Sunday Morning

I got up about 7 to walk the dogs before church and I found K.'s car "wrapped". As in saran wrapped with about 4-5 rolls of the stuff! A funny sight! L. confessed that she heard people outside on Saturday night about 2:30 am and that they even rang the doorbell. The rest of us heard nothing. She didn't bother getting up though, claiming she had no idea what was going on. After returning from church, all 3 girls helped to unwrap the car. Good old fashion prank where no one (or nothing) gets hurt! Definitely got a laugh from me!

Opening Football Game!

Last night was the opening high school football game. It was TOGA night for seniors so K. was excited and spent a great deal of the day planning on what to wear. It was L.'s first high school game so she was a little nervous and excited, planning on going with other freshmen friends. The rest of the family planned to go too (much to the chagrin of L.)! It was an exciting opener with our team winning 41-0!!! H., M. and I had fun eating popcorn and watching all the seniors in their togas! L. just pretended we were not there and even text us to "please leave". Oh well, it was a fun family night at the game! Looking forward to next week's game too!

Double the Fun!

Both of my girls-now in HIGH SCHOOL- are on the varsity field hockey team!! L. came back from our family beach trip 3 days early so she could try out. The days were HOT and long but her hard work paid off!!! I am so excited to have them on the same team for 1 year! So now I have a freshman and a senior but can watch them both at the same sporting event! It definitely doubles the fun!! We had our first tournament/jamboree last weekend. K. was still a camp counselor so was not there but we did have 11 girls. And all 11 played every minute of all 4 games. They improved with each game. This team is still new. Last year was the first year for field hockey to be at our high school. The team never actually scored a goal last year but we have high hopes for this year. L. has played for 3 years on a city rec league so she has some experience. But most of the team has never picked up a stick until 2 weeks ago. We had about 5 returning players from last year. At the weekend jamboree the Pirates lost the first game 6-0, the second, 4-0 and the third 1-0 but TIED the last 0-0!! We held them off and made lots of attempts on the goal so it was very exciting. They got better with each game and really gained some confidence too! The team remained positive throughout and still had a great day together. It was a fun day for the parents too! Looking forward to a great field hockey season this year! Go Pirates!

Bieber Fever

Took L. and 2 friends to see justin Bieber Sunday night. I had asked what time the concert was since the venue was almost 2 hours away. L. assured me she checked and it was at 6. I thought this sounded great! I can get home before 11, right? Well we were in the mountains getting to see daughter number 1 for about 15 minutes. After doing a load of her laundry and then gathering 3 more loads to take home from the less than 12 hours she (and 5 friends) were under the same roof as us I came back home. Started laundry, showered and left to go to the concert at 3 pm. We actually ate dinner at a funky downtown pizza place at 4:45 pm- all in preparation for a 6 pm concert. We then see huge lines of fans at the arena, but the doors are not yet open. So I ask to see the tickets (hint: I should have done this yesterday) and discover that the concert doesn't start until 7. I asked L. where exactly she got her information about the concert and she tells me "facebook". OMG teens!!! We then walked around downtown and got ice cream before heading to our seats at 6 pm. This really would have been fine if I had had a book with me. We sat there for 3 hours before JB even came out. There were at least 3 warm up acts (all young and not good). BUT when The Bieber took the stage, the concert began. It was by far the loudest concert I have ever been too. More screaming young girls than at Miley Cyrus and the audience sang every word to every song louder than Justin. I could barely make out his voice but he did have some sweet dancing feet! That boy can move! He did have the low slung pants that I am not a fan of, but he was conscious of keeping his shirt down, covering the undies. Thanks man, I appreciate that. He had lots of costume/ outfit changes, usually a monochromatic look with a splash of color in his baseball cap or hoodie. Justin (yeah, we are on a first name basis now) played for about 1.5 hours and he did put on a good show. The concert ended by 10:30. I made it home by midnight listening to his tunes the whole way. The girls thought it was the "best concert EVER"! I thought next time I will definitely bring a book (just until the main attraction).

Beach traditions

We are having a fun, family beach trip even though we don't have all members of the family. My brother was here for about 4 days and we had a nice visit. We have eaten at the local pizza parlor that everybody enjoys and gone to play putt-putt. There were 6 of us and I was the score keeper. Had a ball AND I WON!! (there was no improper score keeping I assure you). I even had 2 hole in ones, M. had one, L. had 2, H. had one and my dad had one. We won 2 free games because 2 of us got the hole in one on the "magic hole". So exciting! Now I am hoping we do not have to play again this week and can save them until next year. H. and my L. have left to get back home for field hockey try outs so I am down to just M. and my parents. Yesterday my great aunt Evelyn and Uncle James came with cousins Sandra and her daughter Laura and her boyfriend Adam. It was a house full and we enjoyed each and every minute of it. It was loud, chaotic and full of stories and laughter until late that night!! We were on the beach during most of the day, then attempted to geocache (phone problems but were successful today), played bocci ball, volleyball, swam, cooked out and generally just enjoyed each others' company. The highlight of the evening was my aunt teaching me, and then M. (who wanted to get in on the lesson, too), to make apple jacks. These were a favorite of mine that my grandmother use to always make for me. It was so touching that her sister remembered this and brought all the supplies so we could make them last night. We made about 15! And ate 14- I hid one for me for today. The family came back today and we spent another great day together. It was sad to say goodbye since we don't see them but a couple times a year. Also found out that K. has a broken last digit of her ring finger, left hand. Such a bummer with 1 week left of camp. Sending good thoughts and bunches of love your way my sweet Katie B.!

A curious thing

On my way to the beach, from the mountains, so about a 10 hour drive, I encountered a curious thing. I was following the Garmin to try to get me there via the shortest route. This meant that I traveled lots of roads that I had not been on (or even heard of ) before. I was on lots of 2 lane, small country roads as I got closer to the coast. At one point, L. was asleep, and I was following Australian Karen when she lead me down Old Elwell Ferry Rd. When I started on the road I had no idea why it was named this. It was NOT evident that the road ended into the Cape Fear River. About 3 miles down, the pavement ended, and a metal railing with at STOP sign was across the now dirt road. Water (at this point I had no idea what body of water) was in front of me. I looked around, saw a shack across the water with a man outside it and an old pick up with a man in it on my side a little ways away. I drove closer to the pick up and asked if there was a ferry. A man of few words, he said "Yep". Then I asked if it would be coming soon. He replied, "on it's way". So I asked where to get the ferry, behind him? "Over there (at which he pointed to where I had been)." So I drove back to the stop sign and sure enough, the shack had moved, it was now on my side with the operator (long hair, overalls, big guy, banjo playing in the background- just kidding) moving the metal railing. He told me to drive on, which I did, but I left my car running- not sure how that was going to help me but we had no cell service in this area and I needed and escape plan. The operator did not talk much either. I asked if I need to pay him and he said no. Then I asked what body of water we were crossing, to which he replied "Cape Fear". That was the extent of our conversation. Not big talkers down here I guess. The "car" ferry can hold only 1-2 cars and 6 people max. I found out later that it is the last flat cable car ferry in N.C. It started in 1905 and currently ferries 60- 80 cars a day with the "curious traveler" thrown in occasionally. Check out this site for more information: http://www.gribblenation.com/ncpics/ferry/elwell.html

A Little Daddy time in the sea

We've been at the beach since Thursday and M. has really enjoyed having her dad around ALL DAY EVERY DAY!! The Atlantic has been incredibly calm and really beautiful. We've gone in the ocean every day because it has been so nice. M. has been "boogey boarding" and body surfing as well as creating all kinds of scenarios for her dad to help act out. So far the beach has been a wonderful retreat from a busy summer. And we have 2 out of 3 girls with us. But we REALLY MISS K!!!