Saturday, December 18, 2010

trip south continued

This is my new McMansion! Not! Seriously, you might recognize this as one of America's finest mansions. It is, of course, Builtmore of Ashville, NC. Originally the home of George Vanderbuilt, now a museum but still owned by the Vanderbuilt family. It was all decorated for Christmas and just amazingly beautiful. Several of the rooms were not open to the public, rooms that Jerry and I saw about 2 years ago when we went through in January. Emily, the MFA, is a "card holder" so I got in at a better price, $10 off. It was overcast and a warm 70-ish when we left Greenville, only to arrive in Ashville to 56 degrees and rain! We walked from the parking lot to the house, then all through the house and decided to take the shuttle back up to the parking lot, as it was coming down pretty good. We then had dinner in Ashville, then home to Greenville. The next day, we had to get up early to travel to Charlotte NC to catch the 6:30AM! flight. That flight took me to Atlanta, for a 2 hour layover til the flight out to Moline. Then home in freezing drizzle --what fun!. It was good to be home and have Thanksgiving at the home of some friends from church. Although I did miss being with family. Well, enjoy these pics. All from the bush ME
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Trip South

Good Morning: At least it is morning at this time of writing---er, typing. Here are some photos from my recent (before Thanksgiving) trip to the warmer south. At this typing, however, the south is almost as cold as the north! Well, not exactly, but close. I have a couple of cute photos of my lovely granddaughter, Lilly. She is 4. I tried to get a photo of her brother, but ended up with videos instead. Just can't read those little settings--the digital camera I use has a switch and pictures of where that switch should be switched to, all in BLACK!! How is one to "read" that! Lilly and family live outside Atlanta. The joke about Atlanta is that when the Lord comes to call us home, we will all have to go through Atlanta first! From Atlanta I took the train to Greenville. OK, just to let you know about the times of this trip, here goes: Wed I left the house at 3:30 AM! to catch the 6:30 AM out of Moline, IL
Moline is a cheaper airport, however, it an hour and 3/4 away. So I get to Atlanta airport around local time 10:30-ish. Get picked up around 11:30. Then go to the school where Drew teaches and Landon, who is in K-5 are. Stefani is also subbing that day so Lilly is with her. I go to Landon's class--all 4 of them--should have taken a pic! They are sooo cute. One little girl looks just like the Disney's cartoon of Tinkerbelle! No lie! She is just adorable--and tiny! Just like Tinkerbelle. So we leave the school (after going to lunch twice!--only eating once....fyi) and are home for a couple of hours, then take off to meet some people from Drew's church for the before church on Wed night dinner. Zaxby's has this special for kids meals on Wed nights. Then we go to church, then home and chat for a while.....finely getting to bed after 10PM! Got up early to make sure I see Landon before school. Stef is So organized! Landon knows exactly what he is wearing everyday as she has his daily clothes in separate bins. It helps that the school requires uniforms, which are very nice. Landon looks great in red, with his
white blond hair and big blue eyes. Then Stef went to school to sub and Lilly and I played outside and I picked leaves (sorry no pic) much to Lilly's horror! How dare I do that! Then, after lunch Lilly and I went to school to watch the high school do their choir, band, speech competition. Then home and out to Olive Garden for dinner and then to the train station. Here is a pic of the Atlanta train station. Reminded me of an old movie. Left Atlanta by train around 9-ish. Got to Greenville at midnight.
But was greeted by a sweet and lively 2nd child, the MFA. I will close, but add more pic.
All from the bush
ME
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