Weekending - Fun Going Home

Oh my -- I hope you had as much fun this weekend as I did!  As a matter of fact, my fun is still happening because I'm on vacation until Wednesday.  Gotta love that!!

Let's start with Friday night.  Eric and I decided to sneak in one more restaurant off the Downtown Restaurant Week list.  We picked Blondie's Coffee and Wine Bar, located at 1301 Washington Avenue, and it proved to be an excellent choice.  Blondie's Wine and Coffee bar isn't typically open for dinner, but they were making an exception for restaurant week. This was our first time dining here, but definitely not our last.  From the minute I walked in, I was thinking about everyone I would like to bring through their front door.  The atmosphere is so inviting you want to just sit down and stay awhile.

Since it was Friday night and all, I decided to enjoy a cocktail.  Picked the Blonde Ambition Maritini - YUM!  The server dropped off a cheese board full of popovers, cheeses, fruit spreads, honeycomb and nuts for us to enjoy while we made our dinner selection.  Oh.My.Goodness!  I could have just eaten that and been totally happy,  But, of course, we didn't stop there.  We went on to enjoy a granola and fresh berry salad, crab cake Benedict, steak and eggs and topped it all off with their signature Blondie with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  It was wonderful!

Saturday morning we rolled out of bed early to mow the grass before heading to my home town of New Florence, Missouri for the 134th annual Old Settler's Picnic.  If you saw my post from Friday (HERE), you got to see some of the things on agenda: cake walk, kids games, bingo, greased pig contest.  It's all old fashion fun stuff!

The Men's Lions Club has run the food stand and my dad has fried fish for their famous fish sandwiches for as long as I can remember.  It made my heart happy this year to walk in the kitchen and see my husband and son helping him.

Here's my brother, Ernie, enjoying one:

My nephew, Kayden, cleaned up at the kids games.  He had so much fun digging in straw for coins and running a race carrying an egg on a spoon.

Kayden also enjoyed being in the greased pig contest.  Yes, that's a lot of mud and kids running around in it trying to catch a pig that has been slicked up with some dishwashing liquid.

What do you do with a kid this muddy?

You let the fire department spray off the mud!

My mom, Kayla, Ian and I played lots and lots of bingo.

One of the best things about going home for this event is connecting with friends.  This is my friend Jackie.  We have been friends for over 40 years.  I know, we don't look old enough to be friends for that long! lol

My nephew, Landon, threw a ping pong ball into a glass bowl until he won this prize!

After a full day of fun, we loaded up to come home and brought Landon with us.

Sunday's plans got juggled a bit because of the cloudy, rain threatening weather in the morning.  Instead of picking peaches, we decided to head straight to the indoor theater to avoid the chance of getting soaked in the rain.  Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation was chosen.  We grabbed Ian and off we went.  We all really enjoyed it!

After the movie, we met up with Kayla at Maggiano's.  After eating, we tried out my new selfie stick.  Might need some more practice!

Sunday night we ventured to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to take in the Lantern Festival.  There was a Chinese Acrobat show before the lanterns were lit.  The show is running until August 23.  If you're in the area, definitely worth seeing!

Landon is with us for a few days and we're doing some fun things around St. Louis.  Going to catch the polar bear exhibit at the zoo and visit Grant's Farm.  We're also hoping to go to the drive in if the rain stays away.  Stayed tuned for the updates!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Life of Meg

More Pieces of Me
Bella and the City
Oak and Oats
A Cute Angle
The Quinntessential Mommy
How To Get Organized At Home