Sad day ..

Bailey June 28, 1997 - March 4, 2011

We found out about two weeks ago that Bailey had a tumor in her abdomen. Changed her diet and she was doing pretty well until today. I found her when we came home from work/school down and unable to walk. She'd been like this before so I didn't rush to make a decision about what to do. Michael arrived home and agreed to wait and see. Around supper time it was clear she was suffering so we headed out to an emergency vet and she died on the way there.
While Bailey tried your patience (ok mine mostly) at times, she could be very sweet as well. She was especially sweet in her older years and I will miss seeing her warm brown eyes each day.

Garrett's Pink Panther

Halloween Costume

Near the end of September Garrett asked when we would go shopping for a Halloween costume. Picturing the state of his room, with various pieces to all the Halloween costumes from years past spread around the floor, I replied with "how about you put together a costume from what you have and we'll buy any accessories you may need". I could tell that wasn't the reply he wanted but didn't dwell on it and the subject didn't come up again until mid October. By then Garrett had opted against putting together a costume and had settled on going as a Rubik's Cube. We all agreed it was a terrific idea, we have boxes and paint, all he needed to do was make his costume. Last Friday, October 30th, we finally brought out a box and laid out the grid and then Saturday morning Garrett painted all the squares.

The costume turned out great and he received a lot of compliments while trick or treating that evening.

Time flies when you're having fun ...

It's hard to believe our last post was in April. I suppose that speaks to how busy life can be. Here is it the start of August, which means EJ has graduated from high school and is headed off to college in a few short days;
Garrett finished 4th grade, has been to (and thoroughly enjoyed!) Camp Voyager and turned 10 years old; we've had our trip to the beach and Cousin Camp; celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (a little early) in Charleston and have returned from our mission trip to Calgary, Canada.
In between trips Michael remodeled our upstairs bath, repaired and painted the front porch ceiling, and has almost completed the armoire for the bedroom. We also managed to fit in a few rounds of golf and several trips to the neighborhood pool. All-in-all a terrific summer and I'm sad to see it come to a close.

Camp Voyager

Garrett will attend his first overnight summer camp this year …. Some of his first comments on the camp were:

“Why would we need showers in the cabins?”

“Mom, I’ll only need to pack one set of clothes, the rest of the days I’ll just dress myself out of the lost and found.”

…. Should be an interesting four days! I’m pretty sure I don’t have to worry about him dressing out of lost and found as he’s way too picky about how clothes fit him for lost and found items to suit him.

Squirrels

the squirrels feel so at home at our place ... they are bringing the peanuts some idiot neighbor is leaving out for them to our front porch to shell and snack on!

Spring Break

In spite of a very rainy week, Garrett and I have both enjoyed our week off. Our break started with rain last Saturday which unfortunately canceled four soccer games that Garrett was looking forward to playing. Sunday was sunny and very windy so Michael and Garrett headed to the park in the afternoon to fly a kite. That trip was successful in spite of the many trees and I believe Michael only ended up climbing one tree to untangle the kite.

On Monday morning Michael headed off to work while Garrett, Bailey and I headed to Myrtle Beach for the week. Upon arrival at Mom and Dad's Garrett and Mimi created a list of things Garrett hoped to do by Friday lunchtime when we would head back to Spartanburg. Garrett's list included: swimming at the indoor pool, going to the beach to fly his kite, mini golf, golf, see a movie and make t-shirts. The two days of rain spoiled mini golf and golf, but I believe he accomplished everything else on his list and we had a great visit with Mom and Dad. Trips to Myrtle Beach are a favorite of mine as it's one of the few places I can do little else besides read and shop a little, while not feeling guilty about it. We arrived home Friday afternoon just in time to greet Michael as he came home from work. I guess the only thing that could make spring break better would be to have the same break Michael has, but we are too grateful to each have a break so you won't hear us complain too much.

Garrett's spring break will wrap up today in grand style with a trip to Carowinds in Charlotte, NC with school friends. He was so excited last night about the trip that he commented "it's just like Christmas!" as I put him to bed. I was invited to come along today, but when I asked Garrett if he wanted me to go he was quick to say he'd rather I didn't. Guess I can't blame him for that, as having "mom" along would create the potential for some nagging on my part that would easily take away some of the fun for him. While it's hard to believe he's old enough to go to an amusement park without us, it's clearly just the start of the independence he will have more of in no time at all.