Going Home

No matter where we live, the Carolinas will always be home to us.  We recently had a trip back home after being here for 4 years.  The first leg of the trip was a week with Allen’s family in Waynesville, NC.  The colors in the mountains were great and we all enjoyed being with there and getting our fix of family and Fall in the mountains.

I’m not a fan of driving in the mountains, but the views are breathtaking!

The first day we were there, we all went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Allen’s dad had been a Ranger there and we got to explore a bit.

We got to go on this trail, which Allen’s dad helped to make.

I had to get a picture of the fungi growing on this log.  It was the prettiest I’ve ever seen!

Afterwards we drove through Cherokee, NC and picked up some stone ground grits.

We took a different route back to Allen’s parents house and had more amazing views on the return drive.

Over the next week we got to do all kinds of fun things, but I think that the boys’ favorite thing that they did was go gem mining.  They can’t stop talking about it!  We went to Cowee Ruby Mine. 

You basically buy a bucket of dirt based on what kind of gems you want to get.  Jackson picked Amethyst and Miller picked Emeralds.

You use their screens and just go through the bucket a cup at a time, rinsing away the dirt to {hopefully} find gems in there.

This boy found a 591 carat amethyst.

Miller also got some really nice stones too.

They both came out with some nice rocks gems and were over the moon excited!

The boys and Allen’s parents took several hikes.  My knee doesn’t let me go on those hikes, but I know they were fun!  One day  I met them with a picnic at this rock {Standing Rock, I think} along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Soo cool!

Even cooler is that Allen’s parents saved his hiking boots from when he was a boy and now Jackson can wear them! This picture is from the summer, but he’s rocking his dad’s boots!

Jackson was also very excited to play a little trick on his Nana.  He set up some rubber mice and rats beside her water glass while she was out for a walk one evening.  He loves a good trick!  She gave him a good reaction, so I know more shenanigans like this are in the future!

The boys also got to carve jack-o-lanterns while we were in NC.  As it turns out they were not fans of the actual work of it, but they do like to boss us around while holding knives!

No trip to the Carolinas is complete without at least on trip to Mast general Store!  The boys love all the things there and they may just have come up with one more thing to add to their Christmas lists!

We made many more memories that I don’t have pictures of.  They climbed tree, swung in the swings, had an acorn throwing contest, played with the dogs, got dirtier than I’ve ever seen boys get and all around had a marvelous time!  Thanks Joe and Doris for having us!

Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014 was the best one yet!  Our neighborhood is such a fun place on Halloween, and knowing that this was likely our last Halloween here, we wanted to make the most of it.  If smiles are any indication of success, I’d say we had a blast.

Jackson has had his mind set on being a stick man with glow sticks since last year.  When we were in the states we procured all the necessary materials and we did our best to make it happen.  That afternoon I opened the packs of glow sticks and all the long ones were duds…

Bless his heart, he just said to me, “It’s ok mom, I can just be a shadow for Halloween.” He is such a sweet kid, I had to figure it out, I used the sort ones and they weren’t perfect, but they were still ok. I really didn’t count on him sweating so much that the tape holding all the glow sticks on wouldn’t stay, but oh well.  He had fun and it was a really good idea!

Miller was Emmett from the Lego movie.  I have no good pictures of him because he was ringing neighbors doorbells already!

Allen and I also dressed up as characters from the Lego Movie.  I was Wild Style and he was the Taco Tuesday guy!

Allen’s sign says, “It’s Taco Tuesday but on a Friday!”  If you’ve seen the movie, you get it.  If you haven’t, you just think he is being a little stereotypical and I am being a punk rock girl!

We set out trick or treating with our friends-after briefly losing Miller in the groups.    Reuninted and it feels so good!

The boys had the best time seeing their friends while out trick or treating.

The mobs we out in full force!

Our friends had a really fun party after we finished trick- or treating.

 

I took tons of pictures so that I can look at them next year when I am sitting at home watching Ghost Busters!

We had such a fun Halloween!

Unexpected Blog Break

I haven’t blogged much this month and it was totally unintentional.  We had a big trip and leading up to it I was sick, then busy, then gone, then playing catch up.  Life doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but I better get with it or else my blog is going to perish!

Before we left there wasn’t too much going on.  The boys play soccer 3 afternoons a week and we get home around 6.  We hurry to finish whatever homework they haven’t done yet and then eat dinner, get a bath and go to bed.  It’s not glamorous, but it is comfortable.

Jackson has gotten so so big.  He is about 52-53 inches these days!  Where has my little boy gone?

Miller has been into making things.  Give him some paper, tape, glue, a rubber band…really whatever and he will make something fun from it.  I think in this picture he made a menu for an Italian Restaurant complete with 3D spaghetti.

Allen and I went to a friend’s 40th Birthday party and it was amazing.

Our good friends got to move into their new home and it is so good to have them back in the neighborhood.  The boys are loving the freedom of going a street over on their own.  Giving them freedom is such a double edged sword.  I love that we live in a place where they can have freedoms, but I also hate giving up some of the  knowledge of what they are doing.  Ahhh growing pains!

Ok that’s it for now.  I’m coming back soon with pics from our trip.

What the Heck Wednesday—Ridin’ Island Style

Like all good children of the 70’s, we rode around in the back of trucks.  We also rode in cars with no seatbelts {in the backseat of course} station wagons and even our Grandmother’s Ford Pinto with a dog cage installed.  Anything with questionable safety…been there, done that!  As times have changed people take less risks with safety. 

However here in the Bahamas I think there is sometimes the mentality of, “We aren’t going that fast, so we won’t get hurt.”  Which is why I see this each and every day. {I was actually stopped so it was safe to take the picture} 

On this day a funny thing happened. Pure Coincidence. 

In the evening after I took this photo, a friend of Allen’s asked for his help moving something heavy.  There were about 5 men helping.  They were going from an adjacent neighborhood to our neighborhood.  So they were all riding in the back of a pickup.  No big deal.  Once they got it moved into the house all the guys had to ride back over to the first house to get their cars.  The kids of course want to join their dads in the back of the truck.  I immediately say, “No”.  Allen immediately says, “Come on!”  I was thankful that Miller was already on his bike and riding home as this went down.  Jackson was all in!

It reminds me of this commercial.  I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I do love it!

Sick of it!

Week before last Miller had a cold.  He stayed home from school because he was sick…until about 10 a.m.  Then he was fine!

Allen and I weren’t too surprised when a few days later we started to get that feeling.  You know the one!

By Tuesday afternoon, I had officially called friends and asked them to take the boys home from school for me.  I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday and thought that by Friday I was beginning to feel a little better. 

That was before Friday night where I coughed so hard that couldn’t catch my breath.  I thought, “Well I guess I should have gone to see the Doctor after all.”  I decided that no matter what I was going to the Doctor on Monday.

Monday rolled around and though I felt slightly better I still had a nasty cough and called the office.  My doctor was away, but they put me with another doctor.  That doctor was apparently too busy because she didn’t even give me an exam and just told me to take the two over the counter meds I had already been taking.

No bueno.

So here we are on Wednesday and each day I feel a little better, but still have a cough and congestion.  Oh well.  It is true your body will heal itself.  If you’re 6 it takes about a day, if you’re my age it takes about 2 weeks.  Not that I’m bitter.

So Miller comes home yesterday with a new cold.  Yep, I've been sick for so long that he has gone and gotten another cold before Allen and I have finished with the last one he gave us!  Here’s to being over 40!

Flashback Friday

I was just reading on Big Mama’s blog about her newest book, Nobody’s Cuter Than You.  Big Mama is writing about her friendship with her BFF Gulley. 

It made me think of this girl.  We met in fifth grade, went through the rest of our schooling together.

We lived together in college.  Well there was our first year where we thought we wouldn’t room together because we thought we were going to go to college to meet new {better} friends.  Turns out that was a mistake, but we didn’t want to be mean to our roommates, so we lived with them all that year.

Oh the stories we have!  We are still as tight as ever. 

In April we had our college reunion.

This Summer we had a day together just to enjoy some uninterrupted {childfree} time together.

Love you girl!

What the heck Wednesday- Tenting

When we moved here, I had no idea how frequently I would see this in my neighborhood.

This is the house across the street from us.  It is a lovely home with gorgeous royal palms out front and apparently termites inside.

When houses here get termites {and living in this climate, they all do at some point or another} they put these giant tents on them, attach a tank of poison gas insecticide  to a hose going through to the house and leave it like this for 3 days.  it penetrates the wood and walls killing the termites.

If there is any doubt if you should go in or not, they put this sign in the yard. 

Just in case you were considering going in…

Then when the three days are up, the exterminators come and remove the tent, and the family moves back in.  To the house with poison in it.

We found that one of our kitchen cabinets has termites.  We reported it to the landlord and so far we haven’t had much of a response.  Hopefully if it gets worse we will be long gone from this house!  Who knows since those termites were recently evicted from the house across the street we may be seeing this much sooner than we would like!

Anyone want to come visit?