Surprise!

We bought this as a surprise for the teens. It will be delivered on Friday and when daughter arrives at the lake on Saturday she will see it and probably "freak" out! Son arrives home from Australia at 8:00 pm on Saturday night and is going to "freak" out when he finds out we are taking him home to the lake house, that is... until he see this!
Just received an email from husband letting me know that his brother and son can come to the lake on Sunday and stay until we leave. That's nice, I didn't realize we had invited them! Oh well, I'll deal with it graciously as always!

A Good Beach Read

If you are looking for an easy, light, quick read, then this is the book for you! I just finished it and it was a great poolside read!
Now, on to something a little meatier!

You can go home again

(Downtown Greenville)

Daughter and I made a quick trip to my hometown on Monday.
We first made a stop at my sister's office where she gave us the grand tour and then we walked to lunch. We ate at a table outside at Two Chefs Deli.
Even though I live only 3 hours from my hometown I hadn't been there in a year and a half!
I was able to talk to my best friend's mom and catch up on all the happenings (bf died seven years ago and I try to keep in touch with her parents several times a year).
We went out to eat and then headed downtown for some ice cream and a beautiful night at the falls!
We left after lunch on Tuesday to head home since daughter has some babysitting jobs later in the week.
Now the rest of the week will be filled with trips to the pool and perhaps a trip or two to the movies!

Early Morning Phone Calls

There's nothing like being awakened at 6:20am and hearing teenage son's voice saying
"Hi Mom! Were you sleeping? What time is it there?"
Yes, the son that NEVER even wrote a letter home from summer camp thought it would be nice to check in bright and early this morning! I guess I have give him a break, after all, they were getting ready to have to go to their rooms for the night and it IS hard to realize you are 14 hours ahead of your home time!
I really thought we would NEVER hear from him the whole time he was gone! Sounds like he is having a blast so far.

We got teenager to the airport with no problems yesterday.
He is still on his way! It will be around 9:00 tonight, our time, when they finally arrive in Cairns

This was the only photo I could quickly snap while waiting for everyone to get checked in. You know it would be so embarrassing to pose for a photo for your mother!
Teenager used to go to summer camp for a few weeks each summer in NC. He started going the summer after 2nd grade! I don't think I was nearly as worried as I am now! Maybe because he was only a four hour car drive away and not halfway around the world!
It is hot as heck here! Almost 100º and it feels like 100% humidity! Not a good day to be outside! Even the pool doesn't feel good.
I have been catching up on laundry and cleaning since yesterday... how a family of four can make so much dirty laundry is beyond me!
Tomorrow is a good day though: pedi in the morning, a little shopping and then lunch with a friend. Then tomorrow night my pokeno group is gathering for a fun night.
I think teenage daughter and I may drive to my parent's house on Thursday to visit with my uncle who is visiting them from Pittsburgh. He was always my favorite uncle and he is getting older and I don't want to miss this opportunity to see him.
Thanks for some of the book suggestions! I have started a list and will be sure to check them out!
Stay cool!

Almost Ready

Finishing up that final load of laundry.
Suitcase is almost packed.
Am I ready for teenager to be gone for three weeks?

Sunny Days and Celebrations

We had a great time celebrating my MIL and FIL's 50th anniversary last Saturday. I was glad all of their children could be together with them and half of the grandchildren. We had a small dinner at my grandmother-in-law's home. I was in charge of the wine and the cake since we had to make the two hour drive to Myrtle Beach.

We did a "girls" photo with four generations of family:

This week is the second week of summer break and the teens have spent most of their time at the pool!
I have been getting all the last minute things together for son, who leaves for Australia on Monday.
I had picked up the book The Postmistress by Sarah Blake the other day at the library. I have to say, I just can't get into it! I had heard some really good things about it, but I just don't care for the writing style. Oh well, guess I'll return it and focus on my other book, Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I really loved The Glass Castle and hope this will be good too.
Any good suggestions for summer reading?

Things That Make You Go Hmmm?!

We had lots of fun over the weekend at the lake. The weather was sunny with scattered thunder storms, which was really not that bad.
We went to an outdoor concert right outside the gates to our neighborhood. In fact, we could have just sat on our porch and heard it just fine, but we wanted to get up close. This young man is from a town about 30 minutes from the lake and he and his brother and another guy put on a concert on Saturday night. It was pretty good. We only stayed for a couple hours and then headed back to the house, where like I said, we could still hear everything!
Now I am trying to finish getting everything together for son's trip and finalizing travel arrangements for daughter. She has added Miami to her lists of places to visit this summer, so I am busy checking out flights!
Daughter and I had a little excitement yesterday as we were coming home from some errands. It started raining and it was coming down in buckets! One of the streets about a mile from us was totally flooded and we had to turn around and go another way. When we got to our neighborhood the street coming into our neighborhood was flooded and we could see a car stalled in the water with the water over the bottom of their doors! We pulled into one of daughter's friend's driveways and waited over an hour for the rain to stop and the road to clear! It was unbelievable the number of people who could see the car stalled in the water but they would still try to make it through! At one time there were three cars stuck there! Today is a nice sunny but humid day!