Thanksgiving

Hello again!!  We have been very busy this Fall and I have once again fallen behind in my posts.  Oh well.  Such is the life of a family with 2 busy teenagers.

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to take Clare around to a few colleges in North Carolina and Tennessee, while also visiting Grandma and Granddaddy Poole in NC.  What a wild trip!!  We ended up driving for many hours.  It's good that we all get along and can handle long distance driving - especially since we drove the Accord.  I didn't feel the van, which currently has 212,000+ miles on it, was the most reliable mode of transportation.

First, we went to Boone, NC, to visit Appalachian State University.  We got there late on Tuesday night.  The next morning we woke up to snow - and lots of it!  We were able to visit the admissions office and pick up some information.  Clare is interested in studying speech therapy and ASU has this program.  We drove around a bit, took a few pics, and walked around the student center.  It's a nice place, but I really want to see it in the Spring or Summer!  I think Clare would do very well here (and so far it's at the top of her list.)

 The view of Boone from our hotel window when we woke up.

ASU Mountaineers!  (We're okay with that as long as it doesn't have WVU in the name!)

We left Boone as soon as we could - the weather wasn't getting any better - and headed for Hickory, NC, where Lenoir-Rhyne University is located.  LR is a small Lutheran college where my great granddad Brent Schaeffer once president.  It's small - only about 2000 students - which doesn't excite Clare much.  I have a lot of friends who have graduated from here and done very well.  I won't be able to convince her, though.

Clare with the L-R bear. 

After Hickory, we drove to Swannanoa, NC, to drive around Warren Wilson College.  This is another very small college (about 1000 students), but it has a pretty good reputation as a good (very liberal) liberal arts college.  Although it is definitely an interesting place with a creative curriculum (they call it the Triad - academics, work, and service), Clare felt it was too small.  I didn't get any pictures.

We then went to wander around downtown Asheville.  What a neat city!  I would definitely be able to live here!

Thanksgiving day and the day after were spent with Grandma and Granddaddy Poole.  We had a very nice time relaxing and doing a little shopping.  

On Friday evening, we left for Knoxville, TN, to visit the University of Tennessee.  We were also able to meet up with a couple of my high school buddies for lunch.  UT is about as big as Virginia Tech (27,000), but it seems so much larger - I think because it's a city and there isn't a central "field" like at Tech.  VT is very contained, while UT is spread out with no visible central meeting place.  I think Clare felt this disconnect as well.  Still, it was pretty impressive.

 Clare with the recently erected Pat Summitt statue.  What an impressive lady!

 We found a way to sneak into the stadium!

Candy, me, and Sarah - love these ladies!!

After driving around and searching for the perfect T-shirt for Clare, we drove to Nashville - about 2 1/2 hours from Knoxville.  I drove and Clare sat up front.  I swear we talked the entire time - probably my favorite part of the whole trip.  I love watching Clare grow up and talking to her about life.  She is an impressive young lady.

Once we got to Nashville, Tom wasn't feeling the best and needed to rest.  Clare and I walked over to Vanderbilt.  This is what a university is supposed to feel like! Clare fell in love with the campus. I know it would be a stretch for her, but I still think she should apply.

Clare with one of the Vanderbilt statues.

Another Vanderbilt statue.

On Sunday, we drove 10 hours home.  YUCK!  The traffic was bad in a few areas making it take much longer than it should normally.  No one slept and everyone was grumpy when we got home.  However, the trip as a whole was a success.  We were able to talk a lot about college and what Clare will be facing during the next year or so.  So exciting!!

Catching up

It's been over a month since our big trip and I'm finally sitting down and blogging again.  Sorry for the lapse.

Three days after we returned home, we went to Richmond to pick up a 13 yr. old Japanese exchange student who stayed with us for 4 weeks.  The moment Tom picked him out of the Japanese group, he knew it was going to be a very long 4 weeks.  I was a little more optimistic.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  It was a very, VERY long 4 weeks.

Masashi could barely speak English.  Every time we said something - even the most basic phrase - to him, he would cock his head and say, "Huh?"  Oh. My. Goodness.  This was very difficult for me.  Even after interpreting the same phrases day after day (THANK GOD FOR GOOGLE TRANSLATE!!) he continued to do the head-cocking thing and say, "Huh?"  It was like he wasn't even trying to understand us!  Daniel basically gave up trying to talk to him after Day 2.  He told me he didn't like Masashi.  Oh dear.

In addition to the communication barrier, Masashi was not the most outgoing child.  He never asked questions about anything.  He was completely fine doing absolutely nothing.  This is completely opposite of Daniel.

I decided to just throw Masashi into our busy life and not explain too much.  I had him go to swim practice with Daniel (he is an excellent swimmer, but very thin and wasn't able to handle the cold water well.)  We wanted him to experience a swim meet and he seemed to want to participate as well, until the day before the meet and he said "No."  We were completely fine with his decision.  He came to the meet and picked at his fingernails cheered for Daniel in his events.  I have to admit I became a bit ambivalent about him as time went on.

We did a lot with him - went to D.C., kayaked on the Shenandoah with our youth group (he's part of a canoeing club in Japan), went to Hershey Park, went horseback riding at another host's house in Middletown, hung out at the pool, helped at band camp, visited Shenandoah Caverns, canoed on the Shenandoah again, walked around downtown Winchester, went to the fair, and went to King's Dominion.

Funny thing about the amusement parks:  two days before heading to Hershey, we sat down with Masashi to talk about the trip.  We asked if he liked roller coasters.  "No."  Oh boy.  Well, Tom was determined to get him on all the coasters at Hershey.  He was sure he would like them in the end.  Masashi was a trooper during both the Hershey and King's Dominion trips.  He did most of the rides and rarely complained (he and I both got a little nauseous at one point at Hershey, so we sat out a while.) He smiled and laughed and seemed to be having a good time.  Well... We took him back to Richmond at the end of his stay to meet up with the rest of the Japanese kids at a hotel by the airport.  During lunch, the coordinator for the program in VA came around to each family and had each host student say something about the visit and then each exchange student say something.  Most of the Japanese kids said one or two nice things about their visit, such as, "I like to be in America." or "I like the 'so-and-so' family."  Anyway, Daniel did such a nice job talking about Masashi and his visit, then handed the microphone to Masashi who proceeded to say, "I do not like roller coasters."  Okay.  "Is that it?" asked the coordinator.  "Yes," nodded Masashi.  Shock.  What else am I supposed to feel.  We really made a great impression on him, didn't we??  LOL!  It's a bit unfortunate, but we were quite relieved after saying our good-byes.

During those 4 weeks, Clare and Daniel kept very busy.  Clare had volleyball camp at Liberty with the Sherando team the week after we returned from vacation.  Then she helped with Follow the Leader Camp the next week.  The next week she had volleyball tryouts - she made the varsity team again! Woo hoo!  :)  Volleyball was in full swing from then on - practices every evening from 5-8 p.m.  Thank goodness she can drive now!!  She also had a TON of summer work for three of her upcoming classes.  (What is up with summer work??  I never had it and did just fine!)

Daniel was able to hang out at the house neighborhood pool a lot for the 2 weeks after we got back.  He also spent much of his time at swim practice, both at Stonebrook and VSTG.  The SVSL Championships went very well - he won all of his individual events - 50 fly, 50 breast, and 100 IM.  We are sooo proud of him!  Then... band camp started the first full week of August.  He had 4 days (7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.) the first week, 5 days the second week, then 3 days the week before school started.  I really don't know how the band director can make these kids do this!  Apparently, they almost doubled the time at band camp this year from 1 1/2 weeks to 2 1/2 weeks.  Ugh!  Thank goodness we had 5 other kids in the neighborhood carpool, so I was only driving 2-3 times a week. He also had summer work for his 9th grade English class.  He was finishing up the night before school started, of course.

School started back on Monday and both kids are doubly busy now.  Clare is a junior now and is taking 3 AP classes and 1 honors class.  Daniel is a freshman and is taking a full load of honors classes.  I'm interested in how things go for him as he starts high school.  Both kids are trying to keep working towards college goals.  Clare is undecided about where she is going, but thinks her focus will be speech and language pathology.  Daniel loves math and science and wants to go to VT, of course ("The food is great!")  Clare needs to manage her time better with volleyball season in full swing.  There really isn't much time for sitting around and watching TV.  I'm very happy to say she's taking the responsibility seriously.  She doesn't need me to say, "Do your homework."  Daniel, on the other hand...  Like I said, it's going to be an interesting year.

I'm trying to stay focused at home and with my business.  It's hard at the moment because all I want to do - at least for a few days - is watch old "Say Yes to the Dress" shows and sit out in my swing chair on the porch (see below.)  Haha!  Really, though, it's hard to get motivated.  I definitely want to get the house in order.  I'm going to be doing the 14 week organization challenge I found on Pinterest:  http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/category/home-organization-101.  I think I may blog about this - it might keep me motivated.  Then I can be held accountable, right??  :)

At Sea days, final day 7/1713

We seriously lived for sea days on this trip (I didn't like 2 in a row, but after 3 days of touring here and there, one sea day is nice.) For me and Tom, it meant we could get up later, work out, eat breakfast, read/blog/nap, eat lunch, read, nap, wander around the ship, have a margarita/mojito, eat dinner, read, and sleep. For the kids, since they usually stay up late the night before with their new friends (from Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, Los Angeles, Seattle, Maryland, Atlanta, etc.), their days at sea don't even start until 11 a.m. or so. Then they eat, read, nap, hang out with friends, eat more, hang out with friends, and stay up late.  We also had some extra time to climb the rock wall, lounge and play in the sun, and watch a few islands go by.

Today (7/17/13) is our last day on board and our last day at sea. Tom said it was the day he was going all out at the buffet. LOL! He said he's been holding back this entire cruise. You should have seen the two full plates of food he got at breakfast! (Granted, one of the plates was piled with fruit.) I'm just going to enjoy the calm sea and blog/read all day. It's a beautiful day.

I have to say, this has been a wonderful time together as a family.  We can definitely find something to laugh about!  Here are a few of our silly faces from the trip:

Tomorrow, we'll be flying home. Though this has been the trip of a lifetime, I think we're all ready to get back home. Daniel really misses the pool and his friends (especially David!) What do I miss most? Cooking my own food - knowing exactly what's in it. I'm looking forward to making some great dishes from Barcelona, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. :) (However, I'm not looking forward to doing laundry, cleaning the house, doing dishes, etc. You can get quite spoiled on a cruise!)

Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, 7/16/13

This was the last port of call on our itinerary. I was concerned we were making the kids walk more than they wanted, so yesterday we asked them if they wanted to do a different excursion. Daniel definitely wanted to go up Mt. Vesuvius and Clare didn't want to have to wake up earlier in order to do a different one. So, we kept to our previous plans.

This was one of the two excursions we did with the ship. I seriously don't know if I'll ever book another excursion with the ship. We were all pretty annoyed with one thing or another by the end of the tour. The main thing that ticked me off was that we had signed on to climb to the top of Mt. Vesuvius and do a tour of Pompeii, but we had to go to a cameo factory first (in the description of the excursion, it said we would go to a cameo factory "if time permits.") Grrr. They only want to sell you something. It's like going to the rug and ceramic shops in Turkey, but worse. The only thing that saved this annoyance was that it only lasted 25 minutes. For the kids, they were annoyed by the guide. She wasn't very easy to understand ("Firsta, we will goa toa the cameo factoria. Thena, we will climba Mt. Vesuviusa." LOL!) Daniel was also frustrated with the size of our group - at least 40 people. We had gotten a little spoiled by tours with it just being our family or a group of no more than 17. As for Tom, I don't think there was too much that annoyed him - perhaps the cameo factory and the heat. Once again, it was very hot.

The drive up to the trailhead to climb up Mt. Vesuvius was definitely interesting - narrow winding roads in a huge chartered bus is always fun - NOT! I couldn't look a couple of times. Once we got to the top, I was surprised by how cool it was. There was a nice breeze, too. The trail is wide, but very dusty and steep in places. It was probably a mile to the top - not difficult at all. Daniel practically sprinted at first. Tom and I eventually caught up with him. At the top, once Clare finally caught up with us, she let us know how unhappy she was that we didn't walk with her. :) The views were amazing. We could see the sea, Naples and Pompeii. The volcano is dormant at the moment, but they say it could blow anytime. The guide told us that it wouldn't be a small explosion either. Pretty scary to think with all those people living so close. I thought it was cool we could say we had climbed this infamous mountain.

Daniel is always in front.  :)

Views of Naples from the trail.

Clare is always in the back. 

The crater of Mt. Vesuvius.

Our Mt. Vesuvius guide.

Looking towards Pompeii.  Very hazy.

Don't be a barbarian!  Love this!

Going down is always so much more fun than going up!

We went to Pompeii next. When we got to the ruins, the guide told us we would have 20 minutes to have a snack ("We will hava twenty minutesa to have a snacka.") Talk about stuffing down a few slices of pizza - it was almost disgusting. The pizza was definitely good, but not as good as Rome (Tom's still dreaming of that gorgonzola and sausage pizza.)

The tour of Pompeii was a good overview. The guide showed us the most important parts - the agora, the forum, the plasters of the dead people, the brothel, the gladiator quarters, the theaters, etc. I thought the stepping stones and high sidewalks (to avoid the rubbish and sewage) was very interesting to see. You can also see where the chariots made grooves into the rocks in the road. Kind of like the Oregon Trail.  (I apologize if I don't put captions on all of the pictures.  I honestly can't remember everything!)

The entrance to Pompeii.

The Basilica.

The Temple of Jupiter.

The Forum - that's Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Plaster cast  of one victim.

Many of the artifacts found here.

Another plaster cast.

Public toilets. 

Colorful walls in the public baths. 

Public baths.

Skylight in the public bathhouse. 

Neptune's face carved in the wall of the bath. 

A very large fountain in the steam room of the baths. 

A restaurant with containers to keep the food hot or wine cool - perhaps the first fast food restaurant? 

More of the restaurant.

The courtyard in one of the homes. 

The painted walls in one of the rooms of the home. 

Charriot ruts in the stone street. 

See the raised stones and raised sidewalk?  It was this way so the people wouldn't have to step in the garbage and sewage.

Yes, that's Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Oh my, it's hot!

The brothel is that way (can you tell what this is???) 

Sign at the brothel - explaining only 10 people at once inside.

Pictures on the walls of what can happen in the brothel.  Hmm...

Another brothel picture.

We're HOT!  (Daniel, not so much.) 

The amphitheater. 

The Palaestra where the gladiators trained. 

The gladiator's quarters.

After the tour, a little gelato, and a taste of limoncello, we went back to the ship. Tom and Daniel went on board while Clare and I took the free shuttle to Salerno to find a cafe with free WiFi. (This is what Clare loves most of all. I figure it's the least I can do after "dragging" her all over Europe. ;-)) We had some amazing coffee and split a chocolate croissant. Oh. My. Goodness. Yum! We got in a good hour of WiFi bliss before going back to the ship.

It was a good day. Tom felt Pompeii was one of the best preserved ruins we had seen yet. I just like being able to say I've been there. Mt. Vesuvius was a highlight for both of us.

Tomorrow we will be at sea, then we'll be flying home. Oh, to sleep in my own bed without children waking me up at 1 a.m. ;-)

Daniel tried to imitate the snail our stateroom attendant folded for us.  :)