Barnsley Gardens Picnic

On this fabulous fall day, we headed down the road to a resort called Barnsley Gardens for a picnic.  Our "Road to the Gardens", as I like to refer to it, was an interesting one which started back at the end of August...

Jeff and I went to Barnsley to eat dinner at one of the restaurants for our late-anniversary outing and it ended up being quite the exciting evening!  The food was super-ridiculously-amazingly good which would have done it for me for the evening, but no...there was still more!  We wandered around the grounds a little after eating and headed over towards the ruins of the original manor house to check things out.  The whole property is really beautiful; Jeff is right when he says that you totally do not feel like you are in NW Georgia out there...so all in all, it was a lovely night.  But, as I had mentioned, it got even better!  On our way walking back to the car, a couple ladies in a golf cart were walkie-talkie back and forth with someone who was looking for a couple...to be on TV!  The ladies grabbed us and we ended up agreeing to be their "couple who were dining and toasting in a private, candlelit, romantic dinner in the ruins"!  PBS had been out at Barnsley all day doing an hour special on the resort, and this was the last thing they needed...so Jeff and I hopped in the golf cart and were whisked off to the ruins which had been transformed into a candlelit sanctuary!  I am not exaggerating when I say there were hundreds of votive candles all over the room, surrounding the table.  There was a fire going in the remaining fireplace, and there were thousands and thousands of rose petals sprinkled EVERYWHERE!  It was quite fancy...very not Jeff and my style (ha!)...but very cool!  So, we ended up sticking around for a lot longer than they had originally told us to shoot the segment thingy, and the people in charge at Barnsley felt so bad since they knew we had little kids at home with a babysitter, soooo, they started giving us stuff!  They went to the gift shop and grabbed stuffed animals for the boys, cars, and a baby toy...and then they told us that they would set up a picnic for the 4 of us whenever we wanted!  That's how we got to our picnic this afternoon!  (Ps- we will try to post whenever we know when the Barnsley Resort thing on PBS is going to air!)

When we got there today, they brought us our baskets full of lunches we had ordered, stuck us in a golf cart, and started cruising us all over the property, showing us options for where we could have our picnic, until we found a place we liked.  We went with a spot by a pond, with the horse stables just beyond (for Jacob!) and it was just lovely!  We ate, the boys played, Jeff took pictures, and then the Fairy Godmother came by to see us and meet the kids (she's on staff there to help with special events---weddings, proposals, romantic dinners/evenings, etc.)...and she brought more stuff!  HA!  She brought 2 of the biggest balloons we have ever seen for the two kids, some bubbles, a set of plastic golf clubs for Jacob and some ducky things for Thomas.  They hit it big again!

Thomas pushes the stroller round and round in circles...

Eating

Eating

 Fairy Godmother bringing goodies and JUMBO balloons for us to haul around the rest of the day!

Blowing bubbles

Checking out the fall foliage, or contemplating eating a leaf

A little golf

Peering out the window from the spring house, with the horses in the background

Jacob resting in the spring house

Jacob checking out the tadpoles in the spring

Hanging in the sun

Swany duck

View up towards the ruins

Look, Jeff came today too!

Baby frog

This is how we looked walking around this place today...totally out of place! HA!!  There are not many children, much less children with jumbo balloons, strolling around this resort, so you can imagine how we stuck out!  We ran into our godmother friend on the way out and she said that people had asked her where we got out balloons and she said she told them, "I don't know, I think they're European..." HAHA!

Thomas did a lot of walking (and falling) today

Watching big brother run and kick and do all kinds of things that Thomas longs to do himself...

Climbing a tree

Enjoying a random hammock

Tree lined path towards the guest cottages

Anyway, we really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to be out and about, and it is days like today that I am reminded of (as cliche as it sounds) how much there is for our family to be thankful for.  This has been a hard 4 months for us (me in particular), but through it all God has continually sent reminders that He has a purpose for us, and that these trials, no matter how painful they may be, are "preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:17b)  Days like today, with my husband, with my baby guys, are not the hope that I cling to, but they are a wonderful blessing and provision from the Lord...and they are just a wonderful reminder to me of God's eternal promises--- and that's what I cling to!