Month: November 2021

Amanda and Trevor were still staying with us for the first week of July which meant they were around for the 4th and we had a blast. When Amanda and I finished up work on Friday the 2nd, we motivated ourselves enough to do a station workout outside and then went across the street to our neighbor’s dock to check on Carl and Trevor’s fishing adventures. Our other neighbor, Ed, had stopped by to chat with the boys and offered to let us use some of his paddle boards so we could get out on the water. We hesitated at first (not sure why), but SO glad we finally said yes as we had a wonderful paddle and saw a beautiful sunset. I was convinced to jump in the water before getting off the board as I’d never swam in Hamlin Creek before and it turned out to be pretty nice.

Saturday the 3rd included an Orangetheory workout and a stop at The Flying Cupid to get some to go brunch that turned out super tasty. I’m not going to lie, I don’t totally remember what we did the rest of the day after that.

On Sunday the 4th we watched the IOP golf cart parade, got in a little fishing, then headed to the Windjammer to watch the 4th of July flyovers. Our nextdoor neighbors had mentioned that we were free to use their pool for the day as they’d be out and about so we took them up on it and lounged in their backyard all afternoon. Our neighbors ended up coming back to their house while we were still there so joined us in the pool and busted out what seemed like 100 jello shots in many flavors that were all delicious and tasted exactly like the various flavors they were labeled as (pb&j, bubble gum, caramel apple, etc.).

The night ended with our new friends, Whitney and Pete, coming by for a cookout and attempting to watch the fireworks from our neighbor’s dock. Unfortunately IOP had cancelled their fireworks and we couldn’t quite see the ones from downtown above the tree-line across the water so it wasn’t as exciting as we’d hoped, but still a nice night.

Amanda and Trevor left super early in the morning on Monday the 5th to head back to IL and I spent my entire day off spontaneously bursting into tears because I missed them so much already. I think this indicates the love I have for my sister and how much fun we had while her and Trevor were visiting.

Accountfully officially reopened the office on the 13th so I started going back in Tuesday through Thursday of each week at that point. I got in a few weekly swims with Helen which was great. Then the month culminated in a much overdue trip to Minnesota to visit Melissa and Will. As usual, they were the best hosts and planned a whole weekend of showing us around where they live both on foot and on bikes. We also got to see other friends, Jora and Adam, for a little bit one day which was an added treat. Overall, we had the best weekend and left talking about when we’d get together again.

June started out pretty low key and included meandering through the IOP sand sculpture contest, doing a Thursday night 5K inspired by our friend, Helen, and attending a surprise graduation party for our friend Chris. The 5K was incredibly rough because of the extreme humidity and all 4 of us (Carl, Helen, David, and myself) questioned why we’d signed up in the first place. The answer was Helen asked if we wanted to and we didn’t have a good reason not to so we did. Helen said she signed-up because of her friend Carly so ultimately it was Carly’s fault. Despite the pain and suffering and a far-from-my-best 5K time, I won my age group and earned a koozie.

The rest of June (and the highlight) was Amanda and Trevor coming to stay for several weeks. Amanda’s best friend from childhood, Lindsey, was having her bachelorette party in Savannah in mid-June and her wedding in Charlotte, NC in late June so we decided it only made sense for Amanda to just stay with us in between and for Trevor to join as well. These two are two of the only people I think we could live with for so long and not want to never see again so our time together was fabulous. I attended one night of Lindsey’s bachelorette party that included a nice dinner and a dueling piano bar which was super fun. Amanda drove back to Charleston with me and our time as roomies officially began. It was great getting to work from home side-by-side with my sissy and see her in action at her job. Trevor arrived later that week and we had a fabulous Saturday floating down the Edisto River for one of Carl’s co-worker’s birthdays and then hitting up a pool party for our friends, Courtney & Zack. Amanda and Trevor got to do normal life stuff with us like Orangetheory which was really cool. During the second week of their time with us, the rest of the family (except Mom) descended on IOP for a 2 day blitz before heading to NC all together for Lindsey’s wedding. This, of course, included an outdoor concert at the Windjammer that ended in some of us closing the bar down and wandering to our neighbor’s dock at like 2 a.m. watching sticks float by that looked like manatees. Dad and Chris had headed back to the house a little earlier and Chris had made a ton of sandwiches which were clutch when we got back. Chris was on the couch asleep in 3 shirts for some reason.

Lindsey’s wedding was a success and we headed to a house on Lake Norman for a couple nights all together which was super fun and went by WAY too quickly. We played beer pong, air hockey, and used lifejackets as floaty diapers to hang out in the water. We definitely need to do this again sometime, but for longer. The family dispersed after the lake trip, but thankfully Amanda and Trevor headed back to IOP for one more week after that. I’m so glad they came back to SC after the wedding as it’s really hard to go from being surrounded by the entire gang for 6 days to them all being gone at once.