Good Night Irene

On Saturday, August 27th, we experienced Hurricane Irene in NC.  "She" made landfall at the NC coast early that morning.  In Wake Forest, we experienced high winds and lots of rain.  We were fortunate to only lose limbs, branches and many, many, many leaves from our trees.  We didn't even lose power!  Some surrounding communities to the east were not so lucky.  (See photos for the results of Irene...http://www.wral.com/weather/hurricanes/image_gallery/10052867/).  The Dixons and other Wake County residents were very blessed.

By the way, on Tuesday, August 23nd, NC had an earthquake!  What's the world coming to???  Taylor says, "The world is coming to an end and I'm just living it up."  She is sooooo funny!
http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/video/10035583/#/vid10035583

"I love my job...I love my job...I love my job..."

Have you ever had one of those days when you have to say aloud to yourself, "I love my job...I love my job...I love my job..?"  Well, today was one of those days for me.  Don't get me wrong, I love teaching children.  However, there are so many additional factors that are incorporated into the educational process other than the actual teaching of students.  I work with LOTS of teachers, administrators, school staff, parents and then, of course, there are always challenges with scheduling, planning, class sizes/grade levels served and meeting the needs of everyone and everything! 

"...I love my job...I love my job...I love my job..."

Annual Family Vacation

For the past 13 years, our family has been going to Lake Gaston for our summer vacation.  We started going when Taylor was about 2 or 3 years old.  The older kids, Gregory, Tiffany and Sarah were little but we played BIG!  Each visit to the lake meant loading up all the lake toys, the biggest toy was Major's Dream, our boat. Oh the fun we've had with that boat!!!  Hours and hours and hours of fun have been had by all on this boat on this lake! Let's see, the kids learned to tube, wake board, knee board and do all kinds of water stunts (some more skilled than others) being pulled by this boat driven of course by Greg.

Over the years, we've invited many friends and family members to join us.  I love having the people I love most with us during these family vacations.  Our friends, Dale and Cindy Russell have come up for brief visits, my parents and my neice, Morgan came up one summer and of course my most surprising visitor was my Granny Stone!  Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jerry brought her up to visit us.  Watching her watch us play at the lake is a dear memory I will always treasure.

As the big kids have gotten bigger, their trips to the lake have gotten less frequent due to the fact that they have gotten married, have jobs and live in different places. Greg and I had adopted the mantra of "we'll take what we can get, when we can get it."  Meaning, we'll take the kids whenever we can get them.  Most annual vacations, we get a visit from almost everyone.  This year, Sarah and Ryan were in LA and Clint is still in Afghanistan so they weren't physically with us but I thought of them everyday.  Gregory and Danielle came up for a day trip.  Tiffany joined us for a couple of days.  Taylor took her dear friends, Caitlyn and Stephanie Simmons.  (They are pure entertainment....love those girls).

We seem to always be at the lake on my birthday.  Not a bad way to celebrate!  This year was no exception.  I celebrated the 18th anniversary of my 30th birthday.  Taylor made a chocolate cake, Greg made an awesome dinner and doted on me all day!  He even took me on an evening cruise on the lake...what a treat.  I love looking at the lights on the water from the lake houses.  The stars twinkled in the night sky, the moon reflected off the water....what a great night!

I got phone calls from all the kids, talked to my parents and brother.  I got lots of Facebook well wishes too.  Needless to say, I felt very loved.  I have so many blessings that's for sure!

What else do we do at the lake when we aren't on the lake:

*goof off on the golf cart
*bowl
*frequent the indoor or outdoor pool
*feed the HUGE carp and catfish by the marina
*play hide and seek in the dark
*eat ice cream from our favorite local spot in Gasburg
*sleep in
*watch movies
*play cards
*go to the hot tub
*karaoke (well, not perform but watch others...hahaha)

Getting away for some R&R with loved ones is a wonderful way to rejuvenate from the busy world I live and just what I need to keep on keeping on.  Until next time Lake Gaston...thanks for all the great memories!