Sis and I decided to use Labor Day weekend for a road trip. We bought a few car camping items, loaded up, and headed out for a few days. We were pretty comfy car-sleeping. The rechargeable fans helped a lot. These fans hold their charge all night; they were great! We ended up getting a hotel on night 3 out of 4 to reset. I had a free hotel night with credit card points. The main cities we explored were:
BEAUFORT, SC
CHARLESTON, SC
SUNSET BEACH, NC
WILMINGTON, NC
RICHMOND, VA
And...Pink Hill, North Carolina. It was in my heart to visit the resting place of one of my most important people of my entire life, my great aunt. I didn't want anything to dim the enormous amount of fun that I was having with my daughter. I didn't want a cloud or anything. But I did end up crying large amounts during different times of the trip. Mostly just this day. Also the day before - because I had been looking up her family members online...I had done this several years ago and was happy to see that most of them were still alive. I knew I wanted to visit them all and always had it in the back of my mind. It had been more than a dozen years since I had been here last.
I was saddened to see she had no flowers and that already her gravesite was worn from age. My aunt and uncle never had children. My parents, siblings, and I were their children. I know it doesn't really matter...that this isn't really where she is. But I want to go back or make arrangements for her to have a flower urn, too, like the other spots.
What We've Been Eating
We felt inspired by all of the great food we had on our trip. So we made vegan Coleslaw. So good. I love crunchy, finely chopped vegetables.
We tried to recreate a buffalo cauliflower sandwich with Coleslaw that we had on our trip, too. We got pretty close maybe.
Tofu cream pie and apple pie. There was no occasion for this, but Little Man had requested to start baking more. He sat on the counter and rolled out the dough, etc.
I don't remember if this was Dash created bread or not. (He had been baking bread a lot during this time.) Plus: bean and potato soup.
We were going to read "Who was Harriet Tubman?" So we had a charcuterie night and watched "Harriet." It was pretty good! I think we all liked it.
Little Man read a "Nate the Great" book and really wanted to make the strawberry milkshake recipe that was in the back of the book. We will take any excuse to make a milkshake, of course.
What We've Been Reading
This was Dash's request because he had read it many years ago in middle school. I must admit I always thought it was a Native American book by the cover and title, but I guess I wasn't analyzing it too much. I did not know it was a book that took place during the time of Jesus. This was a breakfast that Little Man (Ninja - I still haven't gotten into a flow of what to call him yet.) wanted to present to his siblings.
Out and About/Field Trip
trip to the local library
One day we were in the Dade City/San Antonio (FL) area waiting on Brother at tennis practice, Ninja and I went to get some groceries from Publix. He brought this book to me and and asked me to read it to him (even though he could have obviously read it himself). So I, of course, did. It was a cute story with my favorite things, anthropomorphic animals and lots of love and sweetness.
And the whole thing made him very cuddly, and I did not object to any of it.
We went to a Little House on the Prairie themed event at Dade Battlefield Historic Park. This was our first time at this little nearby gem.
After taking part in a few activities and listening to excerpts from the book…
We took a guided tour of the park and learned more about the Dade Massacre and the Seminole Wars.
Cross Country
more cross country meets and doing an amazing job, placing and earning medals
Just For Fun
I saw these things sitting on the dining room table one day. I photographed them to remember how normal this is right now. My youngest has such a good imagination; I assume these were being used as weapons.
This is the stone around our fireplace. Look at the big stone, middle right. Do you see the face? I pointed it out to Ninja one day. He said it totally freaked him out and wasn't happy I showed him because during this time, he had been going through a phase of choosing to sleep on the couch, which is next to the fireplace. Haha.
I spent a month or more being obsessed with the Kennedys and listening to every audiobook, watching movies and videos, and reading so many books. I've done this before, years ago. I don't know what about them piqued my interest, but I also know I'm not the only one. I will say that biographies, people's stories, are my favorites. Once I learn about someone, I want to know everything. If I enjoy someone I don't know about in a movie or tv show, I immediately look them up and want to know everything about their personal lives. If we read a historic book about someone, I want to visit their home, read more books - find out everything.
play-dough day
AND THE CATS...
This is our fancy cat worth thousands. And when I say thousands, I mean THOUSANDS. This was her second operation. She's also had a lengthy, expensive hospitalization several years ago. (That was no fault of her own - we think she had a kidney infection of some sort. She almost died.) Her operations were completely unnecessary and are why we had to move all beloved Nerf guns out of the house to be played with outdoors only. (This actually took place after the first surgery, but we lowered our guard and after a fun impromptu battle, let one slip by us for her to find.) Both times, she ate Nerf bullets. The little plastic end of a Nerf bullet is the perfect size to get stuck in a cat's intestines. So that's what happened, poor thing. We were freaked out about how her paws looked after the IV and her legs wrapped up. You can't really tell in these photos, but they were super tiny. It took a day, I think, for them to go back to normal.
'We love our Gerti, though, and are so glad she is okay.
