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| Outfit linked here |
Once we headed to Trader Joe's, they had a pretty long line outside, but we decided to wait it out and it ended up not taking very long to get through at all. We shopped to our hearts content, I really wish we had a Trader Joe's in town so I could go all the time! We got plenty of snacks for our annual first-day-of-summer trip up to Reddish Knob. More on that later!
After Trader Joe's, we didn't have anywhere else we needed to go but we didn't feel like going home yet, so we drove around Ivy which is a small suburb west of Charlottesville FULL of beautiful estates. My mom used to design kitchens and bathrooms, so she's had the pleasure of visiting some of them and they sound just AMAZING. Like, $18,000+ AGA stoves in the kitchens, amazing.
While we were out driving around, we ended up happening upon a vineyard that we've never been to, so we scoped it out and planned to come back another Friday. I have half workdays on Fridays in the summer, and my mom is off since she works for an elementary school, so we usually make plans for Friday afternoons and it's always so much fun!
We also stopped by a super cute country store that we go to sometimes. I hesitate to call it "country" because it's actually relatively upscale, stocking tons of antiques and estate jewelry, locally made goods and wine, along with more traditional general store types of products, including old school candy! I ended up getting some candy for Kenny and my dad, which was fun to pick out.
After that, we headed home and hung around for the rest of the evening. My dad got home and Kenny came over, and we got a cheese pizza and I made a batch of my FAVORITE orzo salad. My friend's mom made it for my bridal shower last summer and it's seriously so good. Looking at the recipe, it's so not something I'd expect to like (I've been open about my hatred of pine nuts, and eggplant makes me tilt my head in most cases), but it's seriously amazing.
On Saturday, I had a slow day getting ready while Kenny went to pick up the shoes he had on hold in Charlottesville and ran some other errands. Then I met up with my brother and drug him to Target with me and got our Father's Day gift for our dad finished up and wrapped. By the time we were done, Kenny was back so we all headed over to my parents' house to get ready to go on our annual trip to Reddish Knob!
It's always been hit or miss as far as how good the sunset ends up being, but this year was definitely the best yet! We were worried it would rain because there was an 80% chance of storms all day and it started raining while we were on the way up, but it ended up being perfect weather. The sunset was so beautiful, it wasn't crowded, and it wasn't cold at all (usually it's pretty chilly and windy). We took tons of photos like usual!
After the sunset, my dad and brother noticed that people who had had a campfire going had left without extinguishing their fire very well, so like the Boy Scouts they are, they collected water from a big puddle in empty cans and made sure that it was good to go before we left. It was so cute!
On the way home, we started talking about sasquatch and my dad ended up driving us by this random house he knew about that has a creepy looking sasquatch cut out set up in the side of their yard. I don't know if it was just the mood we were in, but it was SO hilarious.
On Sunday, I had ordered croissants from this amazing local bakery for Father's Day brunch, so Kenny and my brother and I took them over to my parents' house and ate them together. After that, we grabbed subs to pack for lunch and headed up to Hone Quarry to walk around and go on a little hike.
It was another beautiful day, even though it had been calling for storms. We also saw a lizard (later identified as a female eastern fence lizard), which I don't think I've ever seen in Virginia!
When we were on the way home, the CRAZIEST thing happened! We were driving on one of the main roads into town where the speed limit is 55 so we were going relatively fast, when we heard the sound of a horse running so fast. (We live in an area with a large community of Old Order Mennonites, so it's not uncommon to see horses and buggies on the road, especially on Sundays.) Within a split second after hearing it, we spotted a horse coming our way on a cross road, and saw it turn directly toward our car on the main road. It was completely dressed in its equipment to be hooked up to a buggy (I don't know the terms for it, ha), but there was no buggy in sight. It was running FULL speed straight for our car. My mom was driving and slowed down as fast as she could, but I seriously thought it was going to run into our car. Luckily it swerved at the last second and kept running down the road. It was the craziest thing ever! We never saw a buggy or anyone, so I hope the owners found their horse and nothing bad happened.
When we got home, my mom broke out her wildflower, mushroom, and reptile identification books so that we could look up some of the things we observed on the hike. My mom has always done that for as long as I can remember, and it's become something I've loved to do too, especially with wildflowers! After a while my brother had to go home, so Kenny and I headed out too and had a relaxing evening. We actually stayed up way too late watching Schitt's Creek, ha. It was such a fulfilling weekend spent with Kenny and my family, it truly fed my soul!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I'm so excited that summer is here, it's the best time of year and makes me so so happy.
xoxx, Laura
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