The Scoop

I recently found out that our local zoo, The Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens (the place where I take many of the photos you’ll find on my photo blog) is having a Garden Photo Contest! This is their first. There are four categories, Garden Overview, Black & White, Close-up of flower or plant, and Garden critter. I’ve visited the garden several times now, taking lots of photos. I was stuck with the black & white, but I think I finally got a good one. I’ll post my entries later. They are already on my photo blog if you want to try to guess which ones I entered! Also, there is a youth division for 11-15, so Alyssa is also going to enter. Wish us luck!

Alyssa, Kai, and I all entered a scrapbook page in the SC State Fair, and we all got blue ribbons! Yay!

The Tot-Trade is finally over! It’s kind-of a lot of work, but not as bad as a yard sale at home, and you make much better money. I just got my check in the mail for $287. I probably would have gotten less than $75 dollars at a yard sale. I’ve been consigning at the Tot-Trade for about 5 years. All the money has gone toward our upcoming Disney trip.

Alyssa is all settled back in to Honor Choir and Kai and Alyssa both in Karate. Kai takes an extra Karate class while Alyssa is at choir. They are both loving it.

Dean and I recently started attending a new small group at our church. We are doing the ‘Love and Respect’ series. We decided it’s always a good idea to brush up on our “marriage skills”!

Dean recently went to Scranton, Pennsylvania to run a marathon. He was attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He was close. He needed a 3:15 time but came in at 3:25, still a personal record for him. Great job, Dean! You are awesome!

While Dean was in Pennsylvania, Andrea & Amy (with Canyon & Aly) came for a visit. Amy arrived Friday night. Saturday morning we took the kids to the Congaree National Park. It was pretty cool. We walked 2.4 miles on a raised boardwalk.

(That's Roan & Aly holding hands, so cute.) The boardwalk sometimes was as high as 8 feet off the ground because the area is often flooded (it's a swamp). In fact every 4-5 years it floods so high that it covers parts of the boardwalk! You can see moss lines on the trees that show how high the water gets. Pretty cool.

I was disappointed though that I didn’t get very good pictures. It was pretty dark and I was having lighting difficulties. Oh, well.

Andrea arrived in town by the time we were done, so we met her for lunch at Olive Garden. Later that evening we all went to FamJam at our church. Kai and Alyssa are on the JamTeam and Dean does drama. Afterward we got a babysitter so we could go out. We did a little shopping and went to dinner at O’Charlies. They have a DE-LISH salad there with candied pecans, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and craisins with Balsamic vinaigrette. MMMmmmm. Me likee. Sunday we went to church followed by lunch at El Chico’s, then Amy & kids, and Andrea went home. Short but sweet!

Today was my first time singing on the worship team at church. It’s kind of a big deal because we sing for three services in a row. I’ve been on worship teams before, but not on this scale. It's a lot more high tech than I've been used to. I haven't been on a worhip team in 12 years! A lot has changed. It was cool.

Now I need to get into gear this week for our trip to Disney. We are leaving this Friday! YAY!

Roan Quote: Roan got a soccer ball for his birthday. He went outside with it for a few minutes then called me, “Mommy! It works perfectly!”