Tuesday
the 31st. Brooke delivered a healthy 20 inch baby girl with dark hair and
green eyes that weighed 6lb 14 oz at 2:03. Congratulations Mike, Brooke, and
Landon!
Monday the 30th. We are back home in
Mayberry after an enjoyable trip to Pennsylvania to see our friend
Scott and his wife Cherry. We stopped at Summersville Dam on our way
out of town yesterday. Summersville Dam is the largest earthen dam East of
the Mississippi and the reservoir for one of the best whitewater rivers in the
world, the Gauley. Super, super jealous of everyone putting their kayaks
in below the dam to run the upper Gauley. And the lake itself was
beautiful with lots of cliff overhangs, I would like to kayak it too. Ben
fell asleep before we reached New River Gorge Bridge, the longest arch bridge in
the Western Hemisphere, so we didn't walk out to the overlook. The next
stop was a visit with Amy's Aunt Jerry Ann and Uncle Charlie in Bluefield.
Jackson enjoyed hearing Grand Jimmy stories and Ben had fun playing in the yard
and in Jerry Ann's convertible. He played a game where he would count to
three and jump off the sidewalk. We didn't find anyone home in Bland,
Virginia, but the boys enjoyed stretching their legs at the Muncy home-place.
Tonight we celebrated Memorial Day with friends. Timmesa had a Sponge Bob cake for Ben. He was very happy to hear "Happy Birthday" one more time.
Sunday the 29th. We are in
Summersville, WV and getting ready to drive home to North Carolina. The
weather is great and we are hoping to visit family along the way.
Saturday the 28th. First off let me
say that we have the loudest two year old on the planet. If we are in a
restaurant, it's the people that just sat down that think Ben is the cutest.
An hour later they aren't as charmed. And unfortunately it took over an
hour at the Eat'n'Park in
Somerset to get our food. Bob Evans in Summersville more than made up for it.
They brought the fruit and rolls immediately, then followed it with our food
just a few minutes later. I was almost giddy to be able to eat in quiet
without having to worry about how long the food would take to get to the table . When you are waiting for your food and have a
two year old octopus trying to climb out of their high chair, minutes are 600
seconds long. It down poured while we ate, but we walked out of the
restaurant and back to the hotel with a giant rainbow in the sky. We found
a hotel with an indoor pool and that made Jackson very happy. All in all
it was a fun day on the road for all of us. The entire drive was very scenic and
we only ran into very nice people the whole way.
Friday
the 27th. We attended a wonderful ceremony and reception at
Green Gables in
Jennerstown, Pennsylvania celebrating Scott and Cherry's marriage. We
would like to thank Scott, Cherry, Scott's parents, and everyone else in the
Bearer family for their
wonderful hospitality. The reception was fantastic and it was really,
really fun to see Scott and to meet his wife and family. Scott
looked great and Cherry is simply gorgeous.
Click here to see all the photos in our wedding gallery.
We started the day early in
Summersville, West Virginia.
Jackson and Ben woke up at 6am excited to be in a hotel. I didn't try to
talk Jackson out of going swimming at 8am because that would have taken all day.
Letting him stick his feet in the water only took a second. He said "I kinda thought it would be more fun. It's freezing!!" The scenery was
beautiful all along the drive through West Virginia, a corner of Maryland, and into
South-Western Pennsylvania, although it seemed like we drove uphill for four straight hours.
I know at one point we were driving at 2880 feet and that we drove through the
areas holding the highest points for both Pennsylvania and Maryland at 3213 feet
and 3360 feet respectively. Mount Airy sits at an elevation of 1100 feet,
so that means we should be able to coast all the way home.
Today was also Benjamin's 2nd birthday. We tried to
take time all through the day to let him know it was his "happy day". For
lunch we stopped at a McDonald's playland and let the boys play for over an
hour. Ben also blew out two candles in a cupcake during lunch.
Thursday the 26th. Jackson,
sniff..sniff, had his, sniff...sniff, kindergarten accessment this morning.
Timmesa watched Ben while Amy took Jackson to his future elementary school (I
was in Virginia on business). Then while Amy was taking the "we're
going to distract the parents with a tour so that they don't glue their face to
the window trying to watch their child get evaluated" tour, I got back to
Mount Airy, snuck in to the school and glued my face to the window so that I
could watch Jackson get evaluated. He was so sweet hopping on one foot,
writing the alphabet, catching bean bags, sniff....sniff. Summer is going
to go by way to fast this year.
The rest of the day was spent running errands because we start our drive to Jennerstown, Pennsylvania tonight. We aren't leaving until around 9pm, so the plan is to stop somewhere around Summersville, West Virginia for the night, which almost splits the drive in half. The wedding is at five tomorrow..
Wednesday the 25th.
Our rose bush is exploding with blooms this year, it's really pretty. The
awesome thing about our rose bush is that it was already there when we bought
the house seven years ago. We've never done anything for it or to it.
It just does it's thing every year, filling the corner of our house with big
pink blossoms. So everyday on the way into the house and on the way out,
we try to stop and smell the roses.
Amy and the boys
played on the playground at Tharrington Elementary before walking to Opie's
Candy Store on Main Street for some sweets. Later in the afternoon Amy,
the most fun mom ever, poured over twenty
pounds of flour into our kiddie pool and let the boys play in it. It was
really intended to be something Ben would enjoy, but it was Jackson that had all
the fun. He loved it. Ben, he didn't love it so much. Jackson discovered that he could run through the yard leaving a smoky trail
behind him. Amy said that his hair was so white he looked like George
Washington. Then after karate
Jackson kicked the flour fun up a notch with our neighbor Jacob and Jacob's friend
Sara by adding their trampoline to the mix. Ben just stood close by and
watched. At one point he started yelling "hep! hep!" because
some flour landed on his foot. Of course if it rains tonight we'll have the world's largest biscuit in our
front yard. And speaking of karate, Jackson
did really well again tonight. He continues to listen very intently and
won his sparring match 3 to 1. Near the end of class while playing the red
flag game, Jackson emerged from the pile of kids with his first bloody nose.
Everyone felt very bad for him, but he rebounded in just a few minutes and
returned to class for the final line-up.
We then rented Mary Poppins, a movie that Jackson has wanted to watch for a long
time. He fell asleep watching it.
Tuesday
the 24th. Benjamin sang "We just got a letter, we just got a
letter..." from Blue's Clues while opening his birthday card from Grandma Sue.
Today's errands included a stop at the library for some new
books, it's been a while since the last visit.
Click here to see all the photos and details from this morning's strawberry picking.
Monday
the 23rd. We had a busy (and fun!) weekend, so it took me a few nights
to get our Sesame Street Live photos
online. Click here to see what
we thought of the show and to see all the photos.
Sunday
the 22nd. We celebrated Benjamin's birthday today with a small party at the
house. All the photos and details are on
Benjamin's Birthday Page.
Saturday the 21st. Jackson went to
our neighbor Jacob's skate party with Papa, while Mo watched Ben at our house.
Amy and I spent the evening celebrating Christie and Will Shepard's
wedding.
The ceremony was at the foot of Pilot Mountain and the reception at Cross Creek
Country Club in Mount Airy. The weather, the reception, the band (The Catalinas),
everything was awesome. Amy and I really enjoyed ourselves on a rare night
out alone.
Friday the 20th. Good news, Megan is out of surgery. And she was able to have her procedure done laparoscopically, which was a very nice surprise. Hopefully her recovery will go perfectly and we'll see Megan back home in Mount Airy early next week. I'll have to go into more detail later about Sesame Street Live tonight, but let me just say that we had a wonderful time.
Thursday the 19th. Click
here to go to Jackson's
End Of The Year Program page
and see all the photos and details from his pre-school graduation this morning.
Wednesday
the 18th. Jackson had his last regular pre-school day in Mrs. Golding's
class at Central Methodist. I know that was the fastest year in history. They had a "put everything you want on it" ice
cream party outside to celebrate the occasion. Benjamin sat at his own
little picnic table and ate ice cream too. I'm sure that when Ben starts
Central in 2006 I'll again be writing about how fast time flies. Tomorrow Jackson graduates
in the end-of-the-year program. Sam came home with Jackson after school today, then
Timmesa took both Sam and Jack back to her house later in the afternoon. And of
course Wednesday now means karate, as do Mondays and
Fridays. This Friday we go see Sesame Street Live though. Then
Saturday we have a wedding, while Jackson has another birthday party, this time
at the bowling alley. And Sunday, we first have the KDH company picnic,
then Ben's birthday party
at our house. We are having Ben's party early because we go to Pennsylvania for a wedding next weekend. All of a
sudden it's party time for the Heaths. But back to karate, Jackson got his gi and obi tonight, very cool. He looked very handsome in it. So on
our way home we stopped for a spar/photo shoot with a guy that just moved up the
street from the NC School of the Arts. Jackson also did
really well in class tonight, he worked hard on his basic moves, pinned his
opponent in a grappling match and
drug his team-mate and both members of the other team across the goal line
in a sort of tag football game they play.
Tuesday
the 17th. Our friend Timmesa spent the night in
Winston-Salem with Megan who is having tests ran in preparation for an upcoming
surgery, so Sam came over bright and early to play with Jackson. The boys went
to the
playground and had a fun morning. This
evening Jackson and I went to his buddy Cassell McMillian's birthday party at
the skate rink. Jackson had a fantastic time skating. Plus we worked
tag team on dad's favorite old school game of Galaga, making it all the way to
level 26 on our only token. Jackson thought that was pretty cool, he hit
the shoot button while dad worked the joystick.
Click here to go to the new Fort Clifton gallery.
Monday the 16th. More
photos and details from last night are on the
Dinner Club page.
Sunday the 15th. After lunch
and a visit from Sherri, Wesley, and Jesse, we
started our trip back to Mount Airy, with a stop in Winston-Salem for
Dinner Club at Mike and Brooke's house.
Saturday the 14th. I started the day
early by getting on the water at 6pm. A little later in the morning, Alan
and Jimmy stopped by for a visit. Then Jackson, Amy, and Sue ran errands
while Ben and I took it easy at the house. After lunch the boys and I went
for a hike to the Appomattox River at Fort
Clifton and played on a local playground. Just
before bedtime Sherri, Wesley, and Jesse stopped by to give the boys their
birthday presents.
Click here to watch Jackson practice his Jedi levitation trick (1MB)
Click
here for details and more photos from this morning's paddle on Swift Creek
and the Appomattox River.
Okay, as promised, I am going to let you in on another site that I visit regularly. The Hacking Family is currently cruising in Fiji. I've followed their travels for the past few years, starting around the time they went through the Panama Canal from the Caribbean. This site is interesting because the cruising lifestyle is just so very different than the one most of us live. They sometimes have lags in the updates, but always catch up. And you can find a ton of past reports to read through. Just thought some of you guys out there might like it. I mean just imagine, you and your family on a boat, no house, no car, no bills. Just you, your family, and a boat. Your only expenses are food, clothing, and boat maintenance. You anchor at an island and stay there for a few months, then move on to the next island. And from a technical standpoint, it's just interesting as heck that they can update their website via short-wave radio, how cool is that?
Friday the 13th. Jackson had one of
his last pre-school classes this morning. He has two more next week, then
his end-of-the-year program on Thursday. We did sign Jackson up for a six
week, two day a week, summer program though so that it wouldn't be too big of a
shock this fall when he starts going to kindergarten full time. Tonight we
are in Colonial Heights visiting Nana Sue. We waited to start until
Jackson spent some time in his marital arts class,
so we arrived later than normal. We are all very glad to see Sue again.
I brought my kayak with us and hope to explore some nearby rivers early in the
morning.
Thursday the 12th. Jackson and I started the day early by getting a pickup truck
load of mulch for the backyard. And after spending the morning on the
Loville's Creek walking trail, he and Amy unloaded the whole thing by themselves. Wow, good day for me to be in Marion, Virginia because that was
probably a pretty hot job. Sam also came over to play a little. Just
before dinner the boys went outside to play in the rain. Notice
that in the photo of Ben he is carrying a dandelion
that he has shaken to death. Also notice that his daddy forgot to take his
socks off before sticking him out in the rain.
Wednesday
the 11th. We took so many photos last weekend, it's taking me all week to
work through them. The very pretty girl in the photos on the left is our friend Megan. The 4X4 photos
below are from our visit to my
grandmother's farm in Virginia Saturday evening.
The doggie is Emma, the most photogenic of our group
of pets. In over six years I've never managed to get a single decent photo of
Cassie. And we've got photos of Ben just being his funny little self,
including one photo in the tree house. Notice
that he is holding a little yellow flower in one of the photos. If you
click through our website looking for pictures of Ben, you'll notice that in
ninety percent of his photos, Ben is either holding a> a flower, b> a stick, or
c> one of his stretchy lizard toys. Sometimes you have to look for it, but
it's almost always there.
Benjamin spent his morning playing with his buddy Landon in Winston-Salem. Amy says that Landon is a phenomenal talker and the two boys played together really well. Benjamin enjoyed playing with Jake and with Landon's new backyard playground. Later in the afternoon, Sam and Matthew came by the house to play with Jackson.
Tuesday the 10th.
Today's photos are from Saturday, when we planted Amy's Mother's Day maple tree
and made Mother's Day garden stones.
Early this morning Amy took the boys to meet Timmesa and Sam on the playground (Megan was there too with a class from school). The playground was empty, so the boys all had lots of fun. Sam came back to our house to play, then Jackson went to Sam's house to play some more. During my lunch break, I got the nice treat of rocking Benjamin to sleep, he's often asleep by the time I get home. Ever since Jackson turned five I've wanted to rock Ben more because I know that we don't have many of those days left with him.
Monday the 9th. I've posted
lots of
new photos from our trip to the zoo, click
here if you want to see them. Amy and Ben
started the day with a stroll down Main Street after dropping Jackson off at
pre-school. Everyone played outside this afternoon, well except for me.
But I did get to commute on the bike to Hillsville,
VA. The gorgeous weather had lots of other bikes out along the way too.
Now that I'm riding with my "no dubbya" sticker on the helmet, if I get ran over, you'll know that it was somebody
swerving from the far right to do it - ha ha.
Sunday
the 8th. Happy Mother's Day Amy (probably the most fun, sweetest, best
all-around Mom in the world - Jack and Ben are very lucky) Following a big
buffet breakfast, we spent the entire day at the NC Zoo
in Asheboro. We had a lot of fun, I forgot what eighty degrees felt like!
By the time we hit the far side of the zoo and turned around, both boys were
asleep in the stroller.
Saturday
the 7th. Busy, fun day. Ben, Jackson, and I planted Amy a maple tree
in the front yard for Mother's Day. Tomorrow we go to the NC Zoo in
Asheboro as Amy's other present. Matthew, Samuel, and Jeff came over to
play. Jackson helped me pour cement to anchor the swing set. And we spent
the evening in Claudville visiting Hama first, then Mo for Mother's Day.
Benjamin loves the trips to the farm for two reasons;
first the cows and, second, the pickles. Ben and I walked to the end of
Hama's Russia bottom to see a brand new calf that had just been born.
Jackson likes the farm because he gets to ride his four wheeler around Hama's
house.
Friday
the 6th. Amy and Ben stopped by the office this morning to brighten my day,
it's been cold and gray in Mount Airy.
Thursday the 5th. Timmesa
watched Ben while Jackson went to Dr. Stone's for his five year checkup and
immunizations. He didn't enjoy the shots at all and was glad to hear that
his next ones come in five years when he's ten. Jackson weighs 35 lbs and
is 42 inches tall. Click here to see
Jackson's Milestones/Growth Chart. He is in
the fiftieth percentile for both height and weight. I think it's
interesting that in the last two years Jackson has gained only one and a half
pound, but has grown four inches taller. Amy worked this evening while the
boys and I went to Main Street to watch our friend Mandy's band Southern Sky
perform. Jackson seemed impressed that we know a rock 'n roll singer.
Wednesday
the 4th. Today Jackson played
with all his new toys, then had a class at Mount
Airy Martial Arts. In tonight's lesson he worked on three different
Ju-Jitsu leg sweeps.
Tuesday the 3rd. Happy Birthday
Jackson! We celebrated Jackson's birthday with a small party of family and
friends at the house. Click
here for all the photos, plus photos from his other
birthday parties.
Monday
the 2nd. Jackson had his birthday party at pre-school this morning and
his second martial arts class this evening. I am really proud of how well
he is doing in class.
Happy Birthday Sharon!
Sunday
the 1st. We joined friends for lunch at my favorite restaurant, Macado's in Galax, Virginia. Everyone then spent the breezy Spring
afternoon walking along the New River Trail. When we got back to Mount
Airy, Jeff and I went for a
paddle on
Lovill's Creek Lake while Amy and the boys
continued playing with our friends at their house.
