Trying to start recapping the past year.

 Lon needed to pass the BSA swim test to become first class.  He has trouble swimming. He has a hard time in the water, he doesn't float!  We were on our way to CT (pictures as soon as I can find them), by the time we got back from there the pool would be closed. This was the LAST day he could pass the test until the following year.  It was NOW or wait, waiting would mean cutting it close for Eagle.  I shamelessly bribed him. I told him that if he did all the requirements while I filmed them, I would take him to Disney World for President's Day Weekend.  The kid did it! One take.  So I had to keep my word. I worked like crazy and we did it.  President's Day Weekend is crazy busy.  

We will try to avoid that weekend and spring break too!  

We had a great time! Of course. 

we waited for the kiss goodnight.  

We rode the Skyliner!   I did okay, Lon loved it.  

Castle! 

We love it when random characters walk around and Country Bear Jamboree has a soft spot in my heart.  Always will 

Lon was not so thrilled. He was hungry. He is always hungry! 

On the skyliner, way up high. 

Galaxy's Edge.  My little nerd heart was amazed and happy.  Lon was making his droid. It was super crowded inside the shop, so I waited, happily outside, drinking my blue milk. It is better than the green milk in my opinion.  You could get it with alcohol added but we chose not to . 

More in the next couple days. 

This was the last few weeks before we had a year of two weeks to flatten the curve.  

 It has been a very long time since I posted anything on this blog.  I need to catch up with this horrible year. Pandemic, the shut down of the world, riots, and more!  But we still did somethings as a family and I need to go back and document all of it. Or at least give an overview.  

We did go to to Disney in February, before the two week shut down to flatten the curve that turned into a full year. 

Lon has made Life Scout, on his way to Eagle.  

There is more as I will try to post as I go back through the year in photos. 

Geography Bee

This was in early May, I am sorry for not posting it sooner

Lon tried out for the Geography Bee again this year.  Only this time, he WON the school ! He was one of about 100 or so kids from all over the state going to the capital, Columbia, to compete to go to Nationals. ! 

 We all filed into a big ballroom, got some photos and waited. Then they called the kids out by the color on their badges. 

The parents waited. 

Lon was a runner up, he did not advance to nationals. And we are more than okay with this! SO PROUD of him!  The questions he missed were tough. Who is the vice president of Zimbabwe ? The second question was This town on a river (which the proctor could not pronounce) in southern Mexico just recently banned single use plastic bags.    If he ever qualifies again we are going to read every National Geographic Magazine from the last two years.

We went to lunch at a great place called Nicks. Everyone got a wonderful meal,  Lon had a pizza, Mark got a grinder and I had one of the best gyros ever!    Since it was still early and we had the whole day off, we went to the zoo!   We had not been to the River Bank Zoo before, it was a lot of fun.  Lon was happy with his effort, so it was a good day!

8th Grade Dance

It is a big deal at Alston Middle School. The 8th grade dance.  They said NO LIMOS. I wonder how that got to be a thing. 

Lon wanted a bow tie. So I made him a bow tie

We had to buy him a new sport coat. Yes, I bought it much bigger than it needed to be, I wanted it to last a little while.

The kids waiting for the doors to open. All the 8th grade teachers were chaperones. No parents.  The kids outfits ran the gamet from casual, to holiday barbie type dresses. Most kids were at least semi formal.

Lon said he had fun, even though he refused to dance. He enjoyed the Chic Fi A.

Spring Court of Honor

*again, I have to find the paper with the list of merit badges Lon earned. (and I need to edit the photo)

Lon earned 5 merit badges! 

Very proud of him.

Lon's mini golf adventure

Lon's birthday adventure for mini golf was a little early this year as Autzen was leaving for some summer fun a few days later

Jurassic Mini Golf in Myrtle Beach

The boys got done with the holes much faster than their mothers.  It was very fun that Autzen's mom got to join us !

They had a lot of fun, we all did.

Then it was time for Friendly's.  It took us a while to find the Friendly's we usually go to for lunch.  I did not know there were three of them in Myrtle Beach.    But we did find it. I am not sure our waitress liked us too much as we were pretty goofy, we did leave a good tip and not a huge mess.

We passed a store called Sugar Life.  It is a giant candy store.
I cut the Myrtle Beach off the bottom of the decal. For my first car sticker on this car, it is a good one.   Yes, Lon bought lots of fun candy.   We stopped at a Brasilian cafe and deli and took home some tasty things for later.

It was a good day in Myrtle Beach.

8th Grade Awards Ceremony

The last awards ceremony of middle school.  Lon got 8 awards!  (I will insert his awards soon)

Many handshakes as he crossed the stage

The program

A Couple of Camping Photos!

Lon and Dad went up to Kings Mountain for a Memorial Day Boy Scout Campout.  Dad stayed in Base Camp and Lon, and a whole group of backpackers,  went on a  two day 17 mile hike, before re-joining the guys at Base Camp for the 5 mile hike from Base Camp to the National Park.   The National Park was hosting reenactors from the Revolution, the Civil war and the Vietnam war.  There were not a lot of pictures taken

Lon was chillin at Base Camp on a tiny hammock he made out of rope and knots.

Lon got to hold a Thompson machine gun. He did not fire it. 

Lon had a great time at the campout. 

Some highlights of things we have done this past school year

I am feeling overwhelmed every time I try to go back and blog. I am SO far behind, so I am just going to post a picture or two, a few words so we remember the highlights of this year and hope to start keeping up better as time goes by.

Lon went to Lake Moultrie and did a little sailing last summer

Lon and his friend met an American Hero aborad the USS Yorktown. He was on the crew in World War II.  This was in August. Just before the accident

We had a fun time at the Boeing Halloween Party

On our way back to the car we came across a baby snake. He was very fierce. He wanted to attack, but we kept our distance. Baby snakes can have more venom than adult snakes. we were not taking the chance

annual pumpkin picture.

He was a dr. from Jurassic Park

We saw the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile!  Free hot dogs and stickers!

Lon helped stack pumpkins for a church pumpkin sale. It was a boy scout volunteer thing

Fair time! Lon loves the kyaks. He went and pulled in some wayward boats. He got to stay out as long as he wanted and when he went out again, he was gifted his time.  Nice guys who run this!

Not all our time was spent watching Lon paddle a kyak, we saw everything. Including the selling spaces, we like rocks

Not the best lighting

Nice night for a paddle

His last year in the Jr. Lego League.  The Alston Tigers did as well as they did last year.

Watching the awards for Jr. Lego

Christmas. ! I need to find more photos of our Christmas

In January we went up to Ceaser's head to look around.
This is the view from a Pretty Place

Bald Head. People seem to like to spray paint the rock.  I have no idea why

Early Spring!

Lon's science class had an assignment to make a 3d model of something. Edible was given more credit. So we made a glacier cake.

Lon earned a spot in the National Jr. Honor Society

I can not find the pictures right now, but Lon won the geography bee for Alston. He then took the test for state and qualified!  So we took a day off school and went to Columbia! Lon was up against some very bright kids from around the state.  Lon was good, but other kids were better.  Lon got two questions he remembers he could not answer, one Who is the vice president of Zimbabwe, and the second one was This southern Mexican town on this river (Lon said it was pronounced badly) just recently banned single use plastic bags. We were so over the moon proud of him. He did great.  After the event, we went to a great greek place, called Nicks. I want to go back. It was gyros, pizza and grinders. Something good for all of us.  Then we went to the zoo.  The zoo was so much fun
I do have pictues but I need to find those as well.

Easter was wonderful and we are still eating leftovers.

Now I hope to not be so overwhelmed I can keep up.

Why I have not posted in almost 6 months

I was a little behind over the summer, I had plans to catch up.
Then

I was driving, doing the speed limit. Lon was in the passenger seat.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a gun metal colored bumper and my last thought before the airbags deployed was this sob is going to HIT us.    This was not fun. Lon got out of the car easily. My door was stuck. I could not get it open.  The interior of the car was filled with smoke from the airbags, but I was not sure where the smoke was coming from.  Out of all the businesses on the street where the wreck occured only one man from Swift Auto Tinting and Stereo, came out to help me. He had to pull on my door with both hands to get it open. He was not a small man.I am forever grateful and if you ever need window tinting or a stereo installed, please go to him.   My Ford called 911 without me doing anything.  I heard Your Airbags have deployed, calling emergency services. The next voice was This is 911 we have a report that your airbags have deployed are you okay? No, no I am not. Sending help right away.  That was a very nice feature to have on the car. I do not pay a monthly fee for that.

The deployed airbags


It took a while to get back to normal.  Then we were trying to get their insurance to do their part and that took months.

SO now I am trying to get caught up from summer and fall, and all the holidays till this new year.  It might take a little while and may not be in order. Lon asked me to make it happen, so I am making it happen.  Mark too.

THIRTEEN! LON IS THIRTEEN!

Lon's actual birthday fell on Saturday.  We decided to go to see the Mighty 8th Airforce Museum. It is located in Pooler, Georgia right off the I-95. We pass it every time we go south, and never get the chance to stop. This time, this was our destination!

Candles in the monkey bread for breakfast!

Where the Mighty 8th was based while in England.

Checking out the ball turret on the B-17. This B-17 never saw combat, it was built right at the end of the war. It went to a  high school in North Dakota, then to Canada to help map parts of Canada, it fought forest fires in the Western US, before coming to the museum in Pooler to be restored to all it's glory.

All the different planes.

For a small-ish museum they have a LOT of information and exhibits. They are very well done and a lot of them are interactive

The tail gunner section that has been restored. The man in the back was on his knees the entire flight

One of the costliest bombing runs of the war, over oil refineries in  Nazi controlled Romania. They supplied most of the oil and gas to the Nazis.

You could do some target practice as if you were an actual side gunner. Lon scored 13, Dad scored 9, Mom scored 11.  Not as easy as it looked watching.

Looking at some more of the exhibits

B-17

I know my great Uncle was in the 8th Air force but I need to pull up my research to find out where he fits in this museum.  I am pretty sure he was in the 448th bomb group, 715 squadron. He was in a B-24.  I will update more when I pull up the research.

Across the street there was a little Italian restaurant.  The food was good!

I told Mark to put his phone down for a photo!

Lon's dessert. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream wrapped in a chocolate shell.   Yummy!

On our way home, up the back roads, we passed a sign that said scenic drive, Savannah Wildlife Refuge.   It was gorgeous!  It was worth the four mile detour.    It is on the South Carolina side of the river.

There were a couple places to get out and look, they had pull outs. Most other places it was discouraged getting out of the car

I love how this photo turned out

The reason why some places it was discouraged getting out of the car.

This photo, along with most of the others, was taken out of the car window.

That is one majestic bird.

I am going to try to play with this photo to see if I can make the bird stand out more.

There were four rice plantations along this road, and some of the trunks are still there to control the water.

Big  One

Two more

We could hear them making noise! 

There were pockets of live oak trees. We think this is probably where the plantations houses were located.

This cistern is all that remains of the plantation house.  There is a photo blind at the end of the brick walk way

The view from the photo blind

This rice trunk is showing it's age!

Rosy Spoonbills. They look like flamingos from a distance

 The one who stayed for a close up

It was a wonderful little drive. They also had radio stops.  Tune your radio to 1610 am and they stops did not have a long range, so only when you were within a couple car lengths could you hear that stop.

The sky is starting to look threatening but we did  not get rained on

 That was the last picture of the drive.

After we got back on the road, we saw a sign for the visitor's center,  we went and checked it out!

Pointing out the baby gator

Checking out the gator

We all enjoyed the day.

Our last stop was the Carolina Cider Company on highway 17.   Peach cider !