Quinceañera

In the Latino culture, girls have a party at the age of 15 called a Quinceanera. Both of my daughters have been invited to one, and this is the post of our youngest attending one for her friend. Click here for the earlier post from my oldest when she attended one in 2012.

The 10-hour party begins with Mass. This special church service compliments, but doesn't replace, Confirmation. Only a few of her friends attended the church service, and only our little one was Catholic. The entire Mass was in Spanish, but we responded when we recognized the prayers. The Mariachi band was an unexpected treat!

The birthday girl and her friends got to ride in a limo from the church to the dance hall.

I arrived to the hall before the limo and took a picture of how pretty everything was decorated.

Once the guests arrived, it didn't take long for them to hit the dance floor.

Here's a video clip:  https://youtu.be/kpuc13AbY-0

The birthday girl had quite a few choreographed dances with her family and cousins. Her friends had a front-row seat to all the action. 

After a while, there was dedicated picture time for all the guests to take a photo with the honoree. It was a cute group of teenagers!

I sat at a table in the back with the parents. We were right next to the smoke machine! 😅 

With all the haze, we kept feeling like we were at a different type of party that involved more than the adult beverages of beer and magaritas.

She then changed into a shorter dress so she could dance easier. Her friends all had a great time! We were one of the first to leave at 10pm, although the party continued until 3am. So much fun!

SC SofS

The nonprofit organization I work for, the Center for Developmental Services, was recognized as a 2021 Angel by the SC Secretary of State Mark Hammond. I received that award in Columbia at the State House.

This award can only be received once during a charity's lifetime for being good stewards of public funding. To qualify, the charity must:

• Be timely in registering their license and submitting financial reports to the state
• Use at least 80% of revenue on programs that benefit the community
• Make good use of volunteer time
• Not rely heavily on government grants

Each charity was allowed to bring 2 representatives. When my board chair and vice-chair were unable to attend, I phoned my son to see if he would be interested in joining me. After promising him lunch afterwards, he agreed.

The local news broadcast the ceremony. But guess who got the most airtime? My son (or rather his phone). 😂  You can watch the news clip here: https://www.wyff4.com/angels. 

Bald Knob

The first day of November was just gorgeous! Highs in the upper 60s, full sunshine, and a great day for a hike. The little one was on fall break, so Eric & I took a day of vacation and we headed to the mountains.

The waterfalls and rivers were a plenty, which is usual along the trail. The sound of the water running with the colorful foliage did wonders to reduce stress and refresh the soul.

We met quite a few through-hikers just starting on the Foothills Trail. We wished them all well, and were grateful for our small daypacks that just held a little water and some snacks.

Our destination was Pinnacle Mountain, and specifically, Bald Knob. It was one of my favorite lookout points along the Foothills Trail. The hike is rated as strenuous, but we found it to be slightly easier and would call it "difficult". The in & out 3.6 mile route didn't disappoint.

It was the first hike that our little one has been on since spraining her hip muscles, and she did great! I think she may have enjoyed it the most.

Ashlyn's 25th

Ashlyn turned 25 this week, a quarter of a century! It's just doesn't seem possible that our oldest baby can be mid-twenties now. I still see her as that cute toddler who always wore a hat (she had no hair) and got into bandaids.

Now as an adult, she didn't want a real cake, so we settled for a small cupcake that we each took a bit from.

Instead, she wanted us to make her a sweet potato casserole with a very thin layer of nuts on top. The youngest in the family wanted to still use the nut mixture, so we piled them on high for half of it.

Here's a picture of her in her usual attire. The coffee is absolutely part of her wardrobe since she's working 12+ hour shifts.

And when she's not working, you can find her in Columbia visiting this guy.

Happy 25th Ashlyn! 

Army FTX

It's rare to find pictures of our son in his element because I have to rely on other photographers. But thanks to FB and scanning hundreds of posts, I found some! As a senior cadet, Luke's role this year is to plan the field training exercises (FTX) for the UofSC Army ROTC.

Most of the planning happens well before their FTX weekend. Once in the field, though, his white board helps him keep track of each platoon and the location of each activity.

Since he is away from us on his birthday and back in Columbia, we celebrated early. Happy 22nd birthday, Luke! We miss you!

HOCO Float

Our youngest is a Student Council officer this year, and they were in charge of the freshman float for homecoming.Their theme...the 50's/Grease.

The officers decided to dress up while decorating the trailer with juke boxes, records, balloons, streamers, and musical notes.

Since we were driving the trailer, I decided to get in on the action. Eric thought it was comical.

Time for the parade to start!

Even their candy was 50's themed with gummy hamburgers, hotdogs, and fries! They did a nice job!

All the decorations were salvaged, if possible, for the hall decorating contest on Thursday. Good luck, Patriots!

Bike Crawl

After days and days of rain, we finally had a beautiful sunny weekend to be outside. We loaded up the bikes and headed for downtown Greenville.

Eric had a long route planned that started at one end of Greenville, followed the Swamp Rabbit Trail through town and finished in West Greenville. 

We stopped for a brief picture at the Cancer Survivors Park. When I took this picture, I didn't realize my phone had a focus lense that blurs the backround. I must have hit that feature accidentally, but I love how it turned out!

Here's the unblurred photo so you can see the other two.

When we got the end of our ride, Eric wanted a beer. So we stopped at the brewery on the trail for a refreshing drink while the girls got kombucha.

When the beer was finished, we got on the bikes and went maybe 50 yards to a new brewery that just opened up. He decided to try another beer. This new place had kombucha on tap! The girls loved it!

There was a 3rd brewery just 100 yards away, but we realized we wouldn't make the long ride back if we stopped again. This could be a fun Mueggenborg event for our SC Cousin Reunion in 2023!