Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Monday, September 7, 2020
Abby's writings
3.18.2020
By: Abby Chase
Corona virus
Today we are
going to go on a walk after we finish our dld for the day. It is a very nice
day it will warm up good, but it will rain later. Everyone is outside so it is
hard to stay six feet. I am very bummed about soccer being canceled it feels
like an eternity of time till I get to play again on April 30th
hopefully it will be earlier then that though. My coach is not happy either.
Time for the walk.
Monday, March 30th, 2020
ABBY Survives the Coronavirus! [based on the hit book series “I Survived”]
Chapter One
Today I am writing about the coronavirus and my life. My
soccer practices got canceled but on the other hand I still get to practice digitally.
I also got to be on the soccer video number 2. I got to do it with Hannah Kate
at her house. Her dad is the coach for u9 and a landscaper, so he made a wall
that went into the hill made to fit the soccer goal. It is a good set up there
in the front yard. They were able to do this because they bought their
neighbors property. I am not very happy that they canceled school for me. But it
is easier in all to do dld but you do not get to see your friends. So that is
the bad part about this dld. And that my birthday is going to be during dld. so,
I do not get to have an official birthday party this year so that is not good. But
it will work out I still do get to enjoy with my family. And I already got a
kick back it is where I can kick on a 2 by 10 board and it will come back to me
we also play wall ball on the kick back and soccer tennis those are some fun
games to pass time with my family and I enjoy playing.
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Ryan's writings
Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Today started off normal with school and everything I went
to intramurals and then church. Today was the day when I got the news March
Madness was canceled for fans. I was upset because my friend Matthew was going.
That night the hawks played, and little did I know that was there last game for
a while.
Thursday, March 12th, 2020
When I woke up my mom tells me about the NBA and how it was
canceled. Apparently, Rudy Gobert was tested positive and the league wanted to
stay safe. Soon after Donovan Mitchell got it from Gobert. After school, I
learned that the MLB and some other leagues were postponed. I was mad because
the Braves started in less than a month. March Madness was fully canceled too.
That night I went to my Wood Elite scrimmage and that was our last one for a
while. On the way back home, I learned that school was canceled for two weeks.
No friends!
Friday, March 13th, 2020
Here is a hint, today goes along with the date. I went to
school and all my teachers explained how DLDs (Digital Learning Day) would go.
When I got home there was not a lot to do and boredom became reality.
Saturday, March 14th, 2020
Today started off boring. My sister’s soccer’s were canceled,
and I shoot hoops at the park with Matthew. Finally, at two o’clock we do
something. Even if its hiking we can get out of the house. When I get back
home, I play with friends then eat dinner.
Sunday, March 15th, 2020
Church is canceled. We watch online service, which is great,
but we don’t leave the house. Then my friends come and played, and little did I
know that was the last day for a while to play with two of them. While I was
playing my dad and his buddies took the railing of above the porch and took off
the window boxes. Our house looks a lot better.
Monday, March 16th, 2020
Today is the first day of DLD. I work tirelessly for about
4-5 hours and finally finish after what feels like an eternity. After I’m done,
I shoot hoops with my neighbor Will and learn my other neighbor is quarantined.
The world feels like it is shutting down. Stock Market is crashing as well.
Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We had our traditional Lucky Charms
cereal. Then the fun was over and DLD time it was. After that we baked treats
and called Nana. We went on a walk and I played with my friends. For dinner we
had Tacos!
Wednesday, March 18th, 2020
Today was the same old same old with nothing do but play
outside or be bored. I had online RevStudents, my church, and DLD for hours.
Thursday, March 19th, 2020
Today started off the same but after dinner the Mahrs and
Esterlings came over for a desert and to play. It was fun and the rest of the
day was DLD and basketball.
Friday, March 20th, 2020
It’s Friday! While I was working my mom ventured out to
Kroger and Chick-fil-a and I ate fast food for the first time it about two
weeks! Not to mention we filled the fridge and pantry. The rest of the day was the
same though.
Saturday, March 21th, 2020
We had pancakes for breakfast and my dad went up to Lowes to
work on the house and then we had a normal day.
Sunday, March 22nd, 2020
Today we had virtual chruch and then another day of just the
same thing.
Monday – Friday
Not much so I combined the week which involved just mostly
work and playing outside.
Saturday, March 28th, 2020
Friday, September 4, 2020
me again, 4.22.2020
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020 – Coleson’s
birthday!!
Random quarantine memories
*Chloe’s class does a call on Microsoft teams every
morning. From 8:45-9 they are free to
just chit chat and talk about whatever.
And so the class has been hearing our cuckoo clock go off at 9:00 every
morning. Mrs. Shakespeare asked Chloe if
she would start the meetings – so now the pressure is on to keep the time right
on the clock. When the clock goes off,
Chloe’s class job is to say something along the lines of “it’s 9:00, mute your
microphones, it’s time to start our meeting”
I love it!! The clock has always
had a special place in my heart, and I love that everyone else seems to love it
too!
*I’m hoping I don’t burn myself out on a new favorite lunch
– Abby and I love to have peanut butter, honey, and banana. I toast my bread first and have it open face,
eating with a fork. Abby puts it
together as a sandwich. Sooo good. Since I shop on Fridays only now, we usually
have it earlier in the week. Even though
I buy two big bunches, our fresh bananas run out by Tuesday or Wednesday. I also usually have a scoop of raisins on the
side. Those keep longer but are still
yummy [at least in my opinion, and I’m the one doing the shopping, hehe]. And cookies.
Cookies have helped me get through.
Any cookie will do, but my first choice is the Keebler soft batch. Jessi made me some amazing birthday
cookies. And Mari wrote on the top of
the Tupperware “Happy Birthday Mrs. Amy.
Amy’s cookies, do not touch” They
know me so well :)
*Our days have settled into a routine pretty well. Coleson has been getting up pretty early to
run and/or read his Bible. I try to get
up around 7/7:30 and I like to start my day listening to one of the online
devotions from Revolution Church. They’ve been doing them on facebook live daily
at noon. Noon is not ideal with three
kiddos and a work from home hubby, so I watch them later. I really enjoy them. Each morning has been a different chapter of
psalms. The kiddos come downstairs
around 8/8:30. The further into this we
get, the later the girls have been sleeping.
Finally! More often then not,
Chloe would be awake when I would come in at 6:15 on school morning. Breakfast, schoolwork, sometimes the LA Times
crossword for me, computer work/billpaying/ typing things like this/ etc. Abby usually finishes up mid-morning. Chloe takes most of the day. Ryan is done by maybe 2:00. Most days we eat lunch together standing
around the kitchen island about noon.
Chloe has an afternoon call at 3:00, these are fun ones – show and
tells, mystery readers, sing-a-alongs, book cooks. We try to bike and/or run. Lots of yard projects. Dinner followed by a walk around the
block. Grandma has been reading to the
girls from Anne of Green Gables. Occasionally
playing Yahtzee over facetime with Ryan.
Xbox in the evening, the girls will watch Ryan or play Roblox on their
chromebooks. Or watch Love it or List it
on HGTV.
*Cherokee county sent a survey to parents, teachers, and I
think high school students [I know not middle school] about how the year was
going and one of the questions was about the end date. Taking into account our preferences, the
school board unanimously voted to end school on May 8th this
year!! I’m ready to be done. The county, schools, teachers have been great
about walking everyone through these digital learning days. Their emails almost always start with a
message about grace. Compassion over
convention. Super kind thoughts like
that, I love our community.
*Our state has been on a stay-at-home, lockdown that is
supposed to go through April 30th.
Not much is open, and we’re encouraged to stay home when at all
possible. We really haven’t been out
much at all. And yet now, the governor
has approved some things to open up on Friday [the 24th]. I’m not sure how this goes along with the
lockdown that’s still in effect?! Hair
dressers, nail salons, gyms, and what we keep laughing at is, in the list of
maybe a dozen things, it specifically says bowling alleys. Go figure.
We’ve joking that we’re going bowling Friday night, weird. Our plan is to pretty much keep on, same old
same old, until May 8th. With
digital learning and Coleson working from home, we’ll just do our thing and see
how this “re-opening” plays out. We do
occasionally talk about our hopes and dreams and the crazy places we’ll go as
soon as school’s out. We’ll have a four
month summer with a hubby who will hopefully be able to work from home still. Not sure how much we’ll really be able to do
in reality, but it’s fun to daydream.
Rumor is that the pools might not even open, the neighborhood swim team
was recently cancelled for the 2020 season.
Thursday, September 3, 2020
more from me - 4.8.2020
Wednesday, April 8th, 2020
So I’ve done a pretty bad job of writing about our
quarantine! I want to, I really do. But I think it also overwhelms me to think
about. My mind is on overload, and I’m
never really sure where to begin or what to say, so I guess I just type
nothing. I’m not sure if I should type
details or thoughts or world events, what sort of genre am I going for. Heartfelt or facts? Bullet points or long, wayward
paragraphs? But I need to just start, so
here goes.
We’re making it, I suppose.
Obviously, I mean we don’t have a choice, right?! Hehe.
We’re in week four of being home.
Three full weeks of homeschooling, DLD, crisis schooling, whatever you
want to call it. This week is spring
break. And honestly, I like it so much
better. I suppose the routine of school
is good, and esp so for Ryan and perhaps even Abby. School is harder on Chloe, and thus on me
too. I don’t really want to go down that
tangent right now, but I am really happy to not have a schedule and to-do lists
and lots of calls and assignments. We’ve
enjoyed less structure and sleeping in and I’ve been doing a morning video
devotional with Revolution Church. We’ve
done a TON of bike riding. And more
Xbox/ Fort Nite then I’d care to admit.
The only perk of the video games is that the kids talk to each other and
have facetime phones going, so they are still keeping in touch. A lot of times the games are with his
Bennington friends [Kaden, Will, Ryan, Sawyer, Cooper], but I do LOVE the
occasional game with his bestest school buddy Tripp. He’s a super sweet kid that obviously we
haven’t seen in almost a month. We’re
pretty much self-quarantined at this point.
Nobody’s been inside our house since I don’t even know when. The last day of school was Friday March 13th
[remember when the memes were going around about the time change, a full moon,
and Friday the 13th?! Ha,
that pales in comparison to how that week actually went down]. But anyways, I know by Thursday the 12th
I was worried about a cough that Chloe had, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it
was the weekend before that we last had anyone in our house. And in the past two weeks or so, basketball,
playing in yards, anything with “contact” has been cut out. Our kids ride bikes with their friends and we
say hi when we’re all outside and we’ll talk across the street, but that’s
about it. For a long time, the silver
lining for me was how much everyone is outside.
I love seeing kids playing and so so many bike riders and dog walkers
and people working in their yards. But I
don’t know. It’s also hard knowing we
can’t actually be with them. Chloe and
Mari had a great afternoon playing together a few days back – chalk and water
guns and all sorts of fun. But it really
goes against the quarantine, so probably won’t have many more days like
that. Mari has become an awesome bike
rider, she finally made up her mind to ditch her training wheels. She joins us on our bike rides a lot. I love how much she and Chloe try to be
together.
I’ve been trying to compile things for an eventual
scrapbook/ Shutterfly project. I’ve
mostly got funny, stupid memes. They
help me get through I guess.
Distraction, comedy, you know.
But honestly what I’m trying the most to focus on is treating this time
as a sabbath. I’m not sure what to think
or what to believe about what’s actually going on. Everything is so overwhelming and complicated
and political and extreme. Honestly, I
tend to sit back and wonder how we got here.
And I tend to side with those that think perhaps we’ve taken it too
far. I hate the thought of losing our
basic freedoms and what makes us American.
But I also have to respect our leaders and do my part and I hate the
thought of people getting sick and being alone in ICUs and not having the
medical equipment and professionals they need.
I have no idea what the answer is or what’s right or wrong. And I’m not really sure anyone does. I don’t like to live in fear, it’s not my
natural reaction, and I’m honestly not even scared of the virus. But I feel like I can’t say that out loud,
because everyone else is afraid. So I’m
just trying to focus on my little family and how we can make the best of
this. I’ve been going out on Fridays for
Kroger and Chick-fil-a. It’s not that
I’m afraid to go out more, but I guess I just feel like it’s not
necessary. I have to do my part and
all. But I think it’s bigger then that
too. I believe that God has given us this
time [or maybe not actively given it to us, but is using it] to slow down and
reflect and refocus. Like a fast or a
sabbath. My greatest fear is missing out
on something that God wants to show me/us.
So I feel like going out more would be more along the lines of breaking
a fast then breaking the new social norms.
I’m not sure if that makes sense.
I want to be changed, I want to learn from this, I want to reprioritize
and figure out who I really am, what’s really most important to me and in my
life. What am I missing the most? What do I not want to go back to? So even though I’m not sure I believe in the
extreme measures of this quarantine, I do believe that God wants me to use this
time for good. To glorify him. To draw closer to him. To my family.
So I’m onboard with all of it, but not exactly for the reasons that
society and our government says I should be.
I haven’t had a glass of wine since Saturday night. And yes, I had to think about that. Esp now that we are on spring break, I am
completely losing track of the day and date.
This is the first year in forever that I haven’t had a page-a-day
calendar on the kitchen counter. I
barely wear my watch anymore. I put my
beloved weekly calendar away in a drawer after writing “no school – covid19”
across the top of the rest of April and May.
No school events or sports to keep up with. I have been using the alarm on my phone more
then ever. Daily reminders for school
conference calls, Ryan has Wednesday night zooms with his small group and then
RevStudents, reminders for friends and neighbors’ birthdays. Little things are big things now when there
aren’t a lot of things. My family
doesn’t really understand, but I hung up Christmas lights in the
playroom/loft. I love their warmth while
we watch the kids play Fort Nite in the evenings. I hung our American flag in the garage
window. Oh, so back to the wine
though. I was drinking way too much of
it. Yes, it showed on the scale, but
more to do with I was drinking it for the wrong reasons – although I guess
that’s why a lot of us drink anyways, isn’t it?
I felt like it was an escape and I wasn’t in control. Not that I was drunk by any means, but more
of just I need to put my faith in God instead of looking forward to my evening
glass of wine. He has given us a spirit
of self-control, not of fear. So I need
to trust Him more, not drink more.
Although I still do eat way too many cookies.
It’s almost lunch time.
The kids have played more xbox then normal today. Honestly today has been harder than
most. I have had no motivation
today. But I was super productive and
happy the last two days, it’s a balancing act these days, I can’t imagine I’m
the only one who feels bi-polar given the current world we live in. I miss things today. I miss that Chloe and Mari were becoming
really good friends, and we’ve had to remind ourselves to step back and
socially distance. I miss watching Abby
play soccer and Ryan play basketball.
The last pictures on my phone before quarantine pictures were from the
Atlanta United game on March 7th.
The home opener, a win! In so
many ways that feels like a million years ago.
I remember that we told the kids [both there and on the cruise] to
pretend the stair railings had the flu and try not to touch too much, but
honestly I wasn’t anymore worried then any other outing. I miss seeing people and I’d love to have
another lunch with Brooke at Your Pie. I
miss going places. I just want to get in
the car and drive. Like really
drive. Pack up the family, and probably
even Maya, and head west. The places I
keep going back to in my head are Zion National Park, Garden of the Gods, Santa
Fe and green chili and playing in the arroyos of El Dorado. Sitting on that adobe wall in our rental
house on Azul. Just being away from it
all in the middle of the big huge space.
Ironic that in the midst of social isolating, some of the things I miss
the most are being away from it all.
Going off the grid, taking a big deep breath, forgetting about the
problems of the world. Coleson misses
the beach and is hoping for a trip to Kiawah Island. I sure could go for a lunch at Pompano
Joe’s. And pizza. Oh I am craving a pizza. A real pizza, not the frozen ones. I go back and forth between our pizza place –
which I like because it’s ours – and a big fat deep dish pizza. Our pizza place is thin crust, but it’s so
good and comforting and has great coke and yummy Greek salad. Definitely miss the familiarity and comfort
of being there, but I think deep dish is what I’m really craving
food-wise. I think I want to get out
more, do more. Explore more, try more
things. Hattie B’s Nashville hot. I don’t think it ever crossed my mind to
drive to Atlanta just for lunch, but at this point, I’m thinking planning a day
around something as epic as hot chicken sounds like a great adventure.
I am guilty of being comfortable. I know this.
I’ve said it a million times. I
have to figure out how to shake that up.
How to live more, how to get out of the rut [once there’s a rut to get
back into]. So many times in life I feel
like I am treading water, barely keeping afloat, and missing out. There’s so much world out there. So much more to this life. I’ve always known it and I feel it now. I don’t know exactly what that looks like. I know it starts with being less anxious,
giving up control. I’m not a worrier,
but I also don’t always know how to let go and enjoy. Life tends to overwhelm me, I get frantic and
panicky a lot. And I don’t want to live
like that. I don’t want to feel guilty
about typing for the last hour instead of doing breakfast dishes or emptying
the dryer. Guilty perhaps is an accurate
word. I think I feel bad when I slow
down. There’s always something to do,
something I need to do. And it’s
probably made harder by the fact that I’m a stay at home mom who’s kids are all
in school now. I feel guilty. Coleson works so hard. So I feel guilty if I slow down or take time
for myself. Even today, just doing the
crossword puzzle and typing this. I’m
not productive and I’m starting to feel like I need to finish this up, so I can
move on to something more “important.”
How to slow down and enjoy life without feeling bad or guilty about
it?! Perhaps I’m typing my way through a
self-help therapy session. Not sure this
is the direction I thought I’d go, or meant to go, when I started typing. Not sure this is content for a Shutterfly
time capsule book to display on our bookshelves for the world [or at least
family and friends and visitors] to see and read. Alright, so lunch time it is. Kids are appearing in the kitchen and
claiming they’re starving. And honestly
I’m pretty hungry too. Perhaps next time
I’ll write something suitable for a memory book, but this was good writing too
:) Peace out for now!
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
my writings from March
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Where or where to start?!?
Coronavirus, COVID19, quarantine.
I feel like we are living history right now. And we, as a family, thought it’d be fun and
interesting to document, journal, write down our thoughts. Perhaps someday our kids and grandkids will
be reading this as they study the world wide crisis, craziness that was the
year 2020. I’ve asked Ryan, Abby, and
Chloe to write down their thoughts too.
I’d like to combine it all into some sort of Shutterfly book for us to
look back on in time.
I guess I should start with how we got here? We went on a cruise for our February
break. Shortly before that, we first
heard of the corona virus. At the time,
I didn’t even know what it was, and there were a few jokes about hoping we make
it back. But it felt sort of like when
you go to Mexico and you tell people not to drink the water. Our cruise was great! No issues at all. Now Chloe and I both did get a little sick
the very first night back on land. We
thought it was just getting our land legs back; Coleson and I both were wobbly
and woozy and the world kept rocking.
But by the time we went to bed, my throat was pretty sore. Chloe woke up in the night crying about her
throat as well. Hers was better the next
day, but I kept the winter time yuck feeling [cough, sinus, a swollen lymphoid
in my neck, but only the occasional sore throat, never a fever]. Was it corona? Honestly, I doubt it, but we’ll never know
for sure I suppose. I do remember
telling Coleson and a few others that there was no way I’d go to a doctor right
about now anyways – how am I going to explain that I just got home from a
cruise and I don’t feel good?! Those
early days of the virus, back in February, it was like the plaque or something. The cases were coming in very slowly and thus
they were each making news individually.
I’m still not sure how privacy and HIPPA laws weren’t violated, but the
last thing I would have wanted was the news reporting that I had the case and
painting a scarlet letter on my door!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Well, I didn’t make it very far on yesterday’s writing! The kiddos are doing Digital Learning
Days. And they’re not kidding! The teachers are keeping them busy, which
all-in-all I think I’m grateful for. But
some days are pretty rough. And they
can’t do the assignments well on ipads and tablets, so that leaves somebody
needing my laptop. I had these quaint
little visions going into this of our morning routine- kiddos doing school
work, me being able to keep up on bill paying, budgeting, emails, extras like
this journal typing. But alas, our days
don’t look like that. Tears [yes,
tears], meltdowns, not-so-great-grades.
But we’re adjusting and we’re getting there. Ryan is doing awesome!! I am so thankful right now for his
self-motivated, type A, get it done, first-born, crazy smart self. He’s all set up in his room and he gets it
done and he gets straight As still.
Downstairs, the girls and I are having to work together – they need a
lot of assistance. And yesterday we had
to have a talk about showing Mommy everything before you hit the blue submit
button. Case in point – our Abby has the
smarts, but doesn’t always slow down and have patience, so she got a 50 on math
grade. But when I re-did it with her, on
paper, she absolutely knew all the stuff.
I felt so bad for her [the 50 prompted her tears and it was all I could
do not to cry with her]. But we’re all
learning, we’re all adjusting – teachers too – and we’re getting there and
we’re figuring it out. I am so proud of
my kids, their teachers, our schools, our community for the resilience they’ve
shown. We jumped right on into
this! They’ve done one or two
assignments here and there as homework digital learning assignments, and
ironically I suppose, they were supposed to be out of school this coming
Tuesday, the 24th, for the primary elections and a test run of the
Digital Learning Days [DLD]. Cherokee
county has been working on this platform for two years now – since they missed
eight or ten days or something like that for snow. They ended up taking away our February break
that year [although I’d guess about half the kids still skipped, I know we
skipped out on two days for already made plans]. But anyways, all that to say, we’ll adjust
and we’ll get a new normal, but until then I don’t know that I’ll be able to
write as much as I’d like in between being teacher and sharing my laptop with
my students :)
And speaking of students, down they are for breakfast …
8:05am. Chloe starts her school days
with live chats with Mrs. Shakespeare at 9am which I love!!! She has been so awesome about keeping in
touch and doing interactive activities with her students. I knew she was great, but she’s totally
showing it during this week of turmoil.
Hopefully more later today …
Monday, March 23, 2020
Finding time and energy to type is harder then I thought it
would be. We’ve ordered a third
Chromebook, but it won’t be here for another week or so. Perhaps that will help. Then each kiddo will have a dedicated
Chromebook, and I’ll have my laptop back :)
I don’t even know where to begin! It’s like a dream. It is soooo crazy. I can’t even fathom how we got where we are
in the world. We’re not on total
lockdown yet, but heading that way perhaps.
With the exception of a hike the first day, the kids haven’t gone out
since they got home from school Friday ten days ago. They are still playing in the neighborhood,
but I’m not sure if that’s okay or how long it will last. I know some neighbors are upset that they are
still getting together and aren’t self- quarantined. At this point, Coleson and I figure that
since it’s the same few kids and they aren’t going anywhere or interacting with
other kids from the “outside” that it’s probably not an issue. There shouldn’t be new germs or risks at this
point, right? But no one really knows or
understands, so a lot of the kids aren’t allowed to play. We’ve changed the rules quite a bit of course
– no one is allowed in anyone else’s house, period. If you need a bathroom break or glass of
water, you go home. No knocking on other
people’s doors; if they’re outside in the driveway, you can ask to play. Although we have been telling the kids, as we
know about them, the families that are self-quarantined so they know not to ask
them. Really, it’s only the Esterlings
and Mahers that my kids are still playing with.
And recently we’ve added Maddux to our mix. This has been great for Abby. Ryan has all the boys of course, and Chloe
has Mari. But Abby doesn’t really have
anyone local. She did get to facetime
with Taylor on Saturday though, yay!
Maddux has been so sweet. He and
Abby played ALL day long yesterday. Even
the kids that can’t play, can usually bike ride. Safer distance, not touching the same
basketball, that sort of thing. We had
some awesome bike parades going on yesterday.
We will have the best bike-riding, soccer-ball-juggling,
basketball-playing kids ever when this is over.
Silver linings!! Abby and Maddux
played soccer in our driveway together, basketball in Maddux’s driveway, and
even down by the creek that goes along his backyard. I love dirty kids!! [well dirt dirt, not germ dirt!]. At the end of the day, everybody has to strip
down, put their clothes straight into the washer, and head for the
showers.
Last night, we had Las Palmas!! The two big “themes” if you will have been –
stay home and support local. I’m not
sure which it is. They kinda go against
each other. As I mentioned above, the
kids don’t go out, no need for that.
I’ve been out twice now and Coleson once. Same thing – sanitizer baths, handwashing,
shirt changing. On Friday I went to
Kroger and grabbed as much as I could.
We’re definitely missing fresh fruits.
I did buy extra though and froze grapes and bananas. After Kroger, I drove through Dunkin’ Donuts
and Chickfila. The dining rooms aren’t
open, but drive-thrus are. Restaurants
without drive-thrus, like Your Pie and Catch 22, have started doing order-ahead
with curbside service. Yesterday I went
out specifically to pick up our Las Palmas order; it was soooo good! Support local!! I can’t even think about the possibility of
Las Palmas not surviving these times of economic chaos :) We love that place. We’ve celebrated so many milestones and
birthdays and victories there over the 13 plus years we’ve lived in
Canton.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Covid
Tuesday, 9.15.2020
So, the world has been in a wee bit of turmoil for the past six months. Coronavirus, covid19, quarantine. The world totally up-ended in mid-March with very little warning. The kids' last day of school was March 13th and slowly the weeks off added up until school was eventually cancelled for the remainder of the year. Sure they did digital learning, but I'll be honest, it was pretty painful and I'm not sure how much they actually learned. And thankfully that fully finished on May 8th, a few weeks earlier then the traditional school year would have. The second half of March and all of April were pretty much in lock-down. In May, we slowly starting re-emerging. By maybe mid-June, we were pretty comfortable going back to stores, and the kids were doing summer sports practices. And our county gained national attention [I'm not kidding] when we started back face-to-face in person school on August 1st. Parents were given options, and about 25% went virtual. We chose in-school and as of mid-September, we have zero regrets. Macedonia is still at zero reported cases [!!!], and Creekland - Ryan's middle school - has only had a handful of cases, but none near him. Instead of closing whole schools, they are only quarantining kids that were in close contact. There are seating charts for everything - classes, lunch, buses, etc - to aid in the contact tracing.
Oh, and Coleson has been working from home this entire time too! It's really been nice actually :) We were able to work-from-home from other homes over the summer. It was nice to get out and travel a bit, but not use a ton of vacation. He worked from Augusta for a few days while we explored the city. That was a really nice few days, a change of scenery and visiting somewhere we'd never been before. He's worked from home from Tampa. He's worked from home from the car while I've driven places. And he's always here, so I can run out anytime I need to. He's here for the girls' bus at 2:30 if I'm not back. And perhaps the best is that he's here for the evening sports. I don't think there's any way we could do what we're doing this fall if he was in the office and had a commute. This sport season might just be the busiest one yet, but it doesn't feel that way. I think a huge part of it is that Coleson is here all day, so we can eat lunch together and sometimes sneak out on a dog walk. It's not like before when I wouldn't see him until 8:00 at night. We can have snacky dinners together at 4:30 [eekk!] before we head off our various ways for practices. Busy and yet low stress, pretty nice.
Anyways, during the early days of quarantine, I tried real hard to write about what was going on in our lives and in the world, and I tried really hard to get the kids to write stuff too. It didn't work quite as well as I envisioned. And honestly, I thought it would be a short-term thing, and it'd all fit nicely in a shutterfly book that they could share with their kids one day to say, look, we were living history. But this whole chaos is still going on. I don't think there's going to be a nice, clean end date that would allow me to make a cute, little book. Honestly, the country has gotten pretty ugly, and I'm not sure when or if we'll ever go back to "normal" again. The country is very, very divided right now on so many, many issues. There's so much confusion, anger, miscommunication. Social media - and media too - is so opinionated, and no one knows what to believe anymore [or at least I don't!]. Do we quarantine? Do we go out and build herd immunity? Do we wear masks or do they not really do any good? Nobody seems to truly understand the virus and how it spreads. But everyone sure thinks they do. And then there's political issues, and the economic fallout of the world shutting down, and black lives matter, and back the blue, and coin shortages, and the election in a couple of months. There's rioting and violence, and I'm not sure when or if we'll be comfortable walking the mile to and from Atlanta United games again - of course, there's no fans attending any sporting events for the foreseeable future anyways. It feels like so much has returned and reopened, and yet I struggle with feeling like it's the things that make us human that are still being kept from us. Churches, concerts, sports. Hugs, handshakes. And of course not everyone is like that, but the ones that are just kinda ruin your day. When you automatically go to shake someone's hand and they look at you like you've got the plague. People everywhere in masks - it's really hard to see smiles and facial expressions, and I feel like most people just walk around with their heads down. I miss making eye contact and smiling and seeing friends in the stores.
Okay, anyways, I digress again. The original intent of this post was to be an introduction of sorts. I have writings and pictures and power points and emails and I don't even know what saved in lots of different places that the kids and I worked on, mostly in March and April. I need someway to organize them effectively and in one spot. So this is my introduction to what I imagine will be quite a few, totally random, out of order posts from six months ago. This just seems like the best place to store everything safely. And perhaps one day I will decide to organize it all into some sort of book, and this will hopefully make that a whole lot easier if and when that day ever comes.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Carnival Elation! February Break 2020
Friday 2.14.2020 – Abby’s final basketball game of the
season, so we didn’t leave until Saturday morning
Saturday 2.15 – Driving day!
Last minute packing [although the kids and I had done a lot on Friday]
and showering and whatnot. Left a few
mins after 10. Lunch at a Chick-fil-a
somewhere south of Atlanta. Easy drive,
no traffic trouble, made it to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Land O Lakes by 5:30 or
so. Yummy meatloaf dinner and the NBA
three point and slam dunk contests on in the background.
Sunday – in LOL – big breakfast, running, golf-carting,
biking for Ryan, etc. Cleaned up and headed
to Tampa to see Laura and family [grandma and grandpa had plans]. Lots of fun playing with cousins and Aunt
Lolly made a really yummy lamb gyro dinner followed by fried oreos! Nice visiting with them!
Monday morning – we left from LOL for the east coast! I-4 traffic is never fun, esp near Disney,
but we made it. I braided the girls’
hair while Coleson drove. We ate lunch
at Subway in Cape Canaveral, followed by a few minutes at Manatee Park on the
river. Love the east coast – felt like
home :) water, palm trees, beautiful weather.
Then it was time to head to the boat!!!
We parked and had a great view of the ship out the parking garage. It was easier than I thought to get everyone
on board [birth certificates for the kids and I, but easy peasy]. And apparently since we booked a suite, we’re
VIPs, so we got to go in the short line.
We got to our awesome room at 1:30.
Carnival is probably a little lower on the totem pole, if you know what
I mean, but we were able to get our junior suite with a balcony for less then
an interior on other cruise lines. And
our room was worth it! We explored the
boat and stood up top to watch our departure from Port Canaveral. All you can eat ice cream!! Putt putt.
We dressed up for dinner in the dining room. It was open seating, but we requested Rico
every time, he was great. We came back
to our room to our first towel animal – a duck.
Our room stewardess was Nia and she was wonderful and I was amazed that
she always remembered our names [well, except for the more-often-then-not mix
up for Abby and Chloe, but hey we all do it from time to time, hehe]
Tuesday – 2.18 – fun day at sea. Yummy breakfast – all you can eat everything
was fun. We went to a Dr Seuss parade,
but it was only so-so, so we broke away from that. The kids put on bathing suits, and they did a
couple of the smaller slides. Ryan and
Abby made it about halfway up the spiral staircase for the tall one before turning
around. They love water slides [Great
Wolf Lodge three months ago!], but they said it was crazy windy. And cold.
We didn’t last long before cleaning up and putting on dry clothes. 80* is great until you are trying to swim in
an unheated pool with insanely high winds!
We walked the boat some more, ventured into gift shops, rode the glass
elevators, ate food. This was the only evening
we didn’t eat in the dining room – it was formal night and that just didn’t
happen for us. Packing those types of
clothes and accessories for five people to wear one night just didn’t seem
worth it. We ate pizza instead! And Coleson and I took turns in the fitness center. I was really bummed there wasn’t a running
track around the top of the boat, and we were all bummed there was no
basketball court. We watched two PG
rated comedians – well Coleson and Chloe only watched the first one before she
went back for bed.
Wednesday – the Dominican Republic! This was nice because we didn’t arrive until
11am, so we were able to leisurely get up and eat breakfast and watch our
arrival from the top decks. The Dominican
Republic is beautiful!!!! So gorgeous as
we arrived – mountains and tropical rainforest and pretty beaches and even
those new fancy windmills that make you think you are in Oklahoma. The mountains do apparently make frequent rain
showers and we experienced one as we ran off the boat. But it didn’t last more than maybe ten mins. We went straight to our Monkey Land
tour. Our guides were great, everyone we
came across was really nice. Monkey Land
was amazing. Poor Abby worked herself up
and was pretty scared of the monkeys, but the rest of us loved every minute of
it. There were about thirty of us in our
group and we sat along a bench inside the monkey park. The guides gave us fruit dishes for the
monkeys to come eat out of. And then
they put sunflower seeds [a yummy treat!] on our shoulders, in our hair, etc. So the little squirrel monkeys were jumping
all over us and from person-to-person. I’ll
give Abby that it was a bit overwhelming, but I loved it. There are maybe two dozen monkeys and if I
remember correctly eight more babies.
The babies were the best – they’d hang on their mommys’ backs. One was even sleeping the whole time that
Momma was jumping around. It was such a
cool experience, and yes, we even got pooped on. Despite not liking the living monkeys, Abby got
a stuffed monkey souvenir that she proudly and lovingly wore around her neck
the rest of the trip :) She named him
Cocoa after the cocoa beans that they grow in the Dominican, and we also
realized later that it doubled for our port/ Mommy’s hometown- Cocoa Beach! Great name, Abs!
After the monkeys, the second part of the excursion was some
sort of taste of the Dominican thing. Almost
like a living museum, complete with a staged house and outdoors area. It was a little odd, and I’ll confess, a
little boring. But we got to sample
quite a few things including coconut water, sugar cane, Dominican coffee, and
some sort of mamajama alcoholic thing that tasted a little like wine and a
little like cough syrup and I never really decided if I actually liked it or
not. The ride back to the port was so
beautiful. I did enjoy that we at least
got to see a little of the countryside and the cities, even if it was from our
huge, charted, air-conditioned bus. Everywhere
we went, I felt catered to, and I didn’t enjoy that feeling, I wish that
somehow we could have truly experienced more of the countries we visited,
instead of feeling like an awkward rich white American the whole time. But it was all good and the monkeys were cute
and it was safe and kid friendly and all that stuff. The ports are these fenced-in touristy traps,
but we explored our Amber Cover port for a bit after the bus returned us. Some pictures and souvenirs and a few minutes
at the fun little waterpark area. The
kids rode some great slides, and I got my hair braided. then back on the boat. A new cute towel animal and we dressed up for
dinner in the dining room with Rico. Abby
and Chloe ate a lot of chicken nuggets and spaghetti, but Coleson and Ryan and
I did a pretty good job of being adventurous.
Coleson had steak, pork chops, that sort of thing a couple of
times. Ryan ordered off the adult menu-
ribs, lasagna, etc. I had fish
twice. And Coleson and I both had the
special port of call meals a couple of times – local yummy food, usually chicken,
rice, beans. And appetizers and desserts
of course.
Wednesday is still going – after dinner we went to the
Hasbro Game Show show. Super proud of
our brave and confident Ryan! The announcer
said he would be picking contestants that did something unique and caught his
attention. Ryan jumped up and started
doing the floss [a dance that’s all the rage with the cool kids]. He was the first one picked! He participated in a connect four basketball
game. Unfortunately his team lost, but
it was so much fun to watch him and I think he really enjoyed it, he said he wasn’t
nervous or scared at all to be up on stage like that. I wish I had pulled out the phone in time to
video his floss, but I did get everything else on video, love it. [and I loved that my phone was nothing more
than a camera the whole trip. That and
the Carnival app. Nothing else worked,
the phone was on airplane mode the whole time].
Thursday, 2.20 – Turks and Caicos – this was an earlier port
time [maybe 8:30?], so we watched the arrival from our balcony room, ate a
quick breakfast, and ran out to meet our snorkeling excursion group. Lots of sunscreen and then we boarded a small
boat with three guides and maybe 25-30 of us.
We rode out about ten minutes before our first snorkeling stop. Abby may not have liked monkeys, and Chloe sure
didn’t like snorkeling. One tour guide
in particular was awesome with her – his name tag said Happy although he always
referred to himself as Handsome Happy. And
he was great with the kiddos that weren’t doing so great. Chloe had a thin little life vest thing [we
all did] as well as a pool noodle and clung to Happy’s life ring thing. Poor thing wouldn’t even try to put her head
in. Abby LOVED it! Ryan took a couple of minutes, but he got the
hang of it and was really enjoying it.
We snorkeled around for about half an hour I think, before climbing back
on the boat and riding a couple of minutes to a second spot where we snorkeled
for another half an hour probably. This time
we made Chloe come stay with us instead of Happy, and we took turns keeping one
hand on her pool noodle while snorkeling.
It was fun – but it sure is different snorkeling as a parent. This was one of those times when I felt like
three kids definitely outnumbers two parents.
I was counting to three a lot :)
Abby’s bright red shorts helped a lot.
It was nice that both our snorkeling boat and the Monkeyland bus the day
before had beverages – I was worried ahead of time that I’d be thirsty, but
there was lots of good water everywhere we were. And usually coffee and juices too. On our way back to the port, we saw dolphins. Extra cool since Chloe had recently informed
us that she now loves dolphins. One of her
Turks and Caicos souvenirs is a dolphin keychain for her back pack. Once we were returned to shore, we walked for
a few minutes and Chloe played in the pool area. We got back on the boat to change into dry
clothes and eat some lunch, before returning to shore for some walking and
shopping. And a Starbucks coffee for me. A new sting ray towel animal, Daddy flying
the kiddos down the stairs, a full rainbow over the port as we pulled away – perfect
view of it from our balcony, more ice cream, putt putt, wine on the balcony at
sunset, “sunset heart hands!!” We
dressed up again for the dining room and even went to several of the photo
spots on the boat for photo shoots. This
was fun, at least for Mommy, and in the end we bought two awesome
pictures. I don’t think we saw any shows
this night – probably just hgtv, hehe!! It
was definitely nice having a bigger room.
We could regroup and rest in there.
The kids played hide and seek quite a few times. Watched hgtv.
Coleson and I would read on the balcony.
I actually finished a whole book!
Friday – fun day at sea
- Green Eggs and Ham breakfast for the girls and I! This was an extra, but totally worth it. And I actually ordered the green eggs and
ham, and they were really, really good.
And oh the coffee. So much better
than the free stuff that’s readily available at the drink stations. Good coffee, I had a lot of it :) Thing One and Thing Two were there, and then
Sam-I-Am and the Cat in The Hat. Abby
was funny – the eggs are just food coloring.
And Thing One and Thing Two are really leaving because the people have
to change into Sam and the Cat. Based on
the two other groups that we shared a table with, I think this meal is all for
my generation!! The four of us that were
parent-aged seemed to really enjoy it.
The kids were fine, but I think a little bored, and I even overheard the
other girl say the same thing Abby did about it was all just food
coloring. And the grandma in the other
party couldn’t have cared less.
Interesting to me. I remember
thinking the same thing at Disney a few years ago – I think they cater to our
generation [probably because we’re the ones paying!]. I love that Disney has so many rides and experiences
based on the movies of the 90s – Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the
Beast. Anyways, shocker I know, but I digress. Back to the boat! Daddy and Ryan ate breakfast and went to a
paper-airplane making event while we were at breakfast. A heart shaped towel. Puzzles – we would pick up the daily crossword
and sudoku and those were fun to work on.
Ryan took a ton of pictures on my phone.
More hgtv. Another run on the
treadmill for me – this time it was daylight so I could watch the waves. Coleson took the kids to the putt putt area,
but it was so windy they had brought the supplies inside and actually made them
leave shortly after they go there. We
dressed up for dinner again, and Coleson and I splurged on real drinks this
evening – a margarita for him and Bahama Mama for me. They were really good. Alcohol and Cokes were extra. Oh and there were two violinists who played in
the atrium lobby every evening. They were
really good, very upbeat, electric. We
thought it was quite humorous that they were playing the “near, far, wherever you
are” theme song from Titanic as we left the dining room this evening. Really, who plays that song on a cruise
ship?!! We went to the PG comedians
again this evening. Chloe promptly curled
up in my lap and was asleep before the first one even started, so that was nice
and we stayed for both shows [until almost 10?]. It was the same two guys as a few nights
before. We all really enjoyed the Cowboy
Comedian. He was funny and down to earth
[maybe because he’s a southern redneck and more relatable to us?!] and best of
all he had new material. The other one,
Dennis Gaines, repeated his show from the night before. Seems odd to me that you only do two PG shows
the whole week to pretty much the same audience and you do the same show. He had some funny stuff, but we also thought
he was pretty condescending. Oh well. And then we hit the waves! Oh my goodness. Somehow Chloe, who wakes up for everything at
home, slept through it all. We were
rocking and rolling. Nobody threw up or
anything, thankfully, but it was awful.
Coleson looked it up later – the waves were 16-20 feet high that
night! And we were about an hour and a
half late getting to Port Canaveral the next morning because we had to slow
down so much to compensate. And it was
windy! It took us awhile to fall asleep
and then none of us [except Chloe] slept well.
I was so happy to be back on solid land the next morning.
Saturday, 2.22 – Port Canaveral. We arrived quite a bit later than expected because
of the waves the night before. We ate
breakfast on the Lido Deck again, and of course all the buzz was the waves. We packed up and eventually headed off. Again, it was great being a suite/vip – we got
to leave early, woohoo. Once happily
back to our car, we were free! We went
to Ron Jon’s first and spent a pretty penny there. I love Ron Jon’s – even though I don’t have a
lot of memories, it’s my hometown! And speaking
of hometown, after Ron Jon’s and some real coffee at a Dunkin’ Donuts, we drove
by our Covina St house. It looked surprisingly
good. I was brought home to that house
and lived there until I was five. I’d
love to see our Palm Bay house again sometime soon too, but it was about 45
mins away in the wrong directions, and we just didn’t have it in us by
then. We started the journey across the
state, stopping at a service plaza in the middle of the turnpike for just a little
food/lunch. Waaayyy too much to eat all
week on the boat! And oddly enough, the
boat itself never really bothered us, so I don’t know if was the storm or just
a normal adjusting to land again, but boy or boy were we dizzy and rocking. Everything was swaying. We made it back to Maya and Grandma and Grandpa
at maybe 3:30. Almost immediately, the
girls were taking out braids and then long, hot showers with lots of conditioner! Coleson and I walked dogs, running was out of
the question anyways for me and my sea legs.
Laura and the family came over, and the cousins played and played and we
ate a yummy dinner of burgers and baked beans.
My throat really started to hurt bad as the evening went on. And then Chloe ended up in our bed in the
middle of the night crying about her throat too. So that really worried me since we both had
the same symptoms! Fortunately, Chloe claims
to have been totally fine once she woke up and hasn’t had any more issues. My throat got better, but now several days
later, I am losing my voice and I cough occasionally and this morning I woke up
congested. Hopefully it’ll pass quickly!
Sunday – Coleson and Mom walked the dogs, Grandpa made breakfast,
we packed up, I made sandwiches, etc, before we hit the road about 9:15. Bringing lunches worked really well – they could
eat when they were ready and it saved time and money and all that jazz. We finally stopped at Carroll’s for the first
time and got three different types of sausages.
Gas, bathroom, coffee, nothing too major, and we were home about 5:15 or
so. And let me tell you – leaving sunny
and 80* and returning to dreary and 40s was NOT fun. Driving across Gaddis and that dead golf
course was just ugly :) I had hoped a few signs of spring would have appeared
while we were gone, but nope. I love our
community and our schools and the sports and the kids’ friends, but man oh man,
sometimes [mostly in January and February] I wish could just run away to a tropical
island. And thus coming back from one
was extra hard! But it’s all good, we
love it here! We unpacked, and I did a
million and one loads of laundry, and we ate pizza and frozen veggies for
dinner – no milk or anything fresh in the house after over a week. A decent bedtime Sunday night!! And back to reality Monday morning, not a lot
of recovery time. But what a great getaway!! I loved it and I have zero regrets. I’m not jumping up and down at the idea of
another cruise again soon, but I wouldn’t rule it out either. It was great to be together and try new
things and pet monkeys. And not having
to worry about cooking or cleaning up afterwards was AMAZING. I think I’d like to try an all-inclusive beach
resort type of thing with the kids sometime; that might be fun and maybe
provide a little relief from the rocking and the confines of the boat.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Nashville!!
Similar to our Thanksgiving post, here's my handy-dandy, old-school, all-in-one-place trip itinerary word document for our Nashville trip this past weekend! Adults only! Grandma stayed with our babies! Grandpa was supposed to come as well, but stayed home feeling sick with a head cold and cough and all the wintery yucks. Mom arrived Friday night in time to watch both Ryan and Abby play basketball. Ryan had a great game, and they won by two [although we were in control the whole game, not as close as the score would reflect]. Abs lost, but fun was still had, and she scored four of her team's seven points. Coleson didn't arrive home until late Friday night. After a good night's sleep in his own bed and a couple of loads of laundry so that he could repack, we left mid-morning on Saturday.
We made it to Chattanooga in time for a yummy lunch at Urban Stack hamburgers. We shared a really yummy hot pimento cheese dip that came highly recommended by our waiter [and didn't disappoint], as well as a burger and fries. From there, we went a little bit out of town to check out the Russell Cave National Monument. We had a fun visit and walked about a mile and a half. The cement was crazy and curvy and covered in moss, and we had fun pondering the reasoning for all the jig-jagging. We then drove the rest of the way to Brentwood, in between Nashville and Franklin. We came to Nashville for the first time in the fall of 2018 for a For King and Country concert. We stayed in downtown right next to the Ryman and the main Broadway strip of bars. We didn't enjoy that part of town and for this trip wanted to be closer to Franklin and the suburbs :) For dinner we headed down to Franklin to eat at Big Shake's - same as our previous trip. It was good!! insanely loud, but good. They have the best milkshakes to go along with hot chicken and mac and cheese [I got my chicken in tacos].
Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful!! We had the unseasonably best weather in Denver as well, so we're thinking future vacations should be sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerces. We walked about three miles around Radnor Lake. Pretty views, dozens of turtles, the sweet smell of freshly recycled Christmas trees, and eight deer slowly walking along within maybe 15-20 yards of us! From there, we went into Nashville for Hattie B's hot chicken. We had thought we enjoyed Big Shake's the night before, but everything pales in comparison to Hattie B's! We first went there this past fall to the Atlanta location after our day-date to an Atlanta United playoff game. Soooo good!! Since we don't get hot chicken much at all, we don't get too adventurous when ordering - I got the sandwich and mac & cheese, and I'm pretty sure it's my current favorite meal anywhere, ever! After lunch, we drove around the city some, around Vanderbilt before parking near the capital. By this point, it's about 72* and sunny, the most perfect February day ever I'd imagine. We walked all around the greenspace and capital building and farmer's market - nothing like Atlanta's capital, hehe, think more like DC. Back to the hotel in the afternoon where I ran on a greenway that passed right by our hotel parking lot. Best run I've had in a very, very long time. I think I could have gone forever, what with the beautiful warm sun and flat sidewalk and shorts & tshirt!
Sunday dinner was trickier - we had wanted to go to Franklin, but everything we pulled up was closed! The very things that appeal about small towns can also cause trouble - like being closed on Sundays. Coleson found a taco spot that looked great and said it was open, however, it definitely wasn't. and definitely was supposed to be, several other cars pulled into the parking lot too while we were trying to regroup and come up with plan E by this point?! :) I think it had something to do with a rather significant sporting event that was going on?! Apparently, some places close on Super Bowl Sunday. So we ended up back near Vanderbilt eating at Taco Mamacita. It was really good! We each had a margarita and shared an appetizer sampler with salsa, cheese dip, and guac, as well as a bowl of really fresh tortilla chicken soup. Perfect! Taco Mamacita is actually owned by the same company as the Urban Stack we went to for burgers - I had originally come across Taco Mamacita in Chattanooga, before we decided the burger place sounded better. They have three or four different styles of restaurants, each with a location in Nashville and one in Chattanooga. We sat outside on the patio which was really nice and only a wee bit cold, hooray for warm weather! Right next door was dessert - picture a cute little ice cream shop, but it was safe-to-eat cookie dough! Yummyyy!!!!! We went back to the hotel and watched the halftime show [awful and totally inappropriate] and saw the Chiefs come back in the 4th quarter to win big.
Monday morning, Coleson and I had a great power walk along the greenway and neighboring residential street. Brentwood has some great houses and character and money apparently too! We loved how all the lots were so big and nice and the trees were amazing, no clear-cut cookie-cutter neighborhoods, at least not in the area we stayed. After our walk, we shared a waffle [we really aren't much for breakfast, but it looked [and was] so good] and coffee. Too quickly, we were having to pack up so Coleson could get to his conference. But on our way into Nashville, we stopped again at Hattie B's for lunch. I mean we basically planned this trip around food and our new love of hot chicken, so it was only fitting.
Coleson's annual Hanger Live [Ed Fair] conference was at the Gaylord Opryland this year. Perhaps even bigger and more impressive then the Gaylord in DC that we dropped him off at a few years ago?! He went off to meetings pretty quickly, and I logged about 85,00 steps exploring my new surroundings. Okay, maybe not quite 85,000, but since I don't have a step counter, not only can I not prove that I went that far, but you can't prove I didn't. Anyways ... I went all over the Gaylord as well as the neighboring Grand Ole Opry and the Opry Mills shops. I had the worst carmel macchiato ever at the Starbucks in the shopping mall, but other then that it was great. I walked and walked and walked and even picked up a few souvenirs. Coleson had a cocktails thing to go to, so I grabbed a slice of veggie pizza and an Auntie Anne's pretzel in the hotel and watched the evening fountain and lights show, I always love that sort of thing! Of course, just after I settled into the room and found the Hawks game, Coleson called :) We had a nice evening walking a bit, meeting a few people, and then finding a spot to sit and enjoy a glass of wine.
Tuesday morning, I walked him to his conference room and that was the last I saw him, bummer. But from there I went and got a lot of brownie points with my mom, by meeting her old friend Roxanne for coffee. She was a sweet lady and we visited for maybe 20 minutes before her first meeting of the day. While we sat there, we also saw quite a few other people that knew me as "Donna's daughter" including, but not limited to, Debbie Polley and Sue Mellor. Old home week I suppose. After the coffee, I ran on the hotel treadmill for 3.5 miles. I'm not usually a treadmill girl, but they aren't as boring when you're in a fitness center with other people. And even though no one was swimming, I had a great view of the pool and then to the outside, so I didn't go too crazy. A shower, a couple of pages in my book, a leftover lunch [bagel and yogurt from the Residence Inn continental breakfast, Great-Grandma would have been proud, and I mean that in an insanely loving way!]. I left about noon eastern for my journey home. Unfortunately our amazing weather had turned to rain showers, although still relatively warm at least. But I had jotted down a few places I wanted to explore on the way home, and of course, they were mostly outside spots. I did stop in the town of Bell Buckle for a gingerbread latte. It was good, no regrets, but I also don't see myself going out of the way to go there again. For future bucket list trip ideas : I had really wanted to explore the Old Stone Fort State Park. But I also really didn't want to get caught in a rainstorm. I had also considered stopping for a ride on the Incline Railway in Chattanooga. I hadn't decided if that would be worth doing in the rain or not, when I discovered that it was closed anyways for routine repairs. Also on the bucket list, is spending a long weekend/ week on Nickajack Lake. Sooo crazy pretty!!! And being right near Chattanooga there would be so many fun things to do in addition to the lake [like the Old Stone Fort or the Incline Railway!].
I made it back to town in time to grab a publix sub and have a picnic dinner at Badger Creek. Taylor was sick and didn't go to practice, and I didn't want Mom [and mostly Chloe] to have to stay there for the whole practice, so they dropped her off and went back home. After eating and a stroll around the park, Abby and I were reunited and headed home to see Ryan and Chloe too! And Grandma. And get Abby to basketball practice. Welcome back to the crazy routine!!
So there's the really long version of our weekend away. Or at least my side of it. Coleson is still in Nasvhille until tomorrow [Friday] afternoon. It was soo weird leaving the hotel without a final goodbye knowing that he was in meetings somewhere in there. And walking right past the spot where we had sat the night before having a drink. It was good to be home and to see my babies, bummer I had to leave Coleson there though :) But hey, only about ten days until our big vacation .... a cruise!!!!!! It's gonna be amazing!!!
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*** We didn't make it to the Factory at Franklin, or to those last three restaurant ideas that I had looked up. We had hoped to spend Sunday night in Franklin, but the Factory had closed early, Oscar's wasn't open at all, etc etc. Plus, we wanted the hot chicken more, so we had it three times, hehehe.
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Friday, January 31st – basketball games at 6 and
8 [no games Saturday]
Saturday, February 1st – get up and leave
Russell Cave National Monument? And then head on towards Franklin/ Brentwood?
Residence Inn, 206 Ward Circle Brentwood TN
Checkin Saturday 4pm, checkout Monday 12noon
Sat, Feb 01, 2020 –
Mon, Feb 03, 2020
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Confirmation Number:
97414194
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The Factory at
Franklin
Radnor
Lake State Park
Near hotel in Brentwood – hiking trails, great reviews,
one-ish hour walk around lake
Hattie B’s and Big Shake’s!!!!!
Oscar's Taco Shop
4115
Mallory Ln, Franklin, TN 37067
Pancho's
Place - Franklin
209
S Royal Oaks Blvd, Franklin, TN 37064
Tupelo
Honey
2000 Meridian Blvd #110, Franklin, TN 37067
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