The Most Magical Place on Earth

 

First Day of School 2020

 Back to the blog, and what a time to get it started back up!  Social media is a mess of hostility, so why not go back to posting our significant moments on the old digital scrapbook.

The girls went back to school at St. Mary's this week, despite a high level of COVID-19 cases in Washington County.  St. Mary's has taken all reasonable precautions, and let's face it, after 6 months in the house the risk is worth the reward for the girls.  It will be a very different kind of year, but we're confident the love, community and academics will be as strong at St. Mary's as ever.

Poor Deacon and Spencer have no idea what's going on....after 6 months of exclusive quality time with the family (and precious few moments in the crate) they aren't certain they like what's going on here.

And of course the masks!

Charleston Shrimp n' Grits Half Marathon

So Emily was inspired and after about 6 years we decided to run another half marathon (just about the same time since we last made a post!)  We made the decision around the beginning of December 2019 to run the race on January 11, 2020.  It was a great decision for a number of reasons....first, it kept the holiday calories at bay!  But it also allowed us to focus on hope and forward movement during a difficult time of year.  In addition to the post-holiday malaise, we remember both Tom and Gator who we lost around this time of year.  We were happy to finish the course with a 10:02 pace, though our run apps and the race organizers had some disagreement over the actual length of the course.  We've slowed a bit since the Bluegrass, but for this time of our lives slowing down a bit is not necessarily a bad thing.

We had a great stay in downtown Charleston and are loving the idea of exercise tourism....I'm looking for our next event, though it may require more wheels than heels.

The Fluffery Bag of Bones

On a bright and sunny Sunday in November, we went drove to Greenville, South Carolina to pick up the newest member of our family.  "Jazz" is a Springer Doodle, a cross between an English Spring Spaniel and a Poodle.  Soon to be named Spencer (after Princess Diana Spencer, we do love English dog names!) we was quickly evaluated and accepted by each member of our family....in truth we all just wanted some of his sweet snuggles!

At the time, we had no idea how crazy of a journey we were embarking on.  But to his credit, despite everything else, he has been a deeply loved and cherished member of our pack ever since this beautiful fall day.

Deacon

Our family welcomed its newest member today.  It has been a rough winter for us, losing both Gator and Smokey.  But into the sadness comes this spunky, mischievous, occasionally snarky, but also deeply loving little guy.  We adopted Deacon through Triangle Beagle Rescue, an absolutely wonderful organization.  On a beautiful weekend in April, we drove out to Raleigh with the T-bone to bring this little guy home.  Even though Thatcher has slowed down at this point, we think he's very happy to have another buddy to spend time with.

The Day We Lost Gator

 The year started off as well as it could have.  We had spent Christmas at Hilton Head Island with Gran and her side of the family.  This picture was taken right before I took the boys to the dog sitter, as it happens it is the last picture of Gator looking at the camera.

We were very happy to see our boys when we got home, though they did find a way to immediately get into chocolate and earn a trip to the emergency vet.  Here they are recovering from the induced vomiting.

Monday went fine, we were enjoying The Greatest Showman soundtrack at the time.  But that evening we noticed Gator was being kind of puny, he was just laying at the top of the stairs with a sad look on his face.  As the one who always overreacts, I tried to not worry too much about him because, after all, he was still with us 13 years later!  I resolved to take him to the vet in the morning if he was back to acting like himself.  Unfortunately, I never got that opportunity.  Emily and I were woken in the night by Gator gasping for breath.  Before I could get my second pant leg on Emily told me to stop and come over, he was about to leave us.  And so he did....

I loved that dog.  There is plenty of evidence documented in this blog to testify to his greatness.  Loyal, sweet, tennis ball loving, he was all we could have asked for.  His loss was a blow, and turned out to be an omen for a rough year.

So we buried him in the backyard and planted a dogwood tree to mark his final resting spot.  How appropriate for him to be buried in the backyard where he spent so much time running and chasing tennis balls.

There were lots of tears, and not just from the girls.

After losing his companion of 13 years, Thatcher was a little down too.

A Difficult Day

We lost Gator early this morning.  Other than being a little peuny last night, we didn't have any reason to think that he was very sick.  We woke this morning to him gasping for breaths in our bedroom.  As I was trying to put my pants on to take him to the emergency vet, Emily was holding him.  In a moment of doctor's skill or motherly wisdom, she stopped me and called me over.  We held him as he left this place to travel the rainbow bridge.  We know he's with Tom in a better place.

We laid his body to rest in a coffin we built and decorated.  He is buried under a dogwood tree in the backyard he spent so many hours enjoying.

There are loads of pictures of him on this blog, but this one is from just a couple weeks ago.

First time fishing

Don't worry, the fish were safe.....we weren't using hooks, just practicing casting with bobbers. 

First Day of Summer Camp

This is a big day for our girls....it's the first time they get to go to the same place during the day. For now, it's summer camp. In August, it will be St Marys. 

They were so excited this morning. Little Bucs is such an awesome camp, Emily and I were excited for them.....and maybe even a little jealous!

Last Day of School

 

Look at our big girls....how did that happen!?!?  We're supposed to have babies!!

We are sad that this will be our last day at ETSUs Child Study Center. It's been an absolutely great experience for both of our girls. We'll miss it!  Mrs. Joy, who has been an absolutely amazing teacher for both of our girls, happened to walk into Mellow Mushroom one night this week when we were eating there with friends....you just can't imagine the excitement from her fan club that ensured!

And we'll miss Mrs. Kirkland who has been a great teacher for Lily in second grade. A vast improvement over my second grade experience many years ago with the "horse hog."

Jimmy played ETSU!!!

Yep...here's the picture to prove it (taken from a local newspaper).  From the look of it, it was probably in the 1970's, but hey.....who cares when he's wearing an ETSU shirt!

Bays Mountain

We went out for a Memorial Day hike and picnic at Bays Mountain in Kingsport this morning. We took a 2.3 mile hike around the man made lake. On the hike we saw 4 deer and 2 snakes!  The first was a black snake, probably 4 feet long. We're not sure about the second, best guess is that is was a baby garter or eastern ribbon snake.  Anyway, it was great fun!