Not Spring Break

Everyone in our area is on spring break this week, but not us!    The sunshine lured us outside and to the gym quite a bit more.  I mowed for the first time of the season and a kid in the neighborhood stopped by to play with Michael. 

Michael had a more "relaxed" schedule in science and art as we continued learning about Kandinsky and clouds from last week's Fun Friday lessons.

Tera's been producing some major projects this week for the WW2 British history unit.   If this girl could find a career where she got to work on these kinds of projects every day, she would be one happy camper! 

The van had some maintenance repairs done at the beginning of the week.  We finally got Tera's graduation announcements picked up and her graduation gown steamed.  Her senior bio was submitted and she'll begin working on her scholarship application soon.  

3 karate classes and a little doggie therapy.

 The sun is shining in the window and I'm so thankful for this bit of springtime weather and warmer temperatures, even if we aren't on spring break. 

25 years today...

Since we went on a day trip yesterday for our anniversary, today happened to be more of a normal day for us.  JP had already scheduled the day off, so we made arrangements to have the van checked out--oil change, brake job, etc.  We dropped the van off, picked up Tera from work and dessert for dinner.  

I put a pork loin with potatoes, carrots and onions in the crockpot for dinner. (Once I made horrible chili for our anniversary, and vowed to always have a nice meal for special occasions even if we had already celebrated!)   

School with the kids, while JP went out bargain shopping.  Picked up graduation announcements, Tera's graduation gown from the dry cleaners and the car from the shop.  JP found Tera the record player she's been wanting for a great price.

Dinner and dessert with the kids and exchanging presents. 

When JP and I were dating, the first gift he gave me was a bracelet just like this one. Years later we took it be repaired; they replaced the clasp with a different one. One day it fell off and I lost it. To say I was upset is a severe understatement. I still hope that one day I'll find it in the house somewhere, but so far after several years I haven't. 

Today on our 25th anniversary, JP surprised me with a new bracelet just like my other one with the original type barrel clasp. The jeweler told him they didn't make those clasps anymore, but he happened to have one and they custom made the bracelet. I cried...I love that man of mine!

The Gardens and Deerpark Restaurant

We really enjoyed walking around the conservatory and hiking on the grounds of the Biltmore during our day trip there.  The gardens were some of my favorite parts of our day and I wish that more things had been in bloom outside, because I'm sure it is gorgeous! 

I wore forsythia in my hair the day we were married 25 years ago. It was the only thing blooming on our college campus.   It's our flower...

For our splurge dinner, we chose the Deerpark Restaurant.  The seating was comfortable and relaxed and our waitress was awesome.  The servers we encountered on the buffet line were not top of the line--either for skill or attitude.  The food was fine, but not as good as I thought it would be.  There were a couple of items that I really liked.   It was nice for a one-time experience, but I wouldn't visit there again.  We both left pleasantly full, but not overly stuffed.  (I know my zoomed-in pictures look like there is tons of food on my plates.) 

25th Anniversary at The Biltmore

JP and I took a day trip to The Biltmore in Asheville, NC for our 25th wedding anniversary.  And when I say day trip, I mean like a really LONG day that happens the morning after we lost an hour for daylight saving time and you have to drive 2.5 hours to reach your destination early in the morning.  We left before the sun came up. 

This was our first visit to The Biltmore.  I was worried it might rain, because where we live that's all we've had since January is RAIN!  BUT it was the most gorgeous day we've had in months! 

We split breakfast from The Bake Shop on the grounds.

We thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the detailed architecture and magnificent views.

Since we booked ahead of time, we received a free audio tour, which was very informative.

It was quite hard to even imagine what it must have been like to like in this palatial residence.  Too hard to even fathom.  We enjoyed our tour of the house, but it was so BUSY.  There were so many people there.  We were glad we had booked an early morning reservation tour time,  when we saw the lines later in the afternoon that were so much longer than the ones we experienced.  

We had a great day together!