Shane in SC + The Pickup! (Summer)

Shane's in paradise located somewhere near Greenville, South Carolina. It started off with a bang, too. Tenley always wants a pool party, so, even though her birthday is in the winter, she waits until summer to have it! There was a youth activity at Nana and Pop's church, too.

They were so busy I didn't start getting texts right away! We'd sent some outgrown clothes south with Shane, but Nana quickly pointed out we'd forgotten something!

I, uh, forgot to bring the other shoe to the hand off. Thankfully, Nana forgave me or forgot to mention it. Nana and Pop stay busy with grandkids, so that could have factored in. They had Matt and Renee's crew before Shane and helped out at VBS before that.

I'd love to have a schedule like that sometime in my retirement years (with time to recuperate in between, of course!).

I'd asked for Shane to do some swimming each day at the pool since he'd be missing swim practice for the week. 

He loves to visit their pool anyway.

Their neighborhood pool was sadly inactive. Shane longs for there to be a party wherever he goes, but it was a chance for everyone else to recover from his energy levels!

I talked to Shane while I was at BLAST and asked Nana to have him call Carrie, too. She didn't pick up, but it's better to have people who care calling you than no calls at all.

Shane spent the week doing all sorts of crazy activities. Urban Air was probably his favorite.

Nana posted a bunch of pictures on her Facebook page.

There are a plethora of fun places for kids in the Greenville area. I keep reminding Shane that life isn't like that year round. Everyone just goes into overdrive when he's around, because it's summer and time is short!

I got a few exclusive videos and commentary as the proud father of the grandson.

Nana and Pop trade back and forth with Ka and Stu and sometimes Dot. It takes a village to raise a child well.

Nana had Shane play online with B some, too. They're going to be moving back stateside soon! There will be three of my siblings in SC as of July! Nana gave me a small update on what was going on with Megan.

I wish I kept better track of everyone. It's easier to get news from Nana. I need to pull WhatsApp off Shane's phone and switch it back to mine at some point. I'd switched it to the pink phone, so he could talk to B in Africa to play Roblox.

There were less pictures than some visits, but Nana kept texting me updates about all the fun activities they were up to!

Time flew and the day for pickup came. Carrie and I started with chores while Shane started it waking up from a sleepover with Cole (more on that later!).

The farmers were out in force where we were. Look at all the hardware!

Carrie and I tried to stop at a Starbucks in Lynchburg on the way, because we had a gift certificate from her parents for our anniversary. It was closed and the next one down the road was swarmed with all of it's usual customers.

So we stopped at Joe Beans instead. Honestly, I like it better and would've picked it first if we hadn't had the gift card for elsewhere! It's a "drive to SC" staple. 

Shane was a mix of emotions when we picked him up. 

He missed us, but he'd prefer if we packed up and moved to SC as a family for good! We're tied to VA with my job, the horses, and Carrie's folks, but he wants cousins, cousins, cousins!

We shared a meal at CFA and heard all about Shane's exploits from the week. It's such a blessing to have a supportive, loving family.

Shane had a sleepover with Cole the last night in SC. It's both one of his favorite times of the week and the most exhausting for everyone else (there's a reason they timed it for the very end!).

Shane was chill and reading in our car, so it's not like he's completely inexhaustable.

Though he perked straight up when Carrie stopped for ice cream at our new favorite spot.

Carrie really wanted to try a certain flavor as a family, but Shane (predictably) wanted his own. She was a little disappointed, but consoled herself with eating the rest of it. 

Shane gave the stop two thumbs up and a huge smile at the end!

We saw some crazy clouds coming down the mountains when we made it to Nelson County.

I was a passenger, so I took a bunk of pictures and videos of them as they rolled (I won't subject you all to them here).

Carrie and Shane had a little Sims bonding time when we got back.

I say a little, because, once she got him hooked up and happy, Carrie came over to me on the couch and we watched some Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Carrie found out there was going to be a crossover episode with Star Trek: The Lower Decks and she is ecstatic. I was told to skip Star Trek: Discovery and Carrie started me on Captain Pike so we can both be ready when the crossover episode comes out.

So far, Strange New Worlds is fun! Granted, Carrie only showed me half of the first season (she skipped the ones she found unnecessary), but it feels like a step away from dramatic, dark, thriller territory and more into character based stories and hijinks (with perhaps temporal anomalies being a common core plot device like The Dominion for DS9 or The Borg for Voyager).

We planned a quiet evening to let Shane come down from the vacation highs.

He got to greet all the house animals, but avoid the chore animals at the barn.

Shane's only going to be around for one night. He ships out to Camp Highroad tomorrow! This is part of the busy stretch of the summer for us. It's going to be stuff, stuff, stuff until August when I booked absolutely nothing.

A New Room? In the BARN? (Summer)

Carrie cleaned out the back of the trailer to use it for her next project.

It got loaded with all sorts of construction material.

Carrie hired Jesse to add a climate controlled feed room for the barn. She'd asked him to come out for a quote and was surprised to find he'd cleared the weekend thinking she was ready to roll!

Jesse doesn't gather materials and only charges for labor. There was a little bit of a scramble as we bought the gear and cleaned the area up so he wouldn't have to. 

Jesse brought a friend and they started the demo. Carrie was so proud of that little room when she had it built, but it's done nothing except hold old tack and collect rodents since. 

We bought pizza for lunch that first demo day and brought a full pizza down for Jesse and his friend! I think we're one of Jesse's favorite places to work, because Carrie clearly cares so much (and we tip since we think he undercharges!).

Carrie supervised construction and answered questions. She often went behind and cleaned up construction mess after Jesse left for the day.

My role was to play errand boy. I tried to work the Lowe's run into other events for efficiency's sake, but I did solo trips, as well. The Deck Correct was awkard, because Carrie it online while I was at Lowe's picking up other stuff but did it for the wrong location! I had talked the paint mixer in person and we caught the error at customer service and smoothed it all out.

One day, Carrie was at work and Jesse told me he needed a particular piece of lumber. I ran down the street to ACE and grabbed it (carefully yet creatively!).

I started to recognize some of the staff at Lowe's after a while. There's something to be said about being a regular somewhere!

Shane came down a couple times to see the build, but he was more interested in trying to play with his cousins online.

Carrie's a genius about finding things for deals online. When the barn was originally constructed, Carrie was quoted over $3,000 for the price of building a climate controlled room. Four years later and we're paying less than half of that.

And that's including equipment for the room. Carrie wanted to switch to electric from propane for our water heating needs. She found a portable heating unit we can bring in the house and run on the generator and a window ac unit for the room.

Carrie gave some updates on Facebook throughout the process.

Carrie's last update included a brief overview of why she was so stressed earlier in the week (Me being gone for our marriage anniversary and the time of Kitsune's death....Boomer's lameness...). Barbara and Jess had come out on Tuesday when she was upset to tell her she needed to tell them when she needed help so that they could (Good friends are a gift from God!). Those good intentions had also stressed Carrie out some (she's an introvert no matter how confident she projects in person and usually tries to isolate herself when she feels as she did...), but I'm thankful Carrie some love.

The room was nearly finished by the end of the month! There will be some pictures of the final project in July.

Carrie assembled the shelves, the sink, and even ended up doing some of the water heater herself. The first water heater DIDN'T WORK. We had to return it and Carrie squared up with Jesse for the work done. He'd left some wires shorter than they needed to be, but Carrie made it all work in the end. She's beautiful and the electrician of the family!

She set up the utility sink herself, as well. 

I'd say we were 95% done by the end of the month. There was still plenty of construction mess to clean up (look how the rain filled up this lovely drawer!) and some finishing touches to be done but Carrie was happy with the final product.

I have to admit, the addition is great. I don't think we needed it, but it adds consider value and utility to the barn for a steal of a price. And it's the summer. Having a room that permanent stays above freezing in the winter (even if it's only in the 50 degree range) will be a luxury. No more hauling water buckets from the house or wheeling out the portable heater!

Having a BLAST (Summer)

With Shane in SC, Carrie and I had a moment to ourselves. I did everything I could to leave the barn in a healthy spot for her in between moments together.

I was looking forward to going to BLAST, but concerned, too. It was a joint decision that I should go even though it would mean we'd have to celebrate our anniversary a day late. I'd only be gone for 2.5 days, but I admit I was anxious about stepping away. Carrie's seemed extra fragile lately. She had work to help keep her busy Tuesday, at least. Shane was at Nana and Pop's to keep her from being overloaded, too, but it meant she'd be alone. Cleaning up was the least I could do.

We streamed church online and then I was on my way Sunday morning. I spent the first 40 minutes stuck behind a convoy of slow moving RVs and trailers raising my blood pressure.

I was a little late for staff orientation, but it was understood. There was still plenty of time before the kids arrived.

I'd brought my luggage with me which turned out to be a mistake. There weren't any signs, so I had to orient myself. After lugging everything half a mile to get to the staff meeting place, I got to turn around and lug my gear over my previous steps to the dorms! It had been next to the parking lot all along!

A couple flights of stairs later and I got my morning workout in! Good thing I packed light (or maybe I could've left a dumbbell in for a better burn...).

I haven't lived in a dorm since I was in high school. It made me a little nostalgic.

I was glad to have a room to myself. I put a sheet on the bed, plugged in my laptop, and put my phone on the charger. With that, I was fully moved in!

I don't think I was on campus for more than an hour before it was go time (and a chunk of that was walking!). Parents and kids showed up and they started asking all sorts of questions! I'm used to adapting quickly and went to trying to make my 10 boys feel at home. I was a ball of energy day 1, because I needed to be until I could get the kids to connect to one another. Which went really well. I learned all the kids names, kept using them, and they seemed to settle in and start to get used to each other. I gathered them for dinner, claimed a table as ours, and the routine stuck the next several days. I didn't mind if the kids wanted to rest and play video games instead of talking as long as they knew they had somewhere they belonged and were welcome. One of the kids turned out to know the family of one of my past co-teachers! (Small world!).

I got a rude surprise Monday morning. The cafeteria's tea options were limited.

It was all herbal and decaf! Inconceivable! I could adapt to that horrifying revelation for a couple days, though. There was a cold tea option for caffeine through the soda machine.

Things heated up after breakfast.

There were four session over the next two days run by university staff. My job was to get the kids to and fro safely and to take pictures (two things I'm good at!).

Our first session was soldering. I took and uploaded a ton of pictures, but since you all don't know any of the kids you'll get the bare bones.

The kids had to figure out how to solder circuit boards and light up some diodes! I wouldn't have minded trying it myself, to be honest. It's much more fun to do something than to sit back and watch other people do the thing.

If I had wireless ear buds I suppose I could have listened to an audiobook, but I didn't. I did take a bathroom break and grab a quick selfie of my cool safety googles.

The next session was about microcontrollers. The kids had to play with a 'breadboard' just like the one I used in Electrical and Computer Engineering 301 oh so long ago! They did some coding, too. It was boring to watch, but they had a lot of fun doing!

Pro counselor tip: Make yourself stand out so you're easy to spot in a crowd. I brought my hat since I'm not tall! At least one kid commented it made me easier to find. The other days when I didn't have to wear my uniform shirt, I had purple and neon orange t-shirts (in addition to my brilliant, ginger beard!).

The evening session included some highly accomplished speakers. One of them was an epidemiologist from Ghana (Shout out to Megan and her family over there!).

The day ended with an impromptu volleyball game. I would have been happy to let the kids play longer, but once someone higher up made the call I backed their play. There were concerns about heavy storms coming through the area, but they didn't start until after we went to bed.

We were lucky in that the boy and girl dorms were in separate buildings. Nobody could cross back and forth without going into the courtyard and then having a key for the other side. That cut down on a potential source of drama that BLAST camps at other campuses have had to deal with.

No one knew anyone the first night, but friendships were forming by night #2. Teenager are teenagers, so there was a lot more goofing and running around. We'd come back early, too, so it's not like everyone went to bed. I told kids there were mandatory quiet hours in dorms (I think I riffed off a sign on the wall) and that helped a lot. I put down on my recommendations for next year that "Quiet hours" should be put on the schedule since it is a common dorm thing.

I stayed up later than I liked reading and keeping an eye on the hallway. Once I deem myself responsible for something, I take responsibility! I didn't mind kids staying up in their rooms, but I was going to do my best to keep things peaceful. I texted and talked to Carrie throughout the day, as well. She'd gotten mixed up and thought today was our anniversary after she couldn't sleep with me gone. She wasn't handling my absence as well as I hoped, but it was the halfway point of things. She's never been thrilled for me to go off, but she moved to Cville without me back in the day. I hadn't thought a couple days would be as big of a deal as they seemed to be now (and Beach Week was still to come).

I was tired the next day, but we did my favorite session after breakfast: Light! And that meant lasers!

I enjoyed the presentations! I would love for Shane to do this when he's old enough (and more mature). If Carrie can't get healthier and handle it, I'd love to do it again next year to keep that door open for him. 

My boys group (Named Io after one of the Galilean moons) was paired up with the same girls group all week. By now, I'd learned their names, too. I complimented one girl on her Spider-Man art with polarization and went around keeping an eye on things.

The kids who were picked for BLAST were all the curious sort. They liked what they were doing and it was best to let them do it! I tried to frame comments that would get them to talk to one another to start conversations and help them bond. The hope being they'd make lifelong connections and maybe see each other again at other similar events through NASA.

After lunch, we went to the library to look at a collection of rare books. I honestly thought it was going to be a major flop, but most of the kids were still curious! I did slide in an ear bud in one ear(sadly wired) and listened to a mystery while kids quietly stared at books while gloved librarians supervised.

Our final session was on bio/medical oriented. We went up three flights of stairs, got some cups, and went back down three flights of stairs to collect soil samples.

Then we got to go back up those same three flights of stairs to the lab to look for strains of bacteria in the soil (We did a LOT of walking all week - My counterpart had a hard time keeping up).

The room was crowded, so I stepped outside and looked around a little. It's been a while since I've been on a college campus, but some things are never gonna give you up...

It was in this time period that I talked to the Pastor from Youth Week. I was stressed about Carrie, too. She hadn't responded all morning and I noticed she posted something on Facebook saying she "was not ok..." I kept reaching out through the day mainly with texts, because I knew she was at work. I knew it was affecting me, because I could feel the start of a fever blister (all the walking, sun, and lack of sleep

factored in, too, I'm sure).

The kids were having a BLAST, at least. They had to wait after a little bit after centrifuge. We went down more stairs before coming back up them to the lab again.

I uploaded HUNDREDS of pictures to the server. I didn't bother sorting out the best. I figured that's what my superiors have their media people for.

I like exploring, so my group and I tended to take different routes and look for shortcuts wherever we went. It paid off and we found some cool trails in the shade! 

The kids got some sports/outdoors time at the end of the day Tuesday as we wound down. The more tired the kids got the better! Tired kids were less likely to have an overabundance of energy and do dumb things once we got back to the dorms for their final night (and our main consequence was to send someone home...).

I spotted a Battlemech before the final presentation! It figures there'd be sci-fi fans in the science departments at a college! 

We got to see a magic science show at the end. I thought it would be hokey, but it was fun! The funniest event was unscripted, though. The magician/professor had brought a book of celebrity fail quotes as a prop. He flipped to a random page to read and I know it was random, because it was a Charlie Sheen quote that he had to start censoring and stop reading as he realized what it was! Think "Explicit in nature" combined with "Diversity in women" and you'll get a picture of the dawning horror on his face (I mean, the book was celebrity FAILs in retrospect!).

The staff made liquid nitrogen ice cream for the kids as a send off. You may notice this is one of the few food pictures I've taken. The cafeteria was livable, but I was looking forward to eating elsewhere even though it was free!

Kids were all over the place that final night packing and having their final fun moments with their newly bonded friends. I had one student go home early, but the rest cleared out after breakfast Wednesday morning. I showed the mom of the kid going down the stairs some pictures were I was trying to catch him smiling and laughing out loud during the light presentation. I got side shots, but whenever I came around for a frontal he clammed up! It got her smiling.

All of my student cleared out but one. I wanted to get home, but I had the last student! I stayed and talked for a long while trying to keep him comfortable, but eventually excused myself. I was terribly anxious to get home and check on Carrie.

I raced home mostly obeying speed limits to make sure Carrie was alright. We'd have some days to ourselves with Shane out of town. That was something to look forward to!

I definitely had a fever blister, though. It took a couple of weeks to fully go away. 

Thankfully, I was able to point at it during my physical and get a prescription for the next time one pops up. I usually only get them a maximum of once or twice a year, but yech! Hurray for meds! 

The check for BLAST showed up a few weeks later. It was a lot of effort, but I'm definitely considering doing it again next summer. I want to keep it up until Shane has a chance to do it and maybe I'll even continue it afterward. It seems like a worthwhile program to give kids a free summer activity involving science education.

Also worth noting - Carrie bought fancy tea as an anniversary present! She spotted it online and loved the tin.

We've both been enjoying the flavors. My favorite is the Italian Wedding Cake. Carrie's usually a coffee drinker, but she's found the Banana Bread Herbal to be amazing!