Weekend In Review

It was a busy weekend as we prepared for the first day of school!

On Friday night Clay was volunteering at EdVenture, and after Ben and I dropped him off, we picked up Ron for dinner at Monterrey's. After dinner we headed home, where we tooled around until picking Clay back up at 9:30. We knew Saturday would be a busy one and we all went to bed when we got back home.

Clay had to be at EdVenture at 9:00 on Saturday and after we dropped him off, Ron, Ben and I met my friend from Spartanburg, Wendy, her daughter, Savannah and her mom, Linda at Capital Cafe for a shrimp 'n grits breakfast! It was so great to catch up with Wendy and here all about my old school. After breakfast we still had a couple of hours to kill so we decided to head over towards Russell House to see all of the students moving in. That was a little scary when I realized that I will be moving my oldest baby into a dorm in only 5 years! We had a good time, though. Ron ran into a fraternity brother, and we visited the WWI exhibit at McKissick Museum.

After picking Clay up at noon we hurried home because he was leaving for the lake at 12:30. My friend, Julie (Clay's friend Chase's mom), realized that a friend of hers has a son in the same magnet as Clay. So, Julie put Sharon in touch with me and we talked on Thursday....she invited Clay to join her son, husband, and another friend (the big connection here is that we all go to church together) at Lake Murray. They had a blast and Clay ended up having dinner with the family. While Clay was gone the other three of us went to my school so Ron could put together my multi-media cart and I could make copies. Later, they rested while I completed school plans and paperwork. We finally ate a late lunch at Chic-fil-A so Ben could play before heading home to rest....again!

On Sunday, the boys and I drove Ron downtown (he'd left his car there on Friday night) for a meeting, we had breakfast at McDonald's and the stopped at Wal-Mart for school supplies before heading to the 10:00 SS at church. Ron and I had received a call earlier in the week from Steve, the college minister. Chris, my partner this year, had given him our names about college ministry. Steve invited us to visit and so I did....It was awesome! After a terrific service, the boys and I met Ron for lunch at Shane's Rib Shack, went grocery shopping and the came home to crash! We were all so tired (and busy getting ready for Monday) that we realized about 9:00 we hadn't even had supper!

Friday Fun!

Friday was a busy day for me and Ben! First we had to go sign up for our Saturday "dish" session, then we go the oil changed in my car. After lunch we headed out to the school to pick up my $$ from the state for instructional supplies and see if any furniture had arrived. We were going by the BSA office, but they were closed and instead we headed over to RL Bryan and the teacher store to pick up some books and things for my class. Then, we still had an hour before we needed to pick up Clay from his day volunteering at EdVenture, so we got the bright idea.....Let's go to the zoo!!! Great!!! It was 110 degrees outside! We were two of only about 20 people (including the staff) in the place.

Funny enough, though, the animals were actually out! We alternated between outside and inside, tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, stayed for a less than an hour and, of course, bought berry Icees! We had a a lot of fun in spite of the heat!

Weekend Recap

Another weekend gone, a new week started and we're getting closer to school...yikes!!

After spending all day at the pool on Friday, the boys and I were in no mood to cook on Friday night, so we've sort of started a little Friday night tradition of heading out to Sandhill when Ron gets home for burgers at 5 guys. After dinner, we walked around a little (bought my birthday present, but the girl wrapped it and I can't open/use it until Thursday....at least its a good one to look forward to!).

On Saturday, we slept in, cleaned the house and did a little laundry before heading back to the pool for the community party. That was fun....the boys got to swim and we got free burgers! That's a deal!
We had tickets to the Blowfish game so after showers (why? I don't know....it was even hotter and stickier when we left for the game). After 30 minutes of baseball we came to a unanimous family decision.....we are SO NOT baseball fans! All of us were bored --- with a capital B. We left there for Barnes and Noble (and a raspberry mocha frap...nothing boring about that) and then Kroger. We were finally hungry and wanted our "Mexican fiesta"....we go buy Jose Ole tacos and taquitos and chips and salsa and eat while we watch a movie. Or, in my case, read.

We found this cute little shirt at Old Navy and got it for Ben to wear to the Blowfish game. We are all about themes around here :)

The weekend rounded out last night with dinner and a movie with my good friend, Wendy. Her parents live in Columbia and she called on Friday to see if we could get together. It was so good to see her and hang out. I've missed her, Nancy and Suzy! We saw "License to Wed" and it was pretty dog-gone funny. Wendy, thanks for coming to see me while you were here......I had a great time! Oh, and I'm so glad you still have my back...hahahaha! (Be sure to send me a picture -- I forgot to take one with my camera)

Yes, Ron.....

....the sun is harsher here in Columbia! Ron posed this question the other day and the boys and I tested it out today at the pool. The temp was actually very nice...not too warm, not cool. But, even slathered in sunscreen, Clay and I both got fried! (Ben turned a nice little shade of brown).

But, even though, we still had a great time playing and for several hours had the pool all to ourselves.

Mr. Tan loves the water and swimming. He's even going in the 5 ft. now!

Is Macy not the cutest little girl you have ever seen? She and her parents moved in the same day we did and we're enjoying getting to know them. It was so nice to have Macy and her mom (who shared today that she is pregnant!) at the pool today while we were there. Lindsey and I were able to talk a while and Macy is absolutely fascinated with the boys.

Ben was "entertaining" Macy. She wasn't crazy about the water and he kept trying (usually successfully) to make her laugh. She thinks he is such a goof!

After the Storm

Camp Hendrix

Clay is off camping with the scouts this weekend at "Camp Hendrix", the house and property of one of the scout families. We went up after lunch today to hang out with them. When we got there they were across the street, at an uncle's house, swimming. It was hot and they were having a BLAST! Ben didn't bring a swimsuit, so he just jumped in wearing his shorts and a tank top.Afterwards everyone headed back over the Hendricks' place for dinner (we left and went out to eat...see the other post!) and camping and outdoor fun!

Ryan and Clay serve up spaghetti for the scouts and Venturers

Ben decided to finish the fire circle and began moving rocks down the slope. This one proved too heavy to pick up and he decided to push it down the hill.

Ron and Clay (notice Clay is as tall as Ron these days!)

Camp Hendrix....the house is beautiful and they have a wonderful piece of property with this cute little waterfall.

Bye-Bye, Boiling Springs!

The boys and I took a load of goods down to the Salvation Army after lunch and then decided to take a trip around Boiling Springs......we started out at the old Confederate cemetary on HWY 9. (this is funny because its really small, overgrown and most people never even notice it!)

Then we drove on up to Lake Bowen, where it started raining while we were walking around.

My boys throwing rocks into the lake, right before it started raining!

When we got back down HWY 9, hot, we stopped at Sandy's Shaved Ice for a treat and took it with us to the literal Boiling Spring (at least it used to boil!).

Ben and I enjoyed our shaved ices at the spring.

More muck than spring, as you can see. Amazingly there is still life in there....we counted 5 little fishies swimming around!

Bye-Bye, Boiling Springs!

Reading Update

You wil notice that I have added an extensive list of books to my sidebar. Do you see any reading themes for this summer?!?!? Only 1776 and Widow of the South are my "choice" reads. The others are either for classroom professional development or the two classes that I am taking this summer.

I'm spending one week at Converse College studying the American Revolution in the south through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (hence as the AR books.....I still have one more to add to my list, but I don't have the author and title handy and the book hasn't yet arrived from Amazon). Then I'm spending two weeks in Columbia studying American history, from Reconstruction to the 1920s, with the SC Department of Archives. (I still have two more texts for this one, but don't have those titles and authors handy, either.)

It's funny because Ben is working on reading for Barnes and Noble's summer program and Clay is required to read 1000 pages for TWO and 900 minutes for his school. Clay has already read one book A Picture of Hollis Woods and now he's reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Ben is reading Magic Treehouse books. We are going to be some reading fools this summer!!

Memorial Day Adventure

We got up on Memorial Day and decided that since it might be a while before we get to the mountians again, we should head that way for a day of adventure. I love unplanned trips!

We started in Lake Lure......where there was a small festival. We checked out the vendors and then walked across to see the "beach".

We stopped in Chimney Rock to walk the street of shops. We didn't go up to the mountain but could see it pretty well from the bottom.

The boys had a great time playing in the creek in Chimney Rock. Ben managed to fall in several times.

We went "through the light into the forest" and ended up in Pisgah Forest! We drove through to the waterfall which was very pretty and very busy.

While at Pisgah Forest, we discovered the Wildlife Center and Fish Hatchery. It was awesome!! We saw a ton of trout in the hatchery and then learned all about soil and water conservation, erosion and the human effect on nature.

The trout in the hatchery....there were thousands of them in there!

Ron stops to read about soil conservation.

They have a great nature path with exhibits and beautiful landscape.

After winding our way through Hendersonville and Brevard, we ended up near Camp Greenville. After a long, windy road up to the top, we stopped at Symmes Chapel, or Pretty Place. It was breathtakingly beautiful and worth the drive up. I understand why so many people choose this as a location for a wedding.