Our Week - The One with the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Lots of Fall Stuff

When I first started blogging, all of the events and fun things we did were pretty much contained to the weekend.  Now that I’m no longer working a corporate job and because the kids are getting older, we often have many things that happen during the week that I never have a chance to recap.  Because of this, I’ve decided to change my weekend recaps into weekly recaps so I can recap any other events that may happen throughout the week.  Here’s how we spent this past week…

Monday, August 26

Monday morning I had another skin test at the allergist to see if my allergies had improved since taking allergy shots for the past two years.  Well, I’m happy to report that I no longer appear to be allergic to trees or weeds (both of which used to be pretty bad) but I seem to be even more allergic to grasses than ever.  Womp womp.  Because of this, my doc wants me to continue taking allergy shots for one more year, and after that, he thinks I’ll be able to discontinue them.

On the morning of my skin test, I also happened to be having a lot of breathing trouble.  It felt like possible asthma issues, and it felt so bad that I felt the need to use my inhaler.  Well, the lung tests that they ran in the office showed that my asthma was not flaring at all and that my lungs looked fine, and my inhaler didn’t even end up helping with my issues.  That prompted my allergist to dig a little deeper and his opinion was that I needed to see an ENT again to rule out vocal cord dysfunction and LPR, which is a specific kind of reflux that occurs in the throat. 

I ended up getting in to the ENT later that afternoon and he ran a scope through my nose and down my throat (yes, while I was awake, and I don’t recommend doing that unless you absolutely have to) and the conclusion was that there was no evidence of vocal cord dysfunction or LPR so we don’t know if it’s just my regular reflux that’s causing the symptoms or something else.  Sigh.  My ENT suggested another possibility so I’m going to start pursuing that and go from there.  Ugh.

Tuesday, August 27

Tuesday morning was a gym day and then I had to get my allergy shot.  I wasn’t able to get it the day before because I was off of my meds for my skin test.  After all of the poking and prodding from the two days combined, I decided a treat was in order, and I grabbed my first PSL of the season and spent the rest of the morning wandering the fall aisles of Hobby Lobby.  :o) 

The rest of the day was the usual blog work at home and car line pick-up, followed by the afternoon hustle and cooking/preparing for the next day while B took Jacob to baseball practice. 

Wednesday, August 28

Wednesday was packed full of stuff all day long.  Immediately after dropping the kids at school I had my first Home and School Association meeting at the kids’ school (Home & School is like the PTA).  I decided to join this year to do some extra volunteering and I’m excited to be able to help out even more than ever this year. 

The meeting ran long and I had to book it to make it home in time for a conference call with a brand with whom I’m currently working.  Once that call was over I headed over to meet one of my old coworkers for lunch and he and I spent the next hour catching up. 

Thursday, August 29

Thursday was another gym day.  I’m trying to make it to the gym at least two times each week because I always seem to feel my best when I get my cardio in.  I’d love to make it 3-4 times per week but that’s just not feasible most weeks as we just have so much going on. 

Jacob decided to run for student council for his third grade class this year.  This was the first year that he was eligible since they don’t have student council reps in the lower grades.  I was actually pretty surprised that he wanted to run in the first place, but he was adamant about it.  He made a poster and wrote a little speech and took it to school on Thursday, but he didn’t end up winning.  They had quite a few kids run in his grade so there was a lot of competition.  He wasn’t disappointed at all that he didn’t win, though, and he handled it really well.  Win or lose, I am a proud momma! 

Friday, August 30

Friday, I had lunch with my friend Adrienne.  We hadn’t seen each other in weeks so we had lots of catching up to do.  We met at one of my favorite local restaurants and spent the hour chatting.  By the time we finished lunch, B was already off of work for the long weekend and he and I hung out at home for the rest of the day until it was time to pick up the kids. 

I grabbed the kids from school and dropped my nephew off at home.  We’re taking him and picking him up several days a week now because he’s attending school with our kiddos this year!  Since B was already home when we got home, we decided to load up and head out of town for the evening.  There’s a place in Georgia called Callaway Gardens and they’re known for having all kinds of special events.  They’ve been hosting a hot air balloon festival for 25ish years and I’ve always wanted to go, but I’ve never had the chance.

This year was finally the year!  We ended up arriving pretty early in the evening so there was plenty of time to do lots of stuff.  Upon entering, the kids saw the bouncy houses, so job one was to let them go bounce out all of their sillies after being cooped up in the car for a while. 

We played miniature golf after that, and by the time we finished, it was just about dinner time.  They had several vendors there selling all kinds of fair/carnival food, so we grabbed corn dogs and hamburgers and ate dinner in the shade under the pavilion.  The weather has been brutally hot this past week, but we somehow managed to have crazy low humidity Friday evening so it actually felt pleasant in the shade. 

The hot air balloons weren’t due until dusk, so we had a few more minutes to burn after dinner.  We headed over to the shuffleboard area to play that for a bit until it was time to watch the balloons.  I had never played shuffleboard, nor had the kids, and since the equipment wasn’t in great shape we didn’t actually play any real games.  The kids had fun making up their own games, though. 

After shuffleboard we grabbed some snow cones and ice cream and then it was time to settle in for the hot air balloon show.  There was a band playing on stage down in the sand by the lake and we enjoyed listening to them as we watched all of the hot air balloons inflate.  The first one to inflate just so happened to be the one right in front of us, and it was truly a sight to behold!  I enjoyed watching the whole process of inflation since I’d never seen it happen.  I’ve seen hot air balloons in the sky in person before, but I’d never seen one on the ground up so close, and it was such a sight to see!

Before we knew it, all 16 balloons were fully inflated and they started the show.  The band finished and the emcee came out, and for the rest of the evening the hot air balloons lit up the beach, dancing to the music and doing the wave, and they did several “all burn” moments where all 16 balloons lit up at the same time.  It was truly an amazing experience and I was so glad that we finally had the opportunity to go!

We ended up getting home super late, so the kids went straight to bed and crashed and that was our Friday night!

Saturday, August 31

Saturday morning was the start of college football and I was feeling in the biggest fall mood ever!  We made some cinnamon rolls and watched ESPN College Game Day and then I spent the rest of the day decorating the whole house for fall while watching football. 

We went to church at 5:30, grabbed a pizza in the pouring down rain on the way home, and the spent the rest of the evening cozied up watching Georgia defeat Vandy.  There was actually another game on opposite of the Georgia game that we wanted to watch, so B brought our outdoor TV in the living room and set it up on the floor so we could watch both at the same time.  It was our own private little sports bar right there at home.  Haha.  #ObsessedMuch

Sunday, September 1

Sunday ended up being another super fall-ish day!  We started the day with pumpkin donuts from Krispy Kreme and a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbs... major sugar rush, but it was worth it!  The weather was gloomy and much cooler than recent days (although still very humid), but I used the opportunity to wear my favorite outfit combo of all time… shorts and a long sleeve tee!  B’s momma didn’t cook on Sunday so we had Panera for lunch (broccoli cheddar soup!!) and then we headed to Target to check out their Halloween selection. 

We managed to buy all of our Halloween candy for the season as well as some Halloween Funfetti cupcake mix.  Oh, and PUMPKIN PIE KIT KATS.  OMG we cannot forget those!  If you love pumpkin and you love Kit Kats, FIND THESE!  They are delicious. 

We also discovered that the Spirit Halloween store had opened that day in our city, so we headed there next.  As always, the kids amused themselves by looking at all of the scary props and then we somehow managed to buy both kids Halloween costumes!  At the beginning of September!  Neither of them had any idea what they wanted to be this year, but both of them picked their costumes almost immediately.  When you know, you know, I guess!  So I guess you can say that we’ve already checked off several items from our fall bucket list and it’s only September 3.  Haha.

After Spirit Halloween I ran into Bath & Body Works to grab some fall soaps that were on sale, and then we drove home in a downpour that lasted the rest of the afternoon.  Since the weather was dreary, a little Sunday baking was in order, and Olivia and I baked her Halloween Funfetti cupcakes.  She received a little baking kit complete with an apron back in February for her birthday and we had yet to use it, so she was ecstatic to finally have the chance to put it to good use.  I let her do most of the work for the cupcakes, including frosting them, and she did a great job! 

We ended the evening at my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.  My mom made a goulash that was SO good and my Daddy, B, and I split a bottle of red as we always do.  Since it had been raining all afternoon and evening, it was a nice and cozy way to end the day.  And then, of course, we had our Halloween cupcakes for dessert! 

Monday, September 2

I wouldn’t normally include two Mondays in a weekly post, but since it was a long weekend, I wanted to have it all together with the rest of the weekend.  Monday was spent preparing for the week ahead.  I know we’re not supposed to “labor” on Labor Day, but B and I both ended up having some work to do.  He spent the morning mowing and I spent the morning doing laundry, and then we took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  The sun and heat were back out in full-force, so we let them play on the indoor playground at CFA for a nice, long while so we didn’t have to sweat to death outside. 

We went grocery shopping as a family afterward and Publix was the busiest ever, so probably not our smartest idea, and then the rest of the day was spent relaxing, playing video games, and getting this post up.   

Well, it’s Tuesday now, so happy short work-week, y’all!  And if you’re looking for my Amazon purchases post that’s normally up on the first Tuesday of every month, I actually put that post up yesterday.  You can see it here.  Happy Tuesday!