. Haleakala
• Snorkeling has a cooler friend…it’s called snuba…and it’s freakin’ awesome! 
• Swim-up bars combined with water slides with a 200ft drop are dangerous, but exhilarating
• If you want to see the sunken Carthaginian ship in Lahaina then take the submarine  Atlantis…it is by far the neatest thing…and I wasn’t nearly as closter phobic as I thought I would be!
• A peaceful hike to the twin falls reminds you of God’s presence everywhere
• Getting a massage here at Grand Wailea puts Massage Envy to shame…big time!
• Molokai has the highest sea cliffs in the world and the most amazing waterfalls…it brought tears to my eyes.  The only way to see them is by helicopter.  What they don’t tell you is how absolutely terrifying the flights are!
• Grand Wailea does a mean Thanksgiving Luau
• There’s nothing better than coming home after a long trip, relaxing in your own bed and snuggling with the best puppies in the world.

Weekend Thoughts

I’m finishing up a busy weekend tonight and thought it was a good time to blog.  Here’s a re-cap:

1. We spent Friday night making dinner and hanging out with Dan’s Mom.  We always have so much fun chatting with her and finding out about her week.  She enjoys seeing us and her “gran-dogs” as she likes to call them Lizzie and Summer.  We’re able to see her more often now since she recently moved to Lawrenceville, which has been really nice.  Later on in the evening we decided we should go ahead and book some of our excursions for our Hawaii trip.  I think we got a little carried away.  We already have our entire week planned out! You know me-I’m a planner! This is what we have planned so far: Sun-arrival, Mon-Sunset dinner cruise, Tues-Snorkeling, Wed-Haleakala van tour w/breakfast(you go to the top of the crater above the clouds and watch the sun rise…it’s suppose to be incredible), Thurs-Submarine tour and Thanksgiving Luau, Fri-helicopter tour of the island, Sat-home.  I can’t wait!!

2. Saturday I had a project scheduled in Macon.  We relocated about 25 people’s belongings to another site in Macon.  The project went really well, and it was pretty action packed.  Not a lot of standing around and twiddling thumbs, which was good.  I like when I’m busy during projects!  I got back home in the late afternoon Saturday and Dan and I went to grab Chinese food.  It was nice because we had an honest conversation about some of our insecurities, fears, and struggles that we have…just in general.  We started talking about it because we are reading The Five Love Languages in our church small group, which has allowed us to talk more openly about the things we should work on in our marriage to make it a more healthy relationship.  The first thing we have to do in order to do this is to be honest with each other about our insecurities, fears, and struggles. Unintentionally we began to open up about a lot of past relationships whether it was family or couple relationships and how they’ve shaped some of our insecurities into who we are today.  It felt so good to be open and honest with one another, and we left lunch learning so much more about each other…it was great.

3.Today was a nice day too.  We got to sleep in a bit and then we went to the second service at Stonecreek Church to hear an amazing message today from Steve Gibbs on  “The Man, The Myth, The Legend” series.  You can listen to the message on the podcast, but you really have to have been there to get the entire “feel” of the message.  Tonight we hosted our CWOK  (Couples with out Kids) small group at our house.  Jeff led a great conversation talking about the “Acts of Service”, and “Physical Touch” love languages.  We had some laughs, but we also learned about eachother and about how Jesus was the ultimate example for acts of service.  It definately got me ramped up for the week ahead since Dan will be home and we can focus on being intentional towards each other and making eachother happy.  What a great segue into our vacation the following week!

Staying Afloat

This week has been a roller coaster ride.  After the difficult news I received last week, I was trying to stay optimistic that things could only get better.  Well, so much for optimism… After numerous doctor’s appointments, medicine, awful side effects, missed work, and tears shed I’m going in for surgery tomorrow for a D&C.  I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this and that I would be able to take the more natural approach, but it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.  Nor do I want to endure the sadness any longer.  I’ve read too much bad stuff online about D&C’s that it has allowed my anxiety to get the best of me.  After a couple of deep breaths (okay…a lot of deep breaths), talking to close friends and family, and just giving it to God-I think I’m feeling better knowing that I’m doing what I need to do to get better.

I do however have one thing to look forward to…I have only two more weeks until we fly out to Hawaii for Thanksgiving.  Pina coladas and Luaus await!  We’ll be staying at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui for one week.  We’ll enjoy everything from yoga on the beach to snorkeling, bike riding and maybe a helicopter tour.  I’m so excited!! It will be so nice to catch up with my husband and spend some quality time (my number one love language for you CWOKer’s out there) and catch up on all the days missed during the year when he’s out of town traveling on business.  Here’s a snapshot of where we’ll be staying: