BJ Reece...a U-Pick Farm!

During our stay in the Ellijays we visited our very first u-pick farm!! Fyi, Ellijay is the land of apple orchards people!! There are many to choose from! We chose to visit BJ Reece Apple Orchards!! Most of the u-pick apple orchards in the area are Saturday/Sunday only, BJ Reece's u-pick is open daily though. They also have a store filled with, ready to buy apples, fried apple pies, apple cider and slushies, honey, maple syrup, and so much more!! They even have a bee observation and a petting farm!!

The Apple Orchards.....

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. ~Psalm 17:8





Bumble bee was just fascinated with these bright red tasty treats ~;o)





To God who gives our daily bread a thankful song we raise, and pray that he who sends us food may fill our hearts with praise. ~Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)



Thank you BJ Reece for such a wonderful experience!! Your apples are amazing!!

Confession.....

we've been on vacation.....

we have been away for the week enjoying and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ellijays, and Chattanooga!! During our time away we did A LOT of this.....

on a lot of these.....



and even across one of these!!!!



We picked tons of these.....

and ate at lots of these!!

There were lots.....

and lots.....

and lots of these around!!

We even rode through the Tennessee mountains on that.....

and this breath taking river was beside us for pretty much all 3 hours of the ride!!

Yup, we even went to one of these!! And we picked the prettiest and sweetest little pumpkin in the patch!! ~;o)

There are way too many beautiful pictures to post, but I will write a couple of more blogs about the trip and add a few more pictures again soon!! Until next time friends ~:o)

Slow Start to the New Year....

(Campbell's Covered Bridge, Built in 1909)

(We don't see this in Florida, AMAZING!!)

(Asheville, North Carolina. A Winter Wonderland!)

(On top of Cesar Head Mountain, 3200 feet high. Loved all those little homes clustered along the mountain!!)

(There were lots of these too~;o)

(And as always, a little bit of History~;o)

(I want to go back in the Spring and see this when everything is in BLOOM!)

(We spent our Christmas Eve at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Just beautiful!!)

(Our little Snow Baby, all bundled up!! 3 Months old here.)

I'm a little behind on my blogging. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year's Day. As you can see, I'm off to a slow start so far, but it's okay~:o) Haven't really had the chance to blog since the Holidays till now!! I've missed blogging, it's my therapy and down time. A lot of family in and out of town and we have been sick for the past couple of weeks. Isabella got her first cold, and a yucky one. So we've been doing double time over here. She is doing much better though and we are so Thankful for this. Well we spent our Christmas in the Carolinas!! Greenville and Asheville to be exact. It is always a wonderful thing to go out of town and see new beautiful places~:o) At first I was thinking Charleston (In LOVE with this place!!) But we stayed closer to the mountains. And it was so worth seeing!! So very different from seeing the Charleston area during last summer's Baby Moon!! ~;o) This was one of my Christmas presents from Emmanuel~:o) My sweetheart (blushes) ~:o) I am almost convinced that I could take a trip to the Carolinas once a year and never get bored! I almost think I could move to Charleston, if Daddyo said "Lets Go!" Not quite confident yet, but almost there~;o) Here are some pictures of our Winter Vacation and here is another more recent one of Bella, my little Kewpie Baby!! She is 4 months old in this picture. Until next time darlings~:o)

Savannah and Charleston Highlights

I could have added so many more pictures from the trip to this post. I must have taken over five hundred! So as you can see, I had to REALLY narrow it down a bit~;o) To see them all, visit my facebook page. Wow where to begin....most of what we visited was all historical, which I love. This way I can put a short story with a picture. This was a truly amazing little vacation we took. And my ankles only managed to swell up twice during the entire trip! Twice and only twice so far, I want to keep it that way! Word to the wise fellow pregger friends. While touring other cities during vacation, don't go gallivanting all around town in sandals. And for those of you who already knew this (which would probably account for about 98% of you) why didn't y'all warn me?! So we were in Savannah for six days and Charleston for one. Yep, that's right. We made a surprise visit there instead of Hilton Head Island, it was a last minute change of plans so sorry to say that there are no beach pictures this time. Although we did manage to squeeze a couple of lighthouse pictures in. We toured a lot of Savannah, and we did this by foot pretty much most of the the time. But everything was close in and there was much to see and visit so it was well worth the walk, and exercise~;o) We were up at the crack of dawn practically every morning and back at around 8pm almost every evening. Long days for us yet we still didn't manage to squeeze everything that we wanted to see in. But for the most part we did very well and now we have an excellent excuse to go back~;o) Although I do have to say, after visiting one would hardly need to come up with an excuse for visiting, the scenery alone is enough! Some of the grand highlights of our vacation included: A trolley tour, City Market, the 22 Historical District Squares, Tybee Island Lighthouse, Fort Pulaski, the Cockspur Lighthouse, Wormsloe Plantation, the Lady and Sons Restaurant, southern food, and blueberry picking! It is good to be back, though I will say after seeing Charleston, we almost wanted to move there! Enjoy the pictures~:o)

A visit with the locals.....

While at the market in Savannah we visited the second floor expecting to see more shops but instead got a bonus! Several of the locals rent a decent sized work studio on this floor. Some of these type of studios include: jewelry, knitting, and painting. We were lucky to run into Derek Larson of Addikt Space Studios. Derek and his friend Kyle Stavella, are both graduates of The Savannah College of Art and Design or (SCAD). Their studio is located in The City Market at the intersection of Jefferson and w. St. Julian St. on the second floor. Some of their work in includes various forms of painting, and unique digital comic strip art on vintage window panes.

When we planned our trip to Savannah I made certain to squeeze some time in to visit Wormsloe's Historic Site! Oaks trees stretch for about a mile before reaching the historic ruins and their museum (which by the way is filled with all kinds of reasonably priced treasures.) The staff was extremely helpful and friendly too! If your heading into Savannah, this is a must see! A special thank you goes out to Thomas and Kathy for making our visit an extra comfortable one!

Before heading into Charleston, we were fortunate to stumble across Champney's Farm. One of the highlights of this farm is their blueberry bushes run by John and his daughter Cameron. Very friendly and helpful people, they give you the option of purchasing blueberries right off the table, or grabbing a bucket and picking them on your own. And if your lucky, you might get to see their cute new puppy Isabel! They are located in Ravenel, SC 29470. If you are interested in purchasing from them they can be reached at (843) 763-6564.

As we were on our way to the visitor's center in Charleston, we came across a jolly bunch of men who were so kind to let me snap a photo of them~:o) The Charleston Fire Department has to be one of the kindest crew I've ever met. If your in their neck of the woods your sure to get a friendly "hi" from them~:o) Their station dates back to 1882. Thats about all for now friends, my next post will include highlights of our visit in both cities, stay tuned!

Were back from vacation.....

We are back from our vacation to Savannah! I am exhausted yet completely satisfied!! We even made a surprise stop in Charleston, SC! I will post pictures of some of the locals and also some of the historical and scenic areas as well as soon as I can.

In crafting news I made this lovely name bracelet for a friend's little girl who just turned 3 years old! If you are interested in one you can find them in my etsy shop: Studio Bebe. Until next time darlings~:o)