southbound

Hurricane Irene came and went, and, as she left, she took the majority of Richmond's power with her.  Hateful woman....

The week preceding the start of school was a harried one.  On Sunday the 28th, I readied myself -- packed my tote bag, measured food into individual containers for quick lunch packing, checked my to-do and to-take-with-me lists 67 times....only to receive a phone call from my mother at 6:30 that I should turn on the news -- all school systems are closed Monday.  In my new county, more than 75% of schools were still without power and would likely still be dark by the end of the week.  My old county made the executive decision very quickly to close schools for the entire teacher work week and begin school a week late on the 12th of September - no time would have to be made up.  Maybe I left at the wrong time??? 

Chesterfield teachers (my new county, or "home" as I like to call it!!) got 2 more days of summer vacation.  Most of my team members were still without power until the first day of school, but all schools had power restored by Wednesday of teacher work week.  Now, when I say "power", unfortunately, I don't mean air conditioning.  We had two and a half glorious days of 90+ degree weather and no circulation.  It was rather miserable, considering the majority of teacher work week is manual labor setting up your classroom.

On Friday, the administration kicked us out at 5:00, and Eric, Anna and I headed South.  We had a long-overdue trip planned.
It's been THREE years since we went down to Calabash -- embarrassing, in my opinion.  We owed Gam and Pop a visit in a BAD way....sadly, we were only able to stay a couple of days, but we got in some much needed snuggle time, beach fun, and lounging poolside. 

Night one:  Beach!

It took Anna a while to let Eric put her down, but, once she let him, she was OFF like a rocket and we couldn't get her OFF the beach. 

We had a great time getting sand in our toes and our toes in the sand....

....but, sadly, all good things must come to an end.  We hauled a screaming toddler to the car where it took three of us to change her diaper and clothes in the back of the car.  We had a yummy little pizza dinner at a local dive and then headed home for Bourbon Slush and puzzles. 

Joe and I had a great thing going with Eric and Betty as we crushed up an orange popsicle and had them both convinced for about 12 seconds that we'd given Anna some Bourbon slush ("Hey, she's had a busy afternoon.  She'll need some help going to sleep."). 

The next day, we headed out to one of the sister properties in the area to get a glimpse of Gam and Pop's new house that's being built.  It's GORGEOUS!!!!

Yeah, okay, this isn't going to be their house.  It's new construction in a relatively affluent subdivision for some mucky-muck CEO/big-wig so he can entertain big-name clients.  It boasts a 9-car garage and, supposedly, a roof-top outlook that overlooks the ocean.  While the neighborhood itself is quite nice, this monstrosity ends up being a rather overbearing eyesore.  It is TOTALLY out of place.

We ended our time in Calabash (see, I told you, ridiculously short visit) at the pool. 



After packing and cleaning up, it was time to head home.  We're so sorry we didn't get to stay longer, but it motivates us to schedule our next visit MUCH sooner than next summer!

(if you're happy and you know it, shout hooray!)

Thanks for everything!  We love you guys!