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Around the House Rambling Thoughts

Crazy Cat

CDF sent me this earlier…

For some reason our crazy cat, Cali, decided to climb onto a fence near our house & jump onto the roof our house. She seems quite content up there…which is good, as I do not have a ladder to get her down, nor am I calling the Fire Dept to come & get her down.

[Our] friends that rescued [jModule] from a tree to get said cat, currently live in [Africa]. I’m not sure where their ladder is. We should have offered to keep it in storage for them while they are overseas!

I hope I was able to give you a laugh for the day!

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Walking the Roof
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Taking it all in
Categories
Family Travel

Thanksgiving in Myrtle Beach

For the Thanksgiving holiday this year we went down to Myrtle Beach with CDF’s family. They stayed in a condo nearby, while we took the camper to Pirate Land.

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Pirate Land

We arrived at the campground at about 2:00 in the afternoon and soon had the camper set up. When everything was set up we went over to the condo for the afternoon.

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Camp Site

Thanksgiving morning the girls really wanted to swim in one of the pools. Although they were willing to brave the outdoor “lazy river,” I said we would go to the indoor pool since it was heated. It turned out to be a good choice. They had a lot of fun swimming and jumping in. They even made a new friend.

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She’s Wearing “Gobbles”
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The Indoor Pool
Categories
Rambling Thoughts

Enjoying all Kinds of Weather

Last weekend we were still watching the water drain away. The heavy rains pushed in by tropical storm Nicole had brought more rain to our area than we had seen for a while. On a positive note, it ended the drought we were going through. Not so positive was the flooding that closed a lot of roads in our area.

We did try to get out and enjoy stomping in puddles. Other than on Tuesday when it was too windy, we put on boots and got our umbrellas and headed out.

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Fancy Umbrellas
Categories
Daughters Family Travel Wife

Trip to Tryon Palace

For her birthday, CDF wanted to go on a day trip as a family. She picked Tryon palace since we had never been there and the gardens were supposed to be in bloom. It turned out to be a great day to visit, the sun was out and the temperature cool, but not cold.

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Tryon Palace
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Girls in the Gate
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In the Gate House

We purchased the garden pass, so we spent most of our time walking the paths. The girls really enjoyed exploring the more formal gardens with their walls and bricked paths. CDF took a lot of pictures of the flowers.

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Going into the Gardens
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Sharing secrets

The garden pass also included the Kitchen Office, where the servants used to be quartered and most of the cooking for the Governor was done. We had almost a private tour of the office, kitchen, laundry, and bedrooms. Probably the most interesting part was talking to the guide in the kitchen. She was cooking lunch in the wood fireplace, an actual sausage and rice dish that would have been cooked back in the 18th century. She told us about what the people would eat, and how the servants at the mansion were better fed, and better educated, than most of the town folk. A lot of the people of that time wanted to have their sons and daughters hired by the governor.

Categories
Family

Christmas Pictures

On Christmas Eve the family got together for a group picture. We ended up taking two different pictures as people arrived at different times. I was so busy checking for a sufficient amount of light, and making sure that nobody was cut off at the edges, that I forgot to check to see if anyone’s face was obscured. Something to remember for next year.

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Second family picture

Sam’s family wasn’t supposed to arrive until later, but they got there before the camera was put away, so we were able to include them in a second picture.

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First family picture
Categories
Travel

Raleigh’s International Festival

This year we went to the 24th annual International Festival held at the Raleigh Convention Center. This was the first time for us and we were looking forward to visiting the booths from Egypt. Unfortunately the information on Egypt was sparse, mainly featuring the Rosetta stone, but the other countries represented made up for it.

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There wasn’t much about Egypt

Along one side of the exhibit hall (and half of the next side) they had a row of food vendors, one for each country represented. The strongest smells were wafting out of the Indian and Polish booths, but all of them were serving savory dishes. CDF and MD only tasted a sample from the Vietnamese booth (some sort of beef strip). The Dutch booth had some interesting desserts, but they weren’t offering samples when we passed by. 🙁

We walked through the “bazaar” next. The girls spent time looking at the Russian dolls and Chinese toys. But we didn’t buy anything until we got to the Asian booths. MD got a henna tattoo from the Arab Emirates’ booth and CE got bracelets from an Asian booth. Later on CDF went back and got MD a ring and got a pretty scarf for herself.

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Lots of Russian Dolls

After the bazaar were cultural exhibits, booths where one could talk to the someone about the country. We stopped at the ones representing Scotland, France, and Vietnam to learn about how each of their languages developed.

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Vietnam
Categories
Family Travel

Myrtle Beach

On November 18th we went down to Myrtle Beach for the annual SEDUG conference. The weather was nicer this year and we were able to enjoy the beach more.

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Myrtle Beach Hotel

The girls spent one morning on the beach and later on in the day, when it got warmer, they got in the water. It was quite cold, but enjoyed it anyway.

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Walking on the Beach

Friday afternoon, once the the conference was over, we went over to another hotel, the Dunes, where we had a reservation for the night. This hotel has an indoor water park, and when we found out they were running winter specials we decided to jump on the chance. Everyone had a lot of fun going down water slides or just floating along in the lazy river.

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Water Slide

MD and her cousin spent the most time on the slides. CDF went down one with CE, but they both got soaked at the bottom, so CE decided she would stay in the lazy river. I went down the big twisty slide.

Categories
Family

Corn Maze at the Jones’ Farm

This past Saturday we went out to a farm owned by some friends to participate in their fall activities, especially to go through their corn maze. This is the first time they’ve done something like this on the farm, but they did a great job.

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Welcome to the Jones’ Farm

Since the tractor was getting ready to leave when we got there, we went on the hay ride first. It was basically a tour of the farm. We got to see what they were growing and harvesting. We stopped at the first pig field (not a pen, a field), and fed them some corn. Then we moved on past the hen house where they keep almost 500 chickens. Then on past another field with pigs, and a cow on the other side, to the barn where they have goats and a baby calf. One of the daughters brought the calf out to show everyone — lured out with a big bottle of milk! CE wants to go back some time and help “milk” the baby cow.

Just outside the corn maze is a small pumpkin yard. We didn’t get a pumpkin, but took advantage of the decorations to take a family picture.

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Fall Family Picture

After that the girls led us through the maze…

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The Corn Maze
Categories
Daughters Rambling Thoughts

Swimming at the Lake

This past week I was on vacation. Our plan was to stay home, and every day I would take Mo to a nearby lake for swim lessons. The weather didn’t want to cooperate and it was colder than I liked, but we persisted and made it every day.

Mo Swimming

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Clo came with us. On Tuesday CDF was supposed to go to the beach with Clo, but plans fell through and we all went to the lake and made it family outing. Wednesday Clo was just looking so disappointed about not going that I decided to take her. We didn’t get as much swimming practice in that day, but they had fun playing.

Swimming in the lake

Friday was supposed to be the day Mo showed how much she had learned, but we didn’t quite make it to where she is able to swim, but she is much more comfortable in the water and can hold her breath under water for two or three seconds now. So Friday we spent more time playing around. CDF and I swam out to the raft in the middle of the lake and dove back off into the water. Then I went and tried to dive from the diving board (and failed) at the tower. I finally made somewhat of a dive off the side, but I’m better when I’m close to the water. CDF showed me how it should be done from the diving board!

At the lake

Categories
Daughters

More Talk

The other night I was getting my hair cut and MD was talking. The conversation was about sleeping.

“Let me tell you. When I sleep my ears plug up!” she said.

“What? You must not like going to sleep then.”

“I don’t mind it. I never hear CE when she cries. She doesn’t bother me.”

The lady must have realized at that point that MD mean she doesn’t hear things when she sleeps. She is a sound sleeper — like her mother — which has been convenient when CE has a bad night, but not so much when I need to wake her for some reason.