Camping at Table Rock

This weekend Harry and I decided to take a camping/hiking trip to Table Rock near Clemson, SC. We drove down Saturday morning and returned Sunday night. We had a wonderful time, despite the cold evening.

Here were are at Lake Oolenoy outside the visitors center.


Our tent on the campsite in Table Rock Park.

After setting up our campsite, Harry and I headed out to hike a bit before it got dark. We hiked the Carrick Creek Trail. Here are some of the pictures from that hike.

Harry crossing Carrick Creek. He didn't fall on this hike (I, however, did... big shock I know).

I fell taking this picture, so enjoy it.

After our hike, we headed back to our campsite. You see our tent off to the left, the picnic table to the right (loaded with our food), and our chairs around the fire pit.

Me around the fire, trying to keep warm.

Mmmm, dinner, along with baked beans. Dad, you'll have to notice we made our own roasting sticks!

The next morning after cleaning up our campsite, we started our hike to Table Rock.


Ahh, isn't it beautiful!
(Click on the picture to see it larger)

Us enjoying the view!

Lake Oolenoy, this time from a distance.

One More Quirk

So, after I wrote my meme I thought of 1 more quirk I should share (this is still Meredith).

7. I can still do the splits! I have amazed all 50 of my students doing this in class. When my dad taught he would get his students attention by jumping over his desk. I get their attention by dropping into the splits. A quote from one of my students was, "I didn't think people that old could do that". Wow, that made me feel good.

Tagged

I was tagged by Martha today. That means I will be posting 6 random thoughts/ habits/ quirks, about me. (This is Meredith) Here it goes...

1. One of my quirks, I have grown to really enjoy watching the news (at 6:30 am and 11:00 pm) and reading the news/celebrity gossip. You will notice that our links of interest include CNN, Google News, Fark, and my newest obsession, Entertainment Weekly. For me, reading the news or star gossip online is so much better than newspapers and magazines (which I do check out in the supermarket) because you don't have magazines to clutter the house up (Harry has enough of those for both of us; sorry honey, but you know it's true).

2. I HAVE to have a clean house. Thanks to my mom, who hated clutter and things out of place. I don't like going to bed with the kitchen/living room a mess. The last 15 minutes of each night, usually while the news is on, I spend cleaning up the house. I put everything in the dishwasher, fold the blanket I was using, put all the pillows on the couch and chair neatly, etc. It bothers me when there are things left out (Martha, we have this in common, again thanks to mom).

3. I love television. I can tell you what I watch each night of the week. I will tell my students not to watch so much television, meanwhile, I watch it way too much myself. The writers strike has been killing me. Harry can tell you that I have complained about it a good bit. Thank goodness there has been The Celebrity Apprentice, and yes, I LOVE The Apprentice. Many people hate the Donald so they won't watch, not me. While I don't agree with many things the Don does, you have to respect all that he has done in his life. (That was like 2 - love of TV and love of The Apprentice).

4. I really enjoy running but I suck at it. I ran all through high school, cross country and track, cross country was a lot better, but I always came in last. I know why I'm not very good, look at me! I don't have a runners body. First, my legs are too short, heck, I'm too short. That's pretty much it. I have to take 2 steps to a normal person's 1. It's not really rocket science. Harry and I run together and he is good enough to wait for me. I love days where it is about 50-70 degrees outside and I can go for a run (yesterday was perfect, 64 and beautiful). I would like to run more, but my knees are shot. If I can get a couple of miles in each day, 4 or 5 times a week, I'm very happy.

5. Hanging out with Harry is the best thing in the world. We can do nothing and I can have a blast. Sometimes we do things separately, like he will play poker with the guys or go to Eddies and I'll hang out with the girls, but I truly love just being with him. I think that makes me truly blessed, I get to spend the rest of my life with a person that makes me really happy.

6. Finally, a pet peeve... I don't like fake people. I avoid them at all costs. My favorite people are the people that don't beat around the bush. They tell you truth, not just what you want to hear. We all know people who are fake. They don't bother some people, they make excuses for them like, "That's just how they are". For me, that's unacceptable. I am a straight shooter. Sometimes that gets me in trouble because people don't always like being told the truth (especially some parents of students in my class), but that's me. One of my favorite sayings is, "let's call a spade a spade." Sometimes people will say that is the northerner in me, but there are plenty of people in the north that are fake; I really think that's just me.

Ok, I think I'm done. It's not very exciting, but I think that's ok. I can only tag a couple of people because Martha tagged a lot of people already. I want to tag Harry, Barb, and Clay (I know Martha already got Karen). Thanks for reading everybody!

Elementary School Dance

Today was a day that children at my school love, and I tolerate. We were supposed to start out the day like a normal Friday; however, today we were to have our Valentine's Day parties. Then, this evening, the school had the first ever Valentine's Day dance. Although Harry and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day (a nice homemade dinner with no cards or presents works for us) I think it is a great holiday for kids. Just remember back to your elementary school days. The excitement of filling out your foil Valentines, creating your Valentine bag, and then reading all your Valentines. What a great day for kids!

This evening, Harry and I treated ourself to the elementary school dance. It was utter chaos! About 400 kindergarten though fifth grade students, full of sugar, dancing like there is no tomorrow (you haven't really lived until you see a group of kindergartens dancing like they are pros). I know I was overwhelmed when I walked in to the dance, so I can't imagine Harry's feelings. As a teacher at the school, the second I walked in the door I was surrounded by kids (and parents) hugging me. When Harry and I finally made our way over to the area of the cafeteria where my fifth graders were dancing, we were immediately surrounded by 15-20 screaming boys and girls trying to hug us all at once. Since it is impossible for 15-20 kids to hug you at once many of them just settled for hugging the kids that were hugging us (Harry likened it to a laying on of hands at church). The kids were all very impressed with Harry's height. Overall, we had a great time. It's wonderful to see kids really enjoying themselves (even if it does overwhelm us at times)!

The Flu and the Grammys

Harry and I have not posted in awhile... this time for a great reason. Last weekend we were both suddenly struck with the flu! Surprisingly, Harry got it first (I think this is surprising because I am the one locked in a room with 50 kids each day). Because of the fever, body aches, and extreme exhaustion, we were unable to post. This also meant that we were unable to enjoy a Superbowl gathering. We had planned to eat fattening nachos and brownies to celebrate the big game, again, that didn't happen.

We decided to make up for our last ruined weekend this weekend by celebrating the Grammys. We cooked our fattening nachos and brownies and settled in to watch the performances. We really enjoyed some of them, Amy Winehouse did a fabulous job despite being in rehab lately. I have to agree with EW.com that stated one of the best things about her performance was the smirk on her face when she sang her song "Rehab". We did enjoy the Beatles Cirque du Soleil performance, Feist (1234 has become one of my favorite songs), The Foo Fighters, and the performance by Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli.

As for the disasters, we thought Brad Paisley's "Ticks" was laughable. This just goes to show why I don't enjoy country music. A song about ticks... how hillbilly. The will.i.am performance was just plain weird. I don't understand how in an auditorium of the most talented musicians in America this guy got to perform tastes of other people's hits. We also didn't understand the Kidd Rock and Keely Smith performance. It left us wondering who canceled last minute.

To see how EW.com graded the performances click here. I will have to say that I agree with most of there grades.

On a sad personal note, over the weekend one of my favorite actors died... Roy Scheider. Every time I think of him I remember Clay and I watching Jaws over and over and over as kids. We have every line memorized (sad, I know). No cause of death has yet been released, but he has been treated for skin cancer for the past few years. You can read about his death by clicking here.