I Love Teenagers

I could shout it from the top of my lungs - I LOVE teenagers - especially my two. There comes a time in life when they become your companions instead of little people who need to be watched over. Don't get me wrong, I worry endlessly about them. But I try not to let them see that part. These two kids make me laugh and are the very best company a person could want. A very rich reward. And.....one of the very best things is that they can actually DO THINGS for you. For instance, at this very moment (10:30 pm), they are out picking up a last minute gift card and a stick of butter for me! They are happy to rearrange the cars in the driveway. They are happy to run up to the grocery store. They are happy to accompany me anywhere. They made my lunch today and when they get back tonight, they are going to make a pumpkin pie and oatmeal cookies for a holiday party! This just kind of seemed to have happened overnight. I guess the fact that Hollywood has to fiercely fend for herself at school now has made for a whole different tone. Me likey.

Bank Party = Good Food

I had the pleasure this week of traveling to Roanoke to visit one of my favorite folks. Mary is terrific - her clients love her. She hosted a holiday party at a warm, quaint restaurant in downtown Roanoke. Someone (not Mary) led me to believe that the cider was spiked. No such luck. But...the food was great - my favorite was a lobster BLT. Hard to imagine, but it was absolutely delish! This is me and Mary. I think our hairdos look pretty good considering the fact that it was pouring rain outside and we had walked a couple blocks in that mess. Not only is Mary the best at work - she's the best at home too. She's a wife and mom to three kids, one is 9 and she has a set of twins age 6.

20 Mile March

Here are a couple of photos of Hollywood after the 20 mile march they completed recently. She's doing great! They were dreading it, but they all did fine. The first photo is Hollywood with her BRs. The next shot is the rats with their dykes. For those not familiar with time-tested traditions at VMI, the dyke system basically is when each freshman is assigned a mentor, or a big brother/big sister who is a first class (senior) to help the learn the ropes.

She will be home Tuesday and G-Man will be here Friday!!

Cadets to March in Inaugural Parade

LEXINGTON, Va., Dec. 8, 2008 – The Corps of Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute will mark the 100th anniversary of the first time it marched in a Presidential Inaugural Parade by marching in the parade ushering in President-elect Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

Hollywood is going to participate in the Inaugural Parade in January. This will be the 13th inaugural parade the cadets have marched in. It will also mark the 100th anniversary of the first time they marched, in 1909 for the inauguration of President William Howard Taft.

It should prove to be a proud and exciting day for our Girl Rat. I hope they have lovely, fluffy snow. Nothing too cold or mushy.

Dad's in Town

Dad is down from Texas visiting his place in Duck this week. Several of us got together at our old favorite restaurant, Gus & George's. Everyone likes it because you can order the spaghetti combo and still have a ton of food left over to take home. A combo is spaghetti with meatballs and pepperoni or mushrooms - all together. Yum. It was nice to see everyone - especially the young folks. I love to see my nieces as they are growing up. They are lovely. And of course the LP - Little Prince - my sister's grandson. Here are a few photos. I'm not quite sure what my Dad and sister were laughing about but it was more than likely a little on the bawdy side. You can't see it but they both were hitting the sauce so there's no telling what they were guffawing about.

Thanksgiving Blessings

This year we had an extra special Thanksgiving. Only I don't have pictures of the actual day because I left my camera in a hotel room in Charlottesville. They were kind enough to send it back to me but I did not get it until Friday. Our day was made special because it was spent with family - we ate at my sister-in-law's house. She graciously hosts us every year. I had picked up Hollywood on Tuesday, along with 2 of her BRs/classmates. Sam is from California and Chang is from Taiwan - neither of them were able to take a trip home so we gladly had them stay with us. Hollywood made a couple of dishes for Thanksgiving - a pineapple/mandarin casserole and a greenbean casserole. Hers are almost as good as mine. Almost.

On Friday the girls braved the shops and hit Black Friday at 5 a.m. with my sister-in-law. They were done by 9 am and had to come home for a nap. They did a lot of napping over the holiday because they don't get to do that much at military school! And speaking of napping, here's what they did on the way back to school: Yes, that's right - they napped! All four (we picked up another classmate for the ride back) of them for at least 2 hours of the 4 hour trip. The drive back was cold, rainy and foggy. They said that the dreary skies were appropriate given that they were returning to school. All in all it was a very joyful few days, just way too short. We have started counting the days down again until December 17th - their last day before the Christmas break. They will have some 3 weeks off at that time. This really gives them something to look forward to and it is very important right now that they know they need to just focus hard for 3 more weeks. Once they get back from the Christmas break, it will be mid-January. They will be breaking out of the Ratline on January 31st and they are psyched about that!

Here's a photo of the group as we dropped them back at school. They all had to be in uniform - in their grey blouse. From l-r - Hollywood, Chang, Sam and Rick.

I want to see if I can post this video of Sam and Chang at the iceskating rink. We have a rink at an outdoor mall. Chang is the one in the pink coat who knows how to skate. Sam is the one just learning!