Spring Break

We went to South Carolina for part of spring break and enjoyed time with family, friends and some gorgeous, sunny 80° weather. Two years ago the University of South Carolina built a new baseball stadium and Steve had been wanting to see a game at the new stadium. It just so happened that the weekend we were in town was the opening of SEC play and Georgia was in town for a weekend series. We all enjoyed going to the games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and Steve and Seth went for the Sunday afternoon game while Jenna and I stayed at Sallie and Carl's. On Saturday, my "boss" and friend, Jonie, came to the game. We hadn't seen each other in 15 years, so it was great to see each other again. On Tuesday we had lunch with the kids' former babysitter, April, and her husband David. Jenna was in their wedding in 2006 and we had not seen them since the wedding. David is a captain in the Army and they're in the process of being transferred to Fort Drum in New York and they were in South Carolina. It was so fun to see them again.

WINTER DRUMLINE

This year, Seth learned to play bass drum and is participating in winter drumline, playing 3rd bass. He has enjoyed the experience and we have enjoyed chaperoning and attending competitions. Here are a few pics from this past Saturday's competition in Athens, AL where we placed third.

Outside warm-ups.

Indoor warm-ups. (Seth is second from right.) And, yes, the guys have eye make-up on .... it's all part of the show!

More indoor warm-ups. (Seth is second from right.)

Getting ready for the show "Roped Into It" to start. (I couldn't get a clear pic because I was too far away. Once again, Seth is second from right.)

Christmas 2010

We had a very nice Christmas weekend; Mom was with us from PA. For Christmas Eve, we participated with our church at Room in the Inn, a ministry to the homeless. On Christmas morning we woke up to a dusting of snow. We opened gifts and had a quiet morning. We went to Sharon and Brad's late morning to spend the rest of the day at their house. We had been instructed to come up with an activity for Christmas afternoon, so Steve suggested a sugar cookie decorating competition. We baked two large sugar cookies and the guys had one to decorate and the ladies had the other one to decorate. You can see the fruits of our labors below. Since we didn't have a non-biased judge, we were all winners! We had a very fine snow all day and what is usually a 50 minute trip home, turned into a 2-1/2 hour trip home, but we arrived safely so that's what mattered. We had more snow during the night and throughout the day on Sunday.

Jenna models her new Steelers snuggy.

The cookie on the left was done by the ladies; the one on the right by the guys.

Birthday Celebration

We spent Saturday celebrating my birthday. We first met Sharon and Brad at City Limits cafe for lunch. Afterwards we headed out to Opryland Hotel; I wanted to see what changes were made since they re-opened after the May flood. It's a gorgeous hotel and they did an amazing job on renovations and reopening just five months after the flood. Of course it didn't have the same atmosphere as it would if we were there at night, but it was pretty nonetheless. After being at Opryland we went to downton Nashville and had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant that's only been open a few months. The atmosphere was fun and the food delicious! We topped off the evening by getting ice cream.

Seth's 16th Birthday

Seth had several parties for his 16th birthday. On Saturday, October 16th, he had a combined party with his marching band section mate, Emily. Emily turned 16 on the 19th and since they have many of the same friends from band, they planned a combined party at Emily's house. There were about 28 kids who came to Emily's house to celebrate and have fun. In lieu of gifts, Seth and Emily asked the attendees to bring donations to Hope House, a battered womens and children's shelter. We were overwhelmed by the response of the kids to this request as were the folks at Hope House when Emily and her mom delivered the donations on Tuesday morning. They were so impressed that the kids did this for their 16th birthday that they're going to write an article for the local newspaper.

On Sunday, October 17th, we went to Aunt Sharon and Uncle Brad's house to have a family celebration. Grammy was in town from PA for this celebration. This year Seth requested that Uncle Brad make beef tacos and chicken enchiladas for his birthday dinner. Mom and Grammy made apple pie for dessert.

On Monday, October 18th, Seth celebrated his birthday with his friends from church at their Core meeting that evening.

By the way, Seth did get a car for his birthday - a [matchbox] BMW.

First Band Competition of 2010 Season

The marching band had their first competition of the season this past Saturday in Waverly, TN. The theme of this year's show is "Pandora's Box". It's a great show with a lot of intricate footwork and lots moving around the field. Our band placed 2nd in class and 3rd overall. They also had the highest music scores of all the bands that competed that day.

Steve, Jenna and I went along as pit crew members. We're responsible for loading and unloading all pit equipment on and off of the semi truck as well as getting it onto and off of the field during the time our band is competing.

It was "all hands on deck". Jenna went along as a pit crew member.

Cross Country Update

I took Jenna to the doctor on Tuesday and he gave her clearance to run. She ran in the cross country meet this past Thursday and said her knee did not bother her. She's still doing home exercises and goes back to the doctor again this coming Tuesday. She was so glad to be able to run again. Tuesday was a half day of school, so after getting clearance from the doctor in the early part of the afternoon she went to school for a 2:45 practice and started running as soon as she could.