A quick trip to Folly Beach and Charleston.

 We had a really nice weekend in South Carolina.

We were on the road a little before 9:00 on Friday morning.  It was cloudy and rainy most of the way and when we arrived in Charleston many of the side streets were flooded.  We slowly and cautiously made our way into the historic district and parked our car.

We grabbed a late lunch at Ruru's Tacos and then headed to the City Market.  Sarah was excited because she got a ring there the last time we visited.  Since it had been raining all morning and had stopped while we were eating lunch, the vendors were slowly starting to come out. 

 

The shops inside (in the blessed air conditioning) were all open as normal but the ones on the outside were open but you could only access them from the side windows.  This was in an effort to keep crowds out of the center aisles.  Sarah found a great ring vendor and chose two rings which I am happy to say, she bought with her own money!

 

After visiting the market, we took a carriage ride.  I think this was our (mine and Dan's) 9th visit to Charleston and we ALWAYS take the carriage ride.

Here are some scenes from the ride:

 After the carriage ride we walked through the campus of the College of Charleston.  Sarah has decided she thinks it would be great to attend college near the ocean.  They are actually doing in-person tours but the tour started at 12:00 and we didn't get to Charleston until 1:00 so we just did our own little tour.

This was a nice way to get a quick view of the campus but we didn't really get to learn anything about it. Sarah saw enough that she decided she would like to go back for a formal tour and I saw enough to wish that I was 18 again and could go there myself!

It was such a neat campus.  As many times as we've been to Charleston, we've never set foot in this part of town.  It was very near the historic district and the whole campus (or at least the part we were in) felt like the middle of Charleston.  It was very cool.

Here are some pictures:

After our busy afternoon in Charleston we headed to Folly Beach and checked in to our hotel.

We relaxed for a little and then we

And then we took a walk on the pier. It was lightening and I managed to catch a couple of good shots!

Then the kids went back to the hotel room and Dan and I grabbed a drink and listened to some live music on the outside deck at The Wash Out.

 

 

The next morning we headed to The Cypress Gardens and visited the butterfly house and took a little boat ride through the swamp.

Then we headed back to Folly Beach for a little beach time.

Then we got ready for Mass because there just so happened to be the cutest little catholic church just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

When we got back from Mass we were able to watch a wedding on the beach right outside of our hotel:

It all seems very romantic until you realize that there's a beach volley ball game going on to the left, a bunch of random beach walkers all around and in general Saturday evening beach activites happening.

Then we went to dinner, watched the NC State football game on the hotel bar tv and that was the end of our Saturday.

Because we went to mass Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday.  I got up before everyone else and grabbed a cup of coffee and took a walk on the beach.

Then we packed up, grabbed breakfast and checked out right at 11:00 (check out time) on the nose.  No sense in leaving even one minute before we have to!

We had a great weekend and are already wishing we were back there!

 

 

 

Let me check my camera roll and see what we've been up to lately...

 Yikes.  Another 9 days have passed since my last post and here I am wondering what I do all day.  

So, what have we been up to since I last posted?  

The kids are still in school and so far so good with all of that. 

Peter had his second 7 on 7 game last Friday night and he said he is havinga lot of fun.  I think he likes it because it's fast paced and he gets a lot of playing time.  His regular football workouts started back this week and he is doing two a week now.  

Here's a very blurry photo  from last Friday night.  

Last Saturday night, Dan and I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary.

The food was yummy and my date was really cute!

I continue to walk every morning when the kids leave for school and while I'm not really seeing any weight reduction, I do feel like I am finally going a little faster and at least I'm starting the day burning a few calories!

And this is how I know it's fall..

Every morning this week, the geese have been flying in a v formation overhead.  I guess they are all heading up north!  Good riddance because I do not like geese!

In the late spring, we planted moon flowers around our pergola in the hopes that they would grow up the posts of the pergola.  They never sprouted and we were very disappointed until about a month ago or so, one of them actually appeared and started growing.  The post it was growing around was too wide for it to latch on to so it just kind of bunched up around the base of the post.

Dan did some research on the moon flower and put in a smaller stake beside the post and it started to grow up that.  It also finally started to bloom around the base of the post.  The blooms are beautiful but they open at dusk and close up (and die) after the sun comes up in the morning.  I took this picture around 7:15 this morning while they were still open.

Wouldn't this be pretty if it was actually growing up the post?

It anyone has any suggestions for a blooming plant that grows up posts (and not just around thin stakes) and isn't invasive, please, let me know! 

The kids don't have school tomorrow (teacher work day) and Dan is off work (furlough day) so we are heading to Charleston/Folly Beach for a couple of nights.  We were supposed to go there during spring break but obviously, that didn't happen.  The weather isn't supposed to be that great, but it will be nice to be on a little trip, just the four of us.  As Dan likes to continually remind me, Peter will be gone in less than a year and Sarah right behind him.  

The days are long but the years are short.

Have a great weekend.

Football, Fighting Cancer, and Beer.

The kids have officially been in school for two weeks now and....so far so good....

Both kids like their schedules and have a good amount of friends in their classes.  They have both adjusted well to wearing masks all day long except when eating lunch.

Sarah is having a small problem because she isn't hungry for breakfast before school. In previous years,she would always take a snack and eat it in class around 10:00.  She can't do that now because she can't take her mask off and she's getting hungry before lunch.  Thankfully though she has the first lunch period so at least she isn't having to wait until third lunch. 

They are doing lunch a little differently this year.  Instead of allowing everyone to eat in the cafeteria each lunch period has been split up into different pods.  Some kids are eating in the cafeteria, some in the gym, and others in different classrooms.  Peter is one of the lucky ones - he is in the cafeteria.  Sarah is in a classroom with I think 8 or 9 other kids.  Luckily a couple of her friends are in there with her but she said they are sitting pretty far apart so it's hard to talk.

Peter and most of his friends from the football team are playing in a 7 on 7 league.  It looks like many of the other neighboring high schools are participating as well. They have 8 scheduled game nights and each night they do 3 25 minute "games" where each team gets a certain amount of possessions where they run plays and try to score.  

The league is keeping everything legal so that they don't infringe on any of the state rules for high school football. For example, the team's head coaches aren't allowed to be there.  The assistant coaches can watch from the sidelines but each team has a different 7 on 7 coach that doesn't work for the school team.

Even though it isn't an actual football fame, Peter had a great time Friday night because he got to run plays and hang out with his friends.  Dan and I were excited to watch some football and talk to a couple of the other parents.  The games are played in a large soccer complex on half fields so there are multiple games going on at once.  We were actually able to watch two of the three games up close.  The third game was on one of the far fields and spectators weren't allowed on that end of the field. It's not your traditional Friday Night Lights but it's better than nothing.  

 

Sarah worked her last shift at the pool this weekend and is very sad that her job is ending until the spring.  She's made a lot of new friends and made quite a bit of money considering she only worked about 6 weeks.  She was lucky and was able to pick up a lot of double shifts. She gained a lot of confidence while working at this pool and is very excited to go back next year.

And speaking of Sarah, she was nominated for Student of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of the Triad.  Basically what that means is that she will be fundraising to fight cancer.  She has put together a team and will be leading them to raise money in the spring.  She was very honored to be nominated and is excited for this opportunity.  

We've had several Zoom calls with the triad liaison and Sarah is currently working on her presentation for her first team meeting.  

Dan and I celebrated our birthdays last weekend.  We had a nice lunch out at Firebirds with the family and then had cake and unwrapped presents.  Then he and I went to a local brewery for some drinks.

And that's about it from here.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy twenty years to us!

 Yesterday was our TWENTIETH wedding anniversary.

Here's what I posted to social media:

Grow old along with me

The best is yet to be

When our time has come

We will be as one

God bless our love

 

TWENTY YEARS ago, Dan and I shared our first dance as a married couple to this song. And in those twenty years, God has truly blessed our love. He’s seen us through great happiness and great sadness and everything in between. I prayed hard for a man to love and God outdid himself with this guy. He’s funny, intelligent, kind, hardworking, and doesn’t seem to mind that I’ve put on a few pounds.

 

Grow old along with me

Whatever fate decrees

We will see it through

For our love is true

God bless our love

 

 

Here's to a beautiful school year!

The new school year has officially started.  It's Peter's last first day and Sarah's second to the last first day.  And I'm a little sad.  But after having been away from school for over 5 months, they were ready and so was I. 

Here's my senior beside his kindergarten picture:

My heart!  

Their school is officially back on campus with all sorts of rules and restrictions.  I know it's going to be a strange year for them  and it certainly won't be the senior or junior year we had imagined for them (or that they had imagined for themselves) but I am praying that God will take the ashes of this year and make something beautiful from them.

Here's to a beautiful school year!

We watched live football on tv!

 School starts tomorrow.  I keep telling Dan that my brain still thinks it's mid-March when everything shut down and I can't believe we have lived through spring and almost all of summer and the kids are starting another school year when in my mind they never even finished the last one.

And yet, here we are.  

Peter is at school this morning.  He is a student ambassador this year and they along with student council and the bigs (upperclassmen who are assigned to the freshmen and transfer students to help them adjust) are welcoming all the new students to school today so they can go through a day before everyone comes to school tomorrow.

Speaking of Peter, he shaved his beard last night.  He's been growing it since mid-March and was very proud of it.  I had actually gotten used to it and even though I don't like beards, thought it looked very good on him.  It's going to take me a minute to get used to his new look.  

We spent Saturday night watching college football on tv.  It was Austin-Peay vs. Central Arkansas and even though we didn't care a thing about either team, it was actual live football and it was great to see.  Peter said he was going to enjoy it and any other college football game he got to see on tv because who knows if it could be the last.  I appreciated his wisdom  to enjoy each thing as it comes as if it could be the last because with this pandemic, who knows.  He ordered pizza, made a bet with a friend to make it more exciting, cheered like it was his favorite team, and generally just enjoyed himself.  It was a good evening.

Dan built a little fire pit for us to enjoy this fall but we tried it out earlier this week.  It was a little too warm for a fire but the kids really wanted s'mores.   I think Dan did a great job! 

Cathy sent me a recipe for tomato pie.  I made one and it was really good!  The recipe can be found here.

 

Last weekend we celebrated my brother's 50th birthday.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Has it been two weeks already?!

 Wow!  Has it really been two weeks since I last posted?  I thought for sure once school was over I would get into a  rhythm and post more frequently.  Honestly though, I have been out of sorts since the middle of March when everything went crazy.  And here we are 5 months later and things are even crazier than before.

The NCHSAA (the organization that all NC public school and many private schools are members) released their plan for sports for the upcoming school year.  

Nothing will start until November.  Everything will have a shortened season with less games/matches.  And football has been moved to very early spring (end of Feb through the beginning of April).

This means there is a slight chance that Peter will get to have a football season.  But I imagine like everything else. it will not happen.  

I am trying not to let worry get the best of me.  I am praying that the kids will have a wonderful school year even though it will look totally different than anything we could have imagined.  Peter's senior year will be very, very weird but I am hopeful that it will still be full of good things.  

Speaking of school, all the Catholic schools in the diocese will start back the first week of September.  I am praying that everyone will stay healthy and that the schools will be able to remain open.  That's a BIG prayer but that's what I'm praying.  

Yesterday, Sarah and I were back-to-school shoe shopping when my car wouldn't start.  I called Dan and he came to give us a jump.  The car needed a new alternator so that was a fun unexpected expense. After we dropped the car off to be fixed, Sarah and I headed back to Target to get her school supplies.

She spends a lot of time picking out notebooks with matching folders and making sure everything is color coordinated.  Peter could  care less about school supplies.  During the first week of school, I will get texts stating things like: I need a three ring binder for science, you need to order my math book, can you pick up a three subject notebook, do we have loose-leaf paper....

The kids had dentist appointments earlier this week and thankfully no cavities.  I always hold my breath.  Sarah has her well check appointment today and then afterwards we are going to the mall to get pants for school.  

This afternoon Peter will head to school for a college application boot camp.  He has already started filling out the info on Common App but I'm hoping that after this boot camp, everything will be filled out (correctly) and that he will have a good start on his essay.  He sat down to work on the essay the other day and basically stared at a blank Word document for a while and then gave up.  

Spotted a whole flock of geese flying over head on my morning walk.  Fall is coming and this is a sure sign.

 

Pretty sunflower.

 

Delicious BMT!

 

I discovered a new account on Instagram called Go Clean. She has a hack for cleaning hardwood floors. She uses hot water, a little Tide laundry detergent, and an O-Ceder Spin Mop to get her floors clean (She's a professional house cleaner.) Colleen shared her account and this hack and I purchased the spin mop at Walmart ($9.98) and gave it a shot. Look at the dirty water from just my kitchen floor. So gross but so satisfying to see! 

 

That's about it for me. I hope you are all doing well!

Just another update...

 Another week has passed which means another week of me thinking every morning that today is the day I will write a blog post. And then before I know it, it's bedtime.

This doesn't mean I'm necessarily doing anything, it just means I'm lazy.  That and the fact that not much is happening. 

Let's see if I can come up with at least a few things that have been going on around here.

Sadly my  great aunt was put into hospice last week so my mom, my brother, and I visited her on Wednesday. I'm so glad we did because she passed away early on Friday morning.  We went to her funeral on Monday.  It was a very small gathering of family only outside on the graveyard. Her family is planning on a big gathering once we are past all of this corona crazy. Aunt Nell, we will miss you! 

Sarah's been working a lot.  There seems to be a lot of drama at this pool which means a couple of guards have been let go and a couple others have let their certifications expire so more shifts for Sarah!

Here she is headed out to work!  So cute!

 

She worked a double last Friday and is working another one today.  A double is TWELVE straight hours.  That's a lot for one day!

Peter has applied at a restaurant near school where a friend works.  He said they need busboys so hopefully Peter can get on there.  This would be good especially if there's no football season.

Our governor just extended Phase 2 for five more weeks so we are still waiting to hear how that will effect fall high school sports in the state. They said they should be able to announce something on August 17th.  In the meantime, Peter is still attending football workouts and enjoying the exercise and the time with friends.

Our tomatoes are finally starting to turn red.  This is the longest it has ever taken them.  Not sure why but Dan has done some googling and thinks it's because we've had a lot of 90 plus degree days and that halts the tomatoes progress.

 Regardless, we are finally getting a lot and I've made salsa, caprese salads, and had lots of tomato sandwiches.  

 We've got all kinds of tomatoes: pinks, yellows, big boy, and cherokee purples.  Some of them still look a little green on top because I picked them a little a day or two early so they wouldn't split. We've gotten a lot of rain recently and too much water makes tomatoes split.

Our bell and jalapeno peppers are coming in now too.  Our cucumbers are finished but we decided to plant some more to see if we could get a second crop.  That will all depend on the weather.

Isn't this caprese salad lovely?  The basil is from our garden as well.  So yummy!

I also made a delicious pie for Sunday dessert last week.  It was so good.  It's a blueberry lemon cream pie from Chef in Training. So good!

We've got a few sunflowers this year.  We planted them in the front of the house for a change and we planted a smaller variety.  I regret the decision to plant them out front because they are busy and look wild but   I am enjoying their blooms so I guess I'll take it.

I'm still walking at least four or five times a week. I've upped my miles and am now doing 4 each morning.  Yesterday was extremely foggy but it made for a pretty walk.

And that's all I've got for now!  Have a wonderful weekend!