A photo posted by Kim (@kimberleeshaw) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:06pm PST

A day of Firsts

Today was the first day of kindergarten for our eldest and the first day of the final class-step for Caroline at daycare. We've been talking it up for weeks, thinking this would be a tough transition for everyone.  J, sis, and Sam have been the Three Amigos their entire lives. They wake, eat, school, bathe, play, and sleep together. I was expecting the split to be on par with the breakup of The Beatles.  Especially after I announced Caroline would be changing rooms to have a single instead of sharing with her oldest brother and was promptly confronted with a pleading Caroline *and* Jack asking to "stay together until we turn 15." 

So we had a weekend of special treats, Costco trips to pick out fun lunch snacks, ceremonious packing of bookbags and snack totes, and even new clothes to help all feel special on this momentous day.  I even found Jack completely dressed for school around 11pm the night before because "I just wanted to be sure there was enough time in the morning to get everything done."  

I fully anticipated this morning to be heavy and full.  I could not have been more surprised.

All babes woke happy and helpful.  Jack kept to his promise and got (re)dressed, washed, bed-made, and fed on his own without direction. Caroline happily got dressed and Sam didn't empty the contents of his snackbag on the floor for a quick crunchy dance with the dog. 

We all walked hand in hand to the patio door at school.  Jackson gave hugs and flew through the school doors without a second look.  And the Littles let. him. go.  There was no crying or screaming or whining or clinging.  Angels didn't come down from the heavens with trumpets and trees didn't catch fire.  We almost even forgot to get out of our camera at all. 

I thought I would be overwhelmed with emotion.  I thought I would tear up and linger too long and have a hard time driving away.  But, just like so many other times in this parenting adventure when I have been proven utterly wrong (see potty training), I didn't.  I've been dropping Jack off at "school" since he was 8wks old so maybe that's why today didn't feel so momentous.  Or maybe it was the distracting chaos that still clung to each of my hands after I lost site of him through the double doors.  Or maybe it was how ready and calm he was to start this next chapter in his life.  Or maybe, and more likely, it just hasn't hit me yet.  Time has a funny way of lulling one into a distracted daze.  Maybe that isn't a bad thing.  Maybe that's the way we Mommas cope.

March on into the adventurous wonderful world, my sweet little ones.

Just the Two of Us

I got to go fishing this morning with my big bud Jackson. At one point he sidled up to me and said "hey, bud!" I said "Bud? Like Bud and Nana?" "No, silly - bud like best friend, bud," and grinned his silly sweet grin. Love this guy, and it is so fun to watch him grow up.

After fishing (a neighbor's birthday party at a local pond), we headed over to run some errands and get haircuts. Doc and the littles ended up on the other side of town for lunch, so Jack and I popped over to Five Guys for lunch. Now, Matilda is one who appreciates a good burger. Jack, on the other hand, was very focused on coloring.

Game Time

We finally made it out to a Hoppers game this year - caught a rain-delay double-header against the Lakewood Blueclaws. After an hour on the playground, we headed up to the Firm's box with the Duncans. 

 

The Hoppers won both games, but are currently two games back to the Hagerstown Suns in the Northern Division of the South Atlantic League. 

Jack ended up with a foul ball, tipped off the glass in the box seats, caught by one of the older patrons and handed down to the next generation.

Besides the Seventh Inning Stretch and the Chicken Dance, I think the Rainbow Magic Dippin' Dots were the guys' favorite part.

Finally Four

My little girl is _dying_ to grow up. I have never seen someone more  excited to turn four - the anticipation for the last month has been palpable. Every day, she asks - "How many more days?" We started counting about 21 days out.

And then when the big day came, she took it all in with a heaping measure of pride, like she had accomplished something really noteworthy. She puffs up a bit, then calm explains to any newcomer (or oldtimer) that she is in fact now FOUR YEARS OLD.

Hard to believe, baby girl. Hard to believe.

We started out the big day with some new "jewelry" and a Krispy Kreme donut date with Dadddy.

Then a cupcake party at school, and then home to celebrate with family.

Doc whipped out an amazing Unicorn Cake that was the star of dinner - in fact, I am pretty sure most of the kids skipped the real meal and went straight for dessert. Everynow and then Doc and Matilda relax a little bit..

Present opening was a blast, topped off by the little princess' very first bike, in pink and purple just as we ad been directed. 

[More pics to follow]

Blueberry Picking and Weed Pulling and Family

Sunday after the Fourth, we ventured down to Thomasville, NC to GiGi's farm, to go blueberry hunting. We found a bunch!

This is always such a fun outing, and we need to do it more. GiGi led all the kids around with their buckets, showing them how to pick (and eat!) the ripe ones and leave the others to mature a little bit more. Doc and Matilda quickly gravitated to pulling weeds and grapevines from the blueberry plants.

This property in Thomasville is such a wonderful place. It isn't very large, and it doesn't have expansive views or big fields or fancy features. But it is our families, and it has a big old barn that is full of dusty cobwebs and the creaks of childhood adventure. And it has scuppernong vines, and orchard trees, and rows upon rows of blueberry bushes that were planted long ago by Doc's grandaddy.

It is a special place that just speaks of the timelessness of family, and of tradition, and of nurturing and stewarding the wonders of the land. It is someplace where you want to take your grandkids one day and then show them old pictures of their parents Jack, Caroline and Sam once doing the exact same thing.

This is a place you can teach the next generation about values, and family, and nature, to teach by doing and by example rather than having to speak explicitly of such things without some sort of concrete example. I feel the same way about the property in Spartanburg off of Kelly Rd, with the red dirt roads and the pines and the creek bottom and swamp. And the creeks and marshes on the backside of IOP and Pawleys. And the mountains and rivers and waterfalls around Saluda NC. And all the other little places of nature that we can go, and live, and learn by doing rather than by talking. Those are things you can't buy for kids, things they can't "learn" in school. Those are the parts of life that family is for, that family is supposed to teach. Hopefully the parts of life that make them better people, better citizens, better parents one day.

After about an hour of picking, all the kids ended up eating much of the blueberry yield and playing "fort" in the vans, exploring the barn and the woods, and generally just having a grand old time in the out of doors.

Gigi had the foresight and wisdom to bring a cooler full of ice and a portable shaved ice machine, so we all got to enjoy Orange Gatorade-flavored shaved ice treats at the end of the morning. At this point, Doc and I had about 6 cubic yards of weeds and grapevine pulled, and so this was a welcome and rewarding treat.

Thanks Gigi! We can't wait to do it again!

Independence Day

Happy Fourth Of July to Everyone!

This is one of my favorite holidays. And it is so much fun to be able to introduce these young'uns to the joys of freedom, BBQ, fireworks, and the Red White and Blue.

We all got to dress up in our favorite patriotic digs on Thursday, got to skip work / school on Friday, fired up the grill, played with sparklers, and watched the fireworks from the top of a UNCG parking deck on Friday night. We had a great time hanging out with 75% of the Garrisons on Saturday, and spent the better part of Sunday picking blueberries with GiGi. What more could we ask for to celebrate our freedom?

Father's Day / Hanging Rock Redux

Five years to the day, in our "annual" father's day hiking celebration, our intrepid cohort of five summitted the peak of Hanging Rock State Park.

I was scared to death the whole time that someone was going to see a bee and then run over the edge, but everyone did great. With the exception of Sam (who rode in style on Doc's back) everyone made it all the way to the top and back under their own power.

The Best Part

Undoubtedly the best part of this vacation was the opportunity to spend some quality time with the love of my life. 

There is so much going on in our lives right now - stuff that has been growing and building at an ever-incessant pace for the last 6 or seven years - that we are hardly able to stop and slow down and say I love you. Much less be able to say it per and over for days at a time without distraction, or work, or kids, or meetings and phone calls or deadlines or to do lists. Life at this point - with two careers and three kids and a dog and who knows whatever else in the way of obligations and commitments - is all-consuming. 

This was one of a handful of times that we’ve had since just the early days of our marriage to be together, and relax, and enjoy each others company.

Marriage is about being partners, for the moment and for forever, and for all the little ups and downs of life, the tough stretches where every things seems like it is batshit crazy and for the bright spots of weeks or nights to be alone together. Every minute we were in Scotland, I kept thinking that I could not have picked a better or more amazing person to spend my life with, to raise these incredible kids with, to travel the world with, and to dream and suffer and grow with.

Thank you, Doc. You are the very best part of my life.

The Last Days

The last three days in Scotland were a whirlwind of travel, eating, castles, and shopping. We left the self-catering flat in Inveraray on Thursday morning and drove about an hour over to the village of Luss on the western shores of Loch Lomond. Since we hadn’t yet had breakfast, we stopped in at the Loch Lomond Arms Hotel for a bit. This is a classically appointed place, with wildlife artwork and 30’s vintage taxidermy of all sorts adorning the walls. A sort of luxurious country hunting lodge vibe permeated the place, and I would not have been surprised to see Prince Charles come around the corner in his tweed and wellies.

Unfortunately it is hard to get just a “bite” to eat for breakfast in Scotland, and an hour later we staggered out of the joint in yet another 10am food coma, brought on no doubt in large part by the heaping bowls of porridge, extensive hand-made puff pastries, eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, yogurt and granola that seems must accompany every proper start to a Scottish day.

From Luss we continued on around the southern part of Loch Lomond. It was a wet morning and the views of the lake did not do justice to its reputation. We arrived at Stirling Castle around 11am and spent a good amount of time there. Stirling is a neat-looking town, and particularly the very old part just outside the castle walls looks like it has seen quite a few seasons. We missed the Argyll House and Bannockburn and the Wallace Memorial and I’m sure another half-dozen or so worthy exhibits. But for its part, Stirling Castle held up its end of the bargain quite well.

Stirling is situated on a dominant rocky outcrop at a key peninsula between two great lowland river valleys With the ______ and the ______ on either side, Stirling is the gate-keeper of sorts to Scotland’s bounty and has been duly fought over during the ages. I think one exhibit said that it changed hands between the English and the Scottish 8-10 times in the last 14th and 15th centuries. Pivotal to the crusades of Wallace and Robert the Bruce against the British, it is as teeming with history as the walls are with cannon ports.

Stirling Castle is still very much a place of fair maidens, noble warriors, fearsome dragons and magical unicorns, to wit:

Stirling Castle is also the Regimental Museum for Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a unit of great renown and esprit de corps and the source of the appellation "The Thin Red Line" representing more than 125 years of unbroken service to the Crown. From the Crimea and the fields of Balaklava to the Boer War to various theatres of the First and Second World Wars, the famed A&SH has stood unbroken.

After leaving Stirling we arrived at our posh accommodations in the hip Edinburgh neighborhood of Stockbridge, just on the outskirts of New Town. This was a solid hotel choice and being a small boutique probably offered more bang and location than other similarly situated places. Kim and I eloped from the group for a nice dinner at the Mussel and Steak Bar. The seafood over here is really top notch and I could gorge myself on a few more mussel pots without much in the way of hesitation. 

Aside from a brief stroll around Grassmarket and New Town after dinner, we basically only had one day (Friday) to spend enjoying Edinburgh. And we surely did enjoy it. 

Friday was, according to the locals, a “one in a million day,” sunny and clear and warm in the high 60’s. The Scots and all their tourists came out in throngs to enjoy the nice day and there were literally hundreds of people sunbathing in the various parks and lawns. Needless to say we saw quite a few sunburned shoulders the next day in the airport. We decided to skip most of the touristy locations and the hop-on/hop-off bus tour in favor of just strolling the streets and soaking up the city. We walked up Princes Street and George Street shopping, crossed over to Old Town and cruised the Royal Mile for a pre-lunch whisky tasting and some more shopping. 

We made it up the Edinburgh castles but just looked around the outer enclosure without going in. I am sure it is fabulous, but that would have been a several hour commitment and at this point we were a little castled-out. Old Town is really neat and the maps and photos don’t do justice to the way the city is built solidly around very dramatic changes in elevation as the 500-year old blocks of Old Town filter down among the crevices of the rocky escarpment on which the castle sits. 

We went back to the Grassmarket and Cowgate and Greyfriars, looped past the Univeristy of Edinburgh grounds and stopped in at the Royal College of Surgeons. Unfortunately the museum here closed last month for a year of two of refurbishment, so we missed the very gruesome exhibits on grave-robber autopsies and 17th c. pathology specimens. Doc was very disappointed and i think that might have been the quirky-interesting highlight of the trip if it was open. Maybe fodder a week-long “business trip” for Doc to research medical procedure and pathology history for an upcoming journal article? At least it would be a pre-tax trip...

It only took 5 straight hours of walking the hilly streets and alleys of this city and after a late lunch at the local patisserie we headed back to the Nira Caledonia for a nap. A nice pizza dinner by the banks of the Leith and drinks and dessert back at the hotel bar rounded out a very nice day.

I should have known when the fire alarm went off in the hotel at 5:30am that we were in for a rough departure day. The siren was a false alarm but we never really made it back to sleep and arrived downstairs for breakfast and check out somewhat worse for wear. Checking in at the airport was another disaster, and after waiting an hour for the “security guy” to come back with our passports we discovered that U.S. Airways had inadvertently cancelled our reservations on the return flight when they “fixed” our inbound flight a week earlier. Seriously. I don’t have anything nice to say about the airline so I won’t say anything. But every leg of our flight with USAir has been characterized by gross and total incompetence. Things are so screwed up that we may not have been on a single US Air flight this trip, as we flew over on BA and are coming home on United. Boo.

So now we are landing at CLT at 11pm instead of GSP at 8pm. All in all not a huge delay, but the 2-3 hours of denied boarding and missed connections and frustrating delay and incompetent and misleading staff is enough to take a few years off the old ticker. Flying isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure.

But I will tell you one thing - even at Angels 35 and halfway across the G-I-UK gap, I am certain it is going to be damn fine to see those little Sugar Bugs poke their heads into our room tomorrow morning.

Signing Off For Now-

Doc and Matilda

Oh Oban! (and some castles)

We left Ft William this morning after what was an unremarkable night in an unremarkable B&B, a now unremarkable breakfast in a rather unremarkable town. Ft William is the "outdoor capital of the UK" but unless you are hiking Ben Nevis or the West Highland Way I see no reason to go far beyond Ballachulish (Baile a' Chaolais in Gaelic). We headed back south along the coast on the A85, stopping at Dunnstaffnage Castle along the way (just off the A828 near Connell - turn at "The Wide Mouth Frog Cafe").

The castle was highlighted by warm sunny weather and a nice harbor view, the first of which has been in short supply for the last two days. Ruined ramparts and soaring towers and great views are mainly par for the course among the castle-hopping crowd, and Dunstaffnage was no slouch in this regard. WE ran into a quirky couple from Maine that were vary anxious to take our picture for us, so we obliged them. Little bunnies nibbled grass among the tombstones at one end of a small 14th c. chapel hidden in the woods behind the castle main.

We made it to Oban for a late lunch, preceded by a tour of the Oban Distillery. The distillery tour was excellent, if a bit corporate (Oban, among twenty other brands, are all now part of Diageo's portfolio). The ladies even sampled a dram of the standard 14 year, and I bought a bottle of the Distiller's Preferred 2013.

 

After traipsing through every alley and waterfront of Oban, we finally ended up right back in front of Oban Distillery at Julie's, for a great sandwich and a coffee. Oban is the major ferry terminal to the western islands, and while we didn't make the trip to Mull or Iona or Lismore or Kerrera this time, it was nice to be in a city with a decided amount of bustle to it. Plenty of interesting shops and pubs and whatnot, and it would have made for a good multi-day base town if we had decided to island hop for a bit (maybe next time). Doc particularly enjoyed discovering the several hundred flavors of truffles produced by the Oban Chocolate Company.

Once we finally pulled chocks from Oban we headed to Inveraray, seat of the Duke of Argyll (the grey headed guy from Rob Roy, if you've seen it). Inveraray itself is nothing spectacular, but another castle along the route was very neat, the 15th century redoubt of Kilchurn Castle. 

The castle is apparently best viewed in Standard Scottish Weather, which is best defined as "rainy at the beginning, cloudy by the end." It was a nice walk out the peninsula from the car park to the castle, which sits right out on the edge of the waters of Loch Awe. This is very much the castle you expect to find in storybooks, with all the right elements and size to give you a good visualization of the local laird, his garrison of 200 men, loopholes and archer slits in the walls, a fallen turret, gaol, incredibly large fireplace and all the rest. 

  

While visiting on a sunny day might also be nice, everything felt very much at home in the rain. I wonder if it is lit up at night - if not, that would be a pretty neat place to visit.

 

We ended up in a self-catering flat for the evening, not altogether a bad option with no host or other guests to bother us. An added benefit of both a washer AND a dryer let me do a little laundry before we head to Edinburgh tomorrow. We would have gone to The George for dinner but everyone was so full from a late lunch in Oban that we just grabbed some crackers, cheese and a local ale from the Food Cooperative and holed up for the evening.