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!

Hurricane Prep Continues

Hard hurricane prep work!

Hurricane Florence continues to barrel towards the East Coast.  I got the gutters all cleaned out yesterday, and Ang & I did a little more hurricane food supply shopping last night.  I got out of work early today, well more like forced out.  The governor issued a evac order for Zone A (think by the water type properties) yesterday that began this morning.  The base issued same order, and as such the base will be buttoned up tight by tomorrow.  To facilitate this, we buttoned up our building and had to be out by 2pm today.  On telework the rest of the week.  The kids are out school the rest of the week as well.  Poor Ang is still working - and long hours today and tomorrow.  I got the yard mowed and some branches trimmed up today before the rain starts in a couple days.

The update of the storm path appears to have it going a little farther south now...good for Hampton Roads (but bad for Carolina's).  If it stays that way, I think we're going to fair just fine.  The amount of rain will be the kicker since the ground is saturated and the area had flooding with a normal rain a few days ago.  I'm feeling much better tonight about our situation than I was last night though.

17 Years?

Sep 11th...a day I don't look forward to for some reasons I can explain and some reasons I can't.  A day of unknown, uncertainty, fear, worry, and frustration.  A day that involved my 1st day of work to the Pentagon leaving Angie & Emma in temporary lodging.  A day of literally watching and feeling the living in the US and being a military member change. Watching/hearing about the aftermath of the terror attacks was inexpiable to all of us. Hearing of the death of a brave man in the Pentagon attack who I once had worked with for several years, well, leaves me with sadness.  I remember each year, I pray for those families who were directly affected by the death and destruction of that day, I pray for healing and comfort as the years pass...and yet I still tear up at some point during the day. 

Hug/kiss those dear to you.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Weekend Over?

I'm not sure where it went, but the weekend is almost over.  A little bit of sickness attempting to make it's way into the house...KT is stuffy and not feeling the best and Ang hasn't felt the best either.  Hoping it goes away fast!

We've (well mostly Ang) have been repainting the dining room this weekend.  Will probably lead us into repainting rest of downstairs.

Looks like we may have a hurricane coming this way...yuck!  The news on it keeps getting worse and worse.  I got the generator out of shed and got it running. got the gas cans filled up, a new propane tank for the grill, dog food, and got a little bit of can food.  Here's hoping it was all for nothing!

Football!

1st weekend of college football!  Glorious days and Iowa started with a "W"!  Emma went to her 1st Berry College game today with a friend...looks like fun!

1st Week of School(s)

The kids all had their 1st week of school. Sounds like things went well for Emma as she experienced her 1st week of college classes.  She says workload will be heavy, but seems interesting.  Her and her roommate are getting along great which makes things easier I'm sure.  She has a freshman service  project(s) today in the surrounding city of Rome.  Anxious to hear about it.

Nick moved from the lower school to the upper school this year.  I think he was most excited about the bathrooms!  He hated the lower school bathrooms...said they were always dirty/smelly. Ha!  He did well this week, but said it was "stressful!".  Locker combinations, moving from class to class, being in a math class with some freshman and a few sophomores (i think he's table partners with a sophomore!), and just the little faster pace I think led to the "stress".  He's got a couple more boys in his class this year (and several girls). Seems to enjoy it and is settling in just fine though.

Katelyn's week has gone ok. Some drama with planning this year's Soiree' (since she's Jr. class President and Jr's organize it) with the volunteer parent and the principle, but things will work out.  She got her permit a couple weeks ago, and has done some road driving with Angie.  Her goal is to drive to school in the mornings...probably won't be too long till she can.

Berry College

Emma is at college now - Berry College in Rome, GA.  About 1400 miles round trip in case you're wondering. Very weird feeling not having her at home, but it's what we as parents want right?  We raise them to go off and be their own person and live their life.  Nobody told me it was going to be this hard though!

Sputtering...

So my 2018 resolution to start blog back up didn't go so well.  Oops!  Lots of activity over 2018 so far:
- Spring soccer with KT
- Soiree for the girls - they were beautiful!
- Emma's high school graduation
- Summer vacations to beach and lake
- Emma off to college
- Nick moves to upper school to start 7th grade
- KT Jr. class president
- Loki tears ligament in leg

Whew - it's been busy, fun, and emotional!  Here's to a mid-year push

2018 Begins

After a long break, we've decided to try this again. As we looked thru some of the old blog books we realized how much we've been slacking! Emma's a Senior and will be graduating High School in 5 months!  Katelyn will turn 16 soon, and Nick just turned 12.  Wow!

2018 started off with a pretty good snow (for this area).  We got around 7' at our house, with some areas getting more.  The kids were on the Christmas break so they didn't get days off from school, but public schools were closed for 5 days! Craziness.

Nick is currently in basketball season (Upwards) and had his first game of the season yesterday.  Had lots of rebounds and a couple hoops.  Katelyn had a debate tournament yesterday; still kills me that the girl who doesn't really like to talk to people does debate!

Here's to a happy New Year.  May God teach us to use our days effectively.