How do weekends go by so fast? I don’t fully understand it.  I hope some of you out there are enjoying an extra day off. Technically, I should be too since Peter is off work. Sadly, though, he is having to work on his car at his brother’s the entire day. I could use his help around here today. I need some rest after the busy weekend we had. I shared my fun from Friday & Saturday already and the actual 4th was loaded as well.

Sunday morning we woke up and had a red, white, and blue breakfast. It consisted of homemade blueberry pancakes and a strawberry smoothie.

The pancakes are a really basic recipe that we adapted from www.allrecipes.com and always use for our once in a blue moon pancake mornings.

Ingredients

• 1.5 C flour (all-purpose or mix of all-purpose & wheat)
• 3.5 tsp baking powder
• 2T sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C milk (I like using vanilla almond milk)
• 1 egg
• 3T melted butter
• 4 large handfuls fresh blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients first (flour through salt) and create a well in the center. Pour the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter) into the well and blend until batter is smooth. Fold in blueberries. Cook on a griddle or pan like any other pancakes. 😀

After breakfast, we headed to church for an excellent service. It was all about the freedoms we have, not only within the country we live but also in our faith. Our pastor discussed how we need to really consider what we are free from and be grateful because none of that freedom came free. All of it came from huge sacrifices. From the many men and women who have fought for the freedom of our country across centuries, but also for the one man who sacrificed himself for each of us to be truly free and the countless others who across time made sacrifices to keep his word and truth flowing to others. The message brought people to their feet at the end and there were many sniffles heard among my fellow church friends.

Later that afternoon we headed to my parents’ place for some July 4th fun. The plan was to hang out for awhile and then gather up a picnic dinner to eat and games to play while waiting for Atlanta’s Lenox Fireworks show. There was a little bit of a glitch in that plan thanks to a “moment” between my father and I. Our relationship has had its fair share of strain and typically we can handle each other for the times we do see each other. Yesterday he was somehow set off and I had to face that look of pure hatred in his eyes and the anger that can come from his lips again. The evening evolved into a much rougher time than I expected and I fought the darkness I could quickly sink into from him the remainder of the night.

However, we persevered and gathered our forces to delight in our time together. My brother would leave in the morning to return to his home in Arizona, so we packed the cars and ate our picnic dinner or Publix chicken with potato chips & salad. We donned our happy faces to laugh and be goofy.

We played some Apples to Apples and adored the darling Makenzie.

And we also dove headfirst into a fabulous dessert – S’mores Brownies. Somehow Jess always gets it right. Always.

Then I viewed the fireworks through Makenzie’s eyes yet again. Believed in the magic of fireworks, instead of the realities of pain that can still infiltrate even after you thought them to be resolved. Now, it is today. A new day. A day where I can sweat out some tension in a spin class; spend time laughing with my daughter; and with any luck have a husband who comes home at a reasonable enough time to give me a break. I have a feeling there will be some prayer in my future on finding a way to let it all go and find a way to forgive (even with no apology present)…again.

I wish you all the best of days! Now, tell me…how was your weekend?

I’m baaaaccckkk! Did you all miss me? As much as I enjoyed unplugging over our Memorial Day Weekend trip to the mountains, I did miss being involved in the world of blogging. I feel so out of the loop! I’ll try to catch up with everyone as much as possible soon. I hate to think how much I’ll miss blogging when I am gone with no Internet access for 10 days! Please don’t leave me all of you fabulous readers! You really put a smile on a girl’s face…especially when she is still feeling sick as all get out 80% of the time. Yes, I still don’t feel so great. But I’m surviving and was still able to enjoy myself this weekend. Care to see what I did? I hope so because that is what this post is about. 😉

Friday

I spent the morning in the bathroom, the afternoon on the couch, and somehow managed to pack up for our trip and get a Flashback Friday post up showing my baby bump progression from my pregnancy with baby M. We left at around 6:30 to hit the road for the pretty easy drive to Ellijay in the North Georgia Mountains.

I was so happy when we finally made it to our cabin. It looks small but it had 6 bedrooms, a hot tub, a pool table, and plenty of room for the 8 adults and 4 kids in our clan. Friday night was all about getting unpacked and settled before relaxing with good conversation and company for the night.

Saturday

Saturday was a little more eventful. We searched the surrounding area for a hike to go on that would be suitable with little kiddos and had some pretty views. We found a good sounding one that had some waterfalls and was a short hike in.

We got M settled in the hiking pack and made our way up to the waterfalls.

The waterfall was smaller than we expected, but it was still nice because you were able to walk out to it easily. Makenzie even got the chance to touch it.

We then all packed back up to head back down and go to a little country restaurant we found for lunch.

It was along the river and had such a charming feel to it with all the country style decorations. Well, besides the stuffed animals all over the place. They could have done without that.

Continuing with my nothing-healthy-sounds-appetizing food aversions and first trimester eating habits, I ordered some chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and coleslaw. It was delicious. Probably only because I was SO hungry after it took them an hour to get our food.

The remainder of the day consisted of naps and watching the kids use pool noodles for the best entertainment out of the many toys they had access to.

As well as cooking out and playing some games with Heather’s Insanity Bars to fuel us at night.

Sunday

Sunday was extremely low key. We took our time waking up and getting the day started. I even slept in until 9:00 which is unheard of for me. I honestly don’t remember how we filled our morning. After lunch, however, we headed to the pool and playground that was part of the cabin rental community. The girls all had a blast and Makenzie adored the pool.

Of course she loved the playground too. There was swinging involved and wooden bears she could high five, so how could she not love it?

The night was spent much the same as the previous one – eating and relaxing.

Monday

We did a mad dash of packing up the excess of stuff you bring on a vacation when you travel with 4 kids ages two and under to be able to make our 11:00 check out time. Then, headed home. I caught up on some emails and crashed on the couch out of exhaustion and the worst nausea so far. We still had to head over to Peter’s parents’ house to pick up our dog and also let them in on the pregnancy news. They were shocked and excited. I’m thankful it was a quick visit so we could get home and pop in a movie with some pizza. You would think I would be craving veggies after eating so little. Normally I would, but not when the sight of them make me want to dry heave. So, the lackluster in the nutrition department eats continue. I only have about 6 more weeks of this. Lucky me! 😀

• Tell me the best part of your weekend! I really want to know since I haven’t been able to catch up on blogs much yet.
• What is your favorite thing to do on a vacation? Do you like to be busy or just do nothing?