National Lampoon's St. Helena Island Vacation...

As you all know, Andrew and I are on vacation right now. It's been fun having no set agenda and just being able to spend some time together. However, as we were driving today, I told Andrew that too many funny things had happened so far on our "vacation" for me NOT to blog about. So, here they are (in no particular order):

1. We left Columbia on Wednesday. Right as we got onto the interstate (which is 1 mile from our apartment), we hit a huge traffic jam with all the lights and sirens. Let's just say that it took us 45 minutes to get 3 miles away from our apartment, which would normally take about 5 minutes. Ouch.

2. We decided to look for Andrew some cool Crocs on Thursday, which took most of the morning and required driving about an hour to Bluffton. Anyway, we decided to go and eat an early dinner in downtown Beaufort when we got back. Unfortunately, Andrew noticed that my tire was "on the ground" flat as soon as we arrived. One call to AAA, 1.5 hours later, and an order of fried pickles at Luther's...we finally got the spare tire on (which was also sorta flat). It was also a billion degrees outside. Andrew wants me to know that he was the one outside while I was inside eating pickles. What can I say?? Someone had to stay and finish them and pay the bill, right?

3. (Sort of a continuation of #2) We were fortunate in finding a Tire Kingdom just around the corner from where we were. We were unfortunate to find out when we arrived that their night shift workers didn't show up, and we wouldn't be able to have our tire fixed. I just marveled as Andrew offered to pay ANY amount for the mechanic to stay and fix our tire. It worked, and of course, we wound up buying a new tire since the flat tire was unable to be fixed. We also left a pretty hefty tip. Hey, Andrew promised!

4. Andrew has caught two stingrays in the ocean so far. He had to get on his iPhone to research what to do in this situation. First words of caution: "Don't try to be a hero." He had to tell me "no" like a child as I attempted to slide the stingray back into the water. I'm sorry but I just can't watch a helpless creature lay there and suffocate. Andrew reminded me that if I got near it, then we'd be making a trip to the hospital. Andrew wants you to know that both Stingray A and Stingray B were "flopping around and whipping their tails." Yes, they were sort of mean. Andrew cut his line off both times, and they made it safely back into the ocean. I guess that bait just wasn't worth it after all, stingrays.

5 and 6 go together and they involve cash (or our lack thereof):

5. Andrew has a friend who has planted a church in Bluffton, SC, about an hour away from where we're staying. On the way this morning (as we were already running late since about 7 people on the road were going 10 miles UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT), Andrew commented, "I hope we don't need cash today, because I sure did leave it at the house!" (We did have enough for offering...) Andrew and I were planning on going to Hilton Head after church to pick up a chair that we'd purchased previously over the phone from a store who's sister store is located where we're staying in St. Helena Island (confusing, I know). So, we decided just to grab something super quick and cheap on our way to this store. Wendy's was the choice. We placed our order, handed them our credit card, began eating some of our fries, sipping our drinks...and whamm! Wendy's credit card computer thing decides to stop working. As the line piled up behind us in what was a terribly uncomfortable situation, the poor guy didn't know what to do. Long story short--we left with our card and no food as Wendy's quickly declared "cash only" as of that moment. Isn't that ridiculous? At least we got a fry and a sip of coke out of that situation. Andrew's last words in Wendy's were, "Man...I really wanted to eat that burger!" Mine were, "I'm writing a letter!"

6. Keep in mind that we STILL had no cash at this point and you guessed it; we don't own ATM cards either. Just call us super prepared! So, we were still hungry and still on our way to the store to pick up our chair in Sea Pines, Hilton Head, SC.... $5 cash only entry fee!!!!! As we drove up to the gate, Andrew said, "I sure hope they take cards!" What do ya know?? Of course they didn't!!!! So there we sat...an hour away from our house and cash and five minutes away from this store...talk about irony. We tried to smooth talk the officer, but he wasn't buying it. At this point Andrew was livid. So, we decided to go into a nearby Publix to see if we could just write them a check and get cash that way. Still starving, we bought sandwiches from their deli and wrote a check for $20 over the total amount, just to get some stinking cash! It worked. Finally, we were fed, we paid the toll, and we found the store to pick up our chair. After all of this, Andrew was dying to get out of Hilton Head.

7. We've also been here since Wednesday. As of today, our grand total of sun and beach time= (drumroll.................2 hours!) Yes! You guessed it...it's rained the past two days. Of course, we spent the first two sunny days Crocs hunting, tire fixing, grocery shopping, and traveling. Did I mention that our umbrella broke during the first 30 minutes of that 2 hours worth of beach time?? Yep, some 5 year old girl was chasing it down the beach since we were too busy playing a highly competitive game of bocce ball which I was currently losing. That also stinks!

8. We've been super shoppers at a roadside bait/fresh seafood stand for..ummm, every day since we've been here. Andrew likes to get bait there for catching all those sharks and stingrays, and we buy our shrimp and fresh veggies there (that we forget from the store). As were buying for our low country boil on Friday, we picked out a pack of bait, 1.5 lbs of jumbo shrimp and an onion. Our grand total was $15,447.00!!!!!!!!!! The look on the owner's face was awesome (as I'm sure our faces were as well!) I just offered him our car. Not too sure if that would've covered it with the gimp tire and all...Would you believe that we don't have that kind of cash just hanging around??? Hahahaha... funny, funny!!!

Disclaimer: We really are having a good time and even as I type this, we're sitting here laughing about all of it. Please don't think we're complaining, but you gotta admit that these situations are a bit comical. I just felt like I definitely had something to blog about today. After all, we do get to look at things like this every night. Until next time...

A little time for blogging...

Finally, Andrew and I are spending some much needed time on vacation. Of course, it's raining today, but that's just an opportunity to catch up on some reading, coupon organizing, and blogging. What a busy month it's been!

As most of you probably know by now, my sweet and precious Grandfather passed away on July 13th. I think our family is beginning to adjust, but it has been one of the most difficult times for us. "Grandaddy" (as we refer to him) was one of the greatest men that I've ever known, and we shared a very close relationship--closer than most grandchild/grandparent relationships. I can't count the memories I have of us...taking trips together in his yellow truck with the "I'd rather be hunting" license plate on it or the grey car with dark blue cloth seats (I still remember how good that car smelled!!!!), him letting me play with his hunting beagles at the house, going to eat at Shealy's barbecue in Saluda, watching him in the garden, cutting him a huge piece of cake for dessert, seeing him at church three times a week, or just sitting around and talking to he and Grandmama for hours anytime I was home for a visit from college. I can't keep going with memories, because this post would be much too long, and I'm already crying now. Above all, Grandaddy was the most godly man I've ever known. He had such a strong faith in God that completely directed his relationships with God and with others. Over the days following his death, we were flooded by people who told us stories of his kindness to them. Have gave so much of himself, yet never expected recognition for it. He only pointed others to the only way he was able to love: Jesus. In his last few years, he was only saddened by the fact that he physically couldn't do more for others. In a time where so many people are concerned about only themselves, his desire was to do more for others. He truly set a example for our family that I only pray I can get close to. He was faithful to God, his wife, his family, and his church. We will never know another one like him. Although I consider myself blessed to have had all four grandparents until this year, I will never go a day without missing him or the godly wisdom that just seemed to flow from him. What an honor to have him and love him.

So, after the month of July, it was clear that vacation was important now more than ever. We had rented a house in Beaufort for the month and the Winburns came for the first week. Now, it's our turn until I have to go back to work in almost two weeks. It's hard to believe that summer will be over soon. Andrew keeps dreading it, because we all know how much that boy likes his tan! Oh, he also did something two days ago that he said he'd NEVER do: bought Crocs!!!!!! Oh, the irony...

In all fairness though, the beach in front of the house has a lot of shells on it, and I had already bitten the bullet a few years ago to buy crocs. We didn't have any luck finding camo ones, but maybe he'll like them so much that he'll have two pair one day!!!!

On another note: On Monday, my mom was announced as Greenwood District 52's Teacher of the Year! We are so proud of her, and always have been. Mom has been teaching for close to 30 years, so it's so nice to see her win this award before she retires...hopefully soon!! Congratulations, Mom!!!!!!!

All right, back to a rainy day on vacation. More to come later!!!!!

So far this summer...

So, here I am...back to the blogging world. It only took me two months. I guess it's time for an update. Some things have happened since May.

-Andrew and I did go down to Charleston in late May to house-sit for my friend Camille's parents. We had a great time and came to the realization that we could live in Charleston...ahh, coastal life. Maybe one day.

-I managed to read the entire "Twilight" series. Those books are the easiest read ever. When I could actually have time to sit down and read them, it took me probably an average of 2 days per book. I know everyone has a different view on reading books about vampires, but I just really like the way the author develops the plot and her characters. Besides, I haven't done any leisure reading since before college. Those textbooks really take it out of you!

-Andrew and I planted a garden at his parents' house this year, with much more success than last year's...thanks to some awesome deer repellent "things!" (I'm not really sure what they're called, but they definitely have helped keep the deer out!) Despite some issues, we're seeing a lot of peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It's pretty cool to get into gardening again. It's weird though, because it makes me feel old and young again at the same time. I can remember my dad gardening and how much work he put into it each year. I can also remember the smell of sevin dust, cherry tomatoes, and the job of snapping and shelling peas and beans each summer. Watching God's earth grow is a cool thing though!

-We celebrated Ellie's 4th birthday and Manning's 3rd birthday just a day apart in June. They're growing up way too fast. Manning and Ellie both got sleeping bags from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Meagan. Of course, Manning got a "Buzz-Wightyeeeear" one and Ellie got Disney Princesses.

-We had a visit from Josh, Beth (my cousin) and Levi one weekend one their way back from the beach. We hung out a little bit on Saturday afternoon, then Cookie (Andrew's mom) volunteered to let Levi sleep at her house while we all went to dinner that night. Cute story alert**** When we took Levi over to the Winburns', Manning, Wyatt, Philip, and Emily Ann were hanging out over there. Apparently, Manning forgot all about Wyatt for a little bit and focused all attention on Levi. My guess is that Levi just seemed more fun to him at the time because he was in the process of just starting to crawl at that point. Anyway, Beth was changing Levi and getting him ready for bed and of course, Manning had to come. She looked down at Levi and said, "I love you, Levi." Then, Manning looked at Levi and said, "I yuuuv you too, Yeevi." So precious! ****

-My Dad has left retirement to take an interim city manager position in Cayce, SC which is just minutes outside of downtown Columbia, SC. He started two weeks ago, and so far-so good. The position is for 6 months, while the city of Cayce works to hire a full-time manager. I knew he couldn't stay out of work for long! It's nice knowing that he's close by though!

-Gavin is at Pine Cove Camp in Tyler, Texas for his 3rd summer! I miss him being around Columbia, but know he's having a great time working with all the families and youth that take part in the camp each year. Pine Cove is a HUGE camp spanning several campuses in Texas that allows individual kids or families to spend time together and grow closer to God in the process. I'm proud of him and can't wait to see what he gets himself into when he comes back home....after all, he did graduate this year!

-We've seen several movies later, so I guess I can give my pitiful critique as usual:

1. "Run Fat Boy, Run" was a pretty funny movie, but honestly, it's been so long since we watched it. I guess it's always hilarious to see a British guy running down the street with tight "too short" shorts on!

2. "Avatar": I think this movie surprised Andrew, because in the end...he really liked it. The story line was pretty cool along with the special effects. However, do people really think we'll be doing that kind of stuff in the year 2040???

3. "Closer": I definitely would not recommend this movie, but it had some interesting real life situations in it. The movie however is just about four people who are all living a lie...kinda depressing. Motto: Don't watch a movie just because you typically like the actress in her other movies.

4. "Land of the Lost": The above motto applies here. I love Will Ferrell, so of course you'd think this movie would be good. Not so much. Andrew fell asleep and we didn't even make it to the end.

5. "Up in the Air": Another interesting movie about a man who makes a living firing people so that companies don't have to do it for themselves. Again, some deceit going on in this movie, but it had it's moments.

6. "Valentine's Day": If you like seeing a bunch of well known actors and actresses get about 5 min of fame a piece, then this is the movie for you. I think I couldn't about 13 famous faces in this movie. I'm pretty sure I don't ever like seeing McDreamy in a role other than Derek Shepherd and McSteamy in a role in which he doesn't like girls. That may reveal too much about the movie. :-(

7. "It's Complicated": Not the greatest message, but still an entertaining movie at points.

8. "17 Again": This is sort of a "Freaky Friday" type movie, but still a decent one. At least this married couple stays together!!! So nice to actually see that for once.

9. "Eclipse: The Twilight Saga": I just went to see this one last week with a friend, since Andrew refuses. He made it through "Twilight" and "New Moon" with me, but I think he couldn't handle Part 3. I was surprised at how much was left out and embellished from the book at the same time. I also think it's funny how Jasper develops a southern accent since the last film. However, these movies are still cool and I don't care what anyone else says ;-)

Whew! That was a long movie review...ok, well it's time to start dinner so I'd better go. Until next time!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week in the Winburn home...

I must admit, I've never been this faithful with blogging. I attribute it to 1) Andrew encouraging me to keep it up and 2) being on a "blogger high" right now ;-)

This week has already been busy, and it's about to get crazier. I thought I'd go ahead and let you know what's going on. Then, hopefully I'll still be on the blogger high and post pictures of all these events next week. Here goes nothing.

I worked on Monday night, came home and slept 'til around 1:30 this afternoon. After running errands, I came home and Andrew and I got ready for some church friends to come over. We grilled hamburgers by the pool, and finally called it a night because --drum roll.........mosquitoes have already made their annoying appearance. Boo, I don't like them at all.

I will work Wednesday and Thursday nights while Andrew finishes everything up for church on Sunday. On Friday, after a couple hours of sleep, Andrew and I will head downtown to Gavin's USC graduation. I cannot believe that my little brother is graduating college. I am so proud of him! After spending time with the Browns, we'll head to Anderson on Friday night to wake up bright and early for Sara Lynn's (Andrew's youngest sister's) graduation ceremony on Saturday morning. I hope the weather is nice, because outdoor graduations are awesome. I remember mine so fondly...I almost passed out from the heat! Ha! The whole Winburn family will travel to Anderson for this event, so that should be pretty fun. I'm anxious to see Molly, Ellie, Manning, and Wyatt all together at a graduation. I really hope to run into Mrs. Deedy Francis while we're there, too. She taught me private voice lessons from 6th-12th grade. What a special lady!

At some point on Saturday afternoon, we'll head back to Columbia to get ready for Sunday. I'll be off til next Thursday, so it'll be so nice having a few days to just relax. At least this is Nurses' Week, so we've had a few fun things going on at work: wearing fun scrubs, ice cream parties, free barbecue tomorrow night, etc.

In other random news:

- Andrew and I finished watching all season of "The Office!!!!!!" I must admit that I was sad for that to come to an end. It was fun going on netflix and watching random marathons, and there's no better show to do that with. Hilarious.

-Recent netflix movies:

Night at the Museum II: Really a movie for the kids, but I'd never seen the first one, so I thought, "Hey, why not watch the second!"

Because I Said So: Typical movie...sort of funny, sort of romantic, sort of annoying at times.

300: A war movie of Spartans fighting against King Xerxes of Persia. It got weird and gory at times, but it wasn't horrible. Wow, I bet you really wanna watch all these don't ya?

The Box: This was an extremely interesting movie (kinda sci-fi) with some EXTREME spiritual symbolism. However, I wouldn't call it spiritual. Anyway, if you're in the mood for something different...this is it.

-We're going to Charleston in May to hang out with Miss Camille and house sit for her parents. I am so pumped! You will definitely hear more about this random fact.

-This just in: Andrew is now tired and ready to go to sleep, so he has no random news to share with you all. On that note, I should probably turn the computer off for now.

Fatigue...

Life is definitely full of different seasons, and this one is--well, it's interesting and highly incompatible with a "normal life schedule" at times. Like today-- (Sunday). I worked last night from 7pm til this morning at 7am. After giving report on my babies, I drove home, walked into apartment around 7:45 as Andrew was walking out, took a shower, fell asleep on the bed for 15 minutes, and was at church to practice music at 9:30.

Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to complain about my life, only trying to share with some who don't know and might be curious.

After church, I came home and was in the bed by 12 noon. I slept soundly, without earplugs, in the middle of the day, until 6pm! Even then, Andrew had to force me to wake up! At least I can be grateful for the ability to sleep through just about anything. It never fails that 30 kids are screaming like crazy at our pool during my sleep time, and Andrew always is amazed at how I can sleep straight through it.

So, here I am...blogging to the world (somewhat awake) while Andrew tries to stay awake after a long day. Sundays are pretty big days for him, and if you don't know it already--we're prone to have "interesting" things come up on a Sunday that are flat out energy drainers. To top off just being busy on a Sunday, he still found time to go to Target for some medicine for me, grab this week's paper (for coupons), took the church trailer back, went to his parents' house and spent time with Molly and Ellie (our nieces), and came home to wake me up and heat up some leftovers for me. All I can say is...what a man!

Now, Andrew's made smoothies...we're going out to the pool to enjoy the last few minutes of daylight. Peace out!

"Can you see????"

Tonight, Andrew and I had the opportunity to help with the National Federation of the Blind's fundraiser. Each year, the NFB holds a barbecue, and we volunteered to walk some of "the blind" (oohhh...that sounds bad) around various parts of the city to sell tickets. Andrew and I were able to pair up with Justin, who's a member of generation church. It was so much fun! We met some interesting folks, and we managed to sell 24 tickets. At $7 each...that's pretty good. Our last stop was where we hit the jackpot. It was the sweetest man, a retired orthodontist who enjoyed our company...very much! Not to sound all cocky, but he was a huge fan of me. I know that sounds bad, but it was just so cute how he kept asking Andrew things like, "How'd you get so lucky?" Hey, it made my day. The day I'm not attractive to an 82 year old...I'm in trouble ;-) He bought 7 tickets, and Justin said that I could be the MVP for the day. Other highlights: almost getting attacked by a dog, seeing a man with his t-shirt tucked into his underwear, having a lady on a guilt trip who said "no" at first chasing us down in her car to make a donation, and meeting a super sweet couple who we got to talk with for a few minutes (their daughter was adorable!) Probably the funniest moment, which unfortunately I missed, was Andrew's van story. Volunteers dropped everyone off on their assigned streets. As Andrew was getting into the passenger seat of the van, the driver looked over at him and quickly asked, "Can you see???" After Andrew said, "Uhh, yes," the driver handed him some papers and said, "Good. I'm looking for Whittaker Street." Andrew almost died telling me that story. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures. Are you surprised? We finished off the night with pizza and cupcakes. What a good Monday.