Graduation and Myrtle Beach

The past two weeks have been busy, and they're only going to continue to get busier. Before I forget and leave you all in the dark, I will now tell of Seth's graduation and of our vacation to Myrtle Beach.

Seth's graduation was on the last Saturday in August. Mom did an excellent job preparing food for a hundred people, and the other ladies who helped with the food and with decorating the church did a wonderful job as well. The big day came, and everything was ready. The event went smoothly; we didn't run out of food, but, rather, we had just the right amount (except for the tea and lemonade, which we had in large quantities afterwards) because we had few leftovers. After the meal, we played the slideshow devoted to Seth's first 18 years of life; it was a big hit, and several people (myself included) got teary-eyed when they saw it. After that, then Dad gave the charge, and he and Mom gave Seth his diploma. It is truly amazing that Seth has graduated high school, remembering his earlier years when he had trouble talking and had to have therapy for it; but God was very good to him in providing him many mentors who taught him and helped bring him through high school. It was a wonderful moment, seeing Seth with his diploma. After the charge, Mom served dessert: chocolate kahlua cheesecake (an enormous hit), lemon curd cheesecake, and then a graduation cake from Costco (they make good cakes, not the sugary kind that makes you nauseous after one bite). We then cleaned up and went home. Seth and Mandy hung out with a few friends until later that afternoon when Mom and Dad went downtown for a Radiant party; then we had a bunch of Seth and Mandy's friends over for a get-together, which involved our new Wii (we've fallen in love with it), Mandy and Megan dancing to Mike Posner, and three ugly sombreros. It was a fun evening and a good day all together.

On Tuesday the 30th, after Seth got home from work and Mom and myself finished our morning classes at school, we packed up the van and began the long drive to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We left later than we wanted, and traffic and the stupid toll road didn't help. We ate dinner at Chick-fil-A, at which point something interesting happened; as we walked in to order and pick up our food, one of the ladies who worked there kept smiling at us, and we wondered why; after we left, Dad suggested that perhaps she was a homeschool mom and recognized us as homeschoolers because of how we kids interact with our parents. It was soon dark outside, and the directions we got on-line proved to be pretty much worthless. We got lost twice, and being tired didn't help very much. But, finally, after 11 PM, we arrived at the resort. The first day, after breakfast, we went to the beach. We only stayed an hour because the waves (probably due to Hurricane Earl) were huge and the lifeguards called everyone in; poor Seth battled the worst of it when the waves flipped him over twice and made him all dizzy, not to mention the fact that water got stuck in his ear and refused to come out, no matter the amount of hydrogen perioxide. We found solace instead in the resort pool, particularly the lazy river, which became a big hit with everyone. It was nice just to sit back and not have to go anywhere, which is something we all needed badly. On Thursday, it was cloudy (also probably from Earl), but it never rained; that day I taught Grandma Gail how to use facebook and told her what twitter and youtube were. On Friday, we girls went to Boardwalk on Broadway, which was a ton of fun. Basically, it was like an outlet center/ carnival, and there were virtually no crowds, which made it all the better. We walked to various stores, took pictures, and bought souvenirs. Mandy got two Ugly Dolls (one for her, one for Bethany), I got a Reeses' Pieces squishy (I love those things, and they are so hard to find nowadays), and Mom and Grandma picked up various things like candy and souvenir spoons. We went back to the resort to get the guys, and we returned to Boardwalk for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. The place was more crowded that evening, and the restaurant was particularly fond of its disco ball, loud music, and dancing servers. After dinner and some group pictures, we returned to the resort to pack up. After breakfast and hugs and good-byes on Saturday, we had an uneventful drive back to Georgia. We first tackled the house and the various disasters the cats had made, as well as taking care of other business like cleaning out e-mail inboxs and cleaning the church, and then we finally relaxed for the evening. All in all, it was a good week.

I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but I will try to get them on facebook soon. Hopefully I will post them before the talent show on Saturday (more room to record Mandy playing Pachelbel :) )