Farmer's Festival / Seafood Festival

Festival season is in full swing.  The first one we went to was the Farmer's day festival. http://www.friendsoffarmers.org.   Richlands Friends of Farmers is a nonprofit organization striving to provide scholarships for high school students planning to further their education in the agriculture, horticulture and environmental science fields. This is a nice small festival and is for a good cause.  It's just down the road from our house so makes it nice we don't have to drive very far.  There is always a very nice collection of tractors.

There was a stand that had some really nice painted bird houses.  No I did not buy any, we have a bird house that we were filling when we first moved into our house.  We ended us with so many birds in our yard that we stopped filling it.  

We walked around for a little, had a barbque sandwich then headed home.


The next weekend was the Spot festival.  It actually rained all weekend so we went through the drive through to get a spot dinner.  I really like the spot fish.


This past weekend my nephew Craig and his wife Selena came to visit.  Friday afternoon we went to the Duplin Winery http://www.duplinwinery.com
We took the wine tour and then had a wine tasting.  This winery really does a nice job with their wine tasting and makes it a lot of fun.  After that we headed home and had spaghetti for supper.  I have a very good recipe that I make with wine.  I put it in the crock pot before we left so it was ready when we got home.


Saturday we went to a few yard sales where Selena found some good stuff.  About that we left for the seafood festival.  Once there we walked around and checked out the food stands.  We stopped and had some shrimp then headed to the chef's tent to see what they were cooking.  The first demonstration we watched was red drum (which is the state fish) with vegetables.  Yummy it was really good.  The next demonstration was a flounder sandwich which was also very good.  The restaurants that do the demo's all serve fresh local seafood that they get from the local fisherman.


We then checked out all the craft stands and ate a lot more seafood (plus the chocolate covered cheesecake). That evening they had fireworks which we stayed to watch.  It was a very nice day and we had a lot of fun.


Sunday we went to the Vietnam Memorial gardens.  They really did a nice job with the gardens.

The garden started with a memorial to the Marines killed in Beirut.

 

The name of all the Marines killed in Beirut

This year they added a memorial to 911. 

A piece of beam from 911

We then headed to Emerald Isle to have lunch at Rucker Johns then checked out all my favorite shops.  We headed over to the beach to take a walk and find seashells.  The water was very warm but the air was chilly. Selena found some really nice shells to take home.
We decided to drive up to Fort Macon to see if they were opened.  Since we were last there the new building is opened.  They have a very nice gift shop and a nice educational section.

Greg & Selena

 

From the fort we walked over to the beach.  This is a beach were you cannot go swimming.  It is actually water, where the ocean meets the sound which causes very strong currents.  This is a place were a lot of people fish from.  Selena found some really cool shells on this beach.

Craig & Selena

Monday we went to Southern Comforts which a a very cute gift shop in town.  Checked out a second hand store then meet Greg at smithfields.  Craig and Selena wanted to check out some southern barbque and fried chicken.  They really enjoyed smithfields but then it was time for them to head home.  We really had a fun filled and packed weekend.  We have a lot more planned when they visit again.


Well that's all for now, 2 more festival coming up this weekend.


Till next time....
Love,
Jennifer

Summer Road Trip

Wow where has the summer gone?  I cannot believe it's September already, I had a very busy month of traveling so this will be very long but worth the read.

I started out going to Erica's in PA for a visit and to go to the scrapbook festival.  The scrapbook festival is in Valley Forge each year.  I heard someone say they are looking to have it in Lancaster or Allentown next year.  If they do that would be wonderful, if you are into scrapbooking or making cards I would recommend for you to go.

Lily needed a nap from all the shopping

My friend Natalie went along and we all had a great time.  Afterwards we went to the cheesecake factory www.thecheesecakefactory.com for lunch.  Then Erica took us to a new store called "Charming Charlies"  www.charmingcharlie.com, love this store.

I spent a week with the grand-kids and had lots of fun.  Lily is just growing so much, Raymond has such a cute personally, Isabella is getting to be so grown-up, we love doing crafts together.

Isabella & Raymond

Isabella was invited to a birthday party at the Build-A-Bear workshop.  Since Erica has a job on weekends I took Isabella to the party.  That was the first time I've been there to see how they are made.  It's a very cute place for kids.

Isabella & Her Bear

Isabella and I also went to the movies to see "Winnie the Pooh".  On Monday we decided to take a road trip to Longwood Gardens.  Erica got a really good deal on Groupon for tickets. This was the first time I have been there and really had a nice time.  "Thanks Erica"

The fountain show with music

This was one of two fountain shows they had to music.  Raymond loves music and really enjoyed watching it.

The flowers were beautiful

They have such a nice children's section with lots of water.  They kids really had a nice time playing in the water, especially since it was so hot out that day.

Isabella & Raymond

Erica, Lily, Raymond, Isabella

We walked around checking out all the beautiful flowers.  I love water lily's and did not know that there were so many different species or colors.  Now I want a lily pond in my back yard.

We had a nice lunch and then watched another water show.  We were there all day and still didn't get to see everything.  Guess we'll have to go back again.

The second fountain show

Isabella

Isabella and I think Grandpa should grow a big bush in the yard and cut it like this one.

Raymond having a good time!

Lily was all smiles!

The next day Erica and I were checking out Bon-Tons clearance sale on shoes.  Isabella decided she also wanted to try on some shoes and had a blast doing so.  All is I can say is watch out mommy and daddy!

I left PA and headed for Knoxville, Tn for a week  The townhouse Greg's mother has up for sale needed some work.  We set it up for Lowe's to install a new stove, microwave and dishwasher.  I also had an electrician replace the outside lights.  The air condition needed fixing so I had that done.  I power washed the patio and driveway, what a difference that made.  I did some cleaning in both bathrooms and the kitchen.  Changed light bulbs, added shower curtains and towels, changed the curtain in the dinning room.  Added a card table in the dinning room with a table cloth and flowers.  I also put some things in the kitchen to make it look nice.  It really turned out nice.  The week was a little rough without the internet, I wanted to blog then but wasn't able.  Tried to get on a neighbor's but they were all secured.

After a week in Knoxville, my friends Michael and Bobbie picked me up on their way to Memphis.  I went to Memphis to help them with their "Images of the King" show.  This was the 25th year for this contest.  I had a blast and really enjoyed helping them out.  We did get to go to the candle light service at Graceland.  Not as many people this year but next year is the big year (35th) so the year before is always a slow one.

Before we came home we drove to Mississippi to the casinos to have dinner at the Paula Deen buffet.  It was a huge buffet with lots of great home cooked foods.  Everything was so good.  They also had a seafood section and a dessert section.  I would definitely go again next year.

On the way home from Memphis we stopped at "The Old Spaghetti Factory" in Nashville for supper.  It was really good and worth the trip.  We just got there in time to order dinner before they closed, I'm glad we made it.  Driving back to the townhouse the transmission went out in Michael's van.  So we spent the next few days in Knoxville while the van was being repaired.  I don't know if it was good or bad for Michael because I put him to work.  We changed out the screens on the windows and one door.  I wanted to change the outside house numbers but had a tough time since they were the sticky kind.  Michael was able to use a hair dryer and get the numbers off to change them to a nicer ones.  I'm so glad he was able to help me. 

We decided to go to the movies one evening.  We went to see the movie "The Help", this was such a great movie.  It was serious, funny but really made you think.  I would definitely go see it again.  Well after we picked up the van Michael and Bobbie headed home.  I packed up the car that night but waited till the next morning to leave.  I had a big adventure and lots of fun but was very glad to be home.

Well it is now the season for festivals and I'm excited.  I will start blogging often and tell you about them all, hopefully I'll find some new ones or get to some I missed last year.

Till next time....

Love,
Jennifer

Our Pirate Adventure

My son's family came to visit us for the week of July 4th.   We really had a long day on Monday the 4th.  We started out by going to Beaufort, NC.  We went on the Pirate Treasure Hunt on Shackleford Banks.  We had so much fun, I would definitely recommend this for anyone with a child.  It was run by the Crystal Coast Lady http://www.crystalcoastlady.com.

Since it was July 4th we decided to leave early.  It's a good thing we did because there was a parade about to start when we got there.  After the parade we walked around a little taking some pictures.

Bobby, Lori & Alexander

Not long after that the Pirates were ready for everyone to come aboard.

Once we were on board the Pirates gave all the kids swords.  They proceeded to have a sword fight on the way over to the Island.  The Pirates were so great with all the kids, they really had a blast. 

When we got close to the Island we were able to see the wild horses along the shore.  It was pretty cool to see.

When we reached the Island and everyone was off the boat one of the pirates had to walk the plank (because he drank all the rum.  The kids thought it was funny when he jumped in the water but one asked "What is rum".
We walked onto the Island and all the kids were made pirates for the day and given a pirate hat.

 

We found Blackbeards treasure and each of the kids were allowed to have 3 gold coins.  We then had about an hour of free time.  We ended up letting Alex go in the water with his clothes on.  Since we didn't know we would have free time we didn't bring his bathing suit along.  We did have clothes in the car for him to change into.

 

We then headed back to shore from the Island.  On the way back the pirates had a big water gun fight with all the kids and adults.  Everyone had such a nice time, we will be checking out the other cruises that they offer.

Our adventure was three hours long.  We walked around a few shops and had an ice cream cone.  We headed to Emerald Isle to have dinner at Rucker Johns  https://www.ruckerjohns.com.  We walked around all the shops.  On the way home we stopped in Swansboro to watch the fireworks.  It was a very long day but we sure had a very nice time.

Alex and I went to see the movie Cars 2.  He had fun playing in the sand, the beach water was a little ruff for him.  He really enjoyed our pool and had so much fun playing with his daddy and grandpa. 

 

We had a nice picnic with the Becker family.  Alex and I made strawberries dipped in white chocolate then dipped in blue sugar for the 4th of July.

Alex and grandpa made a bird feeder together.

Alex & Grandpa

We had a very busy and fun week.  Love to see the grand-kids.

Till next time...
Love,
Jennifer

Florida Vacation

We decided to go to Florida on vacation to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  We always have a nice relaxing time there just hanging out and playing cards with my Aunt at night.  She is a great cook so if you ever go to her house and leave hungry it's your fault. 
We did decide to go to the Ringling Bros. Museum and home in Sarasota Fl.  http://www.ringling.org

The front of the house

Right side of the house

The back of the house

How nice to be able to pull your boat up to the back of your house.  There was a beautiful very large back patio.  They actually have weddings there which would be very beautiful.

The inside was just as beautiful and had some really cool antiques.

The Bar

The Kitchen

We then went into the museum that held a lot of items from the circus from many years back.  A lot of these items were from when they traveled from town to town by train.

After going into the house and museum of the circus items, there was also a very large Art museum.  The art museum had some really amazing art that was part of the collection of John Ringling.  I would recommend going to visit this place if you are ever in Sarasota, Fl.  It will take all day to go through everything.

This was such a very nice relaxing vacation.  Will be looking forward to our next visit.

Till next time....

Love,
Jennifer