December 2023

Hendrick Christmas Party kicked off the HOLYday season.  He decided to go '80s style...

just kidding.  He went with his winter tie and a friend.

Then for our big family Advent event we chose to attend Handle's Messiah performed at the University of Duke Chapel.  It was absolutely beautiful to view and listen too.

We continued our Sunday Afternoon with the Masters - Art projects.

Then much to everyones pleasure Grandpa Bob came for a second visit.  This time disguised as Santa Bob.  Though the kids like most to spend time with their grandfather, they did appreciate the gifts as well.  

The pellet guns served as a great form of amusement in the weeks that followed.

We surprised Chris with a custom new plate when I renewed his tags this month.  Now he enjoys revving his engine in front of EVs even more.

Bowling with friends is always a fun holiday activity.

Khan is becoming part of the family...

but because of his love of vines Christmas Lights had to be kept to the front yard this year...

On the 10 year anniversary of us being in North Carolina we decided to reenact our first Christmas photo.

Here is 2013...

Here is 2023....

 

November 2023

The big focus of November is to finish up the school year by Thanksgiving.  That proved to be a challenge with all the other fun things we had planned. 

Rabbit day began with Grandpa Bob coming for a much anticipated visit. With the help of his friend JD he was able to stop by on their way to do business in the mountains.  He hadn't been able to visit since 2019 so this was a much awaited and enjoyed event.

FIAR field trip was to an Alpaca Farm this month.  Ever since seeing ads on TV for "I LOVE ALPACA.com" I have been pestering Chris about how we really needed to own alpacas.  Thankfully we resisted my pleas.  After learning about them in depth, I think I'm okay with just owning this cute hat.

Saturday the boys rolled up to Cars and Coffee.  Their main takeaway was how to understand race flags...

Lance spent time this month honing in his marksmanship skills with Frank.

Then the boys were off to the dances and this time Amber as a late birthday gift from Mrs. L got to attend with them, which meant Chris and I had a DATE NIGHT!  Date Nights are very rare for us and thoroughly enjoyed just having the house to ourselves for an evening.  One surprise bonus for the kids was getting to connect up again with old friends 

and the usual suspects...

For a break from school the kids got back into the simple pleasure of maze building again.

Then Thanksgiving Day was upon us and I'm happy to report we did finish up our school year tasks.  So now everyone can enjoy the HOLYday season unencumbered by school work.  The M-Family, Frank and Mary joined us again this year to make our merriment complete.

The month did end with one solemn note.  Jared and Titus' favorite master left Yong-In.  We wish him well and will miss him greatly.  He was a remarkable role model to the kids throughout their Taekwondo journey.

October 2023

In addition to all the fun surrounding birthdays this month we did quite a bit more....

FIAR had a field trip to Raleigh Fire Department training center followed by lunch at a neat park where the parents talked and the kids ran around.

Jared got together with old friends for Airsoft.  

Lance worked on perfecting his swing....more. (see video)

Titus enjoyed working with Frank on a big lawn mower project for a few days.

Amber had another Horse Show the day after her birthday.  This time she competed as a Jumper and on two different horses.  She competed on Tonka in the 18 inch division (he was chosen by lottery) for her....

and then in the cross-rail division on Sven (this time she was riding for him).  At the last horse show Sven had lost his mind fled the arena and was unable to compete, Ambers goal was to get him to compete.  It didn't matter if he was disqualified he just needed to finish and not spook.  She was successful and the owner of the horse was very appreciative and we were very proud of her.

After a long morning of riding the excitement wasn't over.  Next, we went to pick-up our new family member a 18 month old pure-bred German Shepherd named Khan.  Khan's owner was in a situation and needed to re-home him quick and we were the lucky recipients.  Chris has wanted another GSD ever since Sarge died years ago but it wasn't in the budget, however free certainly is.  

What a month of birthdays and new beginnings.

Two Weeks of Birthday Fun

October is both Chris and Amber's birthdays and they are rather close together though each has their special days, sometimes events get combined so I thought I'd do the same with this post.

We started out the birthday celebration using up our passes to the GSC before they expired joined by the M-Family and Kimberly.

As a special treat we finally let the four youngest do the ropes course that Titus has been hungering to do every since he first saw it last year at Amber's B-Day party.  The course did not disappoint, there was an incredible variety of obstacles over seven different runs.  Of course, nothing was too much for my little fearless athletes, they absolutely loved it.  The rest of us down below has a blast heckling them on as the courses went back and forth over the paths in the zoo.

There were two new Red Pandas, one of the most adorable animals and a baby pygmy hippo which I can't call cute but how about novel.  The penguins, stingrays, okapis and pop-ups were favorite exhibits as well.  After we fueled up at Wicked Burger Yummmmmy!!!!  I wish they had any burger places like it near us, but maybe its just as well we might eat out more if they did.

After this joint event we put the focus on Chris which meant me cooking a lot of dishes I hadn't cooked in a long time, some the kids liked some they didn't but it was all for Chris and they could make their own food when it wasn't of their liking.  Some of the dishes however did make it Amber's new list of favorite foods so they were repeated during her birthday week.

On Wednesday we surprised him with new floor mats for Big Red.  He was really in need of new ones and it was something he wouldn't have bought himself.  They look really nice.

Then on his actual birthday after the normal morning chaos we presented him with the present we'd been hiding in Lance's room for two weeks..... Mexican Coke.  Its rather hard to find anymore so when a saw a small pallet at Costco I brought Jared shopping with me next time to lift it and we smuggled it in the house.  He is being very careful to not to bend the caps and save all the bottles.  In the evening the grandparents came over for lasagna and cake.  I think he was very pleased with his birthday week.

Then began Amber's week in earnest.  After a week of daddy controlling the watch scheduled which included daily baseball (it is the playoffs afterall) and the finally Return of the Jedi - The kids have now seen the Star Wars Trilogy.  We now had to schedule her films of choice around said baseball schedule but it worked.

Thanks to "Uncle" Janet finding my old collection of Breyer horses in the attic and sending them back (which I'd given her daughter years ago) Amber saw a large increase in her collection for her birthday with which she was quite pleased.

On her actual birthday we had our Celebration of course, to the song and birthday ball attack.  Then dinner of her choice and spice cake for desert later in the day with her "boyz".  She's growing so fast and more beautiful by the day.  Here "boyz" are going to have their hands full some day.  Thankfully as she grows in body she also grows in maturity (as is seen by how well she controls 1500lb animals). 

Here's to the best year ever for my darling Chis and precious Amber.

Fall HH 2023

Another 5 Days in Paradise to renew our bodies, minds and souls....

The moon was full this year adding to the beauty and the tides.

We found a star to keep it company (first live starfish we've ever found) and

we made a smiley face for the turtles (or just us).

Sandcastle building was a big priority...

along with fishing of course.

Why not a little promo for Big Bro too?

We did come off the beach occasionally for lunch and a little golf...

but the beach is where the power and magic will always be at our little home away from home.

September 2023

While Titus and I were in Atlanta (see previous post), the rest of the family said a sad farewell to the Tank Museum.  They were able to watch one more flame thrower demonstration...

take a lot of pics and even take home a little piece of the museum in the end (76mm shell casing from M4A3E8 Sherman tank from the Korean War).  It is so sad that places like this can't stay open but hopefully most of the collection will find new homes where their important contribution to history can be remembered and appreciated.

FIAR field trips resumed again this month.  First trip was to Pullen Park for some simple part fun and then later that day to finally tour the new Cathedral (I've been wanting to see the inside ever since it opened). 

We had a wonderful docent take us through the church and explain the history behind many of the details ie. special windows, statues and organ.

Mid-Month some ECD kids gathered at our house before heading off together for the dance.  It's great the kids have these dances to go to and socialize in a safe environment after.

The rest of the month was spent in Hilton Head but more on that in another post.