Changes...

It has been a very long time and we have had many life changes... divorce, graduations, jobs just to name a few. No one wants to know the bad and the ugly that happens so I refrained for a very long time from posting. That is not to say it has all been bad since the last post. It certainly hasn't, but that was the reason I stopped initially and then just never returned. Now we have had something happen that I think is going to be worth documenting, but before I get to that let's do a general update. Both Case and Amelia have graduated from High School. Case attempted college, but it just wasn't for him at the that time. He currently has a good job that he likes doing fire and water mitigation. He has his own apartment not too far away and we get to see him regularly. Amelia is currently a junior at USC- Columbia majoring in Hospitality and Tourism Management. She wants to be a wedding planner and is very excited about a wedding planning class she has this semester. She and Conner have been together now for about 3 and half years and are still going strong. Ainslee is currently in 8th grade. She stopped dancing 2 years ago after having been on the competition jazz team for 7 years. She chose to take up horseback riding last year and is in full fledged teenagedom. The biggest change in our life recently that has brought me back to this is the decision to travel. We have taken the requisite family vacations each year, but now we are going to do it as a lifestyle for a while. With Case and Amelia out of the house, it will be just me and Ainslee on the road. It was actually at her bidding that this has come about. She saw me looking at travel nursing, which has been a dream for me since becoming a nurse, and encouraged the pursuit. So... she is being home-schooled so we can take off after some preparation. We plan to use an RV for a roof over our head and I have currently taken a "local" travel assignment with a friend who does the same to get my feet wet and learn the RV lifestyle. I am going to try to post here and Facebook to document our adventures. Stay tuned...

Nana's Visit

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Ainslee and I went to get Nana and Case to bring them here to SC Feb. 5. Case was coming home and Nana was coming for a two week visit. Two weeks didn't seem like enough when it was all said and done, but we did enjoy her while she was here. The purpose was for Nana to get a break. She takes care of my aging grandmother and hasn't been away from there for several years. I hope it helps her. I sure know it helps me to have her here. She is a great help with the house. She takes it upon herself to help me keep up with the daily upkeep. She also is great with the kids. I have been trying to get Amelia to go outside and make fairy houses as in her book, but she never would. I knew that if I went out there and helped she would take off with it, but I never did that. Nana did. She is good about things like that. She does the things I know I should, but don't. Thank you, Nana. She also helped the kids make a this lovely Valentines Mobile.

During her visit we discovered an island (really a peninsula) to explore at the end of the neighborhood leisure trail. It was a great adventure. While exploring, we found "bones" buried below a tree. We truly believe it to be a part of a tree root, but it really did look like long bones secretly buried.
Nana left with Brian on Feb 20Th to go back home, but we hope to see her again soon... perhaps in June or July.

Amelia's Birthday/ January 14th

Amelia chose to go to Whitetop, VA for her birthday this year. Brian goes up there once a month for work and we have visited a few times when he has and absolutely loved it! So this summer when we went Amelia picked this as her birthday destination. We took her lifelong friend Trisdan with us. We arrived in the darkness of night and rambled a bit trying to find the cabin. It was one we had never been to before. When we did find it, we were very pleased with Amelia's choice. Ainslee immediately make her first snow angel. However, we had planned to go skiing the next day at Beech mountain and quickly headed to bed just before Daddy walked in the door.


We arose bright and early the next morning to bundle up and head out for skiing. Everyone was excited. It took about two hours to get to Beech Mountain around curvy mountain roads. We arrived and the kids entered an all day kids ski school since none of them had ever skied before. Off they went to learn to ski as Mom settled in to the lounge to watch. I watched and started to get antsy. Watched and got antsier (is that even a word?). After taking a few pictures and drinking some coffee, I had to get out on the slopes. I rented all I needed and signed up for ski school myself. It had been about 20 years since I had skied, after all.


The mountain wasn't busy that day and as soon as I got out there for my lesson, it seemed like we were all together. I practiced with Ainslee on the bunny slope and skied with Amelia and Trisdan on the green runs. We all had a wonderful day and hope to do it again sometime.


We headed back using Brian's GPS. It told us exactly where to go and got us to the cabin, but gee-wiz barnacles! We went from NC to VA to TN back to Va and into TN again before we finally got to NC to stay. Not to mention the 2-3 miles of barely one lane dirt road over a forest covered mountain top in pitch black dark it sent us over! I wasn't about to turn back with it saying we had only 7 miles to go though. We did get home, but I now know GSP systems are not for me. I will stick with the tried and true. My good old paper map.


The next day we decided to stay at the cabin and play. We had recieved 6" of snow overnight and it was beautiful! The kids put on the snowsuits and went out to romp in the snow. The cabin has a creek and a christmas tree farm behind it, so they had lots of area to explore. Ainslee made many more snow angels and they all thought it such a thrill to put bathing suits on and get in the hot tub.


The day wound down with Daddy arriving and preparing us a delicious dinner. We dubbed it "Brian chow soup". Derived from the fact that we forgot half the ingredients to what we were really going to make ( chicken chow mein) and he did a bang up job of improvising. It worked out perfectly; warm soup on a cold night.


The next day we had to leave, but not before a bit more snow time with Daddy as Mommy packed. We had a wonderful time and we all hope to go back as much as possible.


P.S. In case you are wondering where Case was, he decided to spend the time and his birthday in MS helping Nana and Grannie-Nannie. His Nana said he was a wonderful help and she really apreciated him coming. After hearing of our fun, he did say he wished he had come, but I do want to acknowledge his generous nature. On his birthday, he chose to give to others.

I really need to add a post about our trip to Atlanta. We did so much, but that will take some time that I don't have right now, so I think I will talk about Tiempo Libre. This is a Cuban band we went to see at Clemson on Monday. Brian saw a write up in the paper and thought it would be fun. It was. We all enjoyed it very much. They are a very lively band and were quite good at gaining audience participation. There was quite a mix of peoples present. From Ainslee at 3 to great grandmas. People were dancing in the aisles and Amelia and Case could hardly keep still. In the end I got up with Amelia and showed her how to dance to Cuban music. Ainslee was having a blast being able to move about as she pleased to the beat. We bought a CD and will bring it out and all learn how to dance. The kids got the programs and the CD autographed. They always think that is so cool. It was an excellent night that we all enjoyed very much.
Here is a slideshow from Atlanta, They do say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are 30 pictures... that should be worth about 30,000, right?

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