Picture of the Week - 3/31/3023

 Sooooo close!  We are so close to our spring break - and our next adventure.  I've been looking forward to this one for a long time.  

Originally, when we first bought the camper, we thought this trip would be our maiden voyage.  There's a very small and very flat campground just outside of Georgia Southern that (to my untrained eyes) looked like it would be easy to get/out of and would be perfect for our first trip.  (Then we pulled the trigger on Perry last month...)

This trip is the first one with the dogs - and our plans have morphed a little bit - and all of the changes and updates have made me so excited and anxious to get going tomorrow morning!  But also - so. much. planning!

We also bought a blackstone grill.  We knew we wanted to get one and had originally thought we would wait until our big trip to Missouri to get one, but then we came to our senses (maybe when we saw how nice the weather is going to be this weekend) and decided it would be great to get one now.  And Walmart to the rescue!  We got one on SALE even!

So this week we spent time getting the blackstone seasoned and took it for a drive making dinner the other night.  We made breakfast burritos and homemade corned beef hash.  :)  I case you were curious!

We head down to Brunswick tomorrow for a visit with Bob and Phyllis and are pretty darn excited that both Spencer and Quinn are going to join us for a visit.  Spencer can't stay the night, but I've enticed him with a promise of smash burgers on the blackstone!  YUM!  On Sunday we are going to relocate camp up to that initial campground that I really thought would be our first hookup.  We are staying a few nights there - and it'll give us a chance to see how the dogs do with the set-up we will have over the summer.  We bought them a dog fence to set up around the camper door and will see how it goes!  MANY firsts with this whole experience - which makes it fun and interesting - and gives my "planner brain" more than enough to worry about!

Stay tuned for more details and pictures and reports on how our trip goes!  Yay for spring!!

PS - I bought this fun pillow for the couch in the camper, but that's actually probably going to be Quinn's bed this weekend.  It IS funny though!

Picture of the Week - 3/23/3023

 This week we got to celebrate Gable's birthday, the start of spring wrestling season, and the end of the high school wrestling season.  Also (I hope) the last of our freezing weather for a while!

Life is good - we are blessed!

Oh - and I pulled out that quilt that I've been working on for like 3 years now...  re-energized to get that thing done!  

I thought I'd share a picture of me and my wrestling friends from last night.  I love these people!  

Have a great spring week!

Picture of the Week - 3/16/2023

 It sure was nice to have Spencer and Quinn home at the same time for a little while this week.  I don't think it really dawns on new college moms that visits change repeatedly over the first couple of years.  For us at least, the first couple of visits home felt like things were back to normal.  After a while, though, having the boys home is more a treat than normal day-to-day.  It requires special cooking and shopping - well is just a special time.

Bob took a picture of me and Spencer before he left to head to Statesboro (more on this in a second) and when we took it I said - let's make sure to get one with Quinn too!  Then we forgot.  Oops!  

Spencer was home for only 2 nights before he left to spend the rest of his spring break hanging out in Quinn's dorm and working at a small farm just outside of Statesboro.  I don't think I've shared here that Spencer is about to make a big change at the end of this semester.  He's decided not to go back to the Citadel and has transferred to Georgia Southern to finish up his degree.  Lots of reasons and much discussion about the options, the pros/cons, and how to implement his decision.  I won't say every conversation was smooth and productive, but once again, I think he's on exactly the path he should be on.  

He's going to be changing his major from Civil Engineering to Mechanical Engineering with the move to GSU.  The major change was part of the decision making process because all his current scholarships are Civil and would go away if he changes majors at the Citadel.  He's also coming back in state - which is a big deal for tuition expense - and has signed a lease with a couple of guys in a really nice townhouse apartment.  He's pretty excited to be moving into "the nicest place he's ever lived".  (I'm trying not to take offense to this seeing as he spent 18+ years in our house.)  

This brings us to the farm job.  Spencer found a help wanted posting for a farm near Statesboro for the summer and after talking to the owner they decided on a trial-run for Spring Break.  Things have gone great this week and everything is falling in line.  I am really happy for him.  He's excited about the upcoming change - and a more traditional college experience.  

So I guess we will be doubling down on Georgia Southern spirit wear now!  Go Eagles!

Quiet week here - then we ramp back up with spring season wrestling practices next week and start prepping for our next camping adventure in a couple of weeks.  Feeling blessed and happy :) (And going to try to remember to get a picture of the boys all together next time they are all in the same place - no matter what they are wearing or who needs a haircut!)

Picture of the Week - 3/9/2023

 Time to catch you all up on our really great weekend last week!  

We took Zane and Beck to the Georgia youth state wrestling tournament - and we took the camper!  It was kinda nerve-wracking on multiple fronts!

Punchline - planning and preparation worked for both wrestlers and campers!

The drive down was one of those "waiting for the other shoe to drop" experiences.  We started out fine and then we got onto the interstate for the first time ever.  All was fine.  Then we got into traffic.  All was fine.  Then we went through all like 10 lanes of downtown Atlanta.  All was fine.  Then eventually we got out of traffic.  All was fine.  We even stopped at a rest area.  Guess what, it was fine!  

Good even!

The site I reserved was a pull-through (no back-up required!) and sorta unlevel, so we had to use our levelers for the first time.  It was fine!  

There were many many firsts with that thing over the weekend - and some minor inconveniences, but nothing major.  We learned a lot.  Figured out a few MORE things we needed to get - and we are already looking forward to our next trip.  (3 weeks from now)

And then the wrestling.  I mean, to say I'm proud of the boys is a huge understatement.  We knew this year would be rough for them.  They are both on the young end of the age groups.  And then we bumped Zane UP a weight class around a month ago.  Most kids DROP weight classes at this time of year, but he's in the middle of puberty and I'd much rather let him GROW than restrict calories for a youth wrestling tournament.  Zane got an unfortunately draw in the first round and lost to a kid who was not as good a wrestler, but WAS a stronger kid.  And sometimes that matters.  He won his next one and then lost the 3rd to a kid who was a better wrestler.  It happens and we aren't sad about it.  It gives him something to work toward next year.

Beck faired a bit better and won his first match, which made the whole bracket easier.  In his second match he was losing in the 3rd period with around 25 seconds to go.  He threw the kid, who was a good bit taller than Beck, into a headlock.  Took him down and scored 2 points with 11 seconds left to win the match.  It was pretty awesome!  He lost his next match to place 4th, but it didn't really matter.  He was the only kid from the West program to place at state and I couldn't be happier for him.  Next year, after another year of training and growing and getting stronger - both of these boys are going to be super fun to watch!

The return trip was equally uneventful.  Actually, check that...  it was more fun because we totally stopped at Buc-ees and bought FAR too much junk food and munched all the way home.  

It was a really good weekend!

This week we took off completely from any practices of any kind.  It's been a long time since we had downtime like this.  Bob and I feel disconcerted about the whole thing.  I think Bob's nearly finished a whole book this week.  Next week we will get back to work, but taking a breather was pretty nice.  

Quinn comes home tonight and Spencer comes home tomorrow night for their spring breaks.  I am looking forward to having them home for the weekend.  I love having them all in one place - even if it's just for a little while.  

Have a great week everyone!  I'll be here cuddling on dogs and hugging boys.  Life is good.

Here're the action shots from Beckett's big take-down.  :)  Notice the time left on the clock when the ref throws up the TWO in the last picture.