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Weather this year has been Crazy (with a capital “C”) and we’ve had to re-schedule 3 soccer games this season! When you have away games that are at least a 3 hour drive away, you pause and rejoice a moment when they are canceled…only to remember they will be re-scheduled later and not always as convenient. But we’ve been making the most of it and using these weekend getaways as mini-vacations. So, this weekend we turned our canceled Atlanta game into a trip to Stone Mountain and the Halloween festival.

Wearing their Converse and sassy boots my two youngest daughters and their friend made the 1.1 mile hike up, begged to ride the sky ride down, but made the 1.1 mile hike down as well. It was almost “free” since you had to pay $20 just to enter the park. Beautiful views of Atlanta along the way with some pretty cute girls as my hiking partners.

Climbing Stone Mountain has been a family tradition since I was a kid. We always stopped by when driving through Atlanta. My dad liked the all you can eat buffet at the Stone Mountain Inn. Climbing the mountain was just part of the deal. We like Stone Mountain so much that we celebrated my youngest daughter’s first birthday at the rock. Whether it was camping or a hotel stay, it was always a fun visit.

But we can’t talk about Stone Mountain without mentioning the engraving. Some people find it offensive to have military leaders that fought on the side of the Confederacy represented in the state park. My first sarcastic thought is “the laser light show would not be nearly as cool if the three horsemen didn’t ride away in the laser lights amongst the fireworks!” You have to experience the Stone Mountain laser light show at least once in your life! If you haven’t seen it, add it to your bucket list!

The engraving is part of Stone Mountain. And it’s part of our history. Yes, it was a difficult time in our country. Many men died on both sides. Sherman burnt down Atlanta for goodness sake! However… the war ended. We reconciled as a country and memorials were placed all over to remind us of the Americans that sacrificed so much. If you dig deep, you will see that Congress passed a law that all Soldiers, no matter what side they fought on, are to be honored as U.S. Veterans. Those are Americans riding horses on the side of Stone Mountain. And it’s an amazing sight to see!

Yes, we climbed Stone Mountain! Rode the train in the dark. The kids played on the attractions. We ate sweet potato fries and cheese-bacon French fries. Got our military discount for the attractions tickets! There went our nearly free experience. Saw pretty lights and pumpkins. Watched them make snow as they prepare the Snow Mountain on Memorial Lawn. Lots of people had a good time that day!

If you are ever in Atlanta, be sure to add Stone Mountain to your “to do list.” Lots of stuff to do and see, it’s beautiful year round, and you might just learn a little bit about U.S. history. Shhhh! Don’t tell the kids the trip was educational!

I arrived in California Friday evening after escaping the worst of Hurricane Lane. I spent the day with my team on the ground in Cali and did a little site seeing while we got caught up. First stop was Santa Cruz for lunch on the wharf!

We also watched the sea lions hang out. It’s amazing how many just lay around. We also couldn’t believe how high they had to jump to get up on the beams under the wharf. For the big ones, that had to be quite a site. We hung around for a bit, but all we got to see were some lounging sea lions sun bathing and relaxing.

Next on our journey that day was a drive into the mountains to see the Big Redwoods! They are miraculous. The way they intertwine and split and fall and keep growing is amazing. The forest was beautiful and the mountains were surreal. Like a scene from a movie. We searched hard for Harry (aka Big Foot), but he was no where to be found. Guess he’ll still remain the hide and seek world champion! Below is me inside a tree and a view from the side of the road along the way.

For a 36 hour lay over, it was a busy and memorable stop on my trip home. Before I forget….I wanted to share this photo I took from the airplane on the approach to Los Angeles. It was really hazy that night, perhaps it was even smoky out. But getting to see a classic icon from an airplane window was just plain cool!

And my Delta SkyMiles continue to build as the journey really never ends. Looking forward to sharing more from my travels! But extremely thankful that tonight I can sleep in my own bed. At least try to sleep. My schedule is completely out of whack and my sleep cycle will take a few days to adjust. Until then, I’ll keep adding to that bucket list (aka future vacations) and reading more books until I fall asleep.

Here I sit at the gate, plane is here, signs show on time. Looks good so far! The storm has slowed down and weakened, so today isn’t horrible. Tomorrow and Sunday is questionable.

Beautiful site at the Honolulu Airport!

The wind was loud last night and the lights flickered, but being a hurricane veteran it was a relaxing night. Hope those on the other islands recover quickly from the flooding and the rest fair well. For those flying today, safe travels!

More to follow later with the better parts of this trip!

Aloha!

Edit: first class on this plane rocks!!!!

[the_ad_placement id=”after-content”]When we first moved into our house over 5 years ago, there was a single goose that visited our pond. Shortly after we settled in, Goosey found her true love. Geese mate for life, so we expected the two to return the next year. They did. It was refreshing to see commitment and long term love in a relationship, even if it was a pair of birds. It was exciting when they had their first babies. My kids enjoyed watching the little goslings grow into adults. We all anticipated their annual visit.

This year, our two geese returned and we watched all summer as their 5 little children grew to be as big as them over a few months time. They laid in our back yard, they swam in the pond, they visited our neighbors, and they gave us something beautiful and entertaining to watch out our back windows. While 7 geese was a bit overwhelming, we knew they would leave soon and the cycle would start all over again next year.

But then 5 more geese showed up one day this week. 5 more joined them the next day. For several days, we watched the 17 geese swim and hang out along the shore of the pond. I started to get a little nervous about the number. But I kept telling the kids they were all gathering up to head out soon. Sounded good to me. Apparently, my pond is a sweet spot for birds. I mean, we do see egrets and other water birds from time to time.

This morning a few more families showed up. I counted 33 geese! 33! It’s starting to look crowded out there. I think they agree. We watched a few fights this afternoon. Not sure who is who at this point, but I would chase others off too if I was one of the originals. At what point is the pond considered “full”? How do they know to come here? Are the new families some of Goosey’s original children? Things that run through my mind while I hope all 33 will leave soon.

Of course, I “googled” the migration patterns and schedules for Canadian Geese. It says they should be heading out mid-August.  That would mean some time next week.  At the rate the numbers are growing, I’m a little worried about the next few days and the possibility of more geese showing up.  For a small suburb in a rural community, 33 seems like too many already.   Seems appropriate that a group of geese is called a “gaggle.”  Is there a limit to the number of geese in a gaggle? At what point will they turn on the “no vacancy” sign and claim the pond is full?  Looking forward to watching their V-formation fly away until next year.

Back to school already?!   As we walked into the middle school for open house yesterday I felt like I had just been there a few days ago for the last day of school awards ceremony.   However, it had been 73 days.   And just like that—74 days of summer are done, and the kids went back to school today.  Yes, it is the first week of August.

What happened to going back to school after Labor Day?  I realize some schools up north still have weeks of summer left.   They also were still in school when we were already starting our many summer adventures.  However, I think we have this whole concept backwards.   August in the South is hot.   Very hot.  And humid.  Not just a little warm.  Africa hot with tropical moisture.  The afternoon thunderstorms are still arriving.  The grass in my yard is still growing.  The geese that arrived last spring are even still here!  Mother Nature says it is still summer!  Today would have been a great pool day with a high of 90 degrees and sunny to partly cloudy skies.  Sounds like summer to me!

I can complain all day about the early start date, but it isn’t going to change the fact that my kids went back to school today.  74 days of summer went by in the blink of an eye.  So quickly that we were still cleaning out backpacks from last school year at 8:00 last night.  To their credit, at least they agreed to recycle the backpacks this year instead of insisting on a new one.   After purchasing 7 binders, all the discounted notebook paper I could find (2 packs at a time—I didn’t want the cashiers to know I’m really hoarding school supplies), 48 #2 wooden pre-sharpened pencils, several boxes of colored pencils, glue sticks, numerous other items, plus a calculator that would have made high school math so much easier back in my day—we were ready for the last two school-age kids to get their learning on!  Off they went to school this morning carrying a load of school supplies that looked like they were about to hike the Appalachian Trail instead of riding a school bus.

Summer was busy but went by like a blur. The first day of school started smoothly, even with someone forgetting their glasses they need to see the board.  Easy fix!  They were ready 20 minutes early.  No one cried.  Everyone ate some breakfast.  No one changed their outfit a million times.  No one was late for school.  Sounds like a success story to me.  Now….how many days until next summer?

Next weekend is my 30 year high school reunion.    I missed the 10 year reunion because I was stationed in Korea.  I missed the 20 year reunion because my husband at the time was returning from Afghanistan the same weekend.  I missed the 25 year reunion because I was TDY to Korea.   The Army made sure I was unavailable for all three events.  But my best excuse yet—I’ll miss the 30 year reunion because my daughter’s soccer team is playing in the 3v3 National Championships at Disney World.

30 years ago this summer I would never have imagined I would be where I am today.   5 kids.   2 divorces.  1 Bachelor’s degree.  2 Master’s degrees.  25+ years in the military and still going.  2 house mortgages.  1 car payment.  Big ol’ John Deer lawnmower in my garage.  Living with my dad….no wait, he lives with me.

I could go on and on about all the ups and downs in my personal life, but where did the last 30 years go?   Since we left high school in 1988, we’ve had 6 U.S. Presidents.  We’ve had 5 Jurassic Park movies.  There’s been over 55 different flavors of Oreos.   We witnessed 9/11 and have experienced many changes in our way of life since then.  And can you imagine how different high school (or even college) would have been if we had the internet and Google?

The last 30 years have been a blur.  Birth of my children, college graduations, multiple career changes.   The growth of computers and cell phones.  The loss of typewriters and pay phones.   In 1988, the price of gas was 95 cents per gallon.  Now you are lucky if you can find gas for less than 3 dollars on a good day.   In 1988, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan.  Guess who’s there now?   The Soviets were there for 10 years….we beat them on that statistic.  Who would have thought in 1988 that we would have U.S. troops in Afghanistan for almost 17 years?! Things sure have changed the last 30 years, even when we didn’t notice the time flying by.

Yes, I’ll miss the 30 year high school reunion next weekend.   But its 2018!  We have Facebook and Instagram to keep us all up-to-date.   Thank God, we didn’t have social media in 1988!

My oldest daughter is getting married next year.  And the wedding has weaved its way into all aspects of our lives.   Our calendar revolves around wedding events!

What did you do for vacation?  We went to Charleston.   Did you see the fort?  Did you visit the market?   We tried on dresses.   We visited venues.   We made address labels.   Oh, but wait…

We did walk on the beach and eat a good meal. We did spend 2 days cramming in a lifetime of memories with my oldest daughter. We did enjoy our visit. It just wasn’t all touristy.

This weekend is the big reveal! The actual wedding dress that will eternally be just hers has arrived and this weekend she tries it on for the first time. Sorry, can’t post pictures until after the wedding. But there will be more fittings and adaptions made to make it just right.

But there’s so many more decisions to make in less than a year! Flower girl dresses that make the bride and her two youngest sisters happy. That may be harder than picking the wedding dress. At least the bridesmaids are in agreement, so that’s one less thing to worry about. Then there’s my mother of the bride dress. I’ve at least narrowed the color down to some shade of grey. (Just one please, not 50)

In the end, this will be a big celebration that will actually have been 8 years in the making. It’s a big deal for all of us! Our blended and dysfunctional family with branches and sequels will meld with the more traditional family of the groom. My oldest daughter, my first born child, my original mini-me, my grown-up baby will marry her “John Smith.” She’s always had a thing for blonde hair and blue eyes ever since she saw Pocahontas. My brown hair and brown eye beauty will set the standard, as always, for her many younger sisters to follow! Did I mention she has 3 sisters, 2 step-sisters, and is about to gain a sister-in-law?

This won’t be my last wedding post. It’s just an introduction. So prepare yourself for more wedding talk. And help us all to remember to enjoy this stressful but worthy event!