Fun Times in the July Heat

 While we were in Asheville for camp, we hit up a couple of our other favorite spots. One of those is Malaprop's Bookstore so I could get a couple of their blind date with books. I always love the surprise that comes from these, and I landed two winners this year!

Of course we also stopped at The Chocolate Fetish where we bought a dozen of the most fabulous caramel in milk chocolate with sea salt (plus a few other items to sample).  This is so good!

Ryan and I enjoyed a couple of pretty low-key weeks while the girls were gone. We had just gotten back from Atlantis, and we knew we were heading to New Smyrna the week after their return, so we simply worked and enjoyed some downtime. July 4th was the day after drop-off, so we enjoyed watching all the different fireworks from around the country on tv. We did go to a Braves' game one evening thanks to our dentist giving us his tickets (thanks Dr. Berger!). It's always fun to see a win from them. I surprised Ryan with a dinner date to Mezza Luna. This Italian spot has been in Smyrna for awhile now, and we've heard several people talk about how delicious it is, but we had never tried it. It was a wonderful dinner and fun to try something new. We also took my parents to go see the movie, Elvis, on Sunday afternoon. That was a lot of fun. Not only was the movie really good, but it was cool to hear Mom and Dad talk about going to see Elvis in concert in Vegas in the mid-70's. When we returned to Asheville to pick them up, we went to see the Where the Crawdads Sing. I absolutely loved the book and couldn't wait to see the movie; it was excellent! We always miss our girls when they're away, but we do enjoy our time together too.

This made me laugh one evening. We watched a fun little dog show that was for "regular" dogs (not like the big Westminster dog show each Thanksgiving). These dogs were judged on their ears, cuddly factor, fetch abilities and such. They were adorable! It made me laugh though how much Decker enjoyed watching with us.

What did not make me laugh though was Decker getting under the deck and trying to track down a chipmunk that apparently ran up into a drain pipe. It had been raining a ton, so it was incredibly muddy underneath. He also started to chew up the pipe! We had to wash him off before he could come back into the house. We were quite frustrated with him!

I ordered strawberry and blueberry lemonade truffles from a chocolatier in CT to celebrate the nation's holiday. Not my favorite that I've ordered via Goldbelly but, just like with Mezza Luna, fun to try something new.

We picked the girls up from camp on Friday night. Saturday was spent doing laundry, resting, and repacking to head to the beach. Lily met some friends at The Battery that evening for dinner and another round of escape room. They made it out! She had a great time with MP, Lauren, Liam, Timmy, and Daniel. They made it out!

We headed down to New Smyrna on Sunday morning; everyone had arrived the day before. Some people had to leave early too, but at our max, we had 72 people this year. It rained most afternoons, but the last two days were absolutely gorgeous. Lily and I especially enjoyed sitting under the tents on the beach reading. We all four played in the pool some too which was fun. It was a laid back week which was nice.

We enjoy the delicious breakfast the "three boys" make each year.

That's a lot of biscuits! I'm pretty sure there's a matching set sitting on the counter below. Jodi usually makes all of them each year just like Meme did, but since she's going through chemo treatments this year, Robin and Tiffany stepped in to make them instead; they turned out great!

The girls appreciate that Randy and Georgia play a "birthday money" came each year after breakfast; they are so generous!

Lily and I hung out several evenings on her bed to watch Food Network's "Tournament of Champions" which was a lot of fun. I loved when Mia watched with us too.

It was a lovely week indeed.

A few other fun July items:

I was excited to go out with some friends to celebrate Julie Elrod's birthday! A fun dinner at Superica then over to Silverspot Theater to watch Where the Crawdads Sing. I am so thankful for good friends!

The Evans gave us four tickets to a Braves' game where there were two sets of two seats together about a section apart. Ryan and Mia sat together while Lily and MP sat together. It was a hot, humid evening but the Braves pulled out a win!

I had purchased chocolate pasta at Chocolate Fetish. The sales lady suggested putting it with chicken mole since the main ingredient is chocolate. I decided to try it one evening. The chicken was spicy but tasty, but the chocolate pasta...didn't hit the mark. Don't think we'll have that one again!

Lily and I had a great time going to see Mean Girls down at the Fox. They had to change out one of the main actresses during the show which we'd never seen before; we assume she either got sick or hurt during a costume change backstage. Just like the movie, there's some parts of this I wish were toned back a little but overall, it was a lot of fun. I'll always enjoy a good show with Lily!

I'll end this month's post with a picture of Decker while he's being the good boy he usually is; what a cutie!

It's hard to believe summer time is winding down. A new school year is almost upon us!