I thought weekends were for relaxing.

Well, not so this time! Saturday began as a "let's have a picnic" kind of day. OK, I can do that. Not a cookout, mind you. Just sandwiches. So, off we go until we find the playground at Lake Junaluska. Which, as many times as I've driven past, I have never noticed :-)

Grumpy lady there shooed us away from the picnic shelter before we even reached it. But that was OK, because a bench worked out just fine. The kids got to play here:



and even Gramma had fun:



After lunch we headed across the pedestrian bridge, feeding few ducks along the way. These were taken around or on the bridge:






Then we played a round of mini golf, where we ALL got at least one hole in one! I like that course. Good for the ego :-)

And as we're leaving the parking lot, I get this question from my husband: "So what happens if we go that way?" He's pointing towards Soco, and a curvy ride to Cherokee that will probably make him carsick. So, of course, we HAD to go that way. Twenty minutes later, we're in the parking lot of Santa's Land. (Sorry, I forgot the camera. Bad blogger!)

We saw baby bears, a camel, reindeer and various other "critters" in the zoo. The boys slid down probably four different playground slides, rode race cars and trains, and even paid a visit to Santa. Top it off with a Pizza Hut dinner, and it was a LONG day, but a lot of fun.

So Sunday is a day of rest, right?

Wrong.

Start off with a church service, add in a school-supply-shopping-trip to Wal-Mart (bad move), and end with an afternoon of fellowship and baptisms by the river.

Whew! I need another weekend to recover from my weekend!

So what did y'all do??

Well, here he is!

We looked and we looked and we called and we surfed and finally, we drove, and here's what, or rather who, we found:





This is Titus. He is an AKC registered English Bulldog, and he is only 3 weeks old! His mommy died a week after he was born :-( So, he and his six remaining siblings from a litter of TEN are being bottle fed right now. We are all SO excited here in our household - we want our puppy! But, he's not ready yet so we have to wait a few more weeks before we can bring him home.

There will likely be lots of posts and pictures and posts about Titus, since he's been the main topic around here and we don't even HAVE him yet!!

Wordless Wednesday - BUSTED!

So that's where all my bird seed has been going!

OK. Let's try this again.

Is this a face only a mother could love?


(photo courtesy of Welcome to the Doghouse.net)

Well, I used to think so. But, I have to say, these English Bulldogs have grown on me.

Good thing, because in a moment of weakness I told my husband he could have one.

The problem? Finding one!

Any of you fine blog readers know where I could get one of these cuties?

We interrrupt your (un)-regularly scheduled blog post

because Blogger is experiencing technical difficulties.

At least I hope it's Blogger, and not me.

Because that would totally stink.

I'm trying to write a fun little post for your reading pleasure, but Blogger won't cooperate by letting me add my photo right now. And frankly, this post HAS to have this picture. I'll try again later.

And now, back to the show.....

Vacation Wrap-Up: FINALLY!

I know you guys just can't wait to her about the rest of our vacation. Well, I just want to wrap up this little series and not be a quitter (which I sometimes AM!) So bear with me: this is the last post. I promise...

Friday morning, we woke up to this:


This would soon become Tropical Storm Cristobal. Sorry the picture is hazy, but the longer I was ouside, the more my camera fogged up. I couldn't see anything through the lens at all about 10 seconds after I took this shot!

That storm ruined any outdoor activities for our last two days, so we did an INSANE amount of outlet shopping in Charleston. (I got free Reeboks!!) We also conveniently had an excuse to go see "The Dark Knight" on it's opening day!

#1: That theater in Mt. Pleasant ROCKS!! Big comfy sets, fold-up armrests, and staggered seating so that even short people like me can see over the Giant that alway sits down in front of you!

#2: GREAT movie. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I thought it was really good. Four stars :-) (Although a tad too long at two and a half hours)

Saturday we finally headed home, and the closer we got, the more Middle Son was anxious to see Furball, the hamster. I just had a bad feeling that one of the adults should peek at him first, you know, just in case.

Didn't happen.

Aaron beat us donstairs, only to come running back up with tears streaming minutes later. Furball was gone. We found evidence that he had been out and about, and fairly recently by the looks of the tiny wet footprints we found next to the dessicant in the basement.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it home in time to save the poor little bugger. He found his way into my bathroom looking for water, and that's all I'll say about that. Thank Heaven Aaron didn't find him. We didn't tell him, for his benefit (I know that doesn't sound right, but hear me out).

We had to have our very sick 16 year old dog put down last Halloween, and the poor little guy is still grieving that dog. He still visits her grave in the back yard, and even shows it to visitors. Even still two weeks ago. We told him that the hamster probably got outside, and was living in the woods. Maybe hanging out with the squirrels. He's still sad about Furball being gone, but he's much more accepting of it this way. We couldn't decide if we should tell him the truth or not, but, although not completely honest, I think we made the best decision. It just would have been a lot of grief for one very tender-hearted little boy.

What do you think? If it were your kids, would you tell them that another pet had died?

So, aside from the very end, our week at Isle of Palms was a good one. Now, when is my next vacation??? :-)

Have a great tax-free weekend everybody!!

Guess what? I COOKED!!

Well, baked, actually. Same difference.

My thoughtful young teenager picked these for me behind his dad's house:

These were begging to be made into a cobbler, so that's just what I did. Here's a little photographic evidence, in case you don't believe that I was actually cooking:

2 cups of berries...


Melted butter...


A bowl full of batter...


Ready for the oven...


And...VOILA!! Blackberry Cobbler a la Ingersoll!



I'd give you the link to my recipe, but I wasn't totally happy with the way it turned out. I had to cook it nearly twice as long as the recipe called for to get my nice golden brown top, and the inside was still a bit gooey. I shoulda just called my mama for her recipe! :-) Good eats, right there.

Gooey or not, everyone got a big bowl, topped off with some extra churned vanilla bean ice cream:



So, how was it?


What do you think?? :-)

Here's hoping you find some good eats this weekend!!