Thursday, July 26, 2018

Picture of the Week - 7/26/2018

Hi all!  Greetings from SUNNY Scotland!

The weather this week has been SO nice.  Like ridiculously nice!  This is a big deal because there have been SO many trips out here where the weather has been flat out miserable.  It's an awesome change!

This has been a jam packed week.  It's been a ton of work, but as always, we've gotten a ton of stuff done.  And the Indian food is awesome too!
I took my first MBA exam this week.  Check out this picture I took from the train on the way back from Glasgow to Edinburgh.  The scenery was very cool.  And did I mention that it was SUNNY!!

Bob is, as always, holding down the fort at home.  He's managed football practices and high school orientations and summer camps.  The boys all seem happy and well - even if I can't seem to get Spencer to answer texts from me...  

I'm heading home on Saturday and can't wait to hang out at home for a while.  (August calendar is a rough one...  fair warning that my communications may begin to get whiny....)

Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Picture of the Week - 7/19/2018

It's FOOTBALL time!

Hard to believe that we are already talking about football in the middle of July, but here we are!  And we are really excited!

Spencer has been doing football conditioning all summer.  He's spent many hours in the weight room and many hours learning his new position - inside linebacker - with the team.  They have been in helmets and shorts...  next week they transition to pads and really get serious about prepping for the season. 

Zane and Beckett started football conditioning this week.  Bob is coaching Beckett's team, which is going to be a hoot.  Zane is playing for a coach (who doesn't have a player on the team) that actually coached Spencer many years ago.  It's pretty wild to see things come full cycle. 

Everyone is having a blast.  Spencer can't wait to get to really start hitting people and getting ready for his season.  Zane has his fingers crossed that he will get to play center.  We'll see!  He's such a coachable kid...  Beckett alternates between being aggressive and kinda lazy.  LOL 

The boys only have 1 more full week off before they head back to school on August 2nd.  This summer went SO fast...  TOO fast!

Saturday I head back overseas for a week in the office over there.  While I'm over there I also have to take my first MBA exam.  I'll be very glad when both of those things are behind me!

Have a great week everyone!  Only 43 days until the first Ohio State Buckeye game!






Friday, July 13, 2018

Picture of the Week - 7/13/2018

Do you believe in magic?  

Not the David Copperfield kind...  the real life, actual MAGIC that happens all the time.  The tricky part is recognizing that it's happening and then calling it what it is - SPECIAL!

Maybe you don't call it magic.  Maybe you call it fate.  Or divine intervention?  Maybe karma?  If you believe in luck (which I don't), you may think of these things as "lucky".  

For me, it's magic!  

We experienced a WHOLE lot of magic last week on vacation.  I mean really, just BEING on vacation is magic.  The idea that we can get paid to hang out at a gorgeous beach house on a gorgeous beach is magic.  The idea that we have enough money saved up to be able to afford to pay for 2 houses for a whole week.  The mere fact that there IS a beach as lovely as St. George Island that allows us to share it.  None of this is a given...  all of it could go away if we don't make good decisions and do the "right" things.  It's easy to take these things for granted.  It's far too easy to not see the magic all around.

One of the coolest things that I've ever experienced happened while we were relaxing at the beach last week.  This is the first time in several years that we've been able to vacation over the 4th of July and one of the things I was most looking forward to was watching fireworks on the beach.  As we got ready last Wednesday for the "show", the sky started clouding up and you could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance.  As nightfall approached, the house was surrounded with storm clouds.  There were storms and clouds to the east, big storms out to sea, and a lot of activity in the sky behind the house facing inland.  We stood on the beach in front of our house, adult beverages in hand and were amazed by the fact that it wasn't raining on our little stretch of island.  Darkness fell and people up and down the beach started setting off fireworks.  I'm not sure where these people shopped for these displays, but I'm sure glad they did!  These "amateurs" were lighting fireworks that rivaled displays at profession events.  They were huge and numerous and beautiful.  There was one group of BIG fireworks to our left - another to our right, just a couple houses away.  Down the beach farther, you could see the "official" St. George Island fireworks display.  In between these "big" ones were dozens and dozens groups setting off smaller versions of these big spectacles that on their own would have been potentially a bit disappointing, but put all together was quite the show.

We've been on beaches during the 4th of July in the past.  It's always awe inspiring and fun.  But this year, Mother Nature decided to join in on the act and lit the skies up with these storm clouds.  Throughout the fireworks shows there were brilliant flashes of lightening literally ALL around us.  One second there was an amazing, brilliant explosion of manufactured color and sound.  Then the next, a streak of lightening light the entire beach up for a split second.  All around us.  We literally just stood in the middle, slack jawed in wonder.  (Or at least I did...)  

It was magic!

Actually, the whole week was fun of laughs and cards and playing and eating and chilling.  I read a book on the beach.  I can't even remember the last time I was that relaxed.  It was exactly what I needed!

Picture below is of the sky out to sea before the lightening started.  The sky that night was amazing!



In other, slightly less magical, news...  
- Zane got himself a nasty ear infection while we were on vacation.  We know knew were the closest urgent care is to St. George Island.  Then he got swimmers ear on top of it...  he was a miserable little dude.  All better now!
- Then just as his meds were starting to work, he got his braces on!  Honestly, I think he's handled them far better than I expected him to!  He's not even complaining about pain any more.  We're hoping that missing tooth of his will finally decide to make an appearance now that the braces are making room for it.  Picture below is of Zane and Berber after camp on Wednesday.  He was so excited to surprise her with his new braces!  (No idea why there's a sticker on his head...)
- In other teeth news...  Quinn had his wisdom teeth removed this morning.  He's currently sleeping off the anesthesia with a bag of frozen peas on his face.  He did very well and I'm sure will be back to normal in no time.  His swelling isn't even that bad!  (Spencer needs his wisdom teeth out too, but we aren't sure when we can do it because he's literally in sports year-round.  Thinking he's going to have to pick a wrestling tourney to skip...)
- Speaking of Spencer, he's currently on an overnight workout trip with part of the football team over in Carrollton, GA.  They will be back sometime late tomorrow.  He's enjoying football, but still not as much as he enjoyed wrestling. His games start mid-August, which will be here before we know it!  

This weekend, aside from nursing Quinn back to health, we have no plans for the first time since...  um...  Easter weekend?  Maybe???  No idea what we are going to get into.  It might be as simple as sitting up at the pool and watching Zane and Beck play.  Come to think of it, that sounds like Magic!

Cheers!


Thursday, July 5, 2018