Last Thursday, my parents, sister and her fiancé Mark came to Columbia for the weekend. My parents were the first to arrive and we went to pick up Andrew from daycare. We had dinner and then after that my sister and Mark showed up. This was their first time here, so we showed them around the house and relaxed/played video games for the rest of the night.
Andrew playing video game.
Grandma playing some Mario Kart.
Friday morning we headed to Clark, Missouri or as the locals call it, Amish town. It's located about 30 mins North of Columbia. We first visited a home that was selling baked and leather goods. They had this little shop in the front of their house and it smelt so good! Carbs overload though lol! We ended up getting some jalapeño cheese bread, snicker doodle cookies, chocolate chip cookies, a couple of little turnovers (although they called it something else that I can't remember), strawberry jam, a pecan pie and cinnamon roll! I tried the cinnamon roll and one of the cookies. They were very good and you could tell everything was hand made. Man, I am surprised I didn't gain any weight lol. We checked out the barn area where the husband was making belts. He had saddles, leashes, and other things made out of leather. Since the Amish don't like photography much, I didn't take any pictures out of respect.
After that we headed over to a house to look at some rugs and then headed over to a couple of houses for some fresh produce. We got some cucumbers which were the "burp less" ones. They were very delicious. We also bought a cabbage and cantaloupe. We also went to a house were the grandfather made hand-made baskets and grandfather clocks. Everything was beautiful and I bought a basket. I use it as a salt/pepper/napkin holder on the kitchen table. You appreciate things more when you know where it came from and know that it is hand made. After that we headed to a home where one of the gentlemen hand makes furniture. Everything in the store was beautiful. If anyone wants to go back and buy Andrew the little rocker, I would be okay with that. He had dining room tables, chairs, rockers, baby high chairs, dog beds, baskets, cutting boards, desks and some other things I probably forgot.
Sitting in the rocker.
After that it was time for lunch. We headed to Freebirds to all try it for the first time. I got the chicken bowl. Personally I prefer Chipotle. Didn't care for the chicken (it was cold) and he put like A LOT of sour cream on my bowl. I did like the chips and cheese dip. Maybe next time I will have to try the nachos or add the cheese dip to the bowl. I am sure we will be back since it's a Pepsi account :)
After lunch we headed back to the house so Andrew could take his nap and to rest ourselves. We watched the hot dog eating contest and all I can say is wow! I don't know if I will want to eat a hot dog for a little bit. After everyone freshened up, we headed downtown for dinner and then the fireworks. We ate at Flat Branch Pub and Brewery. Since we were downtown, it was the 4th and the fireworks were literally going off across the street, we knew the wait would be long. They told us an hour and 15 mins. So my dad and Matt took Andrew down the hill to keep him occupied till it was time to eat. I got the Honey Wheat beer which was really good. Nice balance of sweet to hops. After waiting maybe 10 mins we were buzzed to sit down. We though they did it on accident but it was real. Renee was recommended this restaurant by a coworker and she said to try the pretzel with spinach dip appetizer. It was very good, the pretzel was very crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The spinach dip was delicious! I could of ate that by itself. I got the sausage and mushroom pizza which was also delicious.
Pretzel and spinach dip. Very delicious!
Andrew got an honorary badge from the fire department.
My pizza was delicious!
So we ordered Andrew the kid's cheese fries and they made a double for him! It was a ridiculous amount of cheese. Not very many fries lol.
After dinner we headed down to the kid area. The lines were so long for everything so we just listened to the live music. After waiting for just an hour, we watched the fireworks. This was Andrew's first time listening and watching fireworks. He was definitely scared but after about 5 mins he warmed up to them. The Columbia fireworks were great to watch!
Mark, my sister Renee, my dad, my mom, me, Matt and Andrew.
Happy Fourth of July!
Saturday morning my mom, sister and I went to get pedicures and go shopping! Matt was working so my dad and Mark stayed home with Andrew. After we got home from shopping, we cooked out our fifth of July cook out. My mom made her famous potato salad, my sister made mac 'n cheese, hamburgers, watermelon and cabbage. After our late lunch, my parents, sister and Mark headed back home so they could rest on Sunday. It was great for them to come and visit us in Columbia. Always nice hanging out with family!
