Laurel's 21st

Laurel visited for a few days so we could celebrate her 21st with her. We showed her downtown, Folly Beach and Morris Island.

Exploring

We were in the house for three days before the movers came. While we waited, we explored. This fountain is downtown Charleston. It is a beautiful city.

The move down South

We left Ft. Wayne on Saturday afternoon, March 19 with a car top carrier, the trunk full and an old cat and huge old dog int he back. Silver spent a lot of time on Brent's or my lap. He had never been out of the house so this was amazing to him. We drove as far as Lexington, KY the first day and arrived in Charleston late on Sunday night. We couldn't get into our house until Monday morning, so we stayed downtown Charleston Sunday night.

Last day in Ft. Wayne

 L-A Electric planned a going away party for Brent at Woodland Lounge on our last night in Ft. Wayne...we actually were going to leave that afternoon; however, because of the planning without consulting either one of us...we didn't leave until the NEXT late afternoon!!! It all turned out good. It was a great party and some of my people from work showed up as well. Above: Kass Foltz, me, Mandy (Foltz) Roos.

 Mandy and Kass

 Laura Messick (her husband got Brent's former position at L-A), Lisa Scharr (controller at L-A), and Mary Lou Arnold (she and her husband, Bill, own L-A Electric).

 Not sure who he guy in the orange is...next to him is Bill Arnold, owner of L-A Electric, and not sure who the guy in the blue is either.

Scott Foltz in the orange shirt...

The party started at 4pm. The movers were still packing up our house when I left to meet Brent there. We got home somewhere around 1am to an empty house (we had our luggage, some clothes and an air mattress...oh and the cat and dog!) It was so weird, sad, yet exciting. We made a lot of friends in Ft. Wayne in the 10 years we lived there.  The next afternoon we began a brand spanking new chapter in our lives.

Disney on Ice

We took the girls to see Disney on Ice before we moved. Mackenzee said it was "the best night of her life"! It really was a good show. We finished the night by going to one of their favorite hangouts...Steak and Shake. They also spent the night. Fun!!

First trip to Charleston

We made our fist trip to Charleston in early March to check it out and try to find a place to live. It was so cool that Ricky and Ashley live so close, they came to spend the afternoon with us. We explored downtown and found this candy store that Ashley had seen on the Food Network. She told us about these crickets they have and wanted the guys to try some.

 Brent - holding one of the ugly buggers. I believe his was sour cream and onion flavored.

Oh............YUM, YUM !!

Pics from Ricky

This work dog found these.

Your bad day suddenly doesn't seem so bad, does it?

Happy New Year!

We had a very nice New Year's Eve celebration with friends and family at Kathy and Scott Foltz' house. Kathy and Scott, their son Joey, their daughter Amanda and her significant other Chris with their little one Chloe and their little guy on the way were all there. Bowling friends, Rick & DJ, Mike & Suzanne, Jeff and Chris were there. Brent and I along with Sara, Maddison and Mackenzee (and baby grandson on the way) were all there and Laurel even made an appearance!


There was plenty of food and fun. We had ping-pong and cards going on out in the garage, pool in the game room and Guitar Hero in the livingroom. We all made it until midnight....kids and old people (me) alike!



Scott, at regular intervals, brought out his jello shots. I turned them all down except for this one below! eeeewwwww

Here's Joey playing Guitar Hero...
Here's Sara, Mackenzee and DJ

Here's Kathy and Suzanne

Sara, DJ, Amanada

Brent (cheesin' and feelin' no pain!) and Jeff



Maddison, Chloe and Mackenzee had a blast...

Chloe wrestling with Maddison

We were all out quite late, so no one even stirred until about 9:00 this morning (that would be me and Mackenzee....usually both always up before dawn). Brent came down and the three of us were enjoying some Spanish conversation with Mackenzee (she was teaching us!) when we heard screams coming from upstairs. Brent and I wondered what in the world was going on, but Mackenzee knew right away....she exclaimed "Maddi lost her tooth!!!". Maddison's top teeth have been quite loose for weeks. Just before Christmas we were all sure that one of them would just fall right out....but nooooooooooooo. Brent tried working on it, we tried getting Maddison to get it out (and I told her that night, if she pulled it out, I would give her all the change in my coin bank).

Well................she finally got it out this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is her tooth and the hole it left in her mouth! She has a pretty little tooth fairy pillow to put it in for tonight.

And on her lap on the left is my change bank!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Fun in Kalamazoo!

On a whim, Brent and I headed for Kalamazoo on Saturday afternoon. I've read on a few of the facebooks and alumni sites that the PNHS alumni meets on the day after Christmas at Burdick's. So we decided to go. By the time we hit Battle Creek, it had begun snowing and 30 minutes later, we were being pummeled. That was okay, though, we were staying right there so didn't have to drive anywhere.

I hadn't seen any of these people in 25-30 years! We had a really good time. We had a really nice room, had dinner up there last night and came down for a nice breakfast at Burdick's this morning.

This Santa Claus on the Kalamazoo Mall, downtown, has been a part of Kalamazoo history since before I was born so many years ago!

In the lobby of the Raddison at the Kalamazoo Center.

And here's a picture of the two of us. We had a good weekend.