Cruising right along

Wayne was in California for work this past week so it was pretty quiet around the house.  After Wayne flew back into town on Friday we went to the season opener for the Knoxville Ice Bears and invited my friend Sydney along.  What an exciting game!  The Ice Bears tied the game in the last 2 minutes of play, sending the game into a 5 minute sudden death overtime.   With only 30 seconds remaining in overtime the Ice Bears scored the winning shot.  Wow!  We are really enjoying our season hockey tickets so far.

Saturday was a relaxing day and included some time set aside to cheer on the Spartans (sorry Mom, Dad, Lisa, Steve...didn't catch you on TV) at one of our favorite local food joints, Aubrey's.  Then we took the boat out on the Tennessee River for a sunset cruise.  The cruise was an item that we donated to the Friends of Literacy silent auction.  (Friends of Literacy is the organization that both Wayne and I volunteer for - Wayne's on the board and I teach twice a week).  A wonderful local family joined us for the cruise and it was the perfect.  We took a scenic drive up river getting to see all the beautiful fall colors before heading back to downtown Knoxville for the start of the UT game.  The UT games start with fireworks so we were able to watch the fireworks from the river and listen to the crowd cheer at the start of the game.  The cruise ended with us heading back up river and getting to watch a giant orange full moon creep up over the water.  Sorry, no picture.  :-(  It was amazing.  The fall "sunset cruise" may become a tradition in the future.

Sunday we drove to Kingston and had a wonderful dinner with my Great Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty Alice.  They will be heading to Florida for the winter and we were able to have a fun time catching up with them before they head down next week.  We really enjoy spending time with them.

I wasn't planning on posting any new belly pics this week but I couldn't resist sharing what happened when I went to take my weekly photo.  Wayne did a great job catching the action shots.  :-)

LeRoy trying to get in on the action...

Checking out the belly...

Guinness joining in!

Popcorn and...an Ice Bears Game

17 weeks - WOW!

This week was really exciting because I felt the baby moving for the first time!  After drinking a large glass of orange juice I took a seat on the couch and within 1-2 minutes I felt what I can only describe as popcorn popping in my abdomen!  I sat there in awe of what was happening.  Over the course of the week I had the same feeling a handful more times.  It always seems to be after I eat something and am sitting still or resting.













I've come a long way in the past few weeks:

On Saturday night Wayne and I went to an exhibition game for the Knoxville Ice Bears.  Last year Christy, Wayne's sister, bought us tickets to an Ice Bears game as a gift.  We had such a wonderful time that we decided we wanted to go in with friends and buy season tickets this year.  We are looking forward to the season opener on Friday...

Hilton Head Island

What a wonderful trip!  Wayne, Julia, Bob (Julia's Dad), LeRoy and Guinness all packed into the car for a road trip to the coast.  After crossing through the Smoky Mountains we stopped in Asheville, NC to have lunch at my favorite east coast Mexican restaurant, Mamacitas.


It was the first time to Hilton Head for everyone and by the end of the trip it was apparent that we all want to visit again.  The weather was perfect and the house we stayed in was 200 ft from the beach (Thanks Martha!!).

We all enjoyed riding bikes on the beach during low tide.  I especially loved riding along with the Spotted Sandpipers as they scurried across the beach - it made me laugh out load to watch them run!

Wayne got to play golf at two of the local courses and generally enjoyed having a vacation from work.  Bob was true to form and logged as much beach time as possible - including one sunrise!  Guinness had a fantastic time playing fetch in the Atlantic and by the second day had learned how to ride the waves into shore.  The water was warm enough that even LeRoy took a turn wading in the water!

We made a spontaneous decision to take a day trip to Savannah, Georgia - the 45 minute drive was so worth it!  We took a city tour on an open air trolley and had a fabulous tour guide, y'all.  The beauty and history in the city squares was impressive.

On the way home we took a quick detour and made a stop in Columbia for some authentic South Carolina BBQ: rice and hash, pulled pork with mustard sauce, fried chicken, cracklin, coleslaw, potato salad, hush puppies, and sweet tea.

The final stop to complete our trip was in Spartanburg, SC to our beloved Costco.  After stocking up on wine, cheese, and churros (yum!) we were headed back home to Knoxville.