Armed Forces Day Parade

This week was so busy!  I worked in Spartanburg on Monday morning and then flew to Michigan to work with our awesome new HR Manager in Jackson, Jennifer.  I spent three days in Michigan and then headed back to South Carolina.  I am lucky enough to have a great mom, mother-in-law, and former day care provider, Prity from Kozy Heart, who made it possible for me to bring Jack back too!  Friday came around and I headed to Athens, Georgia to participate in an interview with our group there for a HR person for the Georgia region.  

Today started with rain.  It only rained for a little while though and it was light.  I had time to squeeze in a quick workout before heading to the DMV to transfer the Trailblazer's registration and my license.  Wow!  Luckily, Eric went and did all of this for the Malibu while I was out of town so I knew exactly what to do and expect.  It only took about 40 minutes which seems to be outstanding!  We had a quick lunch, ran a few errands, and then decided to head downtown to have dinner at one of our new favorite restaurants, Smoke on the Water.  It was delicious again and we realized that a parade was taking place right at the end of our early dinner.  Today is Armed Forces Day which I never realized until today.  Greenville had a parade to celebrate the holiday.  It was spectacular and Jack loved it!  He especially loved the marching bands and police cars and all of their different sirens!

Near and dear to my heart.... American Legion Little Miss Poppy

Jack is wearing his perfect Run DMC Fan for Life shirt!

These Young Marines were SO young!

Afterwards, we checked out Funnelicious.  I had tried their fried pickles at Artisphere last weekend and the rest of their treats were rather interesting.  I tried the fried Snickers this time.  YUM!  I didn't know it until we were there, but this place was featured on a Travel Channel series in February of this year.  It was an experience!

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday, we visited our favorite park, the Cleveland Park, on our way back from Artisphere. Jack makes a  "friend" each time and it is pretty freaking cute.  This time it was a 18 month old girl who had a mutual love of hugs.  Jack enjoyed that for sure!  

Today is Mother's Day.  It is the first Mother's Day that I can remember, since I believe I was in zombie mode last year with Jack only being 1 month old.  I felt much more sane this year! I started the day with an early morning 4 mile run that started at our favorite park and then headed in to downtown Greenville and back to the park.  I headed back home afterwards to get cleaned up and then spent the days with my guys which was perfect.  We visited a wonderful restaurant, Soby's, where we feasted on a tasty brunch.  It featured prime rib carving stations, a sea food station, a dessert bar that included a chocolate fountain, eggs benedict and french toast (two of my favorites), fresh muffins, AMAZING crab cakes, and so on.  It was so good!  We had reservations at 10:30 a.m. Afterwards we walked down to the Falls Creek Falls to hang out in the sun.  It was a relaxing start to this great day.  Now I listen to my very tired child play in his bed, instead of napping like he should be!  :)  Enjoy your day!

Artisphere

We currently live in Greenville, South Carolina - just about 20 minutes from Spartanburg, where I work.  Greenville is quite the "up and coming" city.  They have events every week downtown.  This weekend is Artisphere.  It is a nice event with both local and other artists as well as a food area that features foods from some of the great local restaurants.  There is wine tasting, beer being served, street and live music, etc.  We visited both yesterday and again this morning after Mother's Day brunch.  

I love when Jack is so interested in things that he leans forward as much as he can to see what is going on.  

 

We saw this street performer both days, dressed as two different "metallic" characters.  It reminded me of our overseas travels.   

South Carolina

Well, we've been here for a full week and it has been great.  We ended up driving down last Sunday and Monday.  Jack did very well through the trip but by the end, he (and we) just wanted out of the car!  We stopped for Buffalo Wild Wings in Cincinnati where they gave us a hard time about our Tigers/Michigan gear.  

WHAT?

  Almost there...

It was a pretty drive through the mountains.  We are only about an hour or so from them and the early morning sun on Monday was special to see.

The parks here are amazing and Jack has loved every minute of checking out play areas, grass, Presley, etc.  He is so curious about everything!

Every time we take Presley out, Jack is almost as excited as she is.  He laughs so hard. It is a good sight. 

Just two guys walking down Main Street.  People absolutely love watching Jack walk.  He is so ready to run already!  

I hope to post more regularly since we are away from our family and friends.  :(  I noticed that I haven't posted since December.  Oops!  Maybe I'll go back and post a bit about Jack's birthday (which was a blast!), Easter, visiting with family and friends, etc.  We will see!  

P.S. We love to video chat if anyone is interested.  Jack has the attention span of a baby (duh) so chats are short, but fun.