Heading Home

It's been a great week. An exhausting week, but a great one, nonetheless. Tommy is completely vacationed out and is really ready to head back to good ol' Tallahassee. He's said so lots of times. But he's had a ton of fun, so there's really not room to complain. Dean and I will need to take a vacation when we get back from this one!

We started our trek back south today and got as far as Columbia, South Carolina. Dean has a cousin who lives here in town and so we had dinner with her. Before that, we just went sight-seeing in Columbia and of course, we visited the stadium of Univ. of South Carolina (I feel really weird calling it USC. it's not.). For those of you who may not know, one of Dean's very favorite things is to visit college campuses, but especially to see stadiums. And as far as trespassing goes, he just figures that if they accidentally left one of the 35 doors unlocked, how is that our fault? So there happened to be an open gate leading out to the field. Once we got to the stands, the fence was locked up pretty good, but Dean remedied that by lifting Tommy over the fence and dropping him on the field, where Tommy began playing air football.







We had a great dinner with Becca (Dean's cousin) and her boyfriend Brad at a great South Carolina barbecue place called Shealy's. It's one of those places that's about 30 minutes away from civilization, so you know it's good. It's a buffet and has cafeteria style seating and amazing food. I'm still stuffed.



So all in all, the trip's been great. But I'm so glad to be heading home!

An Update on Our Week of Fun

Well, we're on our third full day of vacation and we're having a blast. Besides Tommy's frequent mood swings (he's worse than a teenage girl) and the rain that we've been getting, things are great. We're staying in Hendersonville at a family friend's house (they're in Alaska so they left a key... they're absolutely amazing). We've seen a quasi train museum, a children's museum, waterfalls, Sliding Rock (I even went down!) and we've eaten lots of good food. Last night we caught an Asheville Tourists baseball game and Dean was in his glory. Apparently the final scene of "Bull Durham", his favorite movie, was shot there. It was a great park and Tommy had lots of fun. And the Tourists won. We also ate in the McDonald's in Biltmore Village. So what, you say? Well, this McDonald's happened to be featured on Travel Channel's nicest McDonald's in the country. This was number one. There were chandeliers, a grand player piano, and even nice employees.

Okay, enough of my gabbing. Here are some pictures to prove we're having a good time.






And I also want to point out a few things:
1) Dean went on a picnic. Outside. And loved it.
2) We ventured out toward the waterfall and Tommy was the one who wanted to keep going but I had to stop because my feet were numb. But Dean went farther than we did.
3) I think Dean's secretly an outdoorsman. The Sperrys are all an act.

"Bacation" Day 1

Okay, it's actually a vacation, but I think the way Tommy says it is cuter. Anyway, we set off today for North Carolina for a bit of R & R. Besides having a really smelly car... so smelly we had to change it in for a different one 8 hours into the trip, everything's been going great. We caught the first inning and a half of a minor league baseball game (go Intimidators!) and are now ready to turn in at our fabulous Hampton.

This is What It's All About

I worked in the Well Kids tonight and had a great time, but I missed the service. However, I did get to see our baptism service afterward and I got a little misty to see two of my small group girls get baptized. Go Jaclyn and Lawson! We are certainly seeing lives being changed. I love all my girls!!



After the baptism, when they let the water out of the inflatable pool, Tommy decided that it would be an awesome idea to jump in the roughly 3 inches of water on the ground. But he had a blast. And I simply washed his shoes so we're all good now.

Reunion Day 2

Well last night was the big first night of Dean's reunion. Lots of people packed out Cafe Cabernet and reminisced on old times. I knew a surprising number of people, but it was still slightly overwhelming to me. Did I mention that Dean was the student body president and also the homecoming king? He knows EVERYONE! And he's very social anyway, so by the time midnight rolled around I was beyond exhausted. But he had a great time and I really enjoyed meeting so many people that I've heard so much about for the last 7 years.

Today was a picnic lunch at Leon, and it was a very family friendly event. Tommy was so "decided" (excited) to see Daddy's school and pet the lion in the front entrance. He never did. But he at least looked at it (don't worry, it's a statue). Now we're resting for a while and then we'll get ready for the dinner/party thing tonight. So far it's been a great weekend.

Reunion Etiquette

Dean's getting old. His 10-year reunion is this weekend (granted, when my 10-year reunion rolls around next summer, it won't mean that I'm old). Dean went to Leon High School, which is the oldest school in Florida. Most people who went to Leon have this cult-like love for it that I'll never understand. Dean's already planning on moving into the Leon school zone to be sure that Tommy can go there. He's not even 3 yet. But I guess it's good to plan ahead.

So now I get to go to this uncharted reunion territory. Thankfully, I'm friends with a number of the people he graduated with, so it won't be awkward. He's so excited about it and has been for the last, well, ten years. I'm excited about it too. We were talking about it last night, though, and he made a great point about reunions in general. When we were all in high school, we had friends that we knew everything about. We did everything together and swore we'd be best friends for life. Of course we lost touch about 3 weeks after graduation and haven't spoken since. Fast forward 10 years and now there are real jobs (hopefully), and maybe spouses and children. When you see them, will it be weird? You knew them when they were 18, not 28. And do you hug the people you were only somewhat friends with? Do you promise to keep in touch with everyone, knowing that you probably won't talk to a lot of them until the 20 year reunion? This is all so confusing! I guess we better get it figured out before tonight!

Chick Fil-A

I'm going through some withdrawals because the Chick Fil-A closest to our house is undergoing remodeling for a few weeks so they're closed. So to tide me over (and those of you who are as devastated about the closure... it will reopen soon, I promise), here's a great video. If you've already seen it, humor me and watch it again.