Virginia

This past weekend Drew and I headed to Virginia from Thursday through Sunday to see Drew's family. We left Georgia on Thursday morning, not without making a pit stop @ Chick-fil-a. Once we got breakfast we were on our way...6 hours later we arrived. We spent Thursday playing in their backyard and basement mostly. Stacy cooked a fantastic meal which consistented of butterflied chicken in a mushroom sauce with salad. We were glad to spend time with them and they were of course THRILLED to see John Brady.

Friday we visited Mark at work and while we were there we saw the garden that Stacy and Dora created outside the cancer wing. Dora created the garden as a community service project with Stacy's help. Stacy  was able to use her hours working in the garden along with classes and tests to become a Master gardener...Goooo Stacy! After John Brady's nap we headed to Roanoke to visit a beautiful overlook and a zoo. John Brady enjoyed seeing all the animals and wanted to get a little too close to some. We then went downtown to get some yogurt and headed to Blacksburg. In Blacksburg we visited Virginia Tech's campus and saw their downtown and had appetizers at Bull & Bones.  We finished the night back at the house with mexican takeout from Compadres and watching home videos of Drew when he was little.

Saturday we started the day visiting Draper Mercantile in Draper, VA. This place was really neat and full of what people call "granolas"....I am not a granola but sometimes I would like to think we eat like them as much as possible and try to be natural when we can without being over the top. The mercantile had garden to table fruits and veg available, grassfed and hormone free meats, fresh organic bread, desserts, homemade jellys, local honey, etc....real cool. Our next stop was Claytor Lake, which was beautiful!! John Brady enjoyed playing on a playground there and letting out lots of energy. We had a GREAT lunch down the road @ MK's gourmet pizza house. I got the "barge" which was a bbq chicken pizza with onion and pineapple...yum! John Brady enjoyed some pretzels and pizza...Drew had some of the best wings ever! After, it was time for his nap and Drew and I to get ready to head to the VA Tech/Miami game with Mark. We were lucky to get to watch this game from a box complete with more good food and nice people. Saturday was needless to say a day for grubbing, good football and another Tide win over Vandy.

The weekend was a success and we weren't too sad to say bye because they will be visiting us in two weeks! Thanks for a great weekend...love the other Nichols! Oh and don't forget...KUMBAYA!