We are alive!

Contrary to popular opinion we are alive. The summer was very busy with the new house, vacation, and just the day to day routines. Tommy and Matthew enjoyed their vacation and Matthew is very sad the Tommy is gone during the day at school and he is "lonely."

Here are a few pics of the new house. Better late than never.

Guess what? This is the front.

And this would be the back.

The back also includes the patio that Tom and I built over several weeks of the summer. Not too bad for amateurs and we figure doing it ourselves saved about $10,000.00. DIY here we come!

The house sits in the middle of about three acres of land. It really is nice and quiet here. Trees, deer, and other assorted critters and creepy crawlies share the land with us. The weather has prevented the grass from growing well and we are expecting the builder to come back one more time to get it straight for us. That and the driveway needs to be finished off. But it is home sweet home.

I'll try to get something to post in the next few days. Thanks for stopping by.

Quick Update

Things are busy now. We have just moved into our new house and it is GREAT! The boys are enjoying having their own rooms again and they especially like the basement area that they have been allowed to convert to GeoTrax land. Tommy is doing great in school and Matthew is always on the go. Energy know no bounds with him.

Hard to believe that Tommy is almost finished 1st grade. Matthew will be going to pre-school in the fall at Tommy's school and he is excited. I think.

We actually moved into the house the weekend of February 15th and we are still unpacking it and making it ours by hanging pictures and making sure furniture is where we want it. One thing is certain, there is so much to do and so little time each day to do it.

However, it is nice to look back at the past year and a half from selling the old house, renting a house while ours was being built and now having our new place and see that God had his hand in all of it. While we had many human issues with people and their personalities (landlord's agent and landlord in some cases), monotonous issues with the mortgage companies and the builder's agents, it did make us wiser and stronger I think. And now we have our home. A place to rest and a place to enjoy. Sounds kind of mushy now, but I and my family are truly thankful for all that God has done for us!

I give up

I will never again state that I am ready to post something new. Every time I do, I don't come back to the site for two months.

So if anyone even ever looks at this blog, I apologize and I make no further promises. Stop back in if you ever feel like it and if you don't, I do not blame you.

Funny

It is funny how time moves so quickly when you grow older. I know that we all were told by our parents that we should slow down because as we grow older we will not believe how quickly time moves. But if you were like me, I thought "yeah right, can I borrow the car?"

Anyway, I have a bunch of pics to post so I will get to that as soon as I can. Thanks for checking back.

More of Charleston, S.C.

Well, here is the continuation of the vacation pics from South Carolina. In these photos, you can see some of the architecture that is "old town" Charleston. There were so many nice homes that it is impossible to pick a favorite so here they are in no special order.

This is St. Michael's Church. I'll leave it to Wikipedia for the background.

St. Michael's Churchyard, adjacent to historic St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Established in 1751 as the second Anglican parish in Charleston, South Carolina) on the corner of Meeting and Broad Streets, is the final resting place of some famous historical figures, including two signers of the Constitution of the United States.
Interred in St. Michael's Churchyard are:
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825) Colonel in the Continental Army, member of the U.S. Constitutional Convention and signer of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Minister to France, Federalist candidate for Vice President and later candidate for President of the United States in 1804 and 1808
John Rutledge (1739-1800) Governor of South Carolina, 1779, member of the U.S. Constitutional Convention and signer of the U.S. Constitution, Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court
Robert Young Hayne (1791-1839) Senator, Governor of South Carolina, and mayor of Charleston
Arthur Peronneau Hayne (c.1789-1867) U.S. Senator from South Carolina
William Dickinson Martin (1789-1833) U.S. Congressman from South Carolina
Mordecai Gist (1742-1792)American Revolutionary War general
Thomas M. Wagner, Civil War Lieutenant Colonel and namesake for Battery Wagner).
Across the street is St. Michael's Church Cemetery. Interred here is Francis Kinloch (1755-1826) a delegate to Second Continental Congress from South Carolina.

This is the Circular Congregational Church. It also has a cemetary with many very old gravestones. Some of which are in remarkable condition. We found that those from the 18th Century were holding up much better thatn those from the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

This headstone is from the mid-1700s. We liked the simply design including the skull and crossbones. This is very common for that time and is not indicative of the person being a pirate.

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The next two pictures are of Tommy in front of cannon and mortars on the Battery.

More Vacation Pics

I think in time, everyone will be tired of seeing vacation pics as a topic headline, but we have so much to share!

On Tuesday of our trip we went to see Ft. Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. I personally loved it, but again, I could have done without the unbearable humidity. We finished the day by stopping in to see Forrest Gump's restaurant and walked along the Battery and Rainbow Row. By the end of the day, everyone was wiped out and ready to head back. But we got to see so many nice things, it truly was a memorable trip.

I had trouble with the pics leading up to the fort, so I will work on those and in the meantime post a few from inside.

It seems easy enough, but Matty would not be the next contestant in the human cannonball experiment at Ft. Sumter.

Tommy was amazed at the size of the cannon in the fort.

This last one is the four of us after only 30 or 40 minutes of walking around the fort! And we had to duck into the museum and gift store to cool off while inside!

After the trip back, everyone was hungry so we ate at Bubba Gump's restaurant in downtown Charleston. There were many props in the restaurant including Forrest's suit. They said they were the real thing, but I have my doubts.

And here is a shot of the outside of the restaurant. If it were not for the fact that they had people out on the sidewalk inviting you in, you can easily miss it.

After eating, we moved on to walking along the street that led to the famed Battery and Rainbow Row. All that any of us there can say is that the houses here are magnificent! All with a few exceptions are in fantastic condition and those that are a bit worn are being repaired. I am only going to include a few pics of the homes, but it will give you an idea of the lavishness. For me personally, you can forget Beverly Hills and Hollywood - - I want to live in Charleston! (and if you ever visit there, you will see what I mean)

Here is a small section of Rainbow Row.

Here is one in the "low-rent" district.

Had to throw in one of the "slums"

As we got nearer to the Battery, the left side of the street opens up into Charleston Harbor. Tommy and Cousin Nick took a moment to take in the sights.

Here is a good shot of the Battery.

I will post more of Charleston in the next entry, but that is all the time I have for now. God Bless!

Vacation Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our recent vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The first one is of the boys playing miniature golf at....wait for it.....dun,dun,dun...MT. ATLANTICUS!!!!

The second photo is of the boys in the van after 2 HOURS of playing in hot humid weather at night! While the heat WAS oppressive, we all had a great time.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention that I was the luckiest guy around for I had my beautiful bride with me as well!

The boys were grateful as told by the shouts of "Mommy and Daddy, you are the greatest!" several times that night. One thing is certain at Myrtle Beach, there are no shortages of miniature golf courses.

Well, that is really all I have time for right now. I'll post more in the coming days. God Bless!