The Official End of Summer

This weekend marks the official end of Summer!

Wait a minute, doesn't summer officially end in September? Well it would if you are a calendar watcher, but for my family and most families with school aged children, summer ends on the weekend prior to the return to school.

Since the kids are returning to school it is time to reflect on our brief, but busy summer.

The summer with the beginning of Elk's swim team and swim practice. The kids made good progress with their swimming and ended up with James competing in the Greensboro city meet.

Next came the family vacation to Walt Disney World. We got a chance to check out the new Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas and we stayed at the Beach Club Resortfor the first time ever. One of the things that I love about visiting Disney World is that we are always able to easily find new firsts to do each trip there.

I would say that riding the new Toy Story Mania attraction was one of the highlights for me, although this picture of James and Cinderella has to be near the top of the list.

After returning from Disney, it was time to focus attention on Summer camps.

J.T. went first. He went to his first summer camp as a Boy Scout. He had a very successful week at Camp Cherokee, earning a variety of awards and merit badges

Madison then went for a week of Girl Scout camp at Camp Keyauwee. She got to share a cabin with her friends Cecelia and Rachel while enjoying the Spooky Holiday Fun Theme.

We travelled to Ohio to visit family, including the newest edition, Ryan Scott Humberson.

We also travelled to Hilton Head, SC with Ed and Judy. It was the first time that any of us had ever been there and we loved it. From the resort we stayed in, to the soft sandy beach, we all had a great relaxing time.

I made time to play my first baseball season in 22 years. I really enjoyed the chance to play again, and I'm already thinking about next year.

Michelle took a Psychology Class during summer session at GTCC.

The kids and Michelle had several Daycations while I worked. They went to Spencer, NC to check out the transportation museum and they also went ice skating a couple of times to beat the 95 F heat.

J.T. & I then went camping along the New River in the mountains of NC with the Boy Scouts. The weather was beautiful and it made for a nice escape for the weekend.

I guess we made pretty good use of our summer.

Time to hit the books and dream of next summer!

Boy Scouts Experience Tubing on the New River

This weekend Troop 42 headed out to explore the New River for their August campout. We left Friday evening for the 2 1/2 hour drive into the mountains of NC.

We arrived at our destination after dark, carefully navigating the twisty back roads to get to the primitive campground.

We set up camp in the dark, along the banks of the New River. We were literally right on the bank on the river.

We learned that this is one of two rivers in the United States where the water actually flows in a Northerly direction.

After making breakfast on Saturday morning we took the one mile hike to the place where we rented our tubes. A group of 18 boys and leaders dared to tube down the river.

James and fellow scout Daniel are shown here enjoying the relaxing tube float on the river.

All in all it took about two hours to make the river journey down to our campsite.

Everyone had a good time although the water level could have stood to be a little deeper. The dry NC weather had lowered the river level below optimum.

After taking a break to cook lunch in camp. The boys played in the river for most of the afternoon.

It was then time to turn attention towards cooking dinner.

The boys made dutch oven pizzas. James is shown making his special "stuffed crust" pizza.

The adults were a little more traditional, cooking grilled chicken breast and roasted corn on the cob.

The focus was to practice cooking over an open fire, so all of the boys got involved in the meal preparation.

The weather was perfect for the trip and the calming sound of the river made an excellent backdrop for sleeping at night.

Sunday morning, it was time to make breakfast, then break camp and head back home with another successful campout in the books.

6th Anniversary = Paint?

Life isn't always glamorous.

In between the awards, vacations, and fun activities there is the real world waiting it's turn for attention.

On July 20th of this year we celebrated 6 years of living in our home in North Carolina. Although it is hard to believe that the time has passed that quickly, a lot has certainly happened during that time. Both children have now spent more of their lives in North Carolina than they did living in Ohio.

To celebrate this anniversary, Michelle decided that it was time to paint the remainder of the house that had not been repainted since we moved in. Knowing full well that the 19 foot high foyer was not going to be fun, I have been putting off this needed activity for as long as I could. Finally Michelle declared that now is the time.

We started our adventure by choosing a paint color. After several rounds of the fun filled games: "What do you think of this?" & " "How does that look?" we settled for "Camel". I'll admit that "Camel" does not sound like a fun color, but fortunately the freshly painted walls do not invoke visions of large, shaggy, multi-humped animals.

The painting has been a whole family activity. Michelle and James started out in the upstairs hallway, with help from Madison's trim work and my ability to reach tough areas without a ladder.

Michelle then tackled the living room by herself, doing an excellent job.

The next, much dreaded area was the foyer. I inherited the lion's share of this activity. Starting at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning, I toiled away until 5:00 pm to nearly complete this large space. Using a twelve foot extension pole, I was able to get the walls painted. Then using the pole and a ladder I completed most of the trim.

As this is being written the final touch-up work still awaits, but the bulk of the painting has been completed. I still have some exciting extension ladder work ahead of me in order to complete the fine trim work that remains.

Not wanting to only blog about the fun activities, I thought I would share this family work endeavor, that helped us celebrate our 6th anniversary in NC.

Quick Trip to the Slow Pace of Hilton Head

Early Sunday morning, we hopped in the van, drove a few miles to pick up Grandpa Ed and Grandma Judy, and headed south. In under 6 hours we arrived at our destination, Hilton Head Island.









This was the first time that any of us had been to Hilton Head, so we didn't really know what to expect. I can tell you that we were all very impressed with the relaxed feeling that one gets when on the island. The abundance of trees and plants, makes you feel much more isolated than you really are.









The first stop was to visit our resort - The Disney Hilton Head Island resort. We didn't see Minnie or Mickey, but we did see a well themed resort that had a very friendly staff, that we all enjoyed. The two bedroom villa had more than enough room for the 6 of us.



My favorite part was being able to cook the breakfasts in our room then all eat together on our balcony overlooking the pool.

The resort was located on Longview Island which is actually a small island on the interior of Hilton Head Island. The resort itself had a view of the marsh. There was also a beach house located a mile away that gave us access to the beautiful beach.


We had some great food during the trip even though we didn't get to eat in the "famous" Sea Shack due to the long lines. We made up for it by getting Ed's best meal ever at Carrabba's.



The kids had fun visiting the Hilton Head lighthouse, playing in the ocean, and playing in the resort pool. They even talked Grandma Judy into going down the slide at the pool. Don't forget to ask her about it the next time that you see her.





Ed had a hard time picking out which Yacht he wanted as we walked along the marina. We definitely saw some very impressive ships.



Even though this was only a two night trip, we all had a great time. The feeling of relaxation just flows from the island. There was a lot to do that we just didn't have time for and put it on our list for a future trip.



I think everyone decided that this is one place that we would definitely want to visit again!

Today is Michelle's Birthday!

Today’s blog honors my wife of nearly 14 years who happens to turn 41 today.

Shortly she will be stepping up her pursuit of her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education by going to school full time. She has a 4.0 grade point average so far, so we know that she will be up to the challenge of being a full time student.

She has done a great job of balancing work, home, and the kid’s activities. She is always trying to find something to do that the kids will enjoy, whether it’s taking them to the latest movie or letting them go ice skating to beat the 95° F weather.

Her new hobby is trying to set new records for the different activities on the Wii Fit. It is quite entertaining watching her try to beat Madison’s best at the Hula Hoop Competition.

I am forever greatful that she allows me to indulge my passion for visiting Disney World frequently. We have had many great trips and experiences there over the last several years and we are looking forward to visiting the Epcot Food and Wine festival this fall.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

We love you!!!

Kids Visit DollyWood

Late July, James & Madison took an impromptu trip with Grandpa Ed and Grandma Judy to Pigeon Forge, TN, the home of DollyWood.

On the first day after driving to Tennessee, and having dinner, they arrived at DollyWood around 5:00 pm.

J.T. and Madison rode the Teacups and everyone rode the Bumper cars.

J.T. practiced his marksmanship at the old fashioned rifle range arcade.

Later they left and went back to the hotel for a late night swim to cap off a busy first day.

The next morning after breakfast at the hotel, they drove around Pigeon Forge to see all of the shops in the area.

The kids were really impressed with a cool building called WonderWorld. You can see it pictured here. The kids liked the fact that the entire building was upside down. Even the inside!

After that it was time to return to DollyWood.

James rode the Tennessee Twister, a wild triple loop, 75 mph ride. It was so fast the ride only lasts for about 10 seconds. He had to ride by himself because everyone else was too afraid.

Everyone went to see a couple of shows.

In the middle of the 1st show, it was cancelled due to incoming severe weather. After grabbing a funnel cake for a mid day snack, it started pouring down rain like crazy. They sought refuge in Dolly's church. Even a soggy funnel cake tastes great!

After the rain stopped they went to one last show called: Country Tonight. It is a really cool show that every week a new country star comes to be on the show.

The last ride of the day was Grandpap, J.T., and Madison rode the rapids.

It was a great trip that everyone enjoyed!

Hiking at the Piedmont Environmental Center

On a very warm Saturday in July, the Cobra Patrol from Troop 42 took a 5 mile hike.

The four boys (Christopher, Cory, Michael, & James) were joined by Madison, Michelle, three dads, & myself.

We got off to a good start at 8:00 am in an attempt to beat the heat. The goal for the day was to successfully complete a 5 mile hike utilizing a map and a compass, and identify 10 different forms of wild animals along the way.

After orienting our position on the map and deciding which trail we were following, it was time to start our hike.

The boys did a great job of behaving and they also were very good at spotting the wild animals along the trail.

We saw several toads, a couple of different species of ducks, cardinals, sparrows, loon, a woodpecker, two different species of turtles, and squirrels.

The turtles were probably the most interesting animals that we spotted on our trip. They literally were on the edge of the trail as we walked by, so we were able to stop and observe them and compare them to our animal spotting guide.

After we finished locating all of our required animals it was time to focus on our compass skills and see if we could use them properly.

We had a great time and everyone was able to complete the hike. Some of the boys were even thinking that they were ready to tackle the Hiking merit badge now.

These are the kinds of days that make Scouting fun!