Change Can Be Good.....

At least that's what I keep telling myself over and over and over. It's good to move your cheese, life goes on, etc, etc, etc. But first, let's review. The end of July brought a little vaca time our way. H and I headed towards Florida with a brief stop in Tennessee to visit my Aunt Elaine and Uncle LeeRoy. It's pretty much on the way and it's good to see them at least that one time a year. After all, none of us are getting any younger, except maybe my Auntie!

We arrived around dinner time so we met "in town" at the only place to eat, Doris'. From there they delivered us to their home but we had to go "the back way" as the road is being worked on the other way. It was basically a 1-1/2 lane road with twists and turns and even a couple hair-pins thrown in for good measure! The next morning we checked out the new chickens. I am so JEALOUS!! I want chickens!

We also took a little tour around the place and H and I went on a four-wheeler ride.

Here's LeeRoy and Howard posing just before we took off. Of course, no trip to Tennessee is complete without some photos of the many hummingbirds that swarm their 3 feeders which they fill daily. It's quite a phenomenon.

Then, later in the afternoon, we headed out to the lake for dinner and a swim. The water was perfect. We swam then ate dinner on the boat and headed home just before dark.

This butterfly bush was full of blooms and the butterflies were flocking to it. Many of the blooms were way up high so it was hard to photograph them!

The next morning we said our good-byes and were back on the road. We spent that night in northern Florida where that evening at dinner I discovered I had a very itchy case of chiggers! H had to find the nearest Walgreens and get me some Benedryl which helped immensely. Those suckers itched for days!!

The new car on it's maiden voyage! It was a smooth ride! By noon Saturday we had arrived at the beach. Right behind us came Tropical Depression/Hurricane Issac. Thankfully he was still a depression when we got there. Our friend, Mike, was already at the beach with his kids and grandkids.

The tide was way out and the sky was gray. In the next two days we could add wind and rain to that weather. By Tuesday the sun was out and eventhough it was still pretty windy we could enjoy the pool and beach.

Mike and two of his grandkids, Layla and Braden. Somehow we missed pics of the others! :-(

Mike left Wednesday morning and then on Thursday we had new visitors, H's sisters Sharon and Shamar. We hadn't seen Shamar in about 5 years so it was nice to catch up.

While we were down there Amber was also down that way, in Tampa, attending the Republican National Convention for ABC and gathering stories for their political page, OTIS. She checked in every day or so but was so busy she could only come over to the beach after everything was over and only had about an hour before she had to leave for the airport for her flight home. She only spent the weekend at home and then had to turn around on Monday and head down to North Carolina for the Democratic convention! She's been a busy girl with this new job and a certain little someone is spending lots of quality time with her Daddy!!

Part of her time at the beach was spent on the phone having a meeting! We left Saturday morning and thankfully had two uneventful, long days of driving. We seemed to be between storms that had developed thanks to Hurricane Isaac and really didn't have any rain on the way home.

Now to the changes, which I'm sure you've been waiting to hear about!! First, Scott had decided about a month ago that he was going to move out, with a buddy. He signed a lease on a Sunday and on Monday when he got to work he was informed that his hours were being cut in half, from 40 to 20. He got busy looking for a new job and had a couple interviews and two good leads. On Friday, which was also his 24th birthday, he got the news that he got the job that he really wanted and will start in a week! He's also moving into his new apartment the weekend before that. It's been a couple of very exciting weeks for Scott and we are so happy for him. This will be the first time he's ever lived away from home.

Tyler decided a couple weeks ago that he was going to head back to Hawaii. He thinks his odds of finding a job in his field, Marine Biology, are better there. He found some friends to stay with, purchased his ticket and started packing. He left Friday night. He wanted to stay down at the airport since he had a 6:30 a.m. flight instead of making H get up at 3:00a.m. to drive him down there. I spoke to him this morning and he made it ok, as did his luggage, and is staying with friends. He'll be busy the next week or so trying to find a cheap car and starting the job hunt. I'm happy for him but I'm sad that he will be so far away.

This time next week we will be empty nesters. That will be a very strange feeling. In other news, I'm back to school. We are busy doing paper work, going through results from last year's testing so we know the need for services for this year. We did our jobs very well and many of the kids tested so well they won't need support this year. That's a great thing but there may be some changes in our schedules due to this. We'll see. Things are still being discussed but I'm preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

Fall is definitely in the air. The windows are open and it's a little chilly in the morning. I've been getting up at 5:45 to get my 30 minute walk in each morning. It's still dark out and I have to watch out for the few cars that are out at that hour but it feels good and gets me started for day. As a bonus, I've lost 10 pounds since I started walking a few weeks ago. Yea me!!

Bunco and bowling both start this week. That's the sure sign of fall; school, bunco and bowling!

Have a good week!