Our Beach Vacation

Last weekend the three of us took a trip to North Myrtle Beach for our family vacation. My parents also came, which was unbelievably helpful, as Quinn is at that in-to-everything stage. We definitely couldn't have done this trip without some help.

This was a long-awaited trip, as I have mentioned before. I haven't been to the beach in 12 years. Also, Buddy and I have not been on a vacation since our honeymoon. So trust me, we needed this trip in a bad way!

Here we are, finally standing in the ocean. This was taken literally 20 minutes after we got checked into our room! Seriously....we checked in, unloaded the car, got into swimsuits. Quinn may look like he is smiling, but closer inspection of this picture will show that Quinn is actually crying. He wasn't as impressed with the ocean as I thought he would be. (He perked up the next day though!)



We were in such a hurry to get to the beach that we forgot to grab Quinn's sand toys. While Buddy and I were in the ocean, my mom and Quinn were walking on the shore. Quinn found a group of older boys who were trying to dig a hole or make a sand castle or something, and he stopped to watch them. The boys saw Quinn and let him borrow a shovel. He knew just what to do.



The first night we went for a walk on the beach.



Friday morning Buddy got up early to surf-fish. After Quinn woke up, the three of us went back out for an early-morning walk on the beach.


Quinn enjoyed running through the sand and since there was hardly anyone on the beach at this hour, we let him have fun.


I love this picture. Buddy took it after Quinn and I walked away from him.


Another of my favorite pictures. This looks like a classic picture of the beach. This was right outside our room! We had a great view.


Once Quinn got used to the water, he seemed to enjoy himself. We decided that he doesn't like the feeling of the sand going out from under your feet when the waves go back out into the ocean. We let him wear his Crocs and he was ready to play in the water. (We made him wear a t-shirt, on top of wearing 50+ sunscreen. I just didn't want him to get sunburned. And he just won't have a tan this year. If he's like me, he won't tan very well anyway.)


One great thing about having my parents with us was that Buddy and I got to have "date night". We went to a seafood buffet restaurant. It was a little pricey but there was such a great selection of food. On Saturday, because no beach trip is complete without it, we played a round of putt-putt. Buddy won, but it's ok, because I got Starbucks afterward!

We had a great time on our trip but I'm thinking next year will go better. Quinn is so into everything and climbs and is just so on-the-go. I'm hoping that by next year he will enjoy the water and playing in the ocean. I want this to be the first of many trips to the beach. I have so many wonderful memories of going to the beach as a child. I want Quinn to have those memories too.

Had to go all the way to the beach to find out cool family trivia!!

We went to the beach last weekend for a few days, Thursday - Sunday. We had a wonderful time, and I will share pictures as soon as I get some from my mom. While we were there, we stayed at a motel that is owned by some of my family members. My great-aunt and great-uncle own a small motel in North Myrtle Beach. It was always fun to go to "the motel" when I was little because it is right on the ocean. Even if we went down in the fall or winter, we could still look out and see the water. I can remember us going and sitting around the office visiting with family members almost every time we were there.

While we were driving around town with my cousin, we saw this sign.



Apparently, a new bypass road is being built in North Myrtle, and the city is naming the road after my great-uncle, who passed away several years ago. I asked my cousin why he was getting a highway, because all I knew is that he owned the motel, and they used to have a restaurant too. My cousin shocked me when he said, "You didn't know that Uncle Robert was the first mayor of North Myrtle Beach??"

What? I had never EVER heard that piece of family trivia! He was not only the first mayor of North Myrtle, he also was on a committee that helped name the different sections of beach (Cherry Grove, North Myrtle, Atlantic, etc). He started the police program in NMB as well. His children followed in his successful footsteps. One son is a SC State representative, another is the Horry County Coroner, the third son is a Horry County policeman, and his daughter is a retired principal.

So here is where his road will be. If you are sitting at Ocean Drive/Main Street, and facing Hwy 17, his road will be directly in front of you.



Here is the on-going construction on this stretch of road. According to the paper, the road should be open soon, sometime in August.


And, in case you want to read more about my great-uncle, just click here. This is a link to an article in the NMB newspaper about the construction of his road. I'm sure he would have been very proud to know the city would honor him in this way. From talking with the family this weekend, I know they are proud too!

I just call him "Mr. Fix-It"

Quinn loves to watch Handy Manny on the Disney Channel. For those of you not familiar with this show, it is about a Hispanic guy who is the town's handy man. His name happens to be Manny, and his tool box of tools all speak English and Spanish. Quinn loves this show.

We have our own "Handy Buddy" at home. Buddy can somehow fix anything. He knew how to fix the dryer. He's fixed the garbage disposal many times. He's unclogged a bathtub. He's fixed problems with our vehicles. He's built bookcases, added shelves in cabinets, and a whole host of other things that I can't even think of. (And he's even helped our friend kill some chickens, right Pam?!?!)

So when he overheard a guy at the office talking about having people inspect his garage door and charging an obscene amount to paint it, Buddy stepped in and said "I could fix that." He sanded and repainted this guy's garage door. The man was impressed and showed Buddy some wooden deck furniture that was in bad shape. See what I mean...here is the before.

There are two chairs like the one pictured, a "two-seater" chair, and a small table. Buddy sanded each piece down, put caulk into the seams, and repainted them.

Here's the finished product.

I'd say he did a great job. We took some of the pieces back to the guy last night. He was very impressed in well. So impressed, in fact, that Buddy and his co-worker/college roommate are going to the same guy's house in a few weeks and redoing his entire deck!

So, if you need something fixed, just let us know. Handy Buddy will be on his way!

This is what one blind date will get you....

I told you here a few weeks ago that you should tune in today, July 18th. The reason being that I would tell you the story of how Buddy and I met.

12 years ago, today, I met the man who would become my future husband.

It all started my Senior year of high school. I had a friend named April. Because our last names were close, we were always in homeroom together. The joke we had was that we needed to "hook each other up" with a date. Fast forward to July of 1997. It was the summer between high school and college. I bumped into April and her at-the-time boyfriend, David, in a restaurant. She said she had finally found a guy to "hook" me up with. It was David's friend from school. She talked me into going out with this friend.

I said I would go, but only if she and David went too. I had enough sense to not go by myself. David gave me a phone number for a guy named Buddy, and I gave him my number to pass along. Later that evening I got a phone call. I couldn't begin to tell you what we talked about, but I distinctly remember talking to Buddy for over two hours. I remember hanging up the phone thinking that he sounded nice. We talked several other times that week and decided to go out the following Saturday night.

The four of us went out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant in Greenville and then went to see the Greenville Braves play baseball. Buddy and David both played on their high school team, and us girls didn't mind watching a game. Baseball is one of the two sports I completely understand. (Football is the other one, but that's beside the point.) I remember I wore a khaki skirt and this really cool turquoise short-sleeve sweater I got in Germany. I think the Braves even won the game. Afterwards we went to a popular coffee shop in downtown Greenville. I remember thinking that this guy was really nice and I would like to go out with him again.

And so we did....many times. Sometimes David and April went with us and sometimes it was just us. As irony would have it, David and April broke up about three months after they introduced us. April later told me that she felt the Lord had her date David so that Buddy and I could meet. I totally agree, because I can't figure out how else we would have met. We lived on opposite sides of town and went to completely different high schools. I am so thankful for the little bit of time April and David were friends, because it led me to the best friend I've ever had....my husband.

Needless to say, I highly recommend blind dates!!

I think you all know me well enough now that I can't take a trip down memory lane without a few pictures.

You've seen this picture before, but I have to include it again, because this is the first picture I have of us as a couple. This was October of 1997, three months into our dating time, headed to the Homecoming at his high school.



This picture was taken in 2000. We both turned 21 that summer. Buddy's mom had an extra photo session at a photo place in Greenville and wanted to get some pictures of us. This summer we had been dating 3 years.



This was taken in the fall of 2000, at a Clemson football game tailgate. We had so much fun at the game, and yes, the Tigers won!!

This picture was taken about 2 weeks after we got engaged. If you look closely you can see my diamond! We had gone with some people to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. Weren't the tulips pretty?

This picture was taken before we went to a wedding. This happened to be right around our 4 year dating anniversary.

This was Christmas 2006, at Buddy's parents' house. Don't ask me why we are wearing our Irish shirts, as if it were St.Patrick's Day.



Ok, this picture has a great story. The date was April 28, 2007. We were at a training burn with the fire department. (Trust me, we weren't the only ones taking pictures in front of the flames.) I was supposed to get to train on this one, but we had a feeling I might be pregnant. Later that afternoon, I took a home test and we found out we were pregnant with Quinn. This is our first "family" picture!



We've had a lot of fun together. Buddy's the one who convinced me you can go camping in a tent (no matter how cold it is). He taught me that even though Calamari is really a slimy squid, it is actually very tasty. It's been a fun twelve years, and I can hardly wait to see what happens in our future.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For!!

This is my 100th post!! Wow. Seems like only yesterday I wrote my first post.

In the grand tradition of blogging, I am now going to entertain you with 100 things about me. Yes, this may be a longer post than usual, but I hope you will hang in there and make it to the end.

1. I am a Christian….saved at the age of 9.

2. I have been married since 2003.

3. Buddy and I met on a blind date in 1997.

4. I have a son Quinn who is 18 months old.

5. I have a dog, Tillman, named after Tillman Hall at Clemson University.

6. I am an only child.

7. I have been to Germany and Austria as an exchange student in highschool. I lived with a family and went to their school. Their daughter also stayed with us for 6 weeks.

8. I have met one celebrity in my life....Ian Zering, the guy who played Steve Sanders on Beverly Hills 90210.

9. I am a NC certified EMT and volunteer at a local fire department..

10. I once helped perform CPR in the back of the ambulance all the way to the hospital.

11. I was in the Colorguard in highschool and was captain my Jr and Sr years.

12. My favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

13. I would love to one day visit places like England, Ireland, and Hawaii.

14. The house I grew up in belonged to my great-grandparents.

15. I would love to be on the show "The Amazing Race". I think I could do this!!

16. My son was the first boy born on my mom's side in 50 years. Her brother was born in 1958, all the grandkids are girls. I'm the only married or with kids so far.

17. When I was little I had a tabby cat named "Tabby"....very original, I know.

18. I do not drink soda. I never have. In my entire life.

19. I have taught 5th grade for the past 6 years.

20. One summer my church youth group went on a missions trip to Carolina Beach. I had to dress up like a clown and do skits.

21. I own all 10 seasons of FRIENDS on DVD.

22. I am a CLEMSON TIGER through and through. I went to my first football game at age 3. I am a very loyal fan of my Tigers.

23. My grandma taught me how to cross-stitch when I was little. I still like to do it, but rarely have the time.

24. My grandma also got me hooked on Days of Our Lives when I was little. She said I didn't have to take a nap if I was quiet during "her stories".

25. I love to iron. Yes, it's true. I don't know why.

26. I am peculiar about how the dishes are loaded in the dishwasher. Maybe this is why Buddy doesn’t help me as much.

27. I have a baby who lives in Heaven.

28. I once fell going UP the stairs.

29. I love taking pictures….I wish I had taken photography classes in high school.

30. 5 of the people I grew up with at church and I all got married the same summer. It started in May and ended in July, with weddings almost every weekend. It was very cool to go to all of our weddings.

31. When I was 13 I won $85 in one of those money machines at a carnival at my mom’s work. You get inside and the air cuts on and money floats around and you have to catch it. Just before the machine cut on, I saw a fifty and a twenty dollar bill sitting together. I grabbed those first.

32. I haven’t been to the beach in 12 years. Yes, I said 12!! But I’m fixing this problem in a few weeks!!

33. I have been to Disney World 3 times….all three times were school field trips! Once was in 5th grade (all the safety patrols were sent as a reward), the other two times were in high school. The marching band was chosen to march in parades during Disney Magic Music Days.

34. We went to the Poconos for our Honeymoon. We had one of those hot tubs that looks like a champagne glass in our room.

35. I have “sisters” thanks to Buddy. He has 3 older sisters, who all make me feel like I’m one of them!

36. We have 2 nieces and 5 nephews.

37. My parents and Buddy’s parents have been married over 30 years each. That’s almost a rarity these days.

38. My first job was at Wendy’s.

39. My second job was at a certain store that has a “Secret”….yes, it’s true!

40. I once got stung by swarm of yellow jackets. I had about 9-10 stings on my legs. Luckily I’m not allergic!

41. I’m old enough to remember when there weren’t things like CDs or Email, or Internet.

42. I’m young enough to remember when all these things came around!

43. I took piano lessons for 6 years when I was little.

44. I also played the clarinet.

45. I don’t play either one now…..

46. I have never broken a bone.

47. I had jaw surgery my senior year of highschool. I was wired shut for 8 weeks and could only eat liquids. This happened at Christmas time, too. My senior portrait and my graduation portrait look like different people. That’s how much the shape of my face changed. (This was medically necessary, not plastic surgery!)

48. I used to collect Beanie Babies. I’ve got some very, very old ones. Maybe I should sell them on Ebay. (Do people still buy these?)

49. I have been to Lake Erie, on the Canadian side. It was summer and the water was freezing, but I went in anyway. I was about 7 or 8 years old.

50. Ok, halfway through = Most embarrassing Moment. It was an away football game and the band was performing the halftime show. Our colorguard uniforms that year were dresses. At some point, we did this move where you sweep the flag behind your head. The pole got caught in my dress and as I moved the flag up, my dress went over my head. So there I stand, on the 50-yard line, dress completely up, and that’s when someone shouts my name….great….

51. I was almost trampled after a Clemson football game. We had just beaten our biggest rival, the SC Gamecocks, and all the students rushed the field. I tripped and fell but some huge guy grabbed me before I could get completely down.

52. I rode a moped while at Clemson. In real-life, a moped equals a DUI conviction, but on a college campus, a moped equals never having to walk across a huge campus again!

53. (It was actually Buddy’s moped, but he picked me up and took me to class!)

54. I did not have a date for my senior prom. I went with two of my best girl friends. We got dressed up, went out to eat and had the best time!

55. I got picked for jury duty the summer I turned 20. I was Juror #2. We put a guy in jail for 25 years for manufacturing cocaine. The guy was 21. He’s not even halfway through his sentence yet….

56. It took me 3 tries to get my driver’s license.

57. The first try I backed into a mailbox. That lost me 8 points. You could only lose 5 points and pass.

58. The second try, the instructor failed me but wouldn’t tell me what I did wrong.

59. Third time was the charm….

60. My first car was an 89 Ford Tempo. I nicknamed it SPOC….Stupid Piece of Car. It was always falling apart. But it was my birthday present the year I turned 16….perks of being an only child.

61. I only have one grandparent still living: my grandmother on my mother’s side, who I’ve mentioned many times on this blog.

62. Both my grandfathers had died by the time I was 6. My mom’s dad I don’t remember at all. My dad’s dad I barely remember. I can’t wait to see them both in Heaven one day!

63. Sometimes I talk in my sleep.

64. I am not crazy about storms with lots of thunder and lightning.

65. I love to read. Always have.

66. I have been inside this castle…


67. I was crazy about New Kids on the Block back in the day. I had the posters, the bed sheets, you name it. I even went to their concert when they came to Greenville.

68. I used to be great at roller skating. I even had my own speed skates!

69. I have had 4 dogs in my lifetime. Boots (lab/shepherd mix), Desi (toy poodle), Tillman (miniature pinscher), and Brady (golden retriever).
70. Quinn was 5 days overdue.

71. I had to have an emergency c-section to get him out.

72. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain….I have had 2 surgeries in my life (jaw and c-section) and never needed pain meds.

73. I remember watching the Challenger explosion on TV when I was in first or second grade.

74. I do not like to ride roller coasters.

75. I do not like to watch scary movies.

76. I won first prize in a Halloween costume contest when I was younger. I went as a California Raisin…complete with big sunglasses and white gloves.

77. I once wanted to be an interior decorator. I used to sit with the big Sears Catalog and pick out furnishings for each room in our house. Then I would calculate the totals for each room.

78. I busted my chin open in gym class in 6th grade. I needed 6 or 7 stitches.

79. My parents and I had a favorite Chinese restaurant when I was growing up. The owners got to where they “knew” us and would start our order as soon as we walked in because we always got the same thing!

80. When I was in Germany, I toured the Nazi Concentration Camp in Dachau. It was a very sobering experience.

81. I wish I could cook without using a recipe. I’m just not that creative in the kitchen.

82. I am scared of spiders.

83. One of my most favorite movies is The Princess Bride. I bet I could almost quote the entire thing.

84. I am a morning person. Buddy is not. This is a problem sometimes.

85. There is nothing better than a nap on a rainy afternoon!

86. I have never been to any type of professional sporting event.

87. I once grew my hair almost to my waist. Thank goodness I don’t do that anymore!

88. Our house is nicknamed “the holiday house”. We found our house on Christmas Eve. We made an offer on it on New Year’s Eve. We closed on Valentine’s Day!

89. I can’t go anywhere without someone telling me “You look like _____” (Fill in the name of some random person that they know.) This even happened to me in Germany.

90. I love Mexican Food. I could eat it every day.

91. I always order a chicken quesadilla, and it must be facing a certain way on my plate before I can eat it…..weird, I know.

92. I hate it when people misuse words. Example, “This food is to hot.” Too hot. I guess that’s the teacher in me.

93. I also hate it when people use the wrong punctuation. Example “The boy’s are brothers.” Just because it ends with an s doesn’t mean it needs an apostrophe!

94. I love to watch reality shows---Amazing Race, Survivor, and American Idol are three of my favorites.

95. I would love to have a British accent. It would be brilliant. ;-)

96. I once told my students that I really did have eyes in the back of my head. They believed me! Hee hee

97. I graduated college magna cum laude, with a GPA of 3.7. Not trying to brag, but I worked really hard for that!

98. I have never been farther west than Birmingham, Alabama.

99. I hate to scrub the shower. I’ll do it, but I hate to do it.

100. I have an obsession with pens. I love pens. If you have one that writes great, don’t let me borrow it or I’ll probably want to keep it.

There. I’m done. This was a really hard thing to do. Some of these I was struggling with. I know this was a long post, and I appreciate you sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me. Feel free to comment on anything you found interesting.

Go West, Young Man!

Buddy had his first official business trip this week. He's gone out of town to check on projects, but this was his first time to go somewhere for meetings, seminars, etc. Unfortunately, for him, this trip involved flying....which he HATES to do. But he did get to go to a state he's never been to before, and it was farther west than he's ever been, as well.

Quinn and I drove him to the airport on Thursday mid-morning. He got to his location later in the day. Friday he was in a class all day and then he and his co-workers barely made it to the airport in time to make their flight back home. Apparently the airport was on the smaller side, and the last flight out was shortly after the class ended. He got back super early this morning, like 1 am.

Buddy asked if I wanted him to bring me back a "sursy." Now a "sursy", for those of you who don't know, is a special surprise that you bring someone back when you go out of town and they don't. Particularly if the person leaving is a parent, and the person staying behind is the child. My mom and dad would always bring me a "sursy" if they had to go somewhere. I've taught the word to Buddy (or maybe he knew it before me), and he asked what I wanted. He wasn't going to a big city, and I knew he would be in class all day. So I told him all I wanted was a picture of the Mississippi River, because I knew his flight would require him to go over this river.

So, here's my "sursy" from Buddy's first business trip. Doesn't look like the "Mighty Mississippi" from 30,000 feet, does it? Buddy says the white splotches in the middle of the river are barges. And look, you can see the top of clouds. All in all, it's a really cool picture. Thank goodness for window seats and cell-phones with cameras!

Hodge Family Update--June 2009

This is my monthly update on my friends, The Hodge Family.

June was an exciting month for the Hodges, mainly because some family was able to fly down to Costa Rica for a visit. Michael's mother and grandmother made the trip and they all spent several days together. They went to the Sarapiqui River and also did a tour through a rain forest. Sounds like fun to me! His mother also brought some fun treats from the USA, like Reese's Pieces, no-bake cheesecake, and Bisquick! I'm sure when you are in a country where these things aren't common-place, it's easy to get excited about them.

Michael and Amanda continue to take Spanish classes and endure the dreaded tests, while Alexis and Jerret go to a more laid-back summertime Spanish class, which is more like day-camp than school.

Here are their prayer requests for this month.
1. Language acquisition and retention of what they are learning.

2. Safety as they walk to and from school each day.

3. That they will continue to grow in their knowledge and love of the Word.

4. Efficiency of time management. While they have their homework from language school, they each also have assignments to complete from their mentors.

5. For the International Mission Board to be good stewards of the funds they received in 2009 from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. (The IMB is the group that has sent them out as missionaries).

As always, the Hodge Family appreciates your prayers. You can link to their blog from my list, or just click here.

What a sight!

This is what I saw in the sky behind my house last Wednesday night after I got home from church.

Isn't this beautiful? When I saw this, my mind went immediately to some special Bible verses.

"For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." I Thessalonians 4:16-17

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." Matthew 24:30-31

Wow! Isn't that powerful. When I saw that beautiful cloud, I started watching the sky, wondering to myself, could this be the day that the Lord returns? Of course, it was not, but when I see big, beautiful clouds in the sky, I am reminded of these verses, and, like my pastor often says, "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"

Going to Kid's Planet

Hi there, it's Quinn, writing my last post about my vacation.

Grandma and Grandpa took me to a park called Kid's Planet. It was built after Mommy was too big to play on slides and swings, so Grandma and Grandpa had never been there before. There was a lot of fun things to do, but I am too little to do a lot of the stuff they have there. Maybe next summer I can do more.

One thing that was cool to play with was this sand table. I played on a sand table at Claire's house when we went for the Easter Egg Hunt, so I knew what to do. Grandpa and I had fun playing with the sand sifter and getting our hands dirty!

Of course I had to play on the slide. Mommy has mentioned before how much I love slides, so of course I had to take a few turns. Grandma was proud that I could slide down without help. She was at the bottom to catch me, though!

This musical pipe tower was fun. Do you see all the numbers? Each number represents a musical note. Each pipe is a different length, so when you raise the gold ball and let it bang on the pipe, it sounds like a music note. On the top of the tower, it tells you which notes to play in which order to play different songs. In this picture Grandpa is trying to play one of the songs, and I am helping.

Finally, I had fun driving this wooden train.

I can't wait to go back to Kid's Planet because there was a bunch of fun things to do but I need to be bigger.

Grandma and Grandpa, I had so much fun at your house. I hope I can come back every summer! (And next time, Grandpa needs to take pictures so Grandma can be in the pictures!!) Thanks for letting me come to stay. I love you! Love, Quinn

In Grandpa's Garden

Hi everyone. It's Quinn again, here to tell you more about my trip to SC.

My grandpa has a big garden. In fact, he has two gardens. One is big, and the other one is even bigger! He grows all kinds of vegetables in this garden, and he also grows grapes called Muscadines. While I was at his house, he showed me his gardens.

Here we are in the small garden. This is where all the green beans are planted.

This is another shot of the small garden, and the green beans. The two rows where we are standing already have green beans big enough to pick. The two rows behind us are more green beans. Grandpa grew them at different times so they wouldn't all come in at once. Pretty smart, huh? The big bushes on the right side of the picture are the tomatoes. Do you see the grassy area near the tomatoes? On the other side of the grass is the bigger garden. And behind that are the grape vines.

Now we are in the bigger garden. This is where the squash are planted. I got to eat some squash one night for supper. It sure tasted fresh! We even found some squash to pick while we took the pictures. Grandpa even tucked one into his shirt pocket!

Here are the cucumber plants. I didn't get to try any of these, but Grandma said they were good. Do you see the tomato in my hand? That also came from the garden too. I was so proud of this tomato that I carried it in my hand the whole time. Grandma is just glad I didn't squeeze it and make a mess!!

(Do you see the dog in the picture? That is Mommy's dog. She is a poodle and her name is Desi. Mommy got her for her 16th birthday. Desi turned 14 last week! She's an old dog.)

Well, that's the end of the tour of Grandpa's garden. We took a bunch of pictures, but some didn't turn out like we hoped. Oh well, Mommy says that happens sometimes.

This last picture is of me swinging on the big swing. Do you see the white house behind me? That's the house that Mommy grew up in. She moved there when she was 5 or 6 years old. That house belonged to my Great-Great-Grandparents! Do you see the big tree in front of the house? Mommy remembers when her dad planted that tree!

That's all for now. I still have to tell you about the park we went to. Thanks for reading! Love, Quinn

Please Welcome a Special Guest....

Hi everyone. This is Quinn. Mommy let me take over her blog today so I could tell you about my trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Last week, Grandma and Grandpa came to our house. After lunch I got in their car and went for a long ride to their house in South Carolina. The ride down was pretty boring, so I took a nap in the car. When we finally got to their house, I got right down to having fun.

First I had to unpack my toys. I brought some of my favorites...my Clemson Football, my Pooh Bear telephone, my big monster fire truck, and my magnet farm for the fridge.

This is my Great-Grandma. Mommy told me how she used to read stories to her when she was little, so I brought some books and hoped she would read them to me. It was funny because she didn't know that when I back up to your lap, it means I want to sit in your lap and hear a story. Finally she figured out what I meant and picked me up and read some stories to me. She is a good reader, just like Mommy said!!

Later I showed Grandpa my magnetic farm, only we played with it on the floor. I showed him how you could match up the animals. The barn part plays music and tells you if you made a match or not. I like this toy a lot.

One morning, when I got up, Grandpa went out to his garden and picked green beans. I watched Great-Grandma break the beans.

I decided it looked like fun, so I helped.

One day I even went to see where Grandma works. Mommy worked there too when she was in college, so everybody there knew who Mommy was too. But they had never met me before. Everyone said I was soooo cute. There were other things we wanted to do, but some days it was too hot. It was a lot of fun just being in a new place. I missed Mommy and Daddy, but they called me on the phone sometimes to check on me.

It was a lot of fun to go on vacation. I have more to tell you, but I am going to play for a little while. Later I will tell you about my Grandpa's garden, and also about a trip to a park.