Back-to-School, Roadtrips, and Lawnwork
It really is hard to believe that the summer is over. Well, it’s not really over, because that doesn’t officially happen until late September. But the three words above really describe our summer, especially the roadtrips. We made several roadtrips this summer – Roanoke (I know, it’s only 1-1/2 hour away, but we were there at least 5 or six times,) Allentown, Frankfort, and most recently, Central, SC. On each of these road trips (and especially this year) we went searching for some of our favorite foods. What were some of the places we looked for? Vince’s Cheesesteaks and Pizza, Soumaya & Sons Bakery – both in the Lehigh Valley; Krispy Kreme and Roanoke Wiener Stand (Roanoke), Skyline Chili and White Castle (the Frankfort Trip) and Krystal (SC). Most of these are regular stopping points on our trip. The best new find was Gyro Queen in Allentown. Pam tried her first gyro there and really liked it especially because they had a beef option, instead of lamb.
The biggest disappointment was the imfamous “Krispy Kreme/GPS Fail.” This little story was tweeted but never really told. On our trip to Frankfort, we were hoping to stop and get us some Krispy Kremes. It’s hard to believe that I’ve lost 85 pounds and still have an appetite for food that is not as healthy for me as it should. While we were at home, I checked and found out there was a Krispy Kreme in South Charleston on our way to Frankfort. I didn’t bother to check the address, but knew about where it was. While we were on the road, Anna programmed the GPS to find that store. Unfortunately, the GPS took us to the shady side of town, with no Krispy Kreme in sight. We left South Charleston very disappointed, but on the return trip we were able to find not only the Krispy Kreme store, but a bank and a gas station within a block of each other – so cool.
Best Revisit – Skyline Chili – After several years, we revisited Skyline Chili and ordered Chili Cheese Coneys and Chili Cheese Fries. Let’s just say everyone got back in the van happy. We took some of the fries with us for later. The chili sauce reminded me of the Roanoke Wiener Stand sauce – more than likely because both restaurants were founded by Greek immigrants.
I am sad to see summer go, but glad to be getting off the road, even though we had a great time. I hope you enjoyed our many road trip facts that were tweet during those long hours on the road. It is always interesting what we learn while on the road – like why it’s called a bakers dozen, that there are 7 honorary US citizens – one of them is the founder of the American Cavalry.
While the early part of the summer was characterized by its dryness, the later part of the summer has been wet. It has been difficult to keep up with the grass. I have been cutting the grass about every 5 to 6 days so that it continues to look nice. James and I have been busy with the weeds as well.
As I have already mentioned, it is that Back-to-School time. Yesterday we took Anna back to Southern Wesleyan University. The trip back home was quiet – relatively speaking. Anna was a great help over the summer – singing and playing on the praise team at church, helping with Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and helping around the house. Tomorrow James goes back to school and one of our traditions is cinnamon rolls, but we opted for sticky buns instead for tomorrow.
Because we took Anna back to school yesterday, my running schedule got changed this week. Thursday, I ran my long, slow run and it was good. I was able to log 10 miles at an 9:08 pace – which is a sub-2 hour 1/2 marathon pace if I can extend that over the next three miles. I also got out early today for an hour run before church – that one turned out to be an unexpected blessing. It was a one-hour run at over 7 miles. The pace for that distance was amazing – a blistering (for me) 8:20 mile. If I would have run for 8 miles that means I would have completed it in 1:06:40. It’s not been that long ago that I struggled to run 7 in that time and about 18 months ago, I would have only been able to complete just over 5 in that time. That is an amazing transformation.
We had a great service this morning at Parkway. The music was about as good as I remember it – team you did a great job! We had planned to do a picnic in our pavilion, but it rained so we had an indoor picnic today.
Be praying for our students as they return to school this week. I am looking forward to our Back-to-School Kick-off on Wednesday evening and then our baptism service on Sunday. We will be baptizing several students and one of our families. So cool!
With that, I am signing off and pressing on!
