Tree Lighting

I have not taken any pictures since Thanksgiving...which is one reason why I haven't blogged since then.  I borrowed the picture above from our a friend's blog.  Last week we headed to a tree lighting ceremony in the neighboring small town.  We enjoyed cookies, apple cider, Christmas music and the company of friends.  

Thanksgiving Week

Originally we had planned to take a little trip down to Florida...but we just needed a little R&R so we decided to stay home.  The weather was beautiful in our neck of the woods...in the 60s and 70s most of the week.  On Wednesday we headed outside and tackle a project.  Seth had a little crash on his scooter back in August.  We didn't mention it back then...because we didn't want anyone to worry.  Here is how the story goes...we were on our way back from the shop where we had Seth's scooter tuned up.  We were traveling on some small side roads so that we wouldn't have to take the scooter on the highway.  I was following behind Seth in the car when he hit some gravel and went rolling.  Time seemed to slow down as I watched him roll across the pavement.  Seth was a little shaken up but walked away from the crash with just a few scrapes.  We ordered replacement scooter parts for those which were damaged back in August.  The parts arrived at the end of October...and we finally got around to putting them on. 

So now we have one very shiny side on the scooter and one a little less shiny.

Our next stop was to get new tires on our car.  It took almost three hours...luckily we had planned ahead and took a couple of movies to watch on the laptop.  

Thursday we started the day off with pie for breakfast.  A family we know has a tradition of throwing a pie for breakfast party.  Everyone shows up with a pie in hand and the fun begins.  A few hours later we joined some friends for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a blast playing with their three little ones.

The rest of the break we took it easy. We are grateful for the time we had to relax but more than that we are grateful for all of our family and friends.  Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Hollie!

Happy Birthday to our sweet niece Hollie!  Your are our last birthday blog and we believe we saved the best for last...shh don't tell anyone else.

Angel Oak

We took a detour on our way home from Hilton Head to visit the Angel Oak outside of Charleston, South Carolina.  This beautiful live oak is estimated to be in excess of 1500 years old.  It is something to behold.  We enjoyed a little picnic on a table nearby and then ventured closer for some pictures.

This massive tree stands 65 feet tall.

Its widest crown spread point to point is 180 feet long and its longest limb is 105 feet long.  The picture below is my favorite for demonstrating just that fact.

The trunk is 28 feet in circumference. I tried to get Seth to hug the trunk...he politely declined.

It is amazing to think what this tree has been through.  It has basically been standing through our entire history as a country.  It has survived hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and vandals.  We found this tree to be very symbolic and hope to build a life just as strong as it has.

Savannah: Race Day

Race day came...not early enough for me, I barely slept the night before.  I was filled with race day jitters.  We drove down to the Historic District and found a great parking spot along one of the squares.  We walked about a mile down to the start line.  The picture below captures the moment perfectly...it was cold.  It was in the 50s maybe.  The wind was also whipping through the streets.  We stood against a building waiting for the race to start.  Seth was sweet enough to stand in front of me and shelter me from most of the wind.  Luckily I was in corral three and close to the front.

The energy in the crowd was amazing.  The first part of the race was along Bay Street.  We weren't in the city long.  I kept my sweatshirt on for the first few miles and dropped it at the first water station.  My hands were freezing and I regretted not bringing gloves along.  The first few miles were great.  I was feeding off the energy of those around me.  I also was feeding off the energy from my I-pod.  I looking forward eagerly to the bands that were positioned almost every mile and to the water stations ever few miles.  I also looked forward to the spot between mile 7 and 8 where Seth would be waiting for me.

At the race in January Seth teased me that a one legged man beat me.  Well this year his plan was to take pictures of all the strange people that beat me.  Below you can see Waldo.  Apparently there was a whole group dressed up like this.

I am in the center of this shot in the black shirt, capri running pants and white hat.

The next part of the race was my favorite.  We headed back into the historic district.  Spectators were lined up all along Liberty Street with signs.  I have never seen that many spectators mid-race.  My pace was great through mile 10 and then it all changed.  I had only stopped to walk at through the water stations...but then my body started screaming at me.  My lower back was killing me, I had goosebumps all over my arms, my fingers were swollen and frozen.  I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I was hoping to finish in under 2 hours but I struggled to push through the pain.

Here is a picture just before I crossed the finish line.  I was apparently very focused and didn't hear Seth calling my name.

Official time 2:10:27
5K 28:21
10K 57:08
10M 1:34:21
Overall: 4840 out of 14035
Division: 518 out of 1541
Gender: 2615 out of 9791

After the race we stuck around Forsyth Park to enjoy a concert.  I was able to change out of my sweaty clothes and enjoyed being snuggled up under a blanket with Seth.  We picnicked in one of the squares and then drove on to Hilton Head.  After relaxing for a bit in the hotel, we headed out to Harbor Town and enjoyed the sunset.

 

Savannah: Day 1

This past weekend we headed to Savannah, Georgia.  I signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll Savannah Half Marathon back in the Spring.  It was the first Half Marathon from this series in Savannah.  There were 23,000 participants and it sold out in August.  We found out that 2/3 of the participants were female. We drove down on Thursday night.  It felt like a marathon getting there...it was a 4 1/2 hour drive.  I drove and Seth studied away in the passenger seat next to me.  

Friday morning we headed to the convention center across the river from Savannah to pick up my race packet.  Below is our first picture in Savannah.  You can see River Street in the background with several ferries lined up.  

We had a little difficulty picking up my packet.  There was apparently someone else with my name signed up for the race.  From that moment on my goal was to beat "myself" in the race.

We drove across the river and took a trolley tour of the city.  Savannah is one the the most beautiful cities I have ever been in.  The plan for this city is so unique.  There are 23 historic squares that are full of massive live oak trees that are draped in Spanish moss.  We learned that Spanish moss is related to pineapple and thrives off the humidity in the air.  It was stunning.  The house below is the house that the haunted mansion at Disneyland is patterned after.

We toured inside this cathedral.  The stained glass windows were breathtaking.

We headed down to River Street and stopped at the Waving Girl statue.  The real waving girl was Florence Martus she waved at all the ships that entered the port near Savannah between 1887 and 1931.  During the day Florence would wave a handkerchief and at night she would wave a lantern.  Legend has it that she never missed a ship in her forty-four years on watch.  Some say she waved at all of the ships because she had fallen in love with a sailor and was waiting for his return.

River Street is full of cobblestone, souvenir shops, candy shops and restaurants .

We were able to step aboard this early colonial ship.

We also climbed these stairs to get back to Historic district.

Just below the stairs is this alley way.  Carts would drive through full of cotton and cotton brokers would bid on the cotton from the walkways above.  

The park below was one of my favorites.  The live oaks were woven together beautifully in the canopy above our heads.

Below is the famous fountain in Forsyth Park. Can you believe this fountain was ordered through a catalog in 1858.

My dad is the biggest Forest Gump fan.  We took the picture below just for him.  The opening scene of Forest Gump was shot in this very spot.  This obviously isn't the bench from the movie...that bench sits in the Savannah history museum.  We wished we would have had a box of chocolates with us.  In the background you can see the church were the feather from the movie started down from.

The ironwork in Savannah was very elaborate.  Here is a dolphin shaped downspout that our tour guide pointed out.

The house pictured below is the Mercer-Williams House.  It is the main location in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

After seeing most of the sites in Savannah we headed out to Tybee Island.

Fall Break

Last week a had a couple of days off of work.  The first day I spent doing all those things I never have time to do during the day....oil change, trip to Costco, trip to the grocery store and preparation of three freezer meals.  Tuesday I had a little more fun.  Seth and I headed to a local shooting range to do some shotgun shooting.  Seth's gun is a 12 gauge...I forgot just how heavy that is.  From the moment I picked it up all I could think about was how heavy it was.  I think I shot three rounds before I volunteered to thrown more clay pigeons   

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle is the dark haired cutie on the left.  Her locks are a little shorter these days.  She has a pretty big birthday this year.  We wish we could be there to help you celebrate!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben is the handsome one with the shaved head in the back on the left.  I looked through photos for over a half hour trying to find one of of this handsome guy.  Ben is a very smooth operator and has a way of avoiding my camera.  Hope you had a wonderful day!  We miss watching you jump off the bean bag.

Mantra

Seth's mantra is that he would rather be playing a sport than watching a sport.  My mantra is a little different...after all I'm a girl that can't quite catch or throw.  My sweet husband loves me enough to forget his mantra every couple of weeks.  Last weekend we went to the Clemson vs. University of North Carolina game.  The game was fairly close for the first half...the second half was a different story.  Clemson pulled out another win and now has an 8-0 record.   We have one home game left this season...I am going to miss Clemson football and all the fanfare that comes with it.

Chimney Rock

We had our first visitor this past weekend.  Seth's father, Reed, came to visit us.  He was working on a job site in West Virginia and decided to drive down a couple more states.  He arrived late Friday night.  We had warm shrimp jambalaya waiting for him.

On Saturday, after a breakfast of apple pancakes topped with homemade apple syrup we drove about an hour and half to Chimney Rock, North Carolina.  Yes there is a Chimney Rock outside of Wyoming and the two look very different from one another...the drive to this Chimney Rock was scenic.  The further North we drove the more colorful leaves we were greeted by.  We drove through a little town Bat Cave...how awesome would it be to say that you were from Bat Cave.

After entering the park we drove up switchbacks to the top parking area.  Here is a picture of the view just outside the gift shop.  We enjoyed this view later with our picnic lunch.

We started our hike up the trail.  This is a picture from the first lookout.

Here is a picture from just below Chimney Rock.  The view was just as good as from the top of the rock...and it was less crowded.  We did venture up to the top of the rock.

I headed across to the Opera Box to capture a picture of Seth and Reed on the rock.  They are just below the flag along the fence line.

They hiked on over to meet me and captured a picture of me from the Opera Box.

We hiked up further to Devil's Head.  We were wondering where they came up with the name for this point until we spotted this guy.

And here is a picture from the very top of Exclamation Point.  It was 823 stairs in total up to the top and worth every step.

On our way down I snapped this picture which gives you a better idea of what the Chimney rock looks like.

After a picnic lunch...Seth found a penny machine.

We hiked to a waterfall in the park.  Our pictures didn't quite turn out...but it is the waterfall from the movie The Last of the Mohicans...if that means anything to anyone.  After our hike to the falls we started our drive home.  We stopped at a fruit stand for some North Carolina apples, fresh apple cider and boiled peanuts.  After relaxing at the apartment for a couple of hours Reed treated us to dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant.

Sunday after church we treated him to some Southern home cooking...We made the Pioneer Woman's baked beans.

Seth made some ribs which he coated with his homemade Memphis Style Barbecue Sauce and Mustard Style Sauce

I made one of our favorites...Sweet Potatoes Au Gratin

...it was finger licking good.  It was also good to have a visitor.  We hope more of our friends and family will venture out to our neck a woods for a taste of our Southern life.