Thursday, May 27, 2010

North Carolina keeps calling me

Fr. Hale, the former headmaster of the school I attended and later worked at, turned 90 on April 15th. They threw a party for him and I thought it was as good a reason as any to return to NC, yet again. It just so happened that my nephew was also starring in his high school play that weekend too. Lucky me!

So, of course, I packed up the family and headed to Wilmington and then on to Raleigh. It was a busy weekend, to say the least, but it was alot of fun too.

First, we headed to Wilmington...about 8 hours from home. We got there in time to eat dinner and head off to the play. Rena was my date for the night and Blair stayed at my brothers with the twins.

My brother, father, other nephew, daughter, sister in law and her parents were all there for my nephew's play. It was awesome! I'm so impressed with what high-schoolers can do. The play was a lot of fun and you could tell that they all put so much work into it! Rena made it almost to then end.







My brother cracks me up. A little post-play entertainment! Too funny.

We got up the next morning and headed to Raleigh for Fr. Hale's birthday. I was really hoping to stop and see one of my Aunt's in Wallace AND to pick strawberries, but there just wasn't enough time. We got to the party just in time. I look like crap in this picture, but it's the only one I had of Fr. and Mrs. Hale. There were lots of old teacher, parents and students there. I actually expected to see a lot more people, but it was still fun and I got to see some people I haven't seen in a really long time.

My best friends mother was there. She happens to be my Godmother.

Beverly. Hasn't changed a bit. I've know this woman my whole life. She's quite a character. She and my mother used to work together and then I worked with her for years. I'm not sure what she's saying out of the corner of her mouth, but my guess would be that it's something obscene. I hope my children will have people with this much character in their lives.


Rachel and Riley practicing for their future in the music business. This was at my brother's house, where there's always something cultural to keep us entertained.



The last shot. I tried really hard to get a good picture with all 3 girls. They were done, though and in no mood to cooperate. I really can't blame them. We'd drug them all over the state by this point!



So the play was on Friday night, the birthday party was on Saturday afternoon and we had decided to stay in Raleigh that night instead of heading back to the ATL. We drove out to our old neighborhood and stopped by our backdoor neighbors house. It was so great to visit with them and catch up on everything.

The next day, we tried to find a strawberry patch to go picking but they weren't opened yet. So we headed out to the cemetery to visit my mother's grave and the graves of friends and family. Sounds fun, doesn't it. I always feel like my mother would be pissed if I didn't stop by. hahahaha! I know, it's kinda morbid, but what are you gonna do?

From there, Blair and I parted ways and I headed back home...he headed off to work. Monday morning, the girls were e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d! I woke Rena up for school and she just burst into tears and was sobbing while she got dressed for school. I decided she could play hooky and she went back to sleep for 2 more hours. Poor thing, totally partied out!

As usually, it was great to be back in NC. The whole weekend was so much fun and my girls, well they are troopers!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Here, fishy fishy!



My next door neighbor is a wonderful lady. Her daughter has cerebral palsy and they have found a wonderful school for her. That school had a fundraising festival this weekend, so we went to show our support for our neighbor, Ms. Ruth and her daughter Hannah.

The festival was small, but fun. I was quite impressed with all they had going on, especially since it's a small school. And I was really impressed by the teachers! Amazing people.

Anywho, at one of the festival games, Rena won a goldfish. Then Rachel and Riley won goldfish. Whhooo-hooo. NOT! I didn't need any more pets! But what is one to do with, now 6 goldfish in bags? On the way home, we stopped by PetCo to get the setup for the fish. I'm thinking classic fishbowl...pretty colorful rocks...the end. But NOOOOOooooo. Seems you need 1 gallon of water per inch of fish. 6 gallons! So we picked out a 10 gallon tank. (I'm sure you are familiar with the size. Most people probably have at least one, long forgotten, on a garage or attic shelf) Lights, a filter...each girl got to choose their own colored rocks, fish food. $80 later we are prepared to be good fish parent.

I should have offered the school $80 not to show the fish to the girls. ;) just kidding.

We got everyone home and all set up. We only lost 2, which I think was pretty good odds. The girls love them and check on them often during the day. The best part....I told the girls that if they stayed in their beds ALL night long, then they got to feed the fish. 2 nights of peaceful sleep. Maybe it was all worth it.