Party with the Voths

Three 12 hour shifts: check

All patients still alive as of 7:00pm on October 13th: check

Sleeping in: check

Coffee: check

Discussion with Expedia.com customer service rep: check

Ahh. I had a delightful week of work. But a much better four day weekend with my wonderful parents in town. Yes, they decided to venture into the great land of East Tennessee. We really had a good time. Mostly it was me dragging them and Caleb around to all the things I wanted to do. But they were game. And the hubs pretended to be oh-so-excited to spend the weekend doing lots of fall themed activities. 

Day 1 (Thursday)

I have like 20 antique stores just on my street. We started at the top of the street and worked out way down. We probably shopped for like 3 hours and we didn't even make it into all the stores. Thats how many antique stores there are. Unfortunately, I have no photo evidence of the antique store adventure because Caleb had the camera at work. Don't worry, you are just missing looking at lots of really old junk.

Day 2 (Friday)

My parents and I love a good outlet mall. We have a huge one about a hour away. I thought it would be a good idea to drive down there, mostly because there is a Coach outlet. And I love Coach. (My husband can thank himself for starting this minor obsession.)

The Coach store was insanely busy with crazy women holding like 10 purses.

I didn't buy anything. Sad. Then we went to Johnson City to look at the hospital I work at. So exciting. But we did eat some bbq at this super cute bbq place called The Firehouse. It was delish and adorable and cheap. So many of my favorite things combined! It also provided a great photo op.

My parents. Don't they look great with the fire truck? Also, I used the "antique" effect in editing this pic and I think it looks way better than the original.

Day 3 (Saturday)

The most classic fall day I can think of. This was a great day.

We started with the farmer's market. Because I LOVE the farmer's market.

Delightful.

I love early morning light. Especially the way it shines through those pickled eggs. Mmmmm.

I love pumpkins. Which you would know if you were at my wedding a year ago. I got this little beauty for a whole dollar.

*Side note: See that little circle of weird light in the middle of this pic? I have a really nice camera with two great lenses and I get these sometimes. Can someone please tell me how to NOT get these little reflective light things on my pretty photos?*

Lots and lots of apples. My favorite.

Delicious.

I also purchased a cookbook at the FM. It is called the 2010 Kingsport Farmer's Market Cookbook. I wanted it as a souvenir of Kingsport. It has some great recipes such as "How to cook a possum." Perfect. I was just wondering how I would go about doing that.

Up next: Chick-fil-a breakfast. A Baker Saturday morning tradition. C and I always eat Chick-fil-a breakfast on my Saturdays off. My parents had never experienced the greatness that is the chicken, egg, and cheese bagel.

That is perfection right there.

We had to document such a positive experience.

Next: driving to Rogersville to check out the Kiewit project and to attend "Heritage Days." Thats right, readers. Another festival. SO many things I love in just one day...

The road that takes Caleb to work. I think its super cool.

Peeking through the fence at the tower cranes.

On to Heritage Days...

These mini pumpkins bring back memories of wedding pumpkins...

There were tons and tons of great booths...this was my dad's favorite.
                                                                 

This lady made yarn from Alpacka wool

Mom models a hat made from the yarn.

The alpacka and her dog.

Caleb and the Kiewit booth.

Caleb and one of the Kiewit guy's kid. I just think this is cute.

There was also tons of live music on a stage in the middle of all the booths. This kid was our favorite...by far. 

Amazing tiny child playing the fiddle. He was awesome. And hilarious.

What festival is complete without some festival food? Deep fried oreos=yummmm.

All four of us at Heritage Days.

There are so many great pics, I will probably make a facebook album. But this post is getting pretty long. And we still have one day left to go.

End of Day 3: introducing my parents to sushi. No pics of this, but it was great seeing them fumble with chopsticks and getting their first bite of raw fish. They liked it! Success.

Day 4 (Sunday)

We went to Bays Mountain Park, which is a really cool place very close to where we live. It has a planetarium and lots of animal habitats and fun stuff to see.

After getting in trouble for driving on the bike paths, we finally found a place to park and hiked for a bit. Mostly, it was just beautiful with all the changing leaves and the lake.

Love that.

All in all, it was a great weekend. We loved having my parents here!

Up next: a fabulous weekend with my husband to celebrate one year of marriage...can you believe its been a year? Me either.