It has definitely been a while since I put some news on this page so here's a bit of what has been going on as 2012 draws to a close.
My son David and his family -- Samantha, Hannah, and Riley -- have relocated back to the Fayetteville, NC area after spending about 10 months up in the Chicago area. I went over to help them unload the truck and it was certainly good to see them all. It's not a quick drive over but it's certainly shorter than driving up to Chicago. They've gotten themselves a nice rental house as they all begin their own version of 'This Stage in Life' with David starting a new job and all of them renewing NC friendships and enjoying the closeness of family members. I got over there before David arrived with the truck and was able to provide a few things one needs immediately. David and I got to unloading some things from the truck and Samantha and the girls arrived perhaps an hour or two later. The next day is was serious unloading and unpacking and Samantha's dad and friend came over to help out. It all went well and in a short while the truck was empty and the garage and house was full of boxes. I spent the rest of the day and evening with them and then left them alone the following day for what was their first evening alone and together in their own place in quite a while.
For Christmas I headed back over to NC to spend the holiday there. On the way I decided to do a bit of state park geocaching at a couple of sites along the way. It's the first time I've been out in a while and it was a beautiful day weather-wise. I got the caches at a historical site and picked up two state park caches... not bad. No bears but I did encounter a few snakes sunning themselves on a large rock right where I figured the cache to be. I was very surprised to see them... warm weather must have brought them out. They were so lethargic it took me a while to get them to move but after a bit of beating on the rock with a stick they sloooooooooooooowly moved away. As I was beating on the rock my stick broke and when I looked down to where the piece landed I noticed another snake not far from where my foot was. As these were all copperheads I was glad they weren't very active. After this little diversion the caches were found without event.
Christmas Eve was spent at Samantha's mom's house which was decorated beautifully and she cooked up a fantastic meal with enough leftovers to provide great eating for days afterwards. It's the first time I'd seen Sam's mom in a number of years. Little Riley wasn't herself and later during the night the reason presented itself... she was running a temperature pushing 105. Christmas morning was a lot of fun for everyone made better by Samantha's dad coming over to join in. Riley woke up feeling a little better but still running a good fever which, happily, went down later in the day. Plenty of toys to play with and David proved himself to be the better remote-controlled helicopter pilot between the two of us. Samantha had the same idea for him so he's got two of them now! I'll practice more with the one Santa brought to me for being good. David grilled a pork roast and Samantha cooked up some wonderful side dishes for a great dinner. Afterwards we just sat and talked over coffee and a bit of warming liquid. It was a very, very nice evening. The following morning David was back at work and I headed back to GA.
That's it... the latest happenings. 2012 has been a year that saw great changes for just about everyone in the family and the year is ending with brighter happenings and good prospects for a very good coming year!
