Picking Up Sam in NC

After Sam had been at Chris' farm for 4 weeks, they dropped him off at Southern Virginia University for another week to participate in his first "Especially for Youth" (EFY) -- a fun, spiritual experience for 14-years old and up. Grayson has gone to EFY 4 times, and Sam has anxiously awaited being old enough to go (see separate post). Steve and I took advantage of the trip to SVU to pick him up and took a couple of days to enjoy the trip.

It was a beautiful drive...

We remembered going to this fabulous BBQ place in the Bristol, TN area about 20 years ago with Jeff & Karin Thomas and Scott & MaryAnn Hebbert. I contacted them and they reminded me it was called  Ridgewood, and how to get there. It was as good as we remembered!

 

We were very happy to pick up Sam, we missed him! We were glad he had a good time, and he was exhausted...he slept all the way to Chris' house.

 

We had a great time at Chris & Nathalie's for a long weekend.

Thanks, Chris & Nathalie and crew for a fabulous time for Sam...love you guys!

(We were excited to get home for the unveiling of the "Bat Cave," from previous post -- a little out of order.)

The BAT CAVE

While Sam was gone to North Carolina to spend five weeks at Chris' house, we moved Grayson into Randi's old room/the guest room and re-did Sam's bedroom to be THE BAT CAVE. While we should have started right after he left, of course we didn't. So we did everything like in the last two weeks. And by "everything," I mean we cleaned out under beds which hadn't been done for WAY too long -- we went through all dresser drawers and closet separating clothes and taking 3 huge bags to Good Will, we completely emptied out their room, painted walls and ceiling different shades of gray, got mostly new furniture & bedding, got posters framed, new ceiling fan, hung shelves, rearranged all his "stuff"...and painted Gotham City on the closet doors. It was a mammoth undertaking!

By "We" I mean us and THE BENNETTS who were our partners in crime! Michelle helped pick out colors, and she, Hannah, Spencer and Gordon came over and helped paint during the day while I was at work. Michelle, especially, was involved from start to finish. She has a great eye for color, and style, and "what could be." I loved her ideas, and appreciated all their help so much. Gordon helped Steve install the shelves and ceiling fan, and did some re-wiring and of course helped with everything else, too. They were all SOOO much help. We literally could never have done it without them.

One part of the room that was extraordinary was the closet doors. I had seen some bedrooms online that had Gotham City painted on the walls, and I wanted to do that. So Michelle and I started brainstorming, and she suggested painting directly on the closet doors. At first I worried about the  grooves and panels on the doors, but we decided to go for it. She hand-drew a pattern, and we transferred it to the doors in pencil, then we taped off all the windows and painted it all black. Then we pulled the tape off the windows and touched each of them up by hand. We did them in sort of a peachy color to match his dresser and the wall posters (that we had gotten him for Christmas). Then we painted the big 'Batman' spotlight over the city. It was VERRRRY time-consuming, about as much time on the closet doors as everything else combined. But I love how they turned out!

 

Michelle also MADE the pillows for his bed to tie in all the colors.

 

 

 

The night we got home from North Carolina, we were so excited for Sam's surprise! We acted all casual and Steve told him to go take his stack of laundry up and put it away in his room. I was waiting upstairs with my camera...

 

 

Sam loved it! He was SOOO excited. So...mission accomplished!

Chris' Family Photos

While Sam was visiting Chris' family in North Carolina in June, Nathalie had him snap some family photos with her hi tech camera. I think they turned out fabulous!  (I'm sure Nathalie did all the placement of folks and all, but who knows, maybe we have a budding photographer in the family!)      

Nathalie & Chris -- Colton (7), Rogan (5) and Addie (2 1/2)

 

 

 

                                      

Sam Goes to the Farm

This was a very busy summer for Sam! It started with him leaving right after Memorial Day with Chris & Nathalie and going back to their farm in North Carolina to spend 5 weeks with them. He helped out on the farm, helped with the kids, and probably mostly just spent time with them. Then they sent him to his first Especially For Youth (EFY) in West Virginia at the end of that 5 weeks. 

Nathalie's sister, Nicole, and her family were visiting them for the 4th of July.

Sam had a great time doing lots of stuff and having new experiences. He helped with the chickens, pressure washing, picking blueberries, clipping turkey wings, helped with their dog Bolt, their cat Puddles, and hopefully 'carried his weight' around the house while he was there. I think the best part was just getting to spend time with their little family and have the experience of being away from home for an extended period of time under such great circumstances!




Colton's 7th Birthday Cake -- Swim lanes!

Nathalie's Family - Mike & Diane, brother Shawn, sister Suzanne, Nathalie and sister Nicole.

Sam pressure washing the back of their house

LOVE THIS PHOTO of Sam and their family!

While there, Nathalie had Sam use her fabulous camera to take some family photos. They turned out great...see next post!

CRAZY 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July relaxing, cooking, doing a few things around the house. It always feels so good to be home. I like cleaning the kitchen, cooking, and throwing in laundry -- when I have time! It wouldn't feel like so much to be done, if I was home more often to do it.

Anyway, I love the 4th of July.

Our pretty front porch

I know I've posted this before, but I love this photo from 2004!

We spent the evening at the Bennetts. We had a delicious BBQ, and visited, and laughed and had a good time.


I made mom's famous pasta salad.

HOWEVER...when we did fireworks, things got a little dicey.

Gordon and his grandson, Nolan, were doing the fireworks, and being a little less cautious than I would have liked (and if you're reading this Bennetts, you already know because I was saying it that night! LOL). Some of the bottle rockets were going all different directions instead of up into the sky. One of them shot straight toward Michelle and I, and almost went INTO THE GARAGE! What if it had gone under a car and exploded under the gas tank?!  But it didn't, it missed the garage door AND ALMOST HIT A WINDOW -- and exploded into the brick wall...leaving it's mark.

So I moved and stood over by the cars in the driveway -- and a bottle rocket came shooting right over by me! I screamed, ducked and ran into the garage.

And THEN...Zelma (Gordon's mom) was doing sparklers...and everything was fine, and she was laughing and having fun.

 

 

 

AND THEN THE SPARKS from the SPARKLERS CAUGHT HER BLANKET ON FIRE!

 

Gratefully, Steve saw it right when a tiny flame started, and he grabbed the blanket and put it out.

 

 

That was IT. I went in the house and watched from the window.

No further events, so it ended up being fine! :)