What's happening in my world…
We had a great time today at Katie Beth’s first sailing lesson. The weather was nice, but initially the wind didn’t cooperate. It gave Katie Beth’s instructor, Buzz Cole, time to go back over sailing details and safety.
Once on the water, Katie Beth seemed to enjoy sailing. But, she got a bit excited when the sail boat really caught the wind and moved out. The water coming over the gunnel definitely got her excited.
We are looking forward to more sailing lessons.
Katie Beth’s school year has come to an end. This school year has seen some huge changes, maybe too many. We transferred Katie Beth back to Holy Family School. There were many familiar faces and friends plus many new ones. The school is going through the throws of many changes for the good including expanding grades, advance classes, and much more.
But, we have been looking for houses in Rome, Georgia so Katie Beth can go to Darlington School were Hope is the principal of the K-8. In Decemeber, we found a house that would work for us. After the huge move, we started Katie Beth in Darlington School. The pressures of the move have taken their toll on all of us, but especially Katie Beth. She has done well with her grades and she has started to build new friendships.
We have moved to Rome, Georgia were Katie Beth will go to Darlington School. The school is were Hope is the principle of the K-8th grade portion of the K-12 grade school.
Hannah and Charlie have both attended Darlington and love it. Katie Beth has been wanting to go here as well. She is looking forward to seeing her cousins more along with Aunt Hope and Uncle Chuck.
Karen, Katie Beth, and I have been driving to Rome on a regular basis viewing houses. Some weeks have included 2 or 3 trips to Rome. Karen’s new car has a lot of miles on it to show for it.
We closed on our new house on December 22nd and we have lots of boxes to unpack.
We are enjoying the sunsets and wonderful weather as we relax during this awesome Fall Break
Katie Beth is finding loads of children to play with ever time we visit the beach. She has been learning how to use a wakeboard and is getting better each day.
Karen is having a blast with her metal detector. She hasn’t struck the mother load, but she did come close finding someone’s lost wedding ring. Otherwise, she is finding coins, tent stakes, and trash. It is amazing that people will bury all the beer cans that he or she has drank. Karen found 12 beer cans in one spot. The wedding ring had been lost out in the gulf a few days prior to our available and it had washing up and was buried in the sand. Karen was ever excited about the finding.
You can see more of our photos here. The username and password are “Friends” and “Photos”.
Katie Beth’s Fall Break has started. We are having a small detour with a night of camping before we head to the beach. Our detour was caused by Hurricane Nate arriving this weekend.
Karen has had her heart set on returning to Lei Lani for Fall Break. She just loves the beach in early Fall. The water is warm and days are not the full heat of summer. It is funny because our last travel plans were canceled due Hurricane Irma hitting Florida.
But, the weather is great for camping so this will be prefect start to her break.
Karen had been trying to get Katie Beth on the list for North Alabama Land Trust‘s “Tuesdays On the Trail” event today. At the last minute, Karen got word that they had space. So, Katie Beth and I made a mad dash to get ready and drive to Decatur.
We had a fun time paddling Flint Creek. The weather was warm, but the trees provided a lot of shade. Katie Beth was tired by the halfway point of our trip. I enjoyed the workout that paddling provides especial given the limited amount of paddling by Katie Beth.
I would truly recommend checking the Tuesday’s On The Trail.
You can see more photos here. Remember, the username and password are “Friends” and “Photos”.
Katie Beth is now handling the lawn mowing. Hoot!
You don’t set out to raise an engineer, but you soon learn that you are raising one. You notice your tape disappears into masterly planned projects. You find in-progress projects throughout your house. You wonder if you should stop the more crazy ideas or in courage them.
For her latest project, Katie Beth is designing and building a lift for her treehouse. She first started with a old chair’s seat bottom and attached a board to be a back. She drilled holes in the seat to attach a rope. She collected up all the exercise weights that she could find around the house. She searched around for a pail to hold the weights and proceeded to the treehouse to install her lift. After she learned the pails is too small and weak, she found an old decorative plant basket, which was up for the job of holding the counter weights.
It was wonderful watching the construction and testing of her idea, but best of all it is fun raising this wonderful daughter to be the best she can be.
We took our friend and his daughter to Nashville to catch a flight to see his other daughter’s child’s christening. After the airport drop-off, we headed to the Parthenon, Along the way, we stopped by a White Castle for Karen’s breakfast and her first White Castle experience.
After arriving at the Parthenon, Katie Beth was demanding that we moved to the center piece the the event, which was the Athena statue. It was impressive. The builders provided a rich history of how the building and statue came about to be. After seeing it and all of the other artwork in the Parthenon, we walked the beautiful grounds of the park. Hunger soon came upon us.
Next up was lunch, we headed to the Tailgate Beer’s Music Row. The pizza, beer, and outside seating was the winner for us. But for Katie Beth, Drew Lord’s mural and that he was working on it today was the winner. Katie Beth sat close to the mural and watched Drew work on it. After awhile, Drew approach Katie Beth and they chatted about art and drawing. He asked Katie Beth if she would like to help him with the mural. Drew Lord, being a parent, said check with her parents. Katie Beth quickly ran to us and to confirm that it was okay.
Drew asked Katie Beth to color in some details in a section of the mural. Katie Beth was intent with her work and focused. It was fun for Karen and I to watch Katie Beth painting maybe even more fun for us watching than her painting.
After Katie Beth finished the section, Drew had her sign her work, which was a very sweet thing to do. Drew, thanks for the cool opportunity.
What a day it has been! We look forward to returning to Nashville, soon.
You can see more photos here. Remember, the username and password are “Friends” and “Photos”.
Katie Beth made Karen breakfast this morning for Mother’s Day and a nice homemade card. Karen enjoyed the smoked salmon with capers, onions, and a boiled egg.