Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Getting Closer

   We are happy to be at home and are busy getting ready to move into our house. On Monday, December 2, we requested to transfer the funds to pay for the house. They should be in the bank by end of the week. Our closing is scheduled for December 10. On Tuesday, December 3, we went to the house to drop off our utility trailer and get more information from the sellers regarding utilities, septic locations, etc.
   On Wednesday, December 4, we went to gymnastics. The kids had a blast and enjoyed playing with Alex. After gymnastics, we stopped at Home Depot to order washer and dryer (they will be delivered on December 12). We also bought a deep freezer since this was the last day of their sale.
   We returned to Elizabethton and went to the court house to apply for Stevie's and Steve's passports. They should arrive in 4-6 weeks - on time for our cruise to Europe.

 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving Vacation

Thanksgiving Vacation and Santa 2013

This entry is covering our 10 day break from the temporary apartment in Tennessee and our subsequent Thanksgiving time vacation in Florida.  I have made a general timeline of our vacation below.  We have found that it is sometimes difficult to update the blog every night, especially when we have a busy schedule.  Our great time in Florida is as follows:

Wednesday, November 20th
 
We hit the road around 1:00 p.m.  and drove I-26 across the mountains into North Carolina and into South Carolina.  That evening we found a great little Quality Inn hotel in Ridgeland.  The door to our room opened up to a heated indoor pool.  We ate supper at a local seafood restaurant (not impressed with the food), went back to the hotel and had a lot of fun in the nicely heated pool.  Got some good sleep for the next day of driving. 
 
Thursday, November 21st
 
We slept in, ate breakfast at the hotel and then went swimming in the pool again.  We got on the road about noon and drove until we arrived at Sharon and Jack's house.   The stop at Ridgeland was about 330 miles into our trip which was perfect because it was the perfect half way point in our 660 miles trip.  Thursday night we slept at Sharon and Jack's house.

Friday, November 22nd

We ran a few errands during the day and later that evening Kat went to a home school conference in Orlando where she learned a few things and won us 4 free tickets to Lego Land. 

Saturday, November 23rd
 
We dropped Kat off at her all day home school conference in Orlando and then the kids and I stopped by Bass Pro Shop so that I could purchase some ammunition to qualify to carry a firearm under HR 318 (a law that protects retired law enforcement officers by letting them carry concealed weapons).  Santa Claus was at the store but we decided to wait until mommy could be there so that the whole family could enjoy the experience.  I spent the day entertaining the kids and later we picked up mommy.  The kids missed her a lot during the day.

Sunday, November 24th

We drove over to mom's house to visit and work on her back porch.  Mom had bought some pork chops for dinner.  Kat made a great supper with them and a side of broccoli.  Hannah ate most of the broccoli, a new experience for her.  I added a ramp to the back porch that we had built in our previous visit.  Stevie and Hannah helped out a lot, doing a lot of pretend hammering and drilling.  I smashed my left thumb with a hammer during this project (this was not a pretend accident).  Hannah witnessed the incident, so I had to use nice language when expressing how great it felt out loud.  I told her that "really, really, really, hurt bad".  She said, " its o.k. daddy, God will heal it".  

Monday, November 25th

Mom packed up some of her things for a couple of nights at Sharon's house.  We took mom to her Doctor's appointment at Dr. Shirers where she had several potential skin cancers cut off or frozen.  We took mom to the Golden Coral restaurant for lunch.  We rearranged to the sleeping arrangements so that mom had a bed where we had been sleeping.  Kat put Hannah to sleep first and then later in the evening Granny would lie down next to Hannah for the night.  Hannah isn't quite the snuggler as Stevie is, but I think it was still a nice treat for Granny to have such a warm lump of sugar sleeping next to her at night.  I know we enjoy when the kids sneak into our room at night. 


Tuesday, November 26th

Today was an errand and play date day.  I dropped Kat and the kids off at Krista and Justin's house for a play date while I ran errands.  The kids had a great time with Madisen and Morgan.  They missed them a lot and Hannah talks about them often in Tennessee.  I went to the Sheriffs Office Gun Range and qualified with the handgun that I carried during my career as a Deputy Sheriff and received credentials to carry with me.  Then I dropped off health insurance paperwork at the Sheriff's Office and went to my arthritis appointment with Dr. Starke in Tavares.  After picking up the family at Krista's, we had wings at Gators in Clermont.  Stevie and Hannah played some air hockey there.  A good time was had by all. 


Wednesday, November 27th

We had initially planned on going to Lego Land with the tickets that Kat had won at the conference but the weather was wet, windy and cold.  Instead, we hung out with Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jack and then took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop.  The kids sat on Santa's lap, Stevie told Santa it was "his choice" as what to bring him for Christmas.  Afterwards, we walked over to the Cinema and watched a new Disney movie that had just opened called "Frozen".  It was a great movie for kids and Stevie and Hannah were well behaved during the show.  Hannah stood during most of the movie, literally glued to the screen.  We will probably buy it on DVD later.  We stop and ate at Logan's steakhouse on the way to Sharon's.  



Thursday, November 28th

We celebrated Thanksgiving. Kat got up early to start the turkey at 4:30 AM. David came over that morning to celebrate with us. We had our traditional turkey, dressing and giblet gravy. Mom made her famous potato salad and macaroni and cheese. Sharon made a ham. We also had green beans with almonds. David went back to his house later that afternoon and we stayed at Sharon's and Jack's house.
Hannah helping make the cornbread for the dressing

The girls cooking
 
Granny enjoying her morning coffee

Sharon loves her recliner and iPad
 

Friday, November 29th

This was the day to get packed up. We went to mom's house and spent the day partially with her and partially loading the utility trailer at David's. We loaded the trailer with our four-wheeler, boxes that contained mostly canning supplies and items from the garage. We also brought our food buckets with dry foods and tools.

Saturday, November 30th

We headed back to Tennessee. We called the hotel we stayed in Ridgeland to reserve a room. Since this is one of the busiest days on the roads, we decided to get on highway 301 in Sumterville and not even bother getting on I-75. Shortly after we got on the road, we encountered congestion. Luckily it was only around the Turnpike and I-75 where travelers were getting off the Turnpike because it was backed up. After that it was pretty smooth sailing until the last 20 miles. We were stuck in the traffic for quite a while because the next exit was about 7 miles away. We got off I-95 and took a local road to the hotel. When we arrived, the hotel did not have the room we reserved available and we had to lug our luggage up the stairs. Kat was really irritated with the room situation because we called ahead of time and were promised the room on the ground floor. Once we got settled in the hotel, we went for a swim in the pool.

Sunday, December 1st

We got up, ate breakfast in the room and hit the road as early as we could. Traffic was heavier than usual but was moving well and we arrived at home by 3 PM. It was nice to be home again - even if it is our little apartment. We all enjoyed sleeping in our own beds.


Little Helper

   Hannah is turning into quite the helper. She loves to help with the dishes and has lots of interest in helping with cooking. Here are a few pictures to show her helping.


Hannah was very proud of the salad she made for our family

Colonial Harvest Celebration

   On November 16 we went to Sycamore Shoals to learn more about how the Overmountain people lived in Colonial times. The park hosted Colonial Harvest Celebration with many activities, volunteers dressed in period clothing, militia muster, etc. We met Alex, Kelly and Darin at the park around 10 AM. Stevie was not enjoying himself and later he told Dad that he was worried the Cherokee were going to attack any moment. Stevie has watched the documentary about Sycamore Shoals in the museum and he knew that the settlers fought with the Cherokee. Seeing the militia men dressed up and with guns made him think they were getting ready to protect their settlement from an imminent attack.
Militia Muster and Raising the Colors

Settler making apple butter



Stevie was concerned that an attack by the Cherokee was imminent

 
 
   After the Colonial Harvest Celebration, we went to eat lunch at the Ole Barn. Lunch was very good (as always) and afterwards, Stevie, Hannah and Alex went to play on the playground. We talked and the kids played until it got cold and dark and it was time to go home. What a wonderful day with friends.