Ummmm....

At 9:00 tonight, Staley and I had this conversation:

Staley:  "Will I be home late from my track meet tomorrow?"

Me:  "Probably.  It doesn't start until 5:30 and it's about an hour away."

Staley: "Shoot!  I have to make cookies for Spanish class on Tuesday.  Can you make them for me?"

Me:  "No.  I work tomorrow and then am going to Adelie's track meet and then your track meet.  I can buy you some from Braker's or something if you want."

Staley:  "No.  I have to make them.  I signed up to make Mexican cookies for World Food Day.  I'm getting graded on it."

Ummmm...guessing Staley is going to have a late night tomorrow.

Life Goals

The other day, Adelie announced, "When I grow up, I want to be the Queen of England because you get to wear fancy dresses and have lots of money, but you don't really have to do anything."  Upon further investigation, she realized that she probably can't be the Queen of England due to the succession rules.  However, she found that Prince Vincent of Denmark is 14 years old and not engaged to be married yet.  She said, "I guess I can be the Queen of Denmark.  I don't really care.  I just want to be a queen in Europe, so if Denmark's the best I can do, so be it."

#lifegoals

This girl never ceases to amuse me!

Spring Break: South Carolina

Our Spring Break this year aligned with the Rays again, so we made plans to meet them in South Carolina for a week of beach fun on Hilton Head Island.  By driving to Hilton Head, we were able to mark off a few more states on our list of states to visit as a family (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia), as well as another National Park.  So our road tripping champs took to the roads once again!

We hit the road early on Saturday morning, driving the 10 hours to Asheville, NC with just one pit stop along the way for gas, bathrooms, and lunch at Panera.  Our road trip books this trip were The Hunger Games (the clear favorite), The Amulet of Samarkand (okay, but we all got a little tired of it), Half Magic (kinda silly), and Fortunately, the Milk (a quick, quirky listen).  We were a little underwhelmed with our book selections this trip.

We checked into our hotel, ate dinner at Chipotle, and got some rest for our day of exploring Asheville.  After our hotel breakfast, we headed to our planned hike for the day.  Our plan was to hike Black Balsom Knob or Graveyard Fields Loop, but both hikes were inaccessible due to road closures.  So we ended up hiking the 6.5 mile roundtrip hike to Looking Glass Rock.

It was a nice hike that ended at a beautiful vista where we ate our snacks and enjoyed the view before hiking back down.

We followed up our hike with a little shopping at an outlet mall close to our hotel and then a really yummy dinner at Daddy Mac's Down Home Dive.

After another night in our Asheville hotel and a big breakfast, we headed to mark another national park off our list:  Congaree National Park!

We "hiked" (walked) the Boardwalk Trail.  Part of the loop was closed, so we just walked as far as we could access and then headed back.

There was a self-guided tour along the way with various checkpoints that you could read about in the informational brochure.  Of course, Zach had to stop and read every one.  The kids got WAY ahead of us.

The Boardwalk ended at a lake, where we saw a big snake, fish, and several turtles.  Wildlife viewing is always a highlight.  We kept an eye out for gators, but never saw any of those.

Congaree was a nice pit stop to break up our drive.  Definitely not a destination park, but worth a stop on our way.

After Congaree, we headed to Hilton Head.  We got checked into our Air BNB and met up with the Rays.  Christie and I went to do some grocery shopping for the week while the boys took the kids to the beach for some sunset beach pictures.

They had a great time doing a whole photo shoot.

So much fun and so many great photos!!  (Briggs was along for the ride, but opted out of the pictures.)

Our days took on a pretty typical cadence.  We'd sleep in, go for a run on the trails that were all around the island, and then head to the beach for the rest of the day.

The weather was perfect!  Mid 70's and sunny was just right for hanging on the beach without getting too hot.

There was swimming and body boarding...

laying out and reading...

flying kites...

building sand creations...

playing games...

and lots of long walks on the beach.

Evening fun typically entailed dinner at the house, visiting, and playing games.

There was one night with a trip to the Milk Shake Factory that involved a wait of well over an hour.

Hunting for (and finding) ghost crabs on the beach one night was a highlight.

An adult's night out to Hudson's Seafood House was a great idea as we enjoyed drinks, a beautiful sunset, live music, and then some scrumptious seafood while the kids ate pizza and had movie night back at the house.

We loved our Airbnb, but the best part was the screened in porch overlooking a golf course.

The girls made themselves right at home in their bunk room...you couldn't even walk in there.

Driving the golf cart to the beach and taking advantage of the community pool were also highlights...especially after a hot run.

We really enjoyed the Hilton Head 'vibe.'  Very laid back, super walkable/runnable, and beautiful.

The kids all enjoyed the beach and their time together.

And, of course, it was so fun hanging out and spending time with Christie and Jonathan.

We were all sad to say good-bye to the beach, but had at least one more fun stop to look forward to after leaving Hilton Head...

the Georgia Aquarium!!!

It was a great aquarium!  Some highlights included the dolphin show (one of the best we've ever seen...but we made sure to not sit in the soak zone), the very active octopus, the sharks, the manta rays, the beluga whales, and...

the whale shark!!

It was a great stop on our way home.  We made it to Nashville after our aquarium afternoon, having dinner at a 5 Guys before our last night on the road before the final push home.

One of our surprise highlights on the way home was this little gas station/convenience store in Evansville, IN where they had a bakery that served delicious homemade donuts and muffins.  We enjoyed baked goods and gas station snacks in the car as our lunch on the way home.

It was another great Spring Break trip enjoying a new place with good friends.

Love you, Hilton Head!  Thanks for the memories!!

How Did We Miss March?

Spring is crazy!  So many things are happening.  We have birthdays and spring break and track and theater.  Yes, it's May, but here's a look back on what happened in March.

Both girls competed in their early March Bible Quiz Off at Taylor University in Indiana.  Adelie competed on EBC's Jr. High 2 team.

Staley competed with EBC's senior high team.

Both girls helped their team make it into the afternoon tournament round of the Quiz Off.

Unfortunately, both teams lost in the first round of the tournament.

Zach, Briggs, and I traveled to Taylor for an overnight stay and to watch the girls compete.  Briggs had a great time hanging out with his friends who also had siblings on the teams.

Although Briggs celebrated his birthday with friends in February, he still enjoyed his dinner of choice (Grammie's chicken noodle casserole) and presents on his actual birthday.

He was most excited about his new bike!!  Although his new Zelda game for the Wii was another exciting gift.

Adelie and Everly competed in the Fight for Life pickleball tournament.  They had never really played before and were one of only two jr. high teams in the Jr/Sr high division.

With some solid coaching from Everly's dad, they set a goal of scoring at least 1 point.  And in their final of 3 games, they accomplished their goal!!

As one of the girls' Christmas presents, we took them to Chicago to see Hamilton one Sunday afternoon.

Our seats weren't the best as we were under the balcony that blocked some of the upper level of the stage, but we still really enjoyed the show.

And we followed it up with some Chicago style pizza before heading for home.  We had planned for Briggs to spend some time in Chicago with Uncle Ethan while we were at the show, but a cold, rainy day made that less ideal, so he just stayed home with Grammie instead.

Staley finished up her indoor track season.  Her indoor track season PRs were 4 X 400 split of 1:09, 4 X 800 split of 2:39, 1600 PR of 6:08, and 3200 PR of 13:45.

Adelie celebrated her birthday towards the end of March with dinner with grandparents.  She got wireless earbuds, pink Goodrs, and some clothes that she was excited about.

Meatballs was her dinner of choice this year.

Although life was too busy for a big birthday outing with friends, Adelie had a few of her friends over on an early out day to hang out for some birthday fun.  Stella, Everly, Anna, and Annaleise are such sweet friends!

We ended March with a spring break trip to South Carolina.  More to come on this!

Spring always has us feeling a little crazy!  So many things going on, but all good things.