Oh, The Places We Have Been!

It's been a while since I updated my blog. Since last spring I have been lots of exciting places and been through the emotional rollercoaster of sending my last child (of five) off to college.

First, the places:

In April, Sarah (the aforementioned youngest) and I tagged along with my husband to Washington D.C. when he had a meeting there. We had an awesome time and saw so much! We were honored that our eighteen year old wanted to go with us. After touring long and hard all day (art museums, monuments, government buildings including the White House), we found some really great restaurants and ate well.

My beautiful daughter  in the tunnel between the National Gallery of Art buildings:
Our favorite restaurant in D.C. was a tapas place called Jaleo. Sarah loved it, and so did I. They had a fantastic gluten-free menu.

Next was New York City. When each of our children has graduated from high school we have given them a trip with one parent--the boys went with their dad, the girls with me. Everyone chose NYC except one son, who chose a hunting trip out west. Needless to say I was glad a daughter was graduating so I got to go! We had a blast! So many memories, lots of blisters on our feet, and tons of museums, plays, and again, great food. Our favorite was Nizza (amazing gluten-free food!). And we saw tons of celebrities! We saw someone every day of our trip.

Sarah with Amber Riley (Mercedes) of Glee:

Next we were off for our annual family beach trip to Sea Island, Georgia. Always my most favorite time because all of my kids and their spouses/significant others are there for an entire week of fun, sun, relaxation and a lot of reading on the beach, cooking together in the kitchen, and just enjoying each other.

Then, in July we were went to Lake Oconee for a long weekend. Lots of fun relaxing, catching up with each other, and tubing.
In between all of this travel, there were also trips to Asheville, North Carolina with a trip to the Biltmore House and some of the best gluten-free eating ever at Posano Cafe; St. Simons Island for another meeting with my husband, and a trip to Auburn to see and celebrate the graduation of our son Matthew.

Okay, that was a lot of info about my summer and why I've been absent. I am looking forward to posting some yummy recipes soon. In the meantime, I hope you are as excited about fall and college football being here as I am!