Monday, October 31
Happy Halloween!!!
After a long day of travel, followed by a good night's rest, we were ready to tackle the Charleston area. Our hotel in Mount Pleasant was perfectly situated so that we had a 10-minute drive to catch water transportation to nearly everything we wanted to see.
Our first stop was at the site of the USS Yorktown and several museums and other points of interest. Today's trip was a ferry ride to Fort Sumter, where the American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the fort was bombarded by Southern troops firing from Sullivan's Island.
We were emotionally and physically exhausted when we finished the day's tour and returned to our hotel. While browsing through our photos and checking our email, we found this photo of Kaiden showing us that he had received one of our postcards of the journey...
And, we also had this photo from Mike and Kelly showing off Ava and Jack's Halloween costumes...
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Tuesday, November 1
Following a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the marina to hail a water taxi to take us across the harbor to Old Charleston for a day of sightseeing. Our transportation today, other than the water taxi, included a pedi-cab, a trolley, and a lot of walking.
Lunch at Hyman's Seafood Restaurant was wonderful!!!
Old homes and structures...
And, after a brisk walk back to the water taxi mooring, we enjoyed a relaxing ride across the harbor.
Tonight we designed and printed our third postcard of the journey.
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Wednesday, November 2
When we found that there really was a beach just to the north of us, we went exploring...Isle of Palms Beach was a great place to find sun and sand!
After exploring the beach and having some photo phun, we sought out a quaint little restaurant and had a real local meal.
We returned to the hotel to begin packing for tomorrow's drive, and then did some shop-looking around the area.
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Thursday, November 3
We were up before dark-thirty this morning to finish packing the car for our long drive to Midlothian, Virginia. Once everything was squared away, we broke out the camera for a quick morning selfie...
And then hit the road...we went through the most scenic part of the drive while it was still dark, so we kept the camera down until we reached the Virginia state line.
When we finally got to Mike and Kelly's house in Midlothian, we began the unpacking for our extended stay. Kelly came home early to teach us how to handle getting Ava on and off of the school bus each day.
Tonight - Fun time with Ava, Jack, and Benjamin!!!
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Friday, November 4
Mike took Kelly to Washington, DC, to catch a flight to London, so we dusted off our grand-parenting skills and went to work.
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Friday, November 5 - Monday, November 7
Fun time, fun time, and more fun time...
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Tuesday, November 8
After getting the kids up and about...Ava to the school bus, and Jack and Benjamin to Miss Jodie's day care, we struck out for a new history lesson...our first trip to Appomattox, the site of the surrender of the Army of Virginia on April 9, 1865, and the beginning of the end of the American Civil War.
It was a pretty quiet ride back to Midlothian as we thought about all we had seen today. After a short stop for some shop-looking at one of the malls, we returned home to Mike and the kids and a quiet evening at the house.
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Thursday, November 10
Another busy day. Mike took the boys to Miss Jodie's house for daycare, and we stayed at the house to get Ava ready for school.
Later in the morning we drove to Glen Allen to meet friends Rod and Ruth for a late breakfast and some serious catching-up time.
Then it was back to the house for some serious nap time before gathering up the kids and waiting for Mike to come home from work.
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Friday, November 11
It's Veterans Day, and we salute all of our men and women who have served our country!
After getting the kids to their respective places this morning, we drove up to Brandermill Lake, the site of Mike's office, to take some photos and try to find a place for me to sound Taps at 11:00 am.
We found the spot we wanted and did a test run of Taps to see if Barbara could capture in on video. When I finished, a young lady walked by and asked if we were friends of Tim. We told her that we didn't know a Tim, and that we were just there because it was Veterans Day and we wanted to sound Taps at a flag in a beautiful setting. She then told us that the flag was part of a memorial to a local man with whom she had attended school, and who had been killed in action in the Middle East. Given that information, our plan for the morning had even more purpose as the clock struck 11:00 and I sounded those 24 notes in honor of all who had served our nation.
When school was over, we gathered the kids for a final run to Monkey Joe's to work off a little youthful steam.
Mike had driven up to DC to pick Kelly up at the airport and they wouldn't be back until late, so we took the kids to Panera for supper...
And then returned to the house for the evening routine before everyone headed to bed.
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Saturday, November 12
Welcome home, Kelly!
Sleeping in late was a key item for the day, followed by some shopping, a late lunch, lots of packing for Grams and Gramps, and photo ops for the whole family.
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Sunday, November 13
We said our goodbyes to everyone last night, so this morning we crammed the last few things into the car and took off while the others were sleeping. We didn't have a destination in mind but knew we wanted to get as far as possible on the first leg of our journey home. Our route today took us west on I-64, where we connected with I-81, and then south to Bristol, Tennessee, where we finally cried "uncle" and stopped for the night.
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Monday, November 13
We got an early start today and continued down I-81 to I-40 and headed west through Knoxville and around Nashville. All of our photos today were hazy...later found out about the fires in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area that were creating a regional smokescreen.
Along the way we called our friends George and Janie in Germantown (a suburb of Memphis) to see if we might be able to meet them this evening for dinner. When they said it sounded like a good plan, we made a hotel reservation in Germantown and stopped for the night so we could enjoy a great Chinese dinner with George and Janie.
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Tuesday, November 15
We started the day under brilliant moonlight and put the pedal to the metal for the rest of the day, arriving back in Mineola around 2:00 pm.
We unloaded the car, piled everything in the spare bedroom, and then went to Naturally Nails for much-needed haircuts. While Barbara was getting her hair done, I drove to a local appliance store to see about a new washer and dryer. Later, we both went to the store so Barbara could see what I had found. We struck a deal and within a couple of hours we had a new washer-dryer combination installed...just in time to take care of the load of dirty laundry we brought home with us!
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Wednesday, November 16
Happy Birthday to son-in-law Ryan McQuitty
Happy Birthday to sister-in-law Billee Little!!!!!
Unpack, wash, dry, put away...unpack, wash, put away...the downside of travel and returning home.
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Thursday, November 17
Happy 22nd Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell!!!!!
Today we met Ladd, Angela, and Jarhett at Jalapeno Tree for some serious Mexican food and a time to catch up on what had been going on with all of us...a fun time!
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Friday, November 17
We were back on the road again today, driving to Dallas to attend the annual Grandparents Day celebration at Lakehill Preparatory School where Alexander and Abby attend. We joined Len and Marilyn, Andy's parents, and Heather to watch the program (Abby sang), and, as soon as Heather and the kids could get away, we drove across town for a delicious lunch and a time of visiting.
After lunch and a photo session, we drove a couple of blocks up the street to the business where one of Barbara's former students, Markay, works. Markay showed us around the business, left us to browse, and when we got ready to leave, we found a gift bag that Markay had prepared for us...what a nice surprise!
We enjoyed a quiet and uneventful drive back to Mineola, where we crashed for the evening...it was a fun day, but it was time for it to be over for a couple of weary travelers.
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Sunday, November 20
After an absence of several weeks, we were back to our regular routines at Yantis First Baptist Church this morning.. I played trumpet with the praise band, Barbara took pictures, and together we taught the children's sermon for the kindergarten through 5th grade children.
Our lesson for this morning was about letting your light shine so others can see Christ through your actions. In part, our sermon included the following:
To remind you that you were “mint” to always let God’s
light shine through you, Mr. Little and I want you to have these. Before you go
to your seat, we’d like for you to turn on your light and let it spread through
the church. Then you can turn them off so you don’t run down the battery. Okay?
Mr. Little, will you pray for us?
Jim:
“Dear Father, as these children leave this place today,
please help them to shine your light through their schools and neighborhood.
Thank you for them. Amen”
Following church, we returned home to have lunch with church friends Jerry and Diane Nickerson.
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Wednesday, November 23
We spent the day cleaning house in preparation for a Thanksgiving visit from Leah, Ryan, and Kaiden. When they arrived this evening, they got into full swing with food preparations for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. Later, we had an early birthday party for Barbara.
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Thursday, November 24
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
Since Angela had to work today and T.J. was under the weather, we hosted the Thanksgiving dinner for Leah, Ryan, Kaiden, Ladd, and Logan. The day was full of food, fun and activities for everyone.
When dinner was over, we got the kitchen cleaned and the house put back together and then went over to Ladd and Angela's house so we could all shoot some hoops.
All good things must come to an end. Leah, Ryan, and Kaiden had to return to Burleson, so we all said our goodbyes and everyone went to their respective corners for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
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Friday, November 25
A birthday remembrance of son Jimmy Clint Colwell (11/25/1971-12/5/2010)
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell!!!!!
Today we focused on getting the house put back together. Tonight, we made a Sonic run and then checked out the Christmas lights at the downtown historic area.
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Saturday, November 26
Happy Birthday to son Mike Little!!!!!
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Sunday, November 27
Today was the usual Sunday for us...church service at Yantis FBC where I played trumpet in the praise band, Barbara was the photographer, and together we taught the Children's Sermon.
Our Children's Sermon this morning was about not taking at face value everything you are told. Instead, when we hear something that we think may be untrue (possibly a whopper, or big lie), we should Stop, Pray, and Listen for God's guidance. Our gift to each child was this container filled with Whoppers candy.
It was interesting to find that the children were listening to the story and thinking of Whoppers candies, while the adults all were thinking that we were giving out Burger King gift certificates!
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Monday, November 28
Happy 72nd Birthday to Barbara (who is older than I am)!!!!!
My birthday gift to Barbara was to cook and serve a real breakfast...sausage balls, scrambled eggs, and grits. We usually do much less for breakfast, so this was a special treat.
Our gift to each other for the day was to bring all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic and lay them out so we could decide what we were going to set out for the Christmas season.
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Tuesday, November 29
We split our time today between visiting the dentist and decorating the house for Christmas...Jim couldn't decide which was more painful...but I was happy to have newly repaired front teeth for Christmas.
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Wednesday, November 30
We finished the month in grand style. After a morning of storing all the Christmas boxes and unused ornaments, and then cleaning and straightening the house, we got cleaned up and drove to Sulphur Springs to visit Marilyn Coker, one of our church friends who is in a nursing home there.
After our visit, we called friends Jerry and Diane Nickerson and invited them to join us at Panda Express for dinner.
When our meal and visit was finished, we drove to Yantis for praise band practice and then back home...what a full day!
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Thankful for being blessed beyond measure,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
