Sunflowers

The end of summer was hot and sticky, but full of sunflower fields which made us very, very happy.

Ashley and I had been eyeing these local sunflower fields for awhile, and knew we had to go visit and snag some pictures too.

Earlier that day, I experienced the ultimate #momfail when Harper found a bottle of hot pink nail polish, and attempted to paint her toes and then carrying the opened bottle upside down through the bathroom and bedroom. She had hot pink feet, a doctor's appointment early that afternoon, and a mama with nerves completely shot. Needless to say, I was super worried with how the pictures and trip to the sunflower fields would go that evening. But honestly, I was the one more worked up than her and she was cute as can be. 

Ashley was wonderful as always, and took some of my most favorite pictures of our little family. We're completely spoiled by her, and wish I could make it up to her and repay the favor - my photography skills aren't nearly as sharp as hers. So, thank you again Ashley. We love them more than you know.

She's a Wild One | Zoo Atlanta

We've been dying to take Harper to the zoo for awhile now due to her obsession and love for all things with four legs, fur, and rawr's (which is everything by the way). We wanted to wait until it was cooler for sure - these Atlanta summers can be a doozy with the heat and humidity, and walking around a zoo with crowded sweaty people - well, I'm going to pass if I can. The weather couldn't have been better the day we went - it was cool and breezy, the day before Irma was suppose to come through our area actually, so the crowds weren't bad at all. My family tagged along, which made it even more special for us. 

I've always loved Zoo Atlanta, and it played such a role in my own childhood from field trips to family outings. It's always been a fun day trip. One of the great things about Zoo Atlanta is that it's remained the same since I was little, but has also kept up with the times too. When you first walk through the gates, the gift shop is to your right, but across the path to the left is one of my favorite exhibits - the flamingos - which if you probably would have asked me 20 years ago what my favorite exhibit was, it would have been the flamingos too. Harper seemed to absolutely love them. She stared and watched. I think she could have stood there all day if we let her.

After the flamingos, we took the path to the elephants.

I love watching the elephants too, and Harper made up her mind that elephants indeed actually "rawr." Which turned out to be a common theme of the day. We worked our way through the zoo as a family, and really enjoyed seeing all the unique animals Zoo Atlanta has to offer - lions, orangutans, tiger, pandas - a must see - they're adorable!!!, gorillas - always entertaining and incredible, and so many more.

Towards the end of our trip, we stopped in the kids zone.

We popped into the petting zoo, where Harper bet/brushed every goat "dog" that the petting zoo had to offer. We even took a ride around the merry-go-round which brought out the kid in all of us adults. Harper for sure thought we were crazy. 

Our day at the zoo ended with Harper suckering MiMi into gifts from the gift shop and a late lunch back towards home. We love Zoo Atlanta and we love even more sharing it with Harps.

Hello, Greenville

Once in awhile, you need to grab your best friend and hit the road.

And sometimes, you need to eat all the delicious food, shop all the amazing things, talk about babies and husbands and life in general. And even sometimes, once in awhile, you need to take pictures in front of pink walls, explore and be adventurous in a new city, and remember why y'all both became best friends to begin with.

And so we did.

For Ashley's birthday, I wanted to do something special for her since she's always so special to us. When Harper was in the hospital, she showed up bearing gifts and food. She always puts the most thought into gifts, and will check in on you to see how you're doing - really doing - on the regular. I thought a break from our everyday, a fun trip to a city that I personally adore, and some girl time would be perfect.

So - Hello, Greenville.

After picking up Ashley and Chicken Mini's for the road (Is it really a roadtrip without Chick-fil-a breakfast? The answer is no.), we took off for Greenville, South Carolina for the day. We live relatively close - about an hour and a half across the GA-SC border, so we had lots of time for girl talk and catching up. Honestly, the girl talk in the car is always my favorite. It's time that we solely get to dedicate to each other and really check in on life.

We got there early enough to take a stroll through the farmer's market downtown, which I was really hoping we'd be able to make. I love farmer's markets, and Ashley is right up that alley with me. Fresh flowers, fresh foods, entertainment, small businesses - it's always a fun time exploring. Greenville didn't disappoint. The flowers were gorgeous, and we probably could have eaten our way through the whole market, but settled on a chocolate chip scone - and you guessed it, totally delicious. We ended up buying a couple of locally made soy candles that smelled delicious, and then made our way to lunch.

My mom had traveled to Greenville for work, as well as a girls' trip also and suggested we try Tupelo Honey for brunch. It was busy, but not busy enough for us to have to wait. We sat right outside. We had the hardest time deciding on what to eat since pretty much the entire menu sounded straight up delicious. Southern food at it's complete finest, let me tell you. We landed on a Southern Fried Chicken BLT and a Pork Confit Grilled Cheese. But probably the most amazing part of the meal, was the fresh biscuits, jam and honey brought out while we waited for our meals. Biscuits just make people happy. We instantly fell in love with this place.

After lunch, we hit the shops downtown and took obnoxious #basic pictures in front of pretty walls because that's what our friendship consists of. We are not ashamed. Ice cream was a must after lunch, and since rolled ice cream is all the rage, we needed to see what all the hype was about. Spoiler alert - the hype is real. Eventually, we worked our way to Falls Park - a must stop in Greenville. More shopping and looking around happened, especially since we got caught up in a pretty bad rainstorm. 

Eventually, we decided that we missed our babies and husbands, so we couldn't stay forever after all.

But large ice waters and warm chocolate chip cookies from Chick-fil-a sounded like a good way to wrap up our day since that's how it did start after all. :)