Summer Road Trip - Day #4

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from today’s college tour after we drove into town last night. Last night’s drive was questionable at best. Today, though, I was thoroughly impressed with High Point. 

The grounds were beautiful with landscaping and water fountains at every turn.  All of the buildings were modern and indicated a true push for excellence. 

Keagan was taken by the campus, the academic opportunities, and the housing. Our 2.5 hour tour was a bit overwhelming, but it was clear the university has some really great initiatives.

We spent the afternoon and evening at a soccer camp. Most of the players are from the East coast and are MLS Next players. 

There were six outside backs assigned to team orange, so when it came time for 11v11 matches, Keagan volunteered to play CDM. 

We are back at it tomorrow. 

Summer Road Trip - Day #3

We began our third day on the road touring UNC Asheville. 

This may be the most beautiful college campus I have seen. I wanted to be a college bound kid when we made our way to the campus! It is a liberal arts school, (shocking I know considering the atmosphere and people you find and see in Asheville 😂) -  there was a lot of art work on display throughout campus. 

The school was built to provide fantastic views of Mt. Pisgah and the beautiful landscaping. Nature and art were clearly the themes of the campus. 

From here we made our way to the Biltmore where we had lunch at the Biltmore farm. The grounds were stunning and we hadn’t even made our way to the formal gardens at this point of our tour. 

At our appointed tour time, we caught the first glimpse of the house. Oh. My. Word!

And then we got inside. 😍

After a couple of hours of history, Keagan was ready for a nap, but I persuaded him to walk to the gardens with me. This was the best part because the aromas from the flowers were fantastic!

Keagan got his nap in the car as we continued our drive to the next stop. We arrived to hotel #3 with the AC running on high and the best smelling rooms. Tomorrow is tour #3 and the first day of the soccer ID camp. 

Summer Road Trip - Day 2

Day 2 began bidding adieu to the “it smelled like feet” hotel. Keagan had one request: Breakfast outside of the hotel. He asks for nothing but new shoes, so how could I say no? He had French toast with strawberries. We then made the uneventful drive to Greeneville, TN to visit the oldest university in the state. We were welcomed with a misspelling. 

We were willing to look beyond that until our tour guide got lost in the athletic complex. 😮 The highlight of our tour was running into an old friend in the gym. 

The dorms left a lot to be desired, and my extremely introverted boy could not imagine sharing a room and walking down the hall for the bathroom. He said, “Is this how Evan is going to live? Because I can’t. I just can’t. I need a door to close.” He’s going to be hard to please; sharing a room is not something he can fathom doing right now.

After our tour, we drove through the mountains to Asheville. It was beautiful! We stopped to shop in the Village. It’s such a quaint area, shaded with large trees and dotted with beautiful flowers, and so pleasant. 

We had dinner in a converted train depot, and the evening has been reserved to watch the draft and soccer. 

Summer Road Trip - Day 1

Here we are barreling into the last few days of summer break. I’m trying to milk every last minute of it. Two months ago I registered Keagan for an ID camp in North Carolina. Over time, the weekend camp morphed into a road trip filled with college tours, soccer, and site seeing. Road trips with Keagan are the best! Today was day one. 

We hate long car rides (not sure how Keagan could consider attending any schools in North Carolina since they require long car rides but here we are), so we drove part of the way today and stopped in Pigeon Forge for the night. It’s important to note that we have never enjoyed visiting this place due to the crowds, traffic, and long lines, but we decided to try to look upon the place with fresh eyes and give it one more go. 

First, we shopped for Christmas trees at the Christmas Place. My friend got a heck of a deal last summer on a new tree. Nothing makes me happier than bargains and I’ve been so excited about possibly finding my own tree deal, but despite advertisements of big sales, none of the trees were on sale. I couldn’t fathom forking over $800 for a tree - even if it was beautiful and far exceeds the Lowe’s tree we have had for twenty years that only has 2/3 of the lights working. We decided to keep our Charlie Brown tree for now. Strike 1. 

We had dinner at the highly recommended Blue Moose. Although dinner was good and we only had to wait 20 minutes to be seated, the monkeys we were promised to see were put away due to extreme heat. Strike 2.

We wrapped up our night attending a comedy show on the strip. I’m pretty sure we were in attendance with every Redneck in town. But we attended the show in a barn, so I guess that was expected. Laughs were shared and we all left the show “as one big family.”

On our way back to the hotel, I asked Keagan to snap pics of our favorite places on the strip. These pics had us rolling. We laughed harder at this than we did at the comedy show. 

The super imposed dashboard above the Ferris wheel is an unexpected plus. 

The off centered vantage point works with this shot. 

I said, “Make sure you get the gorilla!” He just barely made that happen. 

Luckily he plays soccer better than he takes pictures from moving cars.

When we got to the tattoo shop, Keagan said he would totally be down for getting non-permanent matching tattoos of doves. I told him I didn’t think they did rub on tats with paper towels and water, but if they did, there’s no one else I’d want to wear my matching dove. 

We got to the hotel and our room smells like feet. Strike 3. I think we can agree we are not fans of the area. Tomorrow we have college visit #1.

Middle Aged Mom

I think I can officially admit I’m middle aged. I’ve been in denial for the last seven years, but today, today, I admitted its arrival. I took Keagan to an ID camp and I decided to hang out and watch him play like I’ve done hundreds of times. The sun was out and the temp was hovering in the low 90s, but I like the sun and the high temps. I predicted this would be no problem for me. 

Until I started sweating from my knees and elbows. Are there even pores on your elbows? How does this happen? I began to curse the sun that I have worshipped for 47 years and pulled out my umbrella. Umbrellas are used by old people when they can’t take the intensity of the summer sun. And then the worst. I started considering watching soccer from my car - my air conditioned car. This is only done by old people that can’t handle the heat! It was then that I had to admit I’m no longer 20 and able to handle the summer temps. The 105 degree heat index won today. 

But Keagan? Yeah, he played great and wasn’t bothered by the heat. He isn’t middle aged. 

Foodies

The count down to the end of summer has begun, and as with every summer, I have a self-imposed list of things to get done. You never know when you will find the time to get it done if it isn’t done now. Last week I washed, organized, and finalized college supplies. Monday I cleaned out all of the closets and made donations of unused clothing. Today I had the cars cleaned (Evan’s Jeep smelled like fish bait 🤮), and I wiped down the fridge and freezer. Next up is to hire a carpet cleaner because my hand held cleaner didn’t get the job done to my liking.  

I can’t have all work and no play, though. I mean it is summer! I have to fill my days with some fun, too. Keagan, Madi and I planned a trip to Nashville, but the car cleaners ran late and our entire schedule was thrown off. Instead we had an adventurous lunch at a Korean restaurant. 

When we pulled up, Madi almost refused to go in - even Keagan was hesitant. Madi asked, “Have you eaten here before?” I told her no. She didn’t think today was the best day to try out something new. 

We had to order by picture. 

The food was served on styrofoam plates, so Keagan predicted it would be fire. He was right. The Yakimando was fantastic! 

We also had spicy pork bulgogi and Japchae. Keagan loved the sweet potato noodles. 

Now that the house, minus the carpet, is clean, it is time to hit the pool. 

Summer days are the best! 

Saturday Night Lights

Is there a better way to spend a Saturday night? 

Nope! Not at all. Summer Saturday nights under the lights is perfection - especially when you witness an exciting game that includes record making stats and hat tricks. 

Their faces do not reveal any excitement. Don’t let the pic of surly teens trick you into believing they are miserable. Keagan was up on his feet cheering just as loud as the next guy with all five goals! Let’s do it again next Saturday night!

Friday Fun Day

Keagan finished his ACT class on Thursday, so to celebrate his afternoons of freedom we had Friday Fun Day at Winding Staircase Falls. We had steep climbs that had us breathing hard, fantastic views across the river, and slippery rocks that made downhill steps treacherous. Madi had some close encounters with spider webs. We envisioned a huge fall that would allow for swimming, but this is all we saw at the “water fall.” Now I know why the parking lot was empty at 1300 when it was 91 degrees.

We hiked two trails (to Madi’s dismay) for a total of seven miles, and just as we made it to the last quarter of a mile, the clouds opened and poured on us. We were soaked! 

Evan and Makinley spent the day at Animal Kingdom where it is hotter than seven Hades and a two hour wait to ride the best ride. Evan is over the crowds and little kids. 

They are both ready to head to the beach!

Couple Goals

This weekend Evan and Makinley are in Orlando and today they are at Universal. To celebrate her graduation she wanted to go to Orlando and Destin. Evan is tagging along with the family riding roller coasters and drinking butterbeer with Harry Potter.

Madi just got back from two weeks at her beach house in Florida. As soon as her plane landed, she was headed to our place. Keagan was happy to see her!

Only two more weeks of summer. Where did the days go? This has been the shortest summer ever!

Chasin’ a Dream

We are in Louisville today for another soccer camp  and another chance for Keagan to chase his dream. The soccer circle gets smaller every year, and today it was proven when we ran into former teammates from the 2015 CSC team and the 2017 TUSC team. We also ran into friends from our high school team three hours from home. 

Today I’m cheering for #10!

A Tale of Two Boys

It’s a tale of two boys. It’s the best of times for the older boy; it’s the worst of times for the younger lad. 

Evan is in Alabama today with the Baylors. He’s on a boat in a lake living his dream. He’s fishing, swimming, and riding the waves. It’s the best of times.

Keagan is at home in the middle of a two hour ACT class. He tried to tell me paying for a class was a waste of money. He tried to tell me he could take the class for free at school. He tried to tell me it was summer and his FIFA game couldn’t be interrupted. His persuasive tactics did not work. It’s the worst of times for him. 

In two years, when he has a strong ACT score that got him accepted into college, he can play FIFA (or spend the day at the lake on a boat) all he wants.