We once again got to celebrate Nana’s 60th birthday 😉 this weekend as Gung Gung and her made the trip down from Virginia. We spent most of the weekend eating, watching movies and doing a little shopping. The really good news is that soon we will know for sure whether Nana is allergic to eggs as she got a Food Sensitivity test for her birthday! The test usually only takes a couple of weeks to come back and will test for 204 different allergens. Mom got one for Christmas and loved it. Hopefully when they come back for Thanksgiving she will still be able to eat something for dinner 😄. On Friday was grilled chicken, pita, hummus, and mushroom risotto and we watched Zombieland, Double Tap. While on Saturday night we had the traditional celebratory feast: grilled salmon, roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables and we watched the Hitman Wife’s Bodyguard. Then Sunday morning we finished it off with waffles, bacon and sausage for breakfast before they had to leave. Everyone had a great time and we can’t wait to see them again in November.

We have completed lots of projects around the house these last few months, so we thought we would get you a little caught up on things around here. First off, the laundry room was completed and unfortunately we even had to buy a new washer and dryer this last week as our old washer failed (it was about 15 years old though) 😪. Sam finished his bookshelves, with a little help from Dad, and just recently we moved Sam into the office upstairs and Dad then moved downstairs to the den. Sam’s computer and 2 monitors was a little too big for the small space in the den, and we also realized we could move his bookshelves into the office as well. Since there was plenty of desk space, Sam even got to move Octavius up to the office. So hopefully now they will be able to spend some more quality time together 😄. The front foyer got an update with a new entryway table/shoe rack and a new mirror. Then just recently we finished the new kitchen table and finally we bought Alex his new bed for his birthday. In between all those projects was a LOT of yard projects and a LOT of interior painting. Almost all of the trim/molding downstairs is now completed and we knocked out a few more of the interior doors as well. The original paint was oil based, so we had to prime everything first and then put on a coat of latex… this has been quite a chore, but the results are worth it. We also repainted the stairwell, upstairs and downstairs hallways, bookcases and den. Believe it or not, we still have quite a bit more painting to do, but if luck holds out we will be almost completely done by the end of October. We will then start on Alex and Sam’s room in late Jan/early February because they need to have the floors refinished as well. We’ll try to post some more photos as we finish more projects up later next month. Don’t forget if you want to see any of the photos we post a little closer, be sure to go to the blog and you will be able to click through all of them full size (rather than just in the email).

This was the first time, Dad put together a tabletop like this with the bread board ends and he had to enlist the help of one of Gung Gung’s antique planes to get the job done. You can see from the video below that he still has to work on his technique a little, but it did get the job done.

During all the chaos of the last year and a half we decided that Sam wouldn’t attend JPII for his senior year of high school. Instead Sam earned his final year of High School at Pitt Community College, but in the process, Sam unfortunately didn’t really get a Graduation Ceremony. We, of course, had a big dinner at the house and he did get a couple of nice gifts (cold hard cash and a new iPhone). We also ordered him an actual HS Diploma and completed his high school transcript. After all the calculations were completed, Sam finished high school with a 3.6 cumulative GPA and a 3.7 weighted GPA (includes advanced classes he took at JPII). Sam then officially became a College Student in August when all the paperwork was completed and now he will be graduating in the spring with a welding degree from Pitt Community College…. a year ahead of schedule. After that???

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Well this isn’t as scary bad as the movie, “The Meg,” and fortunately not as long either but here is a short video of Sam’s last dive on August 15th. Sam, Mom and Dad all took a trip down to Wilmington, NC (actually Bolivia, NC to be exact) so Sam could go diving for Megladon shark teeth, which are somewhat plentiful along the coast. Sam had a great time and was able to get a couple of teeth and what we think is a whale bone. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad went to Oak Island, NC to do some sea shell hunting on the beach before going out for dinner to celebrate their anniversary. We also made a stop at Carolina Beach in Wilmington on the way down on Saturday.

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