Jeff and I celebrated our 27th Wedding anniversary on October 24th on Hilton Head Island, SC. All in all, it was a great trip and relaxing, except for the actual day of our anniversary - it poured all day long. We went to a sales pitch for time shares to get a free dinner boat cruise that we wanted to go on. Well, this sales lady really put us through the ringer and stressed us out so much that we had to go home and rest for a while. Needless to say we didn't buy, although it wasn't because the sales person didn't try....and try, and try - talk about importunity! Jeff's face actually broke out afterwards. Anyway, it poured for our "sunset" dinner boat cruise and going from the ticket booth to the boat left us both soaked and turned our umbrellas inside out!
The rest of the days were beautiful and we enjoyed the beach considering that we didn't have to worry about immodestly dressed people there.
Our favorite day of the trip is the day before we came back home. We went for a trolley tour of Savannah, GA and had a blast. Here are some interesting things we saw there:
Paula Deen's Famous "The Lady & Sons" restaurant
The Six Pence (the restaurant from whose windows Julia Roberts looked out into the street from in the movie "Something to Talk About" - which BTW, I have never watched).
The site of the picnic bench that Tom Hanks sat on in "Forrest Gump" when he said "Life is like a box of chocolates...." (The bench in the movie was a prop and is now in a museum in Savannah)
And the Pirate's House - now a restaurant, but whose core is the oldest building in Savannah and is connected to the Savannah River by an underground tunnel through which pirates used to smuggle drunken young men out to sea (to use as a free labor force) from the tavern that it used to be. The house is said to have been Robert Louis Stevenson's inspiration for the book, Treasure Island.
I keep intending to post more often and not following through. I'm still full time at work and we are still working on hiring the last of the two nurses that I need to help train before I decrease my hours....so it looks like it's not going to be before the end of the year.
On another happy note, our first born son turned 22 today! The truth of God's word about life being a vapor just keeps ringing truer.
I love the update! I'm glad you had a special trip! You know it's easy for me to remember your anniversary (by year) because it is ten years ahead of ours (we'll have our 17th next month)!
What an awesome trip. Sorry it rained so much. Frederic and I took Noelani to Disney right before I got pregnant with Maleia. We couldn't afford to go unless we went to one of those time share places which gave us a nice place to stay for SUPER cheap. We were SO upset with how pushy she was and she took about 3 hours even though they only said it would take 1-1 1/2 hours max. It was cutting into our Disney time and I didn't like that at all. I don't think I'll ever go to one of those again.
You can't help but dislike a persistent salesman who won't take "NO!!!" for an answer! Nevertheless, I'm glad you had a good time for the rest of the trip!
So happy for the two of you. You visited two places that I enjoy. I have really missed the beach since moving to Tennessee. Did you get to eat at "The Lady & Sons"? What great memories..
I LOVE Savannah, GA--beautiful city! The Pirate House is fascinating. I'd say the smell of the restaurant inside makes the experience even more authentic. It used to be a restaurant and gift shop (I think they turned the gift shop into a bar, unfortunately). But we ate there and I remember thinking it smelled so old or "pirate-ey" or something :P Glad you had a good time overall :)
It looks like you all had an amazing trip!! Sorry about the whole dinner cruise...I know that they offer those "free dinners" and yet I am not sure if I would be able to make it through the "sales pitch" that they lay on SO heavy!! It's nuts!! I can't believe Andy is 22...that makes me fell really old!
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and got to see some beautiful sights! Even though I got to live in SC for about 4 years, there were so many things I did not get to see that I would have loved to have seen! Being in the military and having two little guys curtailed a lot of the traveling! I loved the pictures above! I somehow missed that Andy had a birthday! If I counted right, that makes him 23 days older than Daniel! :)
Happy Anniversary and congratulations on doing something special for the milestone! (We always intend to do something special and never seem to - our anniversary is Dec. 26th)
Happy Anniversary!! :D I'm sorry about the dinner-boat-cruise-thing! :( But, I'm glad that you guys had a good time through the rest of it! :D Do tell Ben late happy b-day from me! :) It's been forever since I've seen him... o_O
Thank you Cara. I'm off Thursday and Friday so I'll be able to focus on my family and hopefully forget my work responsiblities for a few days. I love my job most days, but it's nice to have a break from it to do fun things. Are you going to get to see your children? I hope so! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Today is my sweet Jeffy's 51st birthday. Andy came for a visit yesterday and today. Those two things help to make this a most wonderful day for me!! To top it off, Ben is scheduled to finish his several weeks of training at Applebees in Clarksburg (? or Clarksville, WV) and is to begin commuting to his regular job at the Applebee's in Charleston, WV next week. Danielle is going to be glad to have him home and the girls will too, I'm sure! I feel so blessed to have the wonderful family that I do.
One item of interest (at least for me) is that my workplace has hired one of the two new nurses that it needs to hire and train before I can make the switch to part time! Even though I really love my job, I'll be soooo looking forward to having more time to tend to domestic duties, visitation, and to have a modicum of free time left over too!
One sad note is that my mom is suffering severe pain with another compression fracture in her spine - seemingly caused by coughing. I would appreciate it if you would remember her in your prayers. Additionally, there are many, many others in our lives, who are also suffering with either physical, emotional, or spiritual ailments and I'm requesting your prayers for them as well (God knows who they are). To see so many endure so many difficulties has reminded me to take the time to thank our Father for things I often take for granted.
Tell Jeff "Happy Birthday" for us! I know it was good to get your son home for a couple of days. I enjoyed having Dan here, too. It about scared me to death when I heard that there was trouble on campus Thursday. I don't know if Andy even remembered to tell you they arrested a guy for threats to the administrators and for setting fires. His motive might have been to get a longer Fall Break! At any rate, we enjoyed an extra evening with Daniel. Did you see your son's Facebook pictures? I laughed, because now I know which son is more prone to creating car pranks. I don't feel so bad now thinking that Dan is corrupting Andy!
Hey there...just wanted to let you know that my mom now is on Pleo...her handle is rebecca052619. If you get the chance, please go and leave her a message! She is just learning how to use the computer...let alone pleonast...but we are trying!
Thank you Cara. You're still the sweet, kind person I remember from so many years ago. I hope sometime that our paths will cross again. I still have your chicken enchilada recipe that you shared with us. It's one of my favorite dishes.
Have a wonderful week!
So thankful for having the chance to worship with you and Mr. Jeff these past few weeks! Looking forward to more before the holidays :) Have a blessed week Mrs. Cara!
We need to get together soon. It's been a while :) Maybe we can plan something for December? We'd love to have you come to the holiday party, too, but I know it might be a challenge!
You are a sweetheart! I didn't feel funny at 1:00 this morning when I was writing that post - I felt stupid. Why was I up so late? I hadn't even noticed the time and once I did, I felt so tired. I am already paying for it today! Hope you have a great day! :-)
My mother-in-law sent the following link to me and the beautiful story and video made me cry. If you're an animal lover, you'll have the same reaction.
http://www.snopes.com:80/photos/animals/christian.asp
They were born on August 2nd. There were 5 of them born but 2 were born dead. There are 2 girls and 1 boy. She has already sold 1 girl. We are hoping the others will sell fast because we need them gone before the Father Daughter Retreat on the 26th of Sept. so my mom can come and watch Maleia for me! They are sweet puppies and they just learned how to bark. It's too cute!
I get very lazy when it's hot for a while. I get sleepy too. *lol* Anyway, other then rain, I love Fall days, when there is a crisp bite in the air, the leaves are red and gold, and the sky is sort of greyish. :D :)I can't wait to see you guys on Monday!!! :D
Thankyou! My brother-in-law and son-in-law encouraged him to do the video. He made it up in about 10 minutes while he was at work in between taking readings for his job. He is very talented when it comes to making up things-he does not think so and is a little embarassed at all the attention we have been giving him over this. It just comes so natural to him.
yes...he is a Christian. Isn't the video CUTE? He and his wife gave us a tour around Boston Sunday after morning services. It was wonderful! We met them through the homeschool list.
Thanks for your comment. The fat rolls are still there in the legs but they are leaving fast. She's running all over the place and it's just dropping off her like water. She's turning into a little girl! Sad for mommy cause I love a chunky little baby!
It was great to see you guys. We always have such a nice relaxing day when you come...the girls talked about the salad for a week. I really need to make it :)
I'm thrilled about our dogs all being together!!! :D Thor is sitting next to Mum right now, while all the other puppies play in the garage together. :D
^^We watched a three year old today and J II watched the dog pack in the garage. It was nice not to have to keep them separated in there. The funny thing was like Hannah mentioned. When Anna left, Thor came in the house, but the others wanted to go back out. J II loves it in there since it is warmer and quieter than the house...so he and the other three pups stayed out for a bit longer....too funny! :)
Thank you Mrs. Cara!! I'm looking forward to seeing you as well! How has your son been handling college this year? A singing sounds fantastic! We will see you on Sunday if the Lord wills :)
When I'm over my cold I'll post more. I've been answering my comments to begin with. We've been busy--had some meals to prepare for a family with a new baby and a 91 year old widow (that is two separate families)...not to mention getting the pets in order, trip laundry and beginning schoolwork...I'm not quite rested up yet. I think the cold is slowing me down a bit!
There has been a lot happening in the past several weeks! We went to see Ben, Danielle and our grand-girls towards the end of June, and it was wonderful to see them. One of the days we were there, we met them at the mall and Jeff bought Mikaila (two and a half years old) 4 or 5 Sesame Street beanie-type characters. He pulled them out of the bag one at a time and called their names: "here's Cookie Monster, here's Grover" etc. and got to the end and said "and the last one is Elmo." Mikaila put her hands up at her sides and said "Where's Big Bird?" Ha! Jeff said, "I don't know, but we're going to go and find out right now!" Unfortunately, they didn't have one (and neither have the several other toy stores that Jeff has diligently searched out from Birmingham to Nashville, to WI). She's a smart and delightful girl!
Ryleigh is a doll and is a very sweet-natured baby. She looks a lot like Ben, but it looks as though she's going to keep those pretty blue eyes that her mom has.
Mikaila
Ryleigh
Ben and Danielle
Then we went to Wisconsin early this month to see Jeff's family. It was a nice visit and we got a good picture of some of Jeff's family as we went out to eat one day.
The following are pictures of Mugsy (aka Mack) taken today at just over 4 weeks of age. One of our church members has already spoken for him and since she's going to name him Mugsy, we are calling him that now. He is getting even cuter all the time and has loads of personality. If you can't tell already I've gotten pretty attached to him and am really going to hate giving him up! He's starting to eat puppy gruel now and when I get him out of his pool/home, he follows me all around the house. He still doesn't have teeth yet and Molly is still nursing him (she's a very sweet mom and plays with him a lot too). He even plays with a string ball that I have in the pool!
Mugsy (aka Mack)
Who could resist this face?
Play time with mom
We just finished up a gospel meeting last night with Brian Gibson as our speaker. He did a great job preaching the simplicity of the gospel and we really enjoyed the week!
Andy came on Thursday night for the meeting and brought a friend with him who is very sweet (did I mention it was a girl?). We also met him in Nashville on our way to WI and spent the evening of the 4th with him at the Opry Mills Mall, taking in dinner and a movie together. He is such a joy and pleasure to be around. Since he's been on his own, I never fail to get a little misty when he leaves.
Beautiful family and fur babies! Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you were able to spend time with your grand-girls again. I hope you can find a "Big Bird" for Mikaila. She's a smart little girl!
The girls sound adorable. Ryleigh looks JUST like Ben. It's like Ben in a pink outfit!!! Too cute! Glad you had a good time with the girls and good luck finding a Big Bird! Funny how those little granddaughters can bring down their grandfathers in a couple seconds! My dad will do anything for Noelani and Maleia!
Hmmmm... the girl with Andy looks very familiar but I can't call her name...
I know what you mean about hating to see them go each time. But, here, it is hardest on Laura each time her sisters leave. It just KILLS her. It's like they are leaving for the first time all over again! She misses them so! I think being the last one at home is hard...especially with the big age difference....
Mugsy is PRECIOUS! I imagine it WILL be hard to give him up!
Wonderful pictures--all of them! Great update! It is great to see some pictures of the grandbabies and the rest of your family! And yes, those two in the last one look vaguely familiar! :)
Hi Cara...Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. I am better...still wish I had answers...kind of afraid of it happening again...At least we won't be starting at square one if it does get that bad...We did successfully eliminate some things...For that I am thankful...Love you!!
Great pictures. Yes, while at Kerrville several brethren mentioned your parents with fond memories of their stay there. It was a very nice congregation. Hope all is well and how are your parents doing?
As soon as we get the carpet down in the building, we need to have you guys over!! They should get things done quickly...we'll see...Let me know what your Saturdays look like. I'm having a baby shower hear on the 6th of Sept and we've got an HEIRs Kick off on Aug 23rd...Maybe late August or Mid Sept?
We are also having another singing mid August...we'd love for you guys to come any time we have one...
Aleena is doing pretty well, She had a little trouble not too long ago where she had a bad case of Strep throat and had to be hospitalized because she had blisters in my mouth that were the size of quarters. She's doing pretty well, as far as I know now! I'll continue to keep you all updated! I bet it was nice to have Andy visit for a little bit. I look forward to meeting you at some point now that I'm in TN with Daniel. :) Have a good week, Mrs. Belknap!
Your puppy is so cute! Yes, our trip was eventful and a little more than I bargained for since we had just paid our van off about 2 weeks before the accident. Oh well - it's just stuff and I was grateful to spend the week with loved ones! :-)
I can't wait to see more pictures of the puppy!
Camp was fun! Lots of work, though...we are having a nice break this week. The girls and I have some crafts we are going to do and we've been watching some favorite movies, too!
