...on top of Mill Mountain, all covered in LEAVES...

In 2008 when we went to Mill Mountain I was pregnant with Rylie and just 2 years later she can walk the beautiful trail with us! We're so blessed!

Hi! We're home from our yearly Virginia trip! We had such a wonderful and relaxing time this year spending time with family and friend and visiting some of our favorite places. We were SO sad to pack up and leave on Friday morning but it feels really good to be at home! The trip home was long and hard on Rylie...all day in a car seat is tough for a 21 month old! We're so thankful for our time in Virgina and what amazing family and life long friends we have there. Here is some more recap of our trip.

Ha ha. Sorry my blog title was a little goofy. But I got a laugh out if it, right? This year our trip up to the mountain was considerably warmer than it usually is. Thankfully the leaves had changed some (I've been praying for beautiful leaves for weeks now). No jacket needed this year, but Rylie was quite amazed to see something...her favorite word in the entire world to say...STAAARRR!!!!

Look at the sheer joy on her face upon seeing the Roanoke Star!

Look at how happy they are =)

We let Rylie walk around the overlook area and we took in the beautiful view from way up there. I was thrilled to notice that some of the leaves were in fact changing! From this point you can see Roanoke Valley...what a sight! Here is our annual family picture at the lookout area.

Rylie wasn't terribly interested in staying in one place too long. I think she's really diggin' this walking thing (although she's not quite at expert level yet with her balance). We walked the short trail around and let her look at all the leaves and flowers blooming up there on the mountain. I think her favorite spot was right up on top of Jason's shoulders! She's going to be just like me and LOVE heights. I think she feels like the queen from up there. Here she is on our walk down the the Discovery Center.

Snuggled right up on Daddy =)

I especially love the pictures of Rylie with her Mae Mae!

As many years as I've been going up to Mill Mountain with Jason we've never visited the Discovery Center. It's just a cute little building that has information about the history of Roanoke and about the animals that live in the area. Rylie loved the fact that it was open and flat and she could walk all over the place.

Rylie and Mae Mae making animal tracks in the sand!

I'm so glad it was a beautiful day up there! Rylie really enjoyed herself. I think next year we'll venture into the Mill Mountain Zoo and hope that it's cooler next year when we go up. It was a little hot to be walking around the zoo. Plus we were "hawngry" as we say down here in Georgia! Before we left I snapped this adorable picture of my girl. My my how she's grown since we were here last year!

I'm SO blessed to be her Mama!

After our journey up the mountain we headed to one of my favorite places to eat in Roanoke. I hadn't been back there since my first visit to Roanoke so I was very excited! It's called Wildflour. There are a million healthy options and they make tons of delicious breads and goodies too. The photo is a little blurry but I got a Old Southwest Burrito. It was on the vegetarian options and it came with a delicious salad and tortilla chips. Rylie LOVED it...you can see her hand in the pic trying to get into my sour cream!

Serious deliciousness!

After we ate there we needed something sweet before we headed home so we cruised byBubblecake. I've never in my life had better cupcakes (and cookies and brownies) than they have here. The selection of goodies is set up SO beautifully and the little bakery is in a beautiful house. How can you not love a house with pink shutters? Here is Mae Mae, Jason and Rylie, ready for cupcakes!

Inside is where the real dilemma begins. How do you not get one of each cupcake they're offering that day and how do you choose what to get? LOL. This was what we were faced with.

We decided on 3 cupcakes, a brownie and a cookie! Our flavors of choice were a Berry White, Peanut Butter and Chocolate and Caramel Apple cupcakes, Creme Brulee cookie, and an Extreme Chocolate brownie. When we got home we made sample platters for each of us and devoured our selections. It still took us several days to finish them off. I cannot pick a favorite because they were all SO delicious!

Too many wonderful and fun things happened on this trip to blog about them all but I hope that you enjoyed my recaps of several of our days there. We're SO happy to be home safe and sound and we're already planning where we'll be taking the kids (yes! we'll be a family of 4 by then) next year!