USC Baseball

Baseball at USC in Columbia - a gorgeous sunny day, getting to see our son, and meeting his new girlfriend.  

Her name is Anna Marie and goes to a smaller college in a nearby town, but is part of the Catholic student youth group at USC.

A closer picture...  Sweet girl.  Luke is growing a beard.

One last hug in before we leave his dorm....

Julia @ GE

It was "Take your child to work" day at GE, so Eric took our little one.  The most depressing thing about it was that it was a scheduled day off from school, so she didn't get to actually skip.  Since Eric is in charge of the 3D printer, he showed her how to make some cool objects.  They designed a pyramid together, filled the printer with material, and watched it go!

Then, there was a contest to count the number of M&M's in the jar.  Together, they counted the number of candy pieces on the bottom layer, then multiplied it by the number of layers.  They won by guessing the closest at 904 of 907 actual candies!  As a prize, they got to keep the jar.

Note the other USC Gamecock symbols they printed at the bottom right corner.

After, we met Ashlyn on her way home from Spartanburg at a bowling alley so she could relax a bit and take a break from her studies.

Mom's Bday

We celebrated my 48th birthday over several days since the actual day was quite busy with school, work, CCD, and homework.  But, it was a fun week!

It started out with a wonderful pancake breakfast at church and the opportunity to give back some of the life I've had through donating blood.

Then the day of my real birthday, it was sweets galore from coworkers and my family.

The little one played me Happy Birthday on her violin!  So precious!  :)

On that Friday evening, we went to a new game room family fun place called Spare Time.  I think Eric enjoyed it the most!  

We finished out the week on Saturday with a kolache breakfast.  I honestly don't know what our mornings were like without this place.

Kolaches!

It's been one full year since we won our kolache booklets.  Such wonderful memories of getting to know the staff, enjoying the breakfast varieties, and saving me time (and money) on coffee every morning.  

But the expiration date was here and we had no days left.  So sad.  Dean, the owner, decided to photo bomb our last card punch.  

Just take a look at these used booklets.  Coffee stains, masking tape, they were just barely holding together.  Dean said they were the most-used cards of all 25 given out last year.

We showed our appreciation by bringing an over-sized hand-made card, helium balloons, and gifts to the staff in celebration of their one-year anniversary.

Apparently, this picture got posted on the local news that night, but we couldn't find it.


But guess what?  The bakery decided to do the challenge again!!  The first 20 people in line the next morning were to receive another 12-month booklet.  So what do the McConnells do?  Yep, stand in line starting at 2am.

Eric and Ashlyn were #7 & 8!!  It was a cold 26℉ outside, but so worth it!  Another year of kolaches for us!  

NC Weekend

Our little one celebrated her 12th birthday in December, but we couldn't find a good time to celebrate with her friends until January.  She wanted to experience staying in a log cabin in the mountains.  Here was her invitation...

As it turned out, she caught the flu just hours before we were supposed to leave.

With her eyes filling up with tears (and the fact we couldn't get a refund), we headed to the mountains with just our family.  

The place was really cute and right on the river. In the distance on the other side of the bank, you'll see a famous train wreck scene from the movie "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford. 

Inside the cabin, we couldn't get the heater to kick in strong enough to combat the 14 degree temps outside.  While we cuddled up to watch some movies, both she and Eric kept masks on.  Eric did it for protection so he wouldn't get sick.

The following morning, we stopped in Asheville to tour a new bean-to-product chocolate factory.  The hour & a half tour was really interesting and included some wonderful samples.  :)

I was in my element in sampling all the chocolate varieties... 54%, 73%, 80% and from different sources like Nicaragua and Peru.

Ashlyn met us there with friends from her VCOM medical school since we had pre-booked a party of six.

The tour was perfect for chocolate connoisseurs, but a little overwhelming (and boring) for others.  It probably turned out best that a bunch of 12-yr olds didn't go.

TX Christmas - Pt 2

While relaxing at the farm, Eric read up on the best BBQ places in Texas.  When he found out that the #5 place was in Taylor, he had to check it out.

The place usually sells out by 1pm, so we had to get there early.  We arrived around 11:30am to a line that was out the door....

The place was so smokey like an outdoor fire pit that I had to sit in another room just to breathe.  About an hour later, Eric finally got to the front of the line to place his order.

Well, his smile tells it all.  He loved it, but said it wasn't worth that long of a wait.  

Back at the farm house, he discovered that the #1 BBQ place in Texas was in Lexington, and that it was on our way toward Shiner.  However, they were only open on Saturdays from 8am until they run out (which is before 12 noon).  Since our plans were to pass through on a Saturday, that was perfect!

But apparently, they took this Saturday off for the holidays.  I took his picture anyway.  

When we got to Shiner, the girls had to do a polar bear challenge.  I'm not sure why they insist on doing this each year, but they do.  I guess they think a frigid dip in the pool, warmed towels to dry off, and a hot shower afterwards refreshes the soul.

 The little cousins were super cute!

When we arrived back home in SC, I changed the water in our fish tank, but Swimmer didn't survive.  After 4 1/2 years, our goldfish was laid to rest.  Eric gave a nice long eulogy outside by the apple tree.

On the bright side, we caught up with our son again!  He just returned from a SEEK conference in Indiana and wanted to pick up a vehicle for his 2nd semester at USC. 

TX Christmas - Pt 1

The next few days were spent relaxing at the farm.  Our Little One couldn't wait to get on the zip line.

We tried our luck fishing, but only a few bites.  Our greatest efforts were spent rowing the boat over to the dam, hitching to the dock, then paddling the dock back to the shore.  

At 12 years, it was time to practice driving.  She did pretty good!

We visited our cousins in Austin where Ashlyn led them on a Baby Shark abs workout.

Eric's sister joined us for dinner one night and we built our traditional gingerbread house.

The following evening we enjoyed fresh pizza delivery from my brother.  Now that's a special treat being so far out in the country!

No farm experience would be complete without jumping a few hay bales.

Then capped off the chilly evening watching the sun set.