BACK TO THE BAKING ROUTINE

Once again another earlier alarm. Today daughter has to go back to the doctor to get her birth control as he couldn't do it yesterday or the insurance wouldn't pay ??
I got chores done and emptied 3/10ths inch of rain from last evenings showers.
She picked me up at 8:30 and her appointment was at 9:00. G-daughter I was very good once again and slept through the entire visit.
After the doctor we stopped by Target to return some diapers and get a different brand hopefully some she won't keep blowing poop out of.
We came home just before lunch and Pawpaw got his chance to love on I . He was tickling her and she liked it enough to give him a big smile. We missed it with the camera and of course this is all she would give us.

After daughter left hubbie went outside to cut the bushes and weeds off our driveway banks. It is cloudy and cool today, only mid 70's high but the humidity is really high.
I went over to my friend, Georgia's house to pick up my staking cake crates and the money from last Saturday when she worked my market table. She was canning green beans so our visit was short.
I came home and baked cakes, 12 caramel, 3 chocolate, 4 pound, 1 blackberry wine, 1 apple spice.
Seems getting back into the routine is very tiresome for me !!!
It was chore time by the time I finished baking.
I watered my wilting inside plants before getting into catching up the weekly paperwork and getting bills paid.
I finished the evening icing all the cakes and getting things ready for market.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season was named today as Franklin poses a major flood threat for Mexico.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and asking for His guidance as I strive to walk in His glory.
God Bless and Good Night.

DOCTOR VISITS, SALSA MAKING and ADVENTURING

Up early to get chores done before daughter gets here. She has her after baby check up today and I have my annual exam at our OB doctor. It worked out good so that we both got back to back appointments and took turns watching g-daughter I.
Both of our check ups were great and we left feeling very good.
She dropped me off at Walmart while she went to get a cup of coffee to cure her caffeine craving headache. Walmart didn't have all the things I needed so I will go to the one in our town later tonight.
We came home and had lunch here while Pawpaw loved on g-daughter I. She has been very good this morning.
She even gave me a little smile at the doc's office while we waited for mom to finish her appointment!!

After daughter left I started getting rid of some of the tomatoes that are staring at me out of the baskets sitting on the table.
I made some delicious salsa out of the Roma and Mountain pride varieties. These cook up thicker than the other heirloom varieties that we grow. I always add bell pepper, hot pepper and onions to the mixture.

I canned 11 pints and had 5 more for the freezer.

I got the jars out of the canner just as hubbie came in from working up at his shop this afternoon doing some re-organizing and we decided to go pick up a free camper cover that a guy he used to work with gave us. It doesn't fit hubbie's truck but will make a perfect chicken tractor.
The road the man lived on was a long one lane dirt drive around the side of the mountain.

It was a pretty drive but hard to enjoy for the fear of meeting someone and having to back up for a long long way as there were several houses on this drive.
We managed to clamp the cover onto hubbie's truck even though it was a little wider than his truck bed.
We took all back roads home so no big trucks would pass us and create wind to blow the cover loose.
It is a nice camper cover and will be perfect for a chicken tractor.

Hubbie had a meeting at church tonight with the nominating team so I did all the chores while he was there.
My Butterfly bushes are loaded with blooms and the butterflies are showing their appreciation.

When hubbie  got home we made that trip to Walmart to finish my shopping.
Today has been a mostly cloudy day but no rain until we started home from Walmart tonight.
Today was the 7 week birthday of g-daughter I !!!

This was g-daughter R at 7 weeks !!!  That  must be the age of scared looks !!!!!

Thankful for the blessings of good news from doctor appointments today and for all the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night.

BACK TO REALITY MONDAY

Ahhh  back to reality this morning with the arrival of  g-son and g-daughter R at 7:30.
It is nice to have hubbie here everyday now to take the early shift. I didn't sleep well last night so I was glad to get a few extra zzz's.
I did chores and had my breakfast just as g-daughter was finishing hers. It is a cloudy drizzly morning and there was 1" of rain in the gauge from last nights hard rain. the high temp today is supposed to stay in the upper 70's.
I got the weekly laundry started and then made some phone calls and returned some messages from last week.
I started breaking the basket of green beans I picked last night and hubbie helped and even g-daughter R broke some which she thought was hilarious !!! She also discovered she liked eating sweet cherries and got them all over her face for a scary look !!!

G-son wanted lunch early so we all took a bean breaking break and had lunch with him. G-daughter R almost went to sleep in her high chair so hubbie layed down in her bed with her until she went to sleep then he got up and went outside to spray some bees nest that we found in the covered patio.
I finished 3 loads of laundry and then finished breaking the beans while she slept.
Daughter and g-daughter I came by for a visit and both girls slept through the visit.
We had a small break through today when g-daughter R asked to go to the bathroom and sit on the potty. She didn't do anything yet but this is the first time she has actually sat on the potty.
She was really proud of herself just for that so I think she will be easily trained.

After d-in-love picked the kids up I did chores and then started canning beans. I had more than I expected so I had to run the canner twice to get these 11 quarts pressured and added to the count for this season.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the grace and love of my Heavenly Father.
God Bless and Good Night

RESTFUL SUNDAY

Back to the regular schedule this morning after getting a good comfortable night's sleep in my own bed that felt so good. Our bed at the vacation house was comfortable but it was queen size and we are used to king size.
After chores and breakfast we did some lunch prep and then headed for church.
It is really nice to get back in the routine.
After lunch #1 son's family and Aa's family made it to lunch of grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn and biscuits.
It was nice to catch up with Aa, Re and the kids.
After everyone left hubbie and I made a trip to Sam's Club for the weeks supplies. We came home and he went to his monthly Deacon's meeting and I got the last load of vacation laundry done and then relaxed for a little while.
I am extra tired this evening , I guess it 's the let down after the trip home yesterday.
When hubbie got home we watched the news then did chores and put the rest of the outside beach things away in the shed until next year.
The weather forecaster's are saying the rain is going to start tonight about midnight and last all week so we needed to gather the ripe garden produce before the rains begin so this is how we spent the remainder of the evening.  After all this is August the busiest food preparation month of the season and this week will be a busy one.

The "F" tropical storm was named today as Franklin will make his way into central America.

Thankful tonight for the blessings of this day and feeling so very fortunate to be able to serve such a loving , blessed Lord.
God Bless and Good Night

COMING HOME DAY

Up to disturbing news from son-in-love that daughter had fainted in the bathroom and banged up her face.
I took her a breakfast bar and a cup of coffee and she looked like she was feeling better but had a huge bruise under her eye and a busted lip along with some bruises on her arm and chin.
She said she hit her elbow and it hurt badly so she was trying to sit down and get her head down but wasn't fast enough and woke up on the bathroom floor where she hit the tile shower stall with her face.
She sat in bed with g-daughter I and we all helped clean and load everything to get ready for the trip home.
Seems every year some one has  a really bad day on the travel home day. Last year I was very sick, the year before that d-in-love was sick , so this year must have been daughter's turn.
We all left the beach house at 9:30 and headed out separate ways home.
Hubbie and I take the route 74 way home across the state of N.C., today #1 son is taking the same route but they are doing some shopping first and daughter and son-in-love are taking I-95 to I-20 to I-26 route through S.C.
Our route is more scenic and we enjoy changes of scenery.

Hubbie and I traveled until almost 2:00 before we stopped and had lunch. Seems when we were in the vicinity of food places it was noon and they were very crowded so we just drove.
We stopped at Chick-f-la in Shelby and got gas and were back on the road.
We had an easy drive today with only a few rain showers as we started out but after we got inland the skies cleared.
It is always so good when the mountains come into view.

I had called the vet's office to see what time to pick Bernie up tomorrow and they didn't call me back before they closed so we decided to stop by and see if there might be a time schedule on the door for tomorrow.
The main office girl was still there meeting her family and she said she would just check him out for us .
Bernie was calmly resting in his kennel when I went in to get him, he looked very content so that really made me feel good about leaving him in their care.
 We  made it home at 3:30 and all the animals were very glad to see us.
We unloaded everything that came in the house and I got laundry started. I never do laundry at the beach as both girls have kids and need the washer and dryer more than me, so I come home to do all mine. This time I have 4 loads including all the sheets for beds I took.
#2 son came by and brought our mail and we had a visit with him. He took very good care of everything here while we were gone and although it was sad he didn't get to go it made me feel more comfortable knowing he was the one taking care of things at home.
We did chores and then #1 son came up and brought the canopy to spray WD-40 on  the legs so it won't rust from all the salt water spray.
Hubbie dug potatoes and I picked green beans for lunch  tomorrow from an over flowing garden of ripe vegetables.
There was no rain all week except a strong thunder storm last night that left 4/10ths inch in the rain gauge.
I came back inside and did more laundry and then hubbie and I made a trip to Ingles for tomorrow's lunch supplies and some groceries we needed.
More laundry when we got home and that is all I can cram into this first day home.
Very very grateful for the traveling mercies granted by our Wonderful Loving Heavenly Father today and very very glad to be getting back into my own bed tonight.
God Bless and Good Night

LAST DAY ON OAK ISLAND 2017

Extra early alarm this morning to get this adventurous day started early. We wanted to catch the 9:15 ferry over to Fort Fisher this morning so we were up at 7:30 to get started. Son-in-love, daughter, g-son , hubbie and I left first to start by Mcdonalds for some breakfast.

 #1 son caught up with us there and we both got on the ferry with time to spare and the ferry wasn't even all the way full on the trip over but it was pouring rain. We didn't get out of the Honda all the way over but sat and watched from inside as the rain was so heavy.

Once on the Kure beach side we found  Britt's donut shop and had donuts and coffee as we watched a still drizzly rain. These were the best donuts I had ever tasted and they were so light and we got them really hot which made them even better. The long line we waited in and the long line still waiting as we left spoke for the goodness of the donuts.

G-son was on his 4th donut in this pic !!!!

We walked out on the boardwalk at the beach and watched the strong storm sent waves crash on the beach for a while. Folks were still braving the rainy day and getting in the ocean.

We headed back to the Aquarium but made a stop at the Civil War museum at Fort Fisher on the way.

 G-son was interested in all the "big" guns !!!

It was really pretty around this area.

Next stop the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher and the kids really enjoyed all the displays.

Back to catch the ferry for the return trip to Southport. The ferry was much more crowded on this trip but the rain had stopped so we got to get out of the car and enjoy the ride. This was g-son's first ever ferry ride and he was really happy to get to do this.

Back in Southport the sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon. We had lunch at Moore's Market and it was as good as we remembered it being last time we were here . G-son thought the grilled cheese with bacon they made him was the best he had ever eaten and let the cooks know!

We remembered this was the exact same table we sat at a couple years ago when we ate lunch here.

Back to the house we took our last walk on the beach.

Daughter and I outlasted everyone else and she even made a friend who seemed to want to go along with us.

I'm going to miss these long beach walks on this beautiful beach.

And I am surely going to miss this view out the front window each day but I am ready to get back home to the mountains.

It was time to pack up all the outside things and get some cleaning done this evening to get ready to head home tomorrow. I am glad and sad to see this week come to an end but this is a new beginning for hubbie and I as his retirement starts and we find new schedules.
These 2 are going to miss one another next week when they are not residing in the same house and in bedrooms next to one another.

And these girls are really going to miss one another and d-in-love is going to miss having a baby to love on I'm sure.

That's whats special about these vacation times is how everyone comes together and blends as one family living under the same roof .
 I am tired tonight and ready for bed as I didn't sleep well last night and need to get a good night's sleep tonight for the trip home tomorrow.
Thankful for God's graciousness this week in all the blessings He sent our way and His loving arms around us keeping us safe as we traveled and praying for His mercies tomorrow as we make our way back home.
God Bless and Good Night