Summertime, and the Living is Easy

It's a great song, and this Summer it was actually true! We had a bit of a break from school and work (school in Joshua's case, work in mine), so we took advantage of the time off together and spent lots of time with friends as family, as well! Here are a few pictures; I'll probably forget to tell about something we did, but there's too much to post it all!

We got to meet Miss Ryleigh Grace, new daughter of my college roommate, Kaitlin! She's so precious.

Speaking of new beginnings, we went to THREE weddings this Summer! Congrats to my cousins, Emily & Evan, and our friends Kyle & Kelli and Brittny & Juan!

We went to PCB with my family. This year there weren't as many cousins as in years past, but we still had a great time!

We spent a week directing Elementary Camp at Sumatanga. It's always wonderful to be at camp, especially when you get to spend the week with 140 campers and our wonderful codirector, assistant directors, counselors and team!

My best friend Bridget moved off to Romania to do mission work in a children's home for two years! I miss her but I'm really proud of her too! We FaceTime as much as we can with our busy schedules. 

We've been working our booties off trying to get the house organized and decorated like we want it, and we're almost there! We just have a few projects left, like finishing the paint job on the above dresser in our bedroom.

I finally succeeded in getting Joshua hooked on Doctor Who! We're both "Whovians" now and spent nearly every night watching an episode or two until we finished all 7 seasons. We can't wait until the 50th anniversary episode in November and to see what the new 12th doctor will bring to the table!

We tried to get up to Huntsville as much as we could to see our wonderful friends there. Some of them even came all the way out to see us, and we spent a beautiful day at the lake!

We battled very hungry caterpillars in our garden. I think we've finally gotten rid of them (here's hoping)!

We went hiking around the Free State of Winston. This is Kinlock Falls, and we want to go back someday to slide down it!

We got to see Kyle, Jennifer, and baby Kylie in Tuscaloosa. Kyle is Joshua's childhood friend and was best man at our wedding. We always have fun when we get together, and someday I am going to get to hold that sweet girl before she falls asleep!

We had 5 Sunday nights of VBS at church. Joshua is so great with his group of middle school-aged kids. I got to do a puppet sketch each week, and I led crafts as well. We had lots of fun in "God's Big Backyard!"

We spent lots of fun times with our church family this summer, too. They are wonderful people. We enjoyed impromptu meals at Chef Troy's, shrimp and fries by the lake, a game or three of Dominos, and all of the fresh produce that was dropped off at our door at least once a week!

Of course we spent a lot of time in Hartselle swimming in the pool and grilling out with the Sparkmans. It's a great way to keep cool!

We also spent a lot of time with the Allisons this summer. We hosted a 4th of July party at our house and both sides of the family came and ate lots of food! Then we were lucky enough to have Carrie stay with us for a few days after that and teach me how to sew pillows. She looks thrilled about her sparkler in that picture, doesn't she?

It's pretty much the end of our Summer, and as sad as I am to go back to "real life," I'm also excited to get into the swing of things with my new job teaching PreK Head Start in Winfield. Hopefully I will be having so much fun with my class that it won't be such a huge adjustment from lazy summer fun. As long as I can get used to waking up at 5:30, I think I'll be ok. Yikes!

Early Christmas Card

I made our Christmas cards early so we could get a discount, and now I'm posting it on my blog for the same reason! Yay Shutterfly!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

The Allisons at Home

We've been home for more than a week now, and it has been marvelous! We've had lots of fun hanging out with friends and family, setting up our house, and putting in our garden. At the end of the day, Joshua will say "what's our adventure for tomorrow?" I love that, so far, we've had something great to look forward to every day!

The Sunday after we got back from our honeymoon, our church, Houston Memorial UMC, had Sunday dinner to help us celebrate our marriage! It was delicious and so nice of them.  I officially joined the church during the service. We had a great time, and we love our church family!

The UMW gave us this beautiful needlepoint of the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. We LOVE it and have already found a special place for it in our living room!

Here are some more pictures from our house and around the area:

We went to the Chicken and Egg Festival in Moulton with our friends Jonathan, LK and Gavin

Our colorful dishes, and the bowls my cousins made us! It's a family tradition that I love.

We got spoon lady in Savannah, and we love her!

Our little garden

Joshua using our Kitchen-Aid mixer for the first time!

Next post we'll tell you about the latest Allison Family Band project and the touching moments that came from it!

The Chronicles of Joshua and Rachel's Honeymoon Adventures: The Fourth Day

Day 1       Day 2      Day 3


     Here's my soundtrack for our day in Savannah

Baby
I've spent my life wonderin',
Wonderin' when I'd find you
I searched for all these years
And now you're right here
And I need you to know that

Everything makes sense when you're with me


On Wednesday we woke up in Savannah. My favorite thing about this leg of the trip was the motel we stayed in. The Thunderbird Inn is billed as the "hippest hotel in Savannah," and we agreed! It is a retro redo of a 1960's motel, and they really made it look the part. It was bright and colorful, and I was in hotel heaven! When you checked in they offered you popcorn, and they sold little keychains that looked like the old-timey hotel keys, complete with "if you find this key drop it into a mailbox." Joshua got me a yellow one with our room number on it as a souvenir. Cute! Here are some pictures, because it's hard to describe the grooviness of this place.

Joshua was not too thrilled about the Auburn colored room. War Eagle, sweetheart!

They had moonpies in the room!

Cuteness in the shower

Alright, enough about the motel. On to Savannah! We had gone on a 90 minute trolley tour the night before when we got to Savannah, so we had some ideas as to where we wanted to go on the second day. We could hop on and off the trolley to get to numerous different places around town. Savannah is only a mile wide, though, so we ended up just walking from site to site a lot, too. (Side note, I don't think it makes much sense for me to see a "site" in my "sightseeing," but that's what Joshua says is correct. And I trust him.) From time to time, costumed actors would get on the trolley and tell a story about one of the notable characters in Savannah history. Below you see the beloved Forrest Gump. Here he was asking if the seat was taken. My fellow passengers were a lot nicer than the boys on Forrest's first bus ride.

 

We also saw Johnny Mercer, Catherine Green, and Eli Whitney. I was the only one in the group to get excited about Eli Whitney. Most of them were yankees and hadn't taken Alabama history. Their loss, I guess. Caty Greene's story was fascinating, and she ended up being one of my favorite characters from Savannah. If you haven't heard of her, check out the link above.

Of course, being two good Methodists, we had to visit the statue of John Wesley and see where he had spent time in Savannah. It was interesting to me that he really didn't like living in Savannah at all. After he fell in love and had his heart broken, he was so miserable he went back home to England. Soon after that, he had his "warm heart" episode, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and started the movement that we now know as Methodism. So that period of time where he was very unhappy was actually very instrumental in shaping not only John Wesley's life but also the lives of many people after him. Inspiring!

Joshua getting preaching advice

We had some decent food and some disappointing food. The shopping was pretty good, although we thought antique prices are much more reasonable in Hartselle. We walked a LOT and saw a LOT and came away at the end of the day with a good feel for the city of Savannah. Really all we had time for on this trip was taking in the atmosphere of the places that we visited. Maybe in the future we can go back and get more details on the history of this great city.

The Chronicles of Joshua and Rachel's Honeymoon Adventures: The Third Day

(This is part 3 of several.  The first day is here, and the second day is here.)

I was awakened by the sound of a garbage truck banging against a dumpster.  We were soon up, dressed, and heading down to the lobby for a donut.  Then off again, across the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge, and thus through Charleston.  We headed south on US 17, toward Beaufort.  It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, with a slight breeze.  We rolled southward, enjoying the views of marsh, palmetto, and pine forest.

We soon found ourselves at the ruins of Prince William's Parish Church, known now as the Old Sheldon Church.  It was a Greek Revival style building, completed sometime between 1745 and 1753.  It was later burned by the British in 1779.  It was rebuilt in 1826, and then later was burned or gutted in 1865 or 1866.  Some have said that Sherman's forces burned it, but others say that the interior was merely torn up and the wood used to rebuild homes that Union forces had burned.  Others suggest that freed slaves burned or destroyed it.  Today all that is left is the brick walls, surrounded by a graveyard and huge live oak trees.  We walked around and looked at the dates on the graves.  Since there was a tour bus erupting people into the church yard, we decided to go on down to Beaufort.




Beaufort, SC is a picturesque Southern town, not far at all from the sea.  It is in the heart of the lowcountry.  We drove into town on the main street and quickly found a place to park. We worked our way up the street, going into random shops, until we found ourselves in a store that sells antique and used books.  After browsing around (we saw a set of books used in a movie -- more in a moment), Rachel selected an autographed cookbook by a famous local author, while I found a book about gnomes.  The woman who was running the store told us that we needed to go see the old homes in the historic district.  But first we had to find the post office and St. Helena Episcopal Church.

St. Helena is also quite old; the church was formed in 1712 and the building was built of brick (most of which was balast material from ships) and stucco; it was completed in 1724 -- which makes it one of the oldest churches still in existence in the US.  Today it is surrounded by a brick wall and a graveyard.  The interior is absolutely magnificent.  It is served by two priests and two deacons -- there are Episcopal churches in much larger cities with fewer clergy on staff than this.  I noted with interest that the main service of the day is Rite I (for you non-Anglicans, that's the traditional language version). I can only imagine how heavenly the music is. Interestingly, the nave looked much like any other American church, with a three-sided balcony and pews and kneelers throughout, but the chancel area was unusual for an Episcopal church.  There wasn't a choir loft, and actually it reminded me more of Methodist chancels than Episcopal ones.

We walked back to our car, pausing to eat lunch at a wonderful barbecue place on Main Street.  I tried their South Carolina Mustard sauce, and it was heavenly.  Easily the best barbecue I've had in a long, long time.

Upon returning to our car, we discovered that in our haste to see the town, I'd forgotten to feed the meter. The Traffic Commission of Beaufort, South Carolina left their greetings fluttering under the windshield wiper -- all $10 of it.  So we went and paid that and then went to see the houses that the lady in the bookstore had recommended.

One of the houses in town is the mansion that was used as the set for The Big Chill.  I had seen a set of books in the book store that was used as a prop.  The house is gated and at the end of a dead-end street, right on the waterfront, and surrounded by huge live oaks and other greenery.  So you can't really see it that well.\

We decided we'd seen about all there was to see in Beaufort, so we headed on down toward Savannah and Tybee.  A short time later we were driving down Bay Street in Savannah, trying to keep from getting run over by the 18-wheelers that were trying to take their half out of the middle.  The street is narrow, despite being four lanes, and the parked cars along the sides force the large trucks and busses toward the middle.

Tybee Island is relatively flat.  To this Alabama native, used to the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, the Atlantic coast was a huge let-down.  Their sand is an ugly grey, with bits of sea shells ground up in it.  We did get to see the lighthouse, which is pretty cool, but unfortunately, they're closed on Tuesdays -- the day we were there.  The beach defense batteries, built in the 1880s and 90s, are right across the street.  I made sure to pay the meter here, and we went to walk on the beach.



We finally decided to go back to Savannah and check into our hotel and then see about maybe taking a bus tour.  We were checked in and ready to go by about 4:15.  We took the 90-minute round trip, with an option to get on and off all we wanted the next day.  It wasn't as informative as the carriage ride in Charleston had been; it seemed to be more focused on showing us where things were.  Still, it gave us an idea of where we wanted to go and do the next day.

After the tour, we returned to the hotel, got our car, and went to the Shrimp Factory on River Street for dinner.  I had a really good Cajun shrimp and rice dish, and Rachel had one that looked like shrimp with crab cakes.  ("It was stuffed shrimp," Rachel says.)  After all that, we debated going out for a drink, but as we couldn't find a parking place, we ended up going back to the hotel.  Thus ended the best day we'd had so far.

The Chronicles of Joshua and Rachel's Honeymoon Adventures: The Second Day

View Joshua's post about Day 1 here

For some reason, since we've been married I've been waking up way earlier than ever before. I don't know if it's related to excitement or the fact that my husband snores like a polar bear with a head cold. Either way, I'm hoping it continues when I go back to work next week!

Monday when we woke up Joshua showed me the weather forecast for the week. Thursday is supposed to be stormy (be careful, Alabama peeps), so we spontaneously decided to change our plan and head to Charleston that day. It would add one night in a hotel to our trip, but we were willing for that kind of adventure. We quickly repacked a small bag and hit the road.

As soon as we got into the lovely city of Charleston, we found the visitor's center and headed in with high hopes and maybe a little naiveté. Hey, you can't blame us, we're on our honeymoon!

...So after we ended our 2 hour time-share presentation with only a half a dozen "no's" and a few tears (from my part, not the salesman's), we collected our free tickets for a horse drawn carriage tour and finally went to see the sights of Charleston. We loved this beautiful city!

The horse's name was Larry, and the tour guide said he was from Charleston but talked like a surfer. But he sure did know a lot about the city! I loved seeing the pretty houses on Rainbow Row, and Joshua like the marketplace and the history. 

After the tour we walked around holding hands for a while, just getting the feel of the place. We went in lots of cute shops and enjoyed the gorgeous spring weather. Eventually we went looking for dinner. We followed the recommendation of our good friend KB out to Sullivan's Island and Poe's restaurant. We had delicious burgers, and then we took a walk on the beach. This was my first time to see the Atlantic Ocean! Somehow in all of the excitement of planning and getting ready for the wedding, I had overlooked the awesome things we would get to see on our trip, so I was very excited! 

While we were at the beach we saw a lighthouse, but I was disappointed because it was just black metal, not at all the kind of pretty lighthouse you see in pictures. Thus began my obsession. I was determined I would find a lighthouse on this trip that would satisfy my nostalgic yearnings, and that desire would be the impetus for the entire next day.

The Chronicles of Joshua and Rachel's Honeymoon Adventures: The First Day

It was a warm, sunny morning. Rachel and I awoke, refreshed and ready to continue our journey.  I suppose many would want to write a line or two about wedded marital bliss, but I shall refrain.  After removing most of the writing on the front windows and mirrors of the car, we headed out along I-20, toward Atlanta.

The drive itself was unremarkable.  We stopped in Douglasville, GA for coffee, then again in this interesting little town called Social Circle for lunch.  We made a picnic out of leftovers from the reception, sitting on a swing in a park.  Immediately before eating, we visited a small gift shop located next to a historic inn that is now a restaurant.  The smell of frying okra was quite welcome.



After our delicious repast, we continued on our way.  The drive toward Columbia was unremarkable, aside from the number of people who honked and waved in response to the message painted on the back window of the car.  Just before we arrived at the lake house, we stopped at the grocery store for a few items.

The house is lovely.  We're in the basement, which is actually the ground level in the back, with a huge screen door and a deck that leads to a dock.  The water is calm, except when ruffled by a passing speedboat, and there are Mallard ducks which fly, swim, and quack at us.  I think they want bread.

I cooked pasta with sundried tomatoes and shrimp for dinner, and we opened a bottle of bubbly.  Thus ended the first day.