Shark Camp

Several months ago, Uncle Jeffrey started tossing around the idea

of taking John shark fishing.  A summer shark camp...
Upon hearing about this camp, Julia

became jealous.  Upon hearing that this camp involved a beach trip,

I became jealous.  So.... the Saturday before Memorial Day,
we all loaded up and headed

to Cape San Blas, Florida.

There is nothing at Cape San Blas.  A lot of beautiful nothing.
After a busy, busy, school year, we were so happy to find nothing.
The beach wasn't crowded - even though it was Memorial Day Weekend.
There is no cell service there, no crowds, no restaurants - nothing.
I never knew how happy nothing could make me....


Julia invited one of her besties, MCP, to camp.
Before leaving, I made all the campers 
sand pails with fun items to take.

The girls loved the monogrammed tee shirts that I made,

but had to buy more at the beach... of course...

They fished and fished and fished...

Being extremely uninformed about fishing, I was surprised that
shark fishing can be done right on the beach....
(Think about that next time you're floating around in the ocean...)

They caught a lot of sharks off the shore...
(another scary thought...)

We fished.
Okay, they fished.
(I read.)



We played...

We shopped in the nearby town of Apalachicola...

which is a lot like stepping back in time, though the shops

there had thoroughly modern prices...

and ate really good seafood at a most
unlikely place.

Food, friends, family and fun made the trip spectacular.
Throw in all that nothing... and for me... it doesn't get any better.

Honors Day 2013

Seventh grade Honors Day at

MBMS was May 14.

A beautiful day...

... made even better by the fact that Julia had all A's!!

She got the Social Studies award and

 ended the year with at 97.6 GPA.

... Smartie...

Because that is such a GREAT achievement and

because the day was so beautiful,

we left the school elated - on our way to...

shop.

We headed to Julia's favorite store:

Kinnucan's, and made our purchase.

All A's, I said.  97.6 GPA even with advanced classes, I said.

Wow, that's worthy of something big... like a Lilly dress, 

something from Vineyard Vines

or some jewelry, I said.

No, she just wanted these:

because she can wear these everyday.

...Smartie...

Mother's Day 2013

Happy to be Mom to

John, 15 and Julia, 12.

"If you have a mom, there is

nowhere you are likely to go where

a prayer has not already been."

-Robert Brault

The Season of Dogwoods

In the book Ava's Man, Rick Bragg describes his own mother's birth this way:

She cost Charlie a quart of whiskey, and was born in the season of dogwoods.

I, too, was born in the Season of Dogwoods.  If you have ever been

in our neck of the woods, you know what a beautiful time

of year that is. These pictures were taken during the peak

of the season, and after I got home, 

I realized that not one of them captures a dogwood.

Ha!Ha!

It started with an orthodontist appointment on about as perfect a day

as there can be.  Wishing that I had packed a picnic to eat afterwards, 

I decided to improvise.

My grandmother would have had fried chicken, biscuits, potato salad and cake.

I thought about that.  

Then I realized that she would not have been at work the day before.

(I also now realize she would have gotten a picture of a dogwood!)

I decided she would forgive me and drove to Lindsey's

Julia is the foremost connoisseur of chicken salad.

On her scale of 1-5 clucks, Lindsey's definitely gets a 5.

We ate our deli lunch at the State of Georgia Botanical Gardens

to celebrated day 1 of my birthday week - 

(yes, it's true: day 1 of birthday week.  If you want to convince everyone you are

21, you have to act like it!  No kidding.  I love birthdays, especially mine, and I 

intend to "do it up"!)  

Julia couldn't wait and gave me the most beautiful bracelet for my birthday present.

Perfect day, perfect present, perfect chicken salad, perfect season. 

The Season of Dogwoods.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father

of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

  

Spring Break

Everybody in this family was ready to go...

ANYWHERE!

To say we had been on the treadmill is putting it mildly.

While I was putting up a fight for one more

educational, museum filled vacation, (YAY!!!)

my associates were busy voicing their opposition and conspiring

against me.  In the end, they won!

This is one way I know my family loves me.

They always build a sand castle.

I want to, but am no good at it.

They don't want to, but are good at it.

Please....

I wash your clothes, cook your breakfast lunch and supper,

pick up after you, pick up after you, pick up after you....

so they do.

I love it.

Here's another way I know they love me... they posed for

this picture... together.

We shopped...

We ate...


all that health food we like to get at the beach...
fried shrimp,
fried fish
fried potatos
fried puppies
and
sweet tea.

... And finally, I got to read.



Not a fave, not really even a beach read,
but I'm glad I read it.
Pure fantasy, not really my genre, but interesting all the same.

It was a good trip, a good break,
and a good reminder, that no matter how bad I
hate the IRS (!!!!!), we've still got it...
pretty good!

"It is true, the Lord is risen!"

Easter Sunday 2013!

Our Children's Choirs performed during the 11:00 service.

As always, they were precious.

They sounded and looked great... and behaved well!

That was a home run!
The last phrase of their song was spoken.
They were to forcefully say in unison:
It is true, the Lord is risen.
While they found the speaking in unison part difficult,
in the performance, they nailed it!

John and Julia after church.

We ate an Easter Dinner with Nanny and the Baileys.
Then we watched the conclusion of The Bible.
The producers of that series did a wonderful job
 of showing that
It is true! The Lord is Risen!

Spring Formal 2013

The Perfectly Polished Spring Formal is one of my favorite events every year.
This year's theme was "Light up the Night".
It was wonderful to see our children, dressed and pressed,
dancing.  Light up my night, they did.

Julia, 7th grade, in Dance Club

John, 9th grade, Lead Dance

My absolute favorite was the Father Daughter dance.

Julia will always remember the year her Daddy's feet hurt so bad 

 and he still refused to let John stand in because he wouldn't

miss this dance for all the world.

That was the highlight of my night.