Oh, no! 5 Whole Days?

Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 days since I updated here! It's been a busy week, but nothing special as far as pictures are concerned. So here's a fun picture from Spring Break:

JJ and I played a Whack-a-Mole game at Busch Gardens and I won against everyone there! (Yes, I know, I beat out a bunch of little kids. So sue me. LOL) This giant monkey was my prize, in my favorite color of purple. This will go on the wall in my craft room. This is Nicky carrying my prize. So yes, he's got a monkey on his back!

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

We've had some rough weather the last couple of days. Last night we had lots of thunder and lightning, and the beach town where we meet for Boy Scouts had massive amounts of hail. (Luckily, we made it home about a half-hour before that whole mess started.) Tonight we were sunny one minute and black the next.

I really don't like spring storms!

Mary at Mattaponi

My friend Teresa and I are Boy Scout religious emblems counselors. In addition to earning merit badges and rank badges, Scouts have the option of earning medals relating to the faith of their chosen religion. JJ and Teresa's son Stevie earned the last emblem for the Catholic faith today, the Pope Pius XII emblem. The 2 of them, along with another friend who could be there today, have been working hard on this since September. Today was the culmination of all that hard work, as they had to sit with a Board of Review, made up of their peers (Scouts who have already earned this award). They passed with flying colors and will be recognized at a special Mass in May, with the Archbishop of Washington in attendance. Congratulations to both boys!

They were unable to attend the original Board date, as it was during our spring break, so the committee very graciously offered this date as a makeup. We met at a retreat held at a beautiful campground maintained by the Archdiocese of Washington, Our Lady of Mattaponi. Here she is:

The whole camp was on a beautiful section of land. Very peaceful. I'm glad we didn't miss out on this. The original Board date was held at the offices near downtown DC...not the fun part with the monuments. Nah--this was way better!

Camping's the life for...well, not me!

This weekend is the Spring Camporee for our Boy Scout District. All the troops in the 2-county region get together for a fun-filled weekend of games, relays, badge work, food, campfires, and whatever else they can come up with. The boys work really hard setting up tents, cooking meals, attending their stations. Here's what the adults do:

From left to right: Gerald, Eric, Tim the Scoutmaster, and Henry, one of the assistant Scoutmasters.

It's just another weekend off for these guys!

Bar-b-que, Anyone?

I am a huge barbeque fan. I grew up in a city with some of the best barbeque...Augusta, Georgia. Home of Sconyers' Real Pit Bar-B-Que, which has catered at the White House, when Jimmy Carter was President. I'll be visiting Sconyers' later in the summer when my brother gets married. But in the meantime, here's a pretty fabulous barbeque place near Williamsburg, Virginia: Pierce's.

If you ever go to Williamsburg, stop off in Lightfoot and have a bite. Terrific pork, and the fries and hush puppies are excellent, too!

Yum.....

Mosiac of Me

I came across something really cool today. Lisa over at My Little Corner of the World posted about making a mosiac on flickr that is all about you. There are some really cool pictures posted there! Anyway, this is mine:


The rules:

• a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
• b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
• c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite book?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (If you don't have a flickr account, just use some screen name you have)
    

Thanks for the great idea, Lisa! If anyone else does this, post a link so I can check it out!

Spring Rains and Flowers

Today was a very gloomy day...cool and rainy. Zzzzzzzzzzz.........

Oh, sorry! :)

The rain has made our grass such a beautiful shade of green, and the flowers are coming along. Here is a great shot of the flowers at Busch Gardens...I took this Easter Sunday.

Love the red and purple combination! My two favorite colors.

Farewell, Spring Break 2009

And so ends another Spring Break. (Sob!) today is the last day before school starts back up, and I've already got a sub job lined up for tomorrow.

Here's one last shot of the Grand Strand:


I have been remiss in answering the trivia question we won with the other night at Liberty's. The question: put in order the following events--debut of Saturday Night Live, killing of 10 Israeli Olympics athletes, Elvis gets inducted into the Army, and Helen Keller dies. The answer:

1) Elvis is inducted into the Army (1958)
2) Helen Keller dies (1968)
3) Killing of 10 Israeli Olympic athletes (1972)
4) Saturday Night Live debuts (1975)

I still can't believe we won first place!

And as the sun sets on another Spring Break...


...we look forward to a rapid close to the school year and are greatly anticipating summer vacation!

Happy Easter and Welcome Home!

We have finally arrived back home after 5 fun-filled days travelling around the South, touring colleges and laying by the pool. Here's one last shot of Myrtle Beach, taken yesterday morning before we left:


We drove to Williamsburg, Virginia last night and spent a fun evening watching bad movies on cable...My Cousin Vinny (not too bad), Happy Gilmore (kind of bad), and Tommy Boy (one of Eric's favorites). This morning we went to Busch Gardens--this one has a European theme to the park. JJ and Eric enjoyed the roller coasters, and Nicky and I rode some of the smaller but still fun rides. They are affiliated with Sesame Place, and have a brand new area for the wee ones. I took a picture of my not-so-wee ones with an old favorite, Grover.


We left a bit early and came home. We are happy to be back and ready to relax tomorrow!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Myrtle Beach Days

I can't believe this is our last day in Myrtle Beach. We had a fun day poolside. The pool was way too frigid to swim in, and the indoor pool was too crowded, so we spent our time soaking up the rays.

Here's today's ocean shot, through the trees beside the pool.

We walked around this afternoon at Broadway at the Beach, a really fun and popular area with lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack and did a little shopping afterwards. The water had lots of hungry catfish, and Nicky very kindly fed them supper.

Tomorrow...we leave for Williamsburg, Virginia. I'll be sad to leave Myrtle Beach, but we're all looking forward to heading closer to home!

Beach Bums,Golf (the Mini Kind) and Trivia

What a fun day! We spent today walking on the beach and laying beside the pool. It was wonderfully relaxing. Here is today's obligatory ocean shot for you.

We went mini-golfing tonight before supper and had a lovely time. The Spy Glass in Myrtle Beach is a fun place...shooting cannons in the water and lots of difficult holes.

Eric won by a mile, with a score of 43, followed by me with a fabulous (not) score of 50. JJ had a 53, and Nick brought the game home with a 55. Needless to say, none of us will be playing in the Masters any time soon!

We had supper at the Liberty Taproom. 

Good food,  but the real treat was the live trivia contest they held tonight. I have played live trivia with my brother before and had a great time, but bombed. Tonight the four of us won the whole pot...a $50 tab!!!! It paid for our supper tonight!

Big winner question: put the following events in chronological order, starting with the earliest...debut of Saturday Night Live, killing of 10 Israeli Olympic athletes, Elvis gets inducted into the Army, and Helen Keller dies. Tune in tomorrow for the answer!

From Duke to Clemson to the Atlantic

Welcome to Spring Break! It's been a busy one so far. We began yesterday by heading to Duke University in Durham, NC for a college tour. JJ is a junior in high school now and is actively searching for the right college. 

This is the Duke Chapel, a major landmark on campus. We weren't allowed to go in, but it was very cool on the outside.

This is the original college for Clemson University in South Carolina. We really liked this campus, although there was an awful lot of orange for JJ!

We then drove to Columbia and met my brother Bill and his fiancee, Stacie, for lunch. We had a much-too-short lunch at Olive Garden together before leaving. Here is Bill with his nephews and Stacie.

We finally arrived at the hotel in Myrtle Beach around 6:30PM. This greeted us upon arrival.

Finally...we're on vacation!

Finally It's Clean!

It took a little over a week but it's done!

The inside is clean, too, which is why I can close it!

I love being able to see my knick knacks again. The doll on the file cabinet is made from a bingo fabric. I bought it for my mom years ago as a lucky charm for her near-nightly bingo games. (I don't think it worked well as a good luck charm, but she sure is cute.)

We're on Spring Break right now, and are headed out tomorrow morning early for North Carolina to visit Duke University, followed by Clemson University in South Carolina, and then a few days R&R in Myrtle Beach. I hope to update daily with pictures as we travel.

I'm looking forward to the break!

Kitty Love, My Kitty Love

Kiki only comes out when the dogs are elsewhere in the house. She joined me in the living room for a little bonding time.

Yes, she's drooling on me! :)

Sunshine and Puppy Dog Tails

It's a b-e-a-u-tiful day.

My boys helped a fellow Boy Scout with his Eagle project today. They were building a puppy enclosure at the Humane Society. Here are some recipients of this new enclosure:

One was too impatient for me to take the picture and walked off the set!

The Humane Society here also doubles as a kennel for boarding, only for dogs who were adopted from the Humane Society. This is the creek for which the kennel is named:

This is Yogi with one of our Scouts. He's being boarded, not adopted out. What a sweetie.

This was such a great project. Congratulations to Elliott on a job well done!

And speaking of cats...

The rain has finally stopped, and the sun is out. Kiki is happy.

Uh, oh...I've been spotted!

When the Cat's Away...

Eric is away until tomorrow, covering another Michael Vick trial. Since I didn't have to fix supper with him gone, and since Nicky and I had to go to the big town down in center county to replace his glasses, we picked up supper.

Here's what I had...

And here's what the kids had...

Gotta love takeout!

A Storytime to Remember!

Eric gets to do some cool things when he's working. Today he got to work on a story in a town just outside DC. The governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan read a book to a group of 1st graders.



The Governor is on the right, and the Secretary on the left.


I don't recognize the book, and Eric doesn't remember the title. But how cool to be a witness to such an interesting storytime!