Since we left during Ramadan I really didn't think the lounge would be serving wine, but lucky for me, they were! We boarded our flight with a relaxed mama and a sleepy Stella and headed to London for our layover.
I had bought this blow up pillow thing to put in front of Stella for her legs to prop up and it worked like a charm! We lucked out on the flight and got seats with extra legroom and only had the two of us in the row so we both slept and slept well that first leg of the flight!
Landing in London was awesome this time. Any time we fly in and out of Heathrow I always get a little sad and nostalgic, but this time was different... knowing that we'll be flying in to stay for a few years this Autumn took that sting away a bit! We headed to the lounge and had breakfast (Stella had her first bacon butty-on gluten free bread thanks to the lounge) and played with Legos while we waited for our Charlotte flight to board.
Y'all. Let me tell you something. You don't realize how much blue skies and green grass mean to you until you're living somewhere thats predominantly brown and sandy. Landing in Charlotte amongst the trees and gorgeous blue skies had Stella and I both giddy.
We landed, headed to Mom's house and cuddled our boy first thing!
After that, we showered up and headed to love on some more family! Ryan and Ellory were SO excited to see Stella!
We headed home and crashed early and slept hard. The minute Stella's eyes opened the next morning she was asking to go outside and swing... and that was pretty much every morning til the day we left!
We headed to the park to do some school work (we still had a couple of weeks of work left to do) and took advantage of the amazing weather!
We headed to a local produce stand and found this gem
And some of my favorite things....
Still fawning over that bright sky
While winter might be my favorite time of year, summer produce is my favorite produce. I think I've finally decided that the summer southern vegetable plate is my favorite home cooked meal. Squash casserole, fried squash (because you can never have too much squash, right?), fresh green beans and cucumbers, cornbread, and creamed corn... my stomach is growling just thinking about it!
And again... bright and early on the swing set!
We found places to do schoolwork everywhere... the park, the house, the chiropractors floor...
Summer time in NC means kayaking on the Pond at Matt Matt and Cici's house
spending hours on the trampoline
and petting the ducks (who think they're domesticated, indoor ducks...haha!)
We got to watch Ellory at her Gymnastics class
And Ryan devour salsa by the spoonful
And the girls had their first of many summertime sleepovers
We played at the splash pad
And I got to cuddle one of Christopher's cousins sweet baby!
And, of course, got to cuddle this sweet thing!
And, being in the states I got to finally try the Beyond Meat burger! I'd read about it and wanted to try it since I'm veggie now and it was pretty good!
We had the first of many snowballs...
We celebrated Memorial Day by the pool and with a girl who figured out how to flip into the water
We went on walks
Where a certain 3-legged chihuahua had to be carried part of the way home...
I got a hair cut
We reminded Target that we love and missed it (and lo and behold, our stock went up...haha!)
and we celebrated finishing 2nd grade!
I didn't think there was that much of a difference between the beginning of the year and the end... but it always manages to surprise me how much kids change in a year.
It was a month packed with a TON of stuff. Shopping, our favorite foods, some of our favorite people, and fantastic weather! A wonderful start to the summer!
