Time is about up!

Both Dan and I have a case of the "hitch-itch"!  While we are enjoying catching up with friends and hanging out with my kids, we are ready to hit the road!  We have just a few more days in NC before we head north to spend about 7 weeks on the farm that Dan grew up on.

I haven't blogged because we really haven't been doing anything other than hanging out!  I had a really nice Mother's Day with my kids.  They treated me to a nice dinner and we played games afterwards.  Ashleigh made me a very nice painting with the words "Be so happy that the people around you become happy too".  She also made me a CD with a bunch of country songs.  Homemade presents are the best!!

Mother's Day 2012

We played Sequence....

and when Amanda got home from dinner with her mother, we played a game she designed to help her students get ready for the end-of-grade tests.

Ashleigh using a tube of caulk as her microphone!

It was a great Mother's Day!!

We've also been helping Brandon and Amanda with more new house stuff.  Here's the work bench that Dan and Brandon built.....

Acting goofy!

Amanda and I stained and painted a bookcase for their study.

Having fun!

We also christened Brandon's new grill.

Ready to fire up!! 

I'm still looking for those RV hook-ups at their place though!!

There is a new biking/walking trail that we wanted to try out.  The Neuse River trail is part of the Capital Area Greenway.  There are several segments of the trail but the only one that is currently open is Upper Neuse Trail.  It is about 6.5 miles starting at the Falls Lake Dam and ending at the WRAL Soccer Complex.  The budget for this section of the trail was a whopping $3.9m. However, once the entire trail is completed, it is supposed to be about 28 miles long at a total cost of $30m.  Wow!!

Dan and I pedaled the trail  once by ourselves and biked 6.25 miles and turned around. This was before that we knew that it was only 6.5 miles long!  Oops!  Should have read the signs!!

We made plans to go again with my son and daughter.  DIL Amanda had to work. But, Ashleigh was unable to make it as she has been having a heckuva time with allergies and didn't think that being in the woods would help.  So Dan, Brandon, and I set out for a leisurely pedal.

Unloading the bikes from the truck

Stopping along the way to add more air!

Mother/Son picture!

We stopped along the way to take some pictures of things that we thought were neat...

Itty bitty foot bridge to the river

Mushroom carved from a tree trunk

Hmmmm...this is one funny looking bike!  He was just blowing debris from the path! 

Wooden chair carved out of a tree stump!

Standing tall!  This was near the soccer fields!

We stopped and ate a picnic lunch along the way.  I think that we were all very hungry.   From our picnic table, we saw a guy on a bike stop and look at something in the pathway.  Hmmm...we needed to investigate.

One of those slim-no-shoulders things!!

He did not like that we were watching him at all.  He slithered a bit and then Dan decided to get a bit closer. As he did this, Brandon and I backed away a bit!!

This is the kind of wildlife I can do without!  But this is the type of wildlife I like...

There were three deer right at the end of our ride.  All in all we pedaled about 15 miles or so.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside.  Afterwards, Brandon "treated" us to cones at Dairy Queen.  He had a coupon to get four free single dip cones.  And you know how much I like "free"!!

There were only 3 people; coupon was for 4 free cones.  What to do?  Brandon had 2!

Yum!!

Fun times, indeed!  Life is good!

She's home....and birthday celebrations!!!

One of the reasons we are back in NC is so that I could see my daughter.  She just finished her freshman year at UNC-W and got home yesterday.

Last picture outside her dorm!

I was anxiously awaiting her arrival....

Thumbs up from Ash!!

I practically ran out to see her and we hugged and hugged.  I admit I had happy tears!  Now all of my kiddies are in the same town.

Ashleigh, Brandon, and DIL Amanda

 and one of just brother and sister.....

Notice Ashleigh's shirt....it's a hoot because UNC-W does not have a football team!  That's why they are undefeated!  Too funny!!

Not only was it Ashleigh's homecoming, we were celebrating birthdays!  Ashleigh's was May 2nd and Brandon's was the 8th.  They requested a Mexican Fiesta and I was all too happy to oblige!   Chicken tacos and spinach enchiladas with a variety of sides including their favorites...guacamole and pico de gallo.  Yum!  We ate outside as it was a beautiful evening.

Making crazy faces at dinner!

After dinner we went inside to open presents....

Stuffed penguin from Harry Potter

Wall hanging for her apartment next year

Family Recipe Book - her favorite gift!!

Brandon took a picture of her birthday loot....

And Dan took a picture of feet!!!

Now it was Brandon's turn to open his gifts.....

No it's really not jello but a little "green" for him to buy tools and stuff!

He had three presents that were numbered...this is #1...he wasn't sure what it was....

He's getting an idea with #2

He is liking what he sees!

It's a hit!!

I had purchased this cross-stitch kit when Brandon was either a sophomore or junior at Appalachian State.  He graduated in 2008 and my intent was to give it to him as a graduation gift.  However, I never seemed to have the time to work on it.  Now, I have tons of time!! He asked how long it took me to cross-stitch it and I probably should have kept track but didn't.  I would estimate at least 100 hours but it may be more!  He really liked it and said it is going to be the first thing he hangs in his man cave.  I have already started looking for a UNC-W kit for Ashleigh but haven't located one yet!  If anyone has any ideas on where I can find one, please let me know!

After gifts, it was time for birthday pie and ice cream.  I got a recipe from a cookbook Gin and Syl have for Nutty Buddy pie and it's already a family favorite.

Happy Birthday to you!

Make a wish!!

It was a great evening and we enjoyed many laughs.  Ashleigh has asked if we could have weekly cook-outs and I think it is a grand idea!

Life is good indeed!

 

Work-camping!!

Saturday we spent most of the day with my son and DIL.  We headed over to their house fairly early (9 am!) and all gathered in one car and headed to "town".  Brandon dropped Amanda and I off at the local library's book sale and him and Dan went off to Lowe's/Home Depot.  Amanda and I were looking for bargains and we found some books for her classroom, a few for me, a few for my daughter and one Harley Davidson book for Dan.   We then headed to the local street fair and walked from booth to booth looking at the various things the vendors were selling.  We didn't buy anything but it was fun looking.

We headed back to their house for lunch and an afternoon of "work-camping".   Amanda gave Brandon and Dan their "honey-do" list and Amanda and I set off to put together a bookcase she had purchased for her cookbooks.

Yep - all parts accounted for!

We read the directions and were successful in putting it together!

Looks like we need to go yard-saling for more cookbooks!

I tried to take pictures of all of the projects that Brandon and Dan worked on....

Getting all the tools together.  Building a workbench for Brandon is a project for another weekend!

Peep hole installed for security!

Yep - it works!

Hanging a mirror above the fireplace was the next task....

Measuring to make sure it was "spot on"!

Amanda had to help finish the task!

The next "to-do" was to hang a ceiling fan.

Unfortunately, they ran into one issue that needed to be addressed before they could proceed and have to call in for back-up this coming week!!  We'll have to come back and finish this later.  We had a fun day with my son and DIL and am glad we could help them with some house chores.  But, we are still trying to find out where that RV hook-up is at their house.  ;-)

In the evening, we headed over to my friend Linda's house for a cook-out with her and Steve.  We grilled kabobs and had corn-on-the-cob.  The guys did a great job grilling despite the rain!  We had a good time hanging out and watching Linda's dog chase her cat.  Cheap entertainment and it made us laugh so much.  We'll be back over there next weekend for Linda's annual Mother's Day cookout.

My daughter has her last exam Monday and will be home from college on Tuesday.  I am looking forward to celebrating their birthdays with them!

Life is good!    

Yard Salin' and Happy Anniversary!!

Being the frugal people we are, we like yard sales!  I even call them "cheap entertainment"!! Saturday we had plans with my son and DIL to spend the morning yard salin'.

One of our friends was helping organize a charity yard sale for the Purple Heart Foundation.  According to the web, the mission of this foundation is to foster an environment of goodwill and camaraderie among combat wounded veterans, promote patriotism, support necessary legislative initiatives, and most importantly, provide service to all veterans and their families.  Seemed like a good place to start the day!  We all went our separate ways as we entered the local armory and, about 30 minutes later, my son and I walked out with our finds.  I was looking for Tupperware containers to store my dry goods in and picked up 2 large canisters and 2 medium canisters for $2.  Never able to pass up books, I bought one for me and one for my DIL's classroom.   My son picked up four college textbooks for a buck.  More on this in a few....Dan did not find any treasures.

We then hit the neighborhood yard sales.  My DIL sure knows how to get a bargain!  She is a first year teacher and is always on the look-out for things she can use in her classroom.  We stopped by one house and they had kid's games for $2.  DIL got to talking with the lady and said she was going to buy one of the games for her students.  The lady GAVE her the game!  Who-hoo...free is better than $2!  On to the next yard sale and she spotted quite a few kid's books for the lending library!  Again, DIL mentioned that she was buying the books for her classroom and got those for FREE too!  I am beginning to see a pattern!  We wondered if she could use her skills for things we were buying too but thought it may be a stretch for students to "need" a step stool for their RV...err I mean classroom!!

Now my son, he's a thinker!!  He goes to yard sales to look for stuff he can then sell on Ebay.  Remember that I mentioned  those text books he bought for $1 (total!!) from the first yard sale?  The going rate for those is $100.  So, with a little bit of time, he makes a killer profit!  He also picked up a DVD from a "free" box and sold it for $7.   He bought a few other things to re-sell as well.  All in all, he spent a total of $46 and expects to make sell everything for $300.  Unbelievable!  We had such a fun morning!!

One of the good things about being back at our NC home base is seeing my best friend, Linda.  

I'm dancing a jig because I'm excited to see my friend!!

Hands down, it doesn't matter what we do, we ALWAYS end up having a great time.  Dan likes to tell us that when we get together, we act like teenage girls because we giggle so much.  We've supported each other through good times and bad!  Her Dad even calls me his "other" daughter.

 
We've been friends for 25 years this year!  So, it's "Happy Anniversary" to us, Linna Louise!  Thanks for always being there for me!  I'm looking forward to many "girl dates" while we're here!

It's exam week for my daughter, Ashleigh.  Her freshman year sure has gone by quickly (at least for me)!  She'll be home next week and I'm looking forward to some mother/daughter time!

Life is good!!

Hanging out in NC...

We have had a really nice week since we have been back in NC.  The day we got back (last Friday), we went over to my son and DIL's new house.  Although they gave us a grand tour via Skype, I wanted to see it in person.  I made homemade pizza dough and brought that and all of the fixings for a salad over for dinner.  They have a lovely home but Dan and I still haven't figured out where the RV hook-ups are.  :-)

While we were over there, we were also celebrating my DIL's birthday.  No cake for her...we all enjoyed a birthday pizza!!

Before we left, we made sure to capture a group shot....

Dan, Tricia, Brandon, and Amanda

My daughter Ashleigh is still at school...getting ready to start exams....so she wasn't able to join us.  A mammoth-sized care package is on it's way to her to help curb the craziness of these last few weeks of her freshman year.  She'll be home in a few weeks and I'm  anxious to see her!

We've also been busy "work-camping" at Korkie's Campground.  In a very weird way, I do miss yard work!  Dan and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work raking, lopping, weed-eating, and doing some controlled burns!  Kork sure was surprised when she got home from work!

Kork and Dan taking a rest (note the burn-za-matic!!)

Kork's cat, Diesel usually thinks that he is a dog and he acts like one most of the time.  This time, however, he was all cat and on a mission!!

He could hear the birds chirping but he was not successful in his attempt to raid the birdhouse!  We got a chuckle out of watching him!

Monday we had made plans to kayak with Gin and Syl.  They recently got a new Sea Eagle and they were anxious to christen it!    They brought me this gorgeous rose from their garden!

Beautiful!  Notice the lovely vase!

Here's the rose a few days later....

Thanks Gin and Syl!  What a nice surprise!

We chatted a bit at Korkie's Campground before we headed over to Fall's Lake.  We decided not to go to our usual put-in point to kayak as the winds were really kicking up and we needed to be in a cove.  After agreeing that the "no parking" signs really weren't meant for us, we starting getting the kayaks ready.

Dan checking out the pump Gin and Syl have.  Pretty dandy! 

Gin making her funny face...I think Syl was just shaking her head!

Then we had to get them to the launch site.  Gin and Syl's is considerably lighter.  Sea Eagle apparently has made some modifications to the Paddleski and weight was one of them!

Wheeee!  This is going to be fun!!!

Almost ready to launch!!

Houston...we have lift off!!

They looked like they had tandem kayaked before!

We paddled a bit but really let the wind carry us.  We knew that we would pay for it on the way back as the wind would then be in our faces!  It was a gorgeous day to be on the lake and all four of us were enjoying being together!  We laughed and laughed so much!!

Time to take it easy and take pictures!

Last shot of the maiden voyage!

We were glad that we got to join Gin and Syl on their maiden voyage.  The afternoon ended all too quickly and we left Falls Lake to go our separate ways.  :-(  But it's never good-bye...just "see you down the road".

We are in NC until the end of May and we are looking forward to catching up with more family and friends! Life is good!!

Catching up.....

We left Cedar Key April 1st.  And, this ain't no April Fool's Day joke....we bought an RV lot!  Yeah!  We love the area so much and, after weighing the pros and cons and doing a ton of research, we took the plunge and are Florida "land-owners".  I put this in parenthesis as it's only a small slice of land but it's grand to us and we are very excited!!   When we are not staying there, we are able to let friends use it so, if you are interested in the Cedar Key area, let me know and we can talk!!

From Cedar Key, we headed to Reed Bingham State Park in Georgia.  We spent 4 days bicycling and relaxing.  We also saw something that we had never seen before....

A gopher tortoise.  We noticed this guy when we were out bike riding.  We stood in the grass to watch him and he actually started walking right to Dan and, as he got close, would hiss loudly!  He didn't look too friendly!

While we were out doing laundry one day, we met Tyler.  Tyler is 7 years old and, despite there being other kids at the campground, he decided to befriend Dan and I.  We had a fun few days riding bikes and playing on the playground with him.  Dan and Tyler would race bikes around the campground.  Dan let Tyler "win" the race but one time he decided to pedal ahead of Tyler.  Tyler didn't like this too much and called Dan a "pig".  We laughed and laughed.  Tyler's was staying with his Grammy and Papaw and they both said he never met a stranger!  Their point was proven when he decided to walk in our RV one day...without knocking.  Another time, I was outside and Tyler came up and asked me "do you think Dan would like to come outside and play?"  Too funny.

After we left Reed Bingham, we went to our first Corp of Engineer Campground.  Amity Campground is in Lanett, AL and is on West Point Lake.

Our site was on one of the smaller loops and was BIG!  We really enjoyed this campground and, after all of the people left after Easter, it was virtually empty!  Out of 90+ sites, there were only 15 campers.

One of the reasons we went to AL was to see my brother, Patrick.  He is in the Air Force and was in Montgomery for some education!

Me and my "little" brother!

Patrick spent the day with us on Easter.  After a home-cooked meal, we headed over to check out the dam.

Dan and Patrick at the dam

We had a nice, relaxing day.  Before Patrick headed back to Montgomery (and with 3 dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies), we had to goof off and get this picture...

See, back when we were growing up, I was supposed to be watching Patrick one day while my parents were working.  Patrick wanted to go to the local park....being the typical teenager, I wanted to sleep in.  I shirked my responsibilities and Patrick went to the park by himself. A while later, I heard a car in our driveway and since I knew my parents couldn't be home, went to investigate.  A woman we did not know had Patrick in her car.  He had gotten into a fight with another boy at the park (over a turtle!!!) and the other boy pushed him down.  His arm was b-r-o-k-e-n!!  Rut-roh.  Now I will admit that my first thought was "man - I am going to be in so much trouble!!"  I called my Mom at work (she was a nurse!) and I told her that we needed to come to the ER as Patrick had broken his arm.  The lady from the park (this was back in the day when you didn't have to worry about strangers) took us both to the hospital where my Mom worked.  Patrick ended up needing surgery and stayed in the hospital for a few days.  I felt sooooo bad that I brought him his favorite meal every day....Taco Bell!  So, long story short, this picture is for you, Mom, for all the trouble I gave you that day!  

  

After we left Alabama, we starting making our way back to NC.  We stayed at a Passport America campground, Carolina Landing in SC.  It was only $15 for the night and fine for an overnight stay.  But, if our rig was any larger or if Dan was not an expert driver, we would have been in a pickle!  Upon arriving back to our NC homebase, this is what we saw....

It put a big smile on our faces!   

We're back......

Wow - I knew we could last a month without TV - that was a no-brainer.  However, not having internet access for over 2 weeks was quite hard!  Our laptop decided to give us trouble the week before we left Cedar Key.  And, since we don't have smart phones, we were totally disconnected!!   We are now back in NC and I am using my son and DIL's extra laptop for now.  He's going to be taking a look at ours and will hopefully work some magic to get it up and running again!  In the next couple of days, I will post another blog update about our travels the past few weeks.  But just a few tidbits to leave you with....since leaving Florida, we've been to 3 states, bought real estate (hmmmm!), made friends with a 7 year old boy, and seen my brother!   Fun times for sure!  Life is good!