Yes, we are once again a LITTLE behind on updating the blog, so we thought we would start where we left off and try to add a couple more over the next couple of days.  Our last post was Sam’s birthday, so next up was Dad’s vacation.  Considering the pandemic was in full swing the only thing to do was work around the house as traveling was and still is mostly out of the question.  Dad had several smaller projects to work on but of course, Mom also had quite a few landscaping projects for us.  We cleaned up the front bed, created a nice shade garden by the firewood shed and cut down several large limbs…. the last and biggest of which was the video below.  All in all we got a lot done that week.  Of course it was no European vacation, but considering the circumstances we still had fun.

Sam’s 18th birthday was June 3rd and we celebrated it the way we have all the other holidays/celebrations so far this year… just the 4 of us at home with a nice dinner and a few presents.   Since it was a big milestone for Sam and we couldn’t have a party with his friends over, we decided to splurge a little on the gifts.  Sam got a new gaming desktop computer, keyboard and mouse and a new gaming chair from Nana and Gung Gung, who joined us for a Skype visit for the unveiling of the presents.  Sam was super excited about all the gifts as he had been asking for a new computer for a while and his current desk chair was pretty uncomfortable.  Alex helped him get it all set up and the two of them worked most of the night making sure everything was running OK and his games were loaded.  Of course we haven’t talked to him much since then as he has been on the computer playing games, but since he has been the most effected by the pandemic we figured he needed something new to keep him busy (Sam has probably only left the house a few times since this all began back in March).  We did get Microsoft Office loaded on his computer the other day so he doesn’t have to use Mom’s computer anymore to do his homework – he is taking an online English class at the community college this summer.

Hopefully we will be able to get somewhat back to normal before the next round of birthday/celeberations in August, but so far it doesn’t look to promising as the Covid cases in NC are moving in the wrong direction after we opened things back up last week. We were thinking about making a trip to the beach next week as Mom and Dad are both off during the middle of the week, but it looks like we might not get in the water as we just found out there is an invasive sea creature off of the North Carolina coast…. see article below.  Can this year get any crazier? 😁😁😁

https://www.wnct.com/local-news/officials-warn-swimmers-of-invasive-sea-creature/?fbclid=IwAR2SQqx67Tkr58lfkEq2adgorOtUFZGs8x5yXqUS4sg208TjDnW3wh9DL5k

We posted this on Facebook last week, but apparently the photos were loaded on our little blog, but our post here never went through…. so better late than never. 😉

Meanwhile, in the midst of all the chaos in the world right now, our ‘baby’ turns 18 years old! It’s hard to believe this little guy that we love so much is that old already but we are very proud of the man he has become and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

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Well Sam’s Junior year at JPII has almost come to an end as Finals start soon and his junior college (PCC – summer session) English class starts on Monday.   After being inducted into the National Honor Society earlier this year, Sam will finish the year as an Honor Roll student and we can’t be more proud of him, especially after having to transition to online learning halfway through this semester.  The online learning will however turn out to be a bonus though, as all PCC classes in the summer and fall will be online. If you would like to see the full list of recipients and all the categories here is a link to the JPII page with the announcement: https://jp2highschool.com/19-20awards/?fbclid=IwAR0LhJnNM6cHr-4-CxOZTDnnW44jEJc9DS6AVeSh9k2h2iij3NS43pwkwQQ

Although next year is not set in stone with everything going on, we know it will be another great year for him and we can’t wait to have a big graduation party for him.

This year Sam donated 6 of his photographs for the JPII auction, all come with a nice white mat as well.  The auction will presumably be all online this year as the school will be closed for the remainder of the school year.  You can see all the donations here… http://jp2.cbo.io .   If memory serves us correctly, Sam donated 3 photos last year and then one of the local framing shops offered a free frame to go with the Eiffel Tower photo (B&W).  All together they brought in over $200.  Hopefully with the 6 photos this year we can match that amount.

Mom enjoyed Mother’s Day one day early this year as both her and Dad had to work on Sunday.  Sam made homemade pizza, with a little help from Dad, as dinner was his last assignment for class.  Normally we would make the pizza dough from scratch and cook it on the grill but unfortunately none of the grocery stores had any yeast.  Instead, Mom picked up some store made pizza dough from work and we cooked it in the oven.  Everyone got to pick their own toppings from pizza sauce, pesto, pepperoni, sausage, ham and pineapple.  For dessert we had Italian ice and  orange sherbert; while Mom had some watermelon.  After dinner we celebrated Mom’s day – Dad made her a Wind Chime for out on the deck and then she also got a new lamp for her dresser.  We originally weren’t going to put up the wind chime until Sunday, but someone was a little impatient. 😉

Alex giving a hand to help demonstrate the new wind chimes…

No new wind chime is complete without a nice bracket to hang it on.

Really…. no words for this. 😄 😄 😄

Cinco de Mayo 2020 just happened to fall on Taco Tuesday during the peak of a meteor shower and just a couple of days away from a full moon.  Not to forget the Pandemic sweeping the globe is a Corona virus that just happens to sound like a beer.  Living the crazy life, so if you can’t beat em’ you might as well join them.

In honor of World Naked Gardening Day – yes it’s a real thing that happens the first Saturday in May (http://www.wngd.org) here are some photos from our front garden.

Surely you were expecting something different, but unfortunately with Covid-19 restrictions still in place there were far too many kids riding their bikes in the street and the backyard was full of golfers so you will just have to settle for some photos of our Rhododendron bush next to the front porch.

As part of Sam’s Life Skills class for the next 5 weeks, the class has to prepare either a dessert, breakfast, lunch or dinner and record it either with photos or videos to show them doing the work.  A group of students are assigned one of the categories each week and then each student has to prepare their own dish.  Last week Sam’s group had a dessert as their assignment.  Not wanting to do the usual cookies or cake, his original suggestion was a Japanese dough ball called a Dango.  Luckily for Dad we did not have any rice flour and we couldn’t find any at the grocery store.  Feeling a little dejected Sam grudgingly agreed to just make cookies like everyone else was probably going to do.  Luckily, Dad presented another option and one that he really liked when he was younger… Beignets.  In New Orleans, there is a little cafe in the French Quarter called Cafe du Monde that makes the best Beignets and luckily they also make a mix that you can get at the grocery store.  So last week Sam made his first batch of Beignets and they turned out pretty good… although they should be eaten right warm right out of the fryer because the next morning they are quite chewy.  Anyway, Sam put the photos and instructions together into a Powerpoint and turned it in for his assignment.  Luckily for Sam this was not an English assignment because he surely would have received a failing grade (just watch the video 😉), but since it was more a participatory homework assignment he scored 100%.  Below we made his Powerpoint into a video.

This week’s assignment is breakfast… Waffles and bacon anyone??

Also, for those of you who, like us, had never heard of a Dango here is a recipe….

https://www.thespruceeats.com/mitarashi-kushi-dango-2031131

Sorry we didn’t get the invites out in time to everyone or actually anyone for that matter as it was just immediate family, but it was definitely another Wild and Crazy birthday bash for Dad!  Unlike in year’s past, we definitely pulled out all the stops this year as we went to a Saturday matinee at the family room theater and then went to the Buffalo Wild Wings.  Unfortunately the table was located pretty close to the kitchen so it was kind of busy but we still managed to have a good time.   Afterwards, cake and ice cream all around and then everyone sang a stirring rendition of the Happy Birthday song, which in this case could have easily been mistaken for a requiem.  Sam mumbled through most of it and Alex stopped singing halfway through (claiming he didn’t know the words), while Mom bravely finished what was now a solo in the kitchen. 😷 😂😂😂