Life Update: Sarah

Next up on the update front is my sweet girl, Sarah.  Sarah just started her senior year at UNC Charlotte where she is majoring in Communications and Public Relations.  One of the requirements for graduation in her major is that she has to have a relevant summer internship so in February she started the search.  She applied to so many openings and wasn't getting called for interviews for any of them.  

Summer was quickly approaching and she began to worry that she wasn't going to get a job.  So she arranged her fall schedule so that she had classes only on Tuesdays and Thursdays in case she needed to do her internship during the fall semester.

She was panicking that she wasn't going to get any internships.  Without an internship she wouldn't be able to graduate! I started praying harder than ever and  I asked everyone I knew to pray for her.  And within a couple of weeks, she had four interviews lined up!  She got called back for second interviews with three of them. And while this was going on, she said, "Mom!  Your prayers are working too well!" 

She got offered all three of the jobs she had second interviews for and chose the one she really wanted the most.  She currently works for the Charlotte Motor Speedway as a Communications fellow!  This is a fellowship and not an internship which means she works for them from July to the end of December and she is absolutely loving it!  **Please notice how God works...she wasn't getting any interviews so she set her school schedule so she could work a job in the fall if she needed to.  And the job God provided her with was not only her dream internship but a six month fellowship that works with her school schedule!  Y'all!  God is so good!

After she started, she found out that typically they choose recent college graduates for this position. In fact, the other fellow that she is working with just graduated from college.  So that made her feel extra special! 

She says she is learning a lot.  Every Thursday, all the interns have a meeting with different guest speakers or learn about different things/skills to help them when they begin looking for a job. She's meeting a lot of cool people and having the time of her life!  

Their special guest speaker this day was a retired commander from the 82nd Airborne (he was there after Dan was in the 82nd).  He is currently running NASCARs Welcome Home Patriots program.

The aftermath of the Monster Truck Race!

Riding around the track doing over 100MPH!  She said that she is getting track certified so that she can drive on the track.

 

  

She also got to work the Coca Cola 600 which is the Speedway's biggest race.  It was at the end of May.  They asked her to come work it even though her official first day of work wasn't until July 1st.  She had a blast!

So official!

View from the roof where all the spotters stand.

The Press Room! She got to sit in while they were doing all the before race pressers with the race car drivers.

She even got to hang out on pit road!

In June, Sarah went to a graduation with Joe and his family in Philadelphia.  They also got to attend a Phillies game.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not but Sarah (who used to hate baseball) is now a Phillies fan thanks to Joe and miraculously loves baseball now.  

 

 

 

For Sarah's birthday, Joe got her tickets to see The Great Gatsby on Broadway.  The Great Gatsby is her favorite book and Sarah loves a good Broadway show so she was thrilled.  They had the best weekend in New York.

 

Look at the cream cheese selection at the bagel shop they went to!

AND!!! They got to see the Phillies BEAT the Yankees in Yankee Stadium! (That makes this Red Sox fan happy!!

AND!  They got to see Chicago.  They got cheap tickets they day off the play.  What an unexpected bonus!

And now, after an eventful summer of work and play, she is back in class.  She is juggling school, work, her executive position in her sorority, AND she has an executive position in the UNC Charlotte chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of American.  It's going to be a very busy semester for my girl!

LIfe Update: Peter

Thought I'd give quick life updates on the kids to mayyyyybeeeeeee get back in the swing of regular blogging. 

As you may remember, in May, my boy graduated from N.C. State with a degree in Political Science.  He had a great four years and was little melancholy that his time as a student there was over.  He loves Raleigh though and has decided that's where he wants to live.  And who can blame him.  It's a great little city and almost all of his friends are there. (The only thing that's missing is me. :))

His lease didn't end until the end of July but all of his roommates were heading back home for the summer so he came home too!  I was so excited to have him here for a couple of months.  It made the fact that Sarah stayed in Charlotte this summer instead of coming home a little more bearable.  And he could look for a job online just as easily here as he could in Raleigh.  

While he was home, he went with Dan on a business trip to San Antonio and explored the sites there. He visited the Pearl District, saw all of the missions, tried some Texas BBQ, drank a lot of new to him beer (he loves rating beers on the Untapped App), visited the Alamo, and had dinner with Dan every night on the Riverwalk.  It was a great little trip for him and I'm glad he was able to go. And it was also a nice distraction from his job hunting.

 

Speaking of looking for a job....the job market is currently a bleak one for recent graduates.  As a political science major, Peter  wanted to work either for the state of NC or the city of Raleigh but right as he was beginning his job search in early February, Donald Trump was cutting all those federal government jobs which meant many people in those positions started searching for jobs at the state and local levels.  And the state started to freeze positions at their level with all the uncertainty.  Sooooooooo.....Peter had to change his focus.  And after months of online applications and a lot of prayer he is currently working at a law office in Raleigh as a legal assistant!  He's been there for two weeks now and is really enjoying it.  

He also moved into a new house with a couple of guys.  Since this one is not in walking distance to NC State, it's cheaper and a lot nicer than the other places he's lived.  It's in a very nice neighborhood in Raleigh and it's only a couple of miles from campus and all of his favorite places.  He is enjoying exploring the new neighborhood and finding new places to eat, grab coffee, have a drink, etc.  In fact, just a few minutes ago he texted me about a cool BBQ place he found!  

So, all in all, things are going great for my boy.  I'm so thankful he found a job that he seems to be enjoying.  He's living in a cute little house with some great guys. He's enjoying his new neighborhood and fall is his favorite time of year: cozy vibes, football, cooler weather and in his opinion, the best four moths of the year!

I miss having him at home but I'm glad he's happy! 

 

Cape Cod 2025

We typically go to the Cape in August but this year we headed up on June 19th and got back home on June 30th.  We did this to accommodate the kids work schedules.  It was nice being at the Cape so early - the weather was lovely and there weren't as many people as there are in August.  But, now we are home with nothing to look forward to in August.  Oh well, I guess we can start planning next years trip!

Here are a few highlights:

I try to get a picture of the road sign every year when we get on the Cape.  Sometimes it sneaks up on me but not this year! I love that they change this sign every year!

We got ice cream almost every night after dinner. This was the day we go to the Cape and were able to stop at Twin Acres in Sandwich which is one of my favorites. We don't make it here every year because of it's location so I was excited to eat there this year!

Peter on the front step playing some tunes.

Cape sunsets are gorgeous.  It was funny because of friend of mine was back in NC on Lake Hartwell and texted our group chat a picture of the sunset at the exact same time we were enjoying this beauty so I texted back with this image.  Isn't it cool to think that even though we were states away from each other, we were both enjoying the same sun setting?

This is our beach on Lewis Bay.  I say "ours" because it is the beach that is a two minute walk from our house and is the one that all of the neighbors in the association can use. I love it because it's peaceful and you can swim in it. When the kids were little it was nice because it's so calm and I could relax while they were in the water.  There are other beaches near by with waves but I like the peacefulness of our little beach.

We were out chasing sunsets again!

We spent an afternoon in Hyannis just walking around and doing a little window shopping.  Then we stopped for some drinks at Finns Tap House.

We decided to head to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a little day trip.  We walked around the historic section of town and had lunch at the River House.

This was our view with lunch.

I love a good bowl and this salmon and rice bowl did not disappoint!

This is Dan in the backyard of the Governor John Langdon House. This was one of the only pictures I snapped as we were walking around the historic district.

Before heading back to the Cape, we visited Albacore Park and took a tour of the USS Albacore.  The Albacore was a research submarine that the navy used from 1953 until 1972.  It was so cool to tour  the submarine.  It gave me a huge appreciation for sailors.  I could never live in that tiny space but I'm thankful for the servicemen and women who do!

On the was back home, we stopped near Plymouth at Cancun and I got another delicious bowl.  I told you I like bowls! :)

Selfie on our morning walk.

We spent some time on the beach.

This is the view walking up to our little beach.

Another morning walk selfie with my sweetie.

We attended a Cape Cod League baseball game.

After the game, the boys went fishing.

Every year they try their luck. Every year they have no luck!  Zero fish caught!

We headed to Boston on the Thursday of our trip.  We picked up Sarah's boyfriend Joe from the airport then picked up Dan's uncle and met his brother's family in Needham for lunch.  It's always so great catching up them and in usual fashion, I got zero pictures. 

After lunch, we headed to Fenway Park for a tour.  We try to see a Red Sox game if we can but their schedule did not match up with our so we did a tour instead.  I have to say it was awesome!  We had a great tour guide and it was so cool to be able to see parts of the park that we normally wouldn't have access to.

As a bonus, Wally happened to be walking around so we got a picture with him.  He normally isn't there for the tours so, lucky us!

Hanging out in the Green Monster seats!

Fenway Park has it's own little garden. They grow produce to use in their restaurants and they make donations to local food pantries with any of their excess.

View from inside the media booth.

The lone red seat at Fenway Park, located in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21), commemorates Ted Williams' longest home run in the park. In 1946, Williams hit a ball that landed 502 feet from home plate, which is still the furthest home run ever hit at Fenway. The seat was painted red in 1984 to mark this historic event.

I really enjoyed being in the park with very few people in it.  Our tour guide was fabulous.  I think his name was Mike and he's middle school teacher who does Fenway tours in the summer for extra cash.

It was late when we got back on the Cape so we stopped at Skipper's for chowder.  It was delicious but Captain Parker's is still my favorite.  

On Friday, we headed to Provincetown.  On our way, we stopped at Longnook Beach in Truro.  You can't tell from these photos, but there are large sand dunes surrounding the beach and we have to walk down a very large dune to get to the water.  It was beautiful!

The water looks so close here.  If you look on the beach, you can see a green volleyball net to get a little perspective.

We are on the top of the dune looking down even though you can't tell that in the pictures.

We then headed to Long Point Light House and took a tour of the lighthouse.

Inside the light house.

Cool view looking down the light house stairs.

Us in front of the lighthouse!

We had lunch in Provincetown and Sarah had an espresso martini.

Evening view of our little beach.

We always like to go to the Harbor in Hyannis in the evening.  The boats are always so cool to see.

A cool shot I took while out on a drive.

We also got to spend some time with Cathy and Eric as we overlapped them two nights.  It's always great to catch up with them and in typical fashion, I got no pictures.  

And then, just like that, our vacation is over and we have nothing left but the memories.