Camping Trip

Nick & I got a camping trip in last weekend.  We went to Chickahominy Riverfront park over by Williamsburg.  The weather was nice and cool, but not cold.  Our camp site had electric hookup, so we did spoil ourselves and had a little heater in the tent with us!

We set our site up and then drove into town to have an early dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (and watch the Iowa game)!  It was a nice relaxing evening by the fire, and good breakfast in the morning.

Pumpkin Patch

We were able to get to our favorite pumpkin patch this year.  Picked some great pumpkin varieties, had the awesome pumpkin ice cream, and enjoyed the ferry trip across the river.  It was a little weird this year though - since this was our first experience doing something as a family without Emma being here!  She was the 1st one that tried the pumpkin ice cream many years ago and got us all hooked! Ang & I ended the day with nice fire in our fire pit as we talked with Emma on speaker phone.

Mountain Day Visit

In early Oct I was able to drive down to Berry College and see Emma for the weekend.  It was Mountain Day/Weekend at the college, so there was lots of little events throughout the weekend.  It seemed more oriented towards alumni however, but we still had a great time!

She showed me around campus, this time as a resident student vs. the visits we've had in the past when it was new to both of us.  I got to see the Martha Berry estate/grounds where she works, we went to a football game, explored the downtown main street strip, and generally just got to spend the weekend together. It was wonderful

Week in Review

Katelyn & Nick had retreat this past week.  This was Nick's 1st one.  Sounds like it went fairly well, besides the food!  Neither had very good things to say about the food.  Ang & I were hoping to enjoy some time without the kids, and we did manage to go out to dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants one night, but both of us worked a lot of hours the other days.

Emma met with her academic adviser this week and appears she now is working towards a double major - the 2nd being creative writing.  Definitely sounds like her!  She left campus this weekend to go home with one of her friends to Chattanooga. Should be fun for her to get away for a couple days. I get to head there at the end of this week to spend a couple days with her and watch Berry football.

Oh, the post from a few days ago on her flex bucks deal - the link they provided doesn't seem to go to the right page. If interested, let us know and we'll try to get you to the right place.

Been a lazy weekend.  Yesterday was recovery from retreat and work hours (Nick & I did go to Buffalo Wild Wings for wings and football though!) and today has been church, a couple chores and football.

Let's Go!

Forecast had high 60s for overnight temp and lower humidity...so Nick & I decided to go camping.  It was sort of a last minute deal...I got home from work and we quickly packed stuff up in the truck to head out.

I missed a great photo opportunity it sounds like though.  On my way home, Nick was getting the wheelbarrow (to haul some firewood to truck) and was using a broom to sweep out spiderwebs.  The broom handle hit one of the solar lights on the shed and wasps came flying out of it.  He said he dropped everything and ran to the house!  All i can picture in my head is the scene from Home Alone when Kevin is running crazy

Yay! GIF from Homealone GIFs

We made it to the campground and managed to get our new tent up just before dark.  It took us awhile since this was the 1st time we've used it.  It's nice and gives us lots of room inside!

No fire and no smores (we were too hot & tired), but we had the chocolate bar for dessert! We took showers in the campground showers to clean up for the evening. It was a great evening in the tent and was nice sleeping weather.

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Why is it that everyone driving faster than you is considered an idiot and everyone driving slower than you is a moron? 
(crazythoughts.com)

Weekend Review

Our last moments of hurricane days off and the weekend are upon us.  Everyone goes back to normal schedules tomorrow.  The kids have lost 2 days off (parent/teacher type days) due to their 4-day hiatus.   They better hope we don't get a crazy winter!

We got the dining room repainted this week.  It looks nice and "fresh". Now everyone is in mood to repaint the rest of the house...we'll see what we get we accomplished in the coming weeks.

We had a nice call on speaker phone with Emma tonight while we ate dinner.  Allowed the entire family to talk.  She has 1st tests this week, and says she has had tons of reading.  She was getting ready to go make cookies with her roommate and a friend, so finding time to relax a little too!

College Cuisine?

If anyone feels generous to help out Emma and her college cuisine options, you can add $ to her flex bucks account that allows her to eat at non-dining hall choices
(can you say glorious Chick-fil-a!).

https://berry.afford.com/PPT/MakeAPayment

As little as $10 and a max of $500 can be added per transaction.   If you decide to help her out, hit us up and we'll give you her student ID #.

Hurricane Update

Florence juked us and decided she didn't want to visit Virginia but instead went south to NC-SC.  We've had some sprinkles and some breeze but otherwise it's been pretty quite here.  I'm thankful our preparation was for not especially as I see the flooding and destruction in the Carolina's. 

The kids have been off all week (minus Monday - except Nick stayed home sick on Monday), so hopefully they don't have too many snow days this year or their school year will likely be extended!