Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!  We had a fun filled day of eating and spending time with family.  Shelley cooked most of the food and it was delicious.  After the meal we took a long walk around town to help the food digest.  I have to say, I love Fall in the mountains of NC.  It was a balmy 67 degrees without a cloud in the sky.  We all enjoyed being outside and hanging out.

Looks like everyone cleaned their plates.  The sign of a great meal.

 Ready to eat.  Well, everyone but Myles.  I think he wanted his dessert first and was upset.

Grady even ate some turkey this year.  My boys seem to be border line vegetarians.

Enjoying the beautiful weather.

Who invited Squanto?!  It wouldn't be Thanksgiving with out a homemade Indian outfit.

Christmas Came Early

We were so lucky to have Gramma and Grandpa visit us this week.  Not only did they come for Thanksgiving but they came bearing Christmas presents.  The boys were so excited to rip into the bags and boxes.  As always, Gramma and Grandpa were extremely generous and found every toy the boys desired.  Shelley and Peter, we can't thank you enough for all you do for us. 

G and Myles waiting, full of anticipation, for the presents.

A Yoda ornament for the Christmas tree.

Look at that cool Super Hero shirt.

Can you find Myles among the pile of presents?

The boys wanted a cash register for Christmas.  It came with money and a basket of food.  Pretty cool gift and one of their favorites.

The boys love to dress up so a "black spiderman" suit was a fun idea.  Grady got a Star Wars costume.

Myles asked for a violin.  Ask and ye shall receive.....

Who knew that spiderman could play the violin while wearing rain boots?

Whenever the Grandparents visit the boys are obsessed with their iPhones.  Josh and I are not that techy and don't have anything close to an iPhone.  So, the boys love playing with these little gadgets.  Grandpa also had an iPad.  Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the boys. 

Lisa, Lily and Laughs (and Chris too)

Last weekend, Lisa, Lily and Chris came up from Columbia to visit us as Chris had business in Asheville.  They picked a good weekend as it was the Holiday Parade in Asheville.  We bundled up and hit the streets.  As always, we had a great time hanging with old friends.

The Asheville Holiday Parade

Grady and Josh waiting for the parade to start.

...still waiting for the parade.

Lily wasn't too sure what to make of all the boy toys.  Was it a sword or a vacuum?  I think she figured it out.

It was a beautiful weekend and the kids enjoyed playing the in leaves.

Lisa, thanks for coming up to visit!!

Jewelry Jamboree

My mom called me a few weeks ago and said that her sister, Duffy, wanted to head up to Va to sell her jewelry.  I got in touch with Duffy and next thing we knew, the boys and I were hitching a ride up to my folks house.  My mom had organized a fantastic jewelry show at her house.  We pretty much stayed scarce, going to parks and the Natural History Museum (a must for the boys).  We came home every once in a while as Mom had to show off her grandbabies.

We were excited to get up there as we haven't seen my dad for a bit.  Plus, Uncle Will is living up there and the boys haven't seen him since last Christmas.  We were due for a trip up north.

Good ole Uncle Will or "Uncle Whale" as Myles calls him.  He has a pretty funny southern accent.  Will took us to Huntley Meadows, a great park with opportunities for bird watching.

I don't know what was making G so excited.  Was it the the delicious banana bread?  A bird?  Who knows.

Myles was busy looking for worm and bugs.

Uncle Will got some quality bird watching time.  Although, it was pretty tough with two wild boys running around making noise.  Apparently, birds don't like that.....

Myles was showing Will some of the millipedes he found.

In true Will style, he made some bird watching friends.  I think Grady has Uncle Will's ability to strike up a conversation with anyone anywhere.  He has never known a stranger.

Looking for tracks, crayfish and other goodies.

I didn't get a picture of Duffy for the blog but I did get some photos of her awesome jewelry. Mom's friends loved it and she had an incredible show.  Duffy, how did you escape my camera?

My great friend, Brooke, came over to visit.  Our kids get along so well and love to run around together.  We've been friends since 6 grade so it's pretty cool to see our kids playing together.

Saying goodbye to Mimi and Papaw.  We will see you at Christmas.

Race Day

Last Saturday, Kirsten and I along with 22,998 other people ran in the Rock and Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon.  I have never been in the midst of that many people.  It was insane!  We woke up bright and early at 5:15 and headed into the city.  As most of you know, I am not a morning person.  I think waking up that early hurt more than running the 13.1 miles.  Plus, it was freezing.

The series of Rock and Roll races is awesome.  There were bands playing every mile or so along the race route.  Having the music really kept things interesting.  I was also running with one of my best friends, Kirsten.  It would not have been the same without her.  We chatted about what people were wearing (tutus, costumes, etc) and sights we saw along the way.  We looped around the beautiful city of Savannah, the outskirts and the historic downtown.  There were people on the sidelines cheering for the majority of the run.  Bands, cheerleaders, the sights and supporters made the run exciting.  Kirsten and I are now on the lookout for another 1/2 marathon in the spring. 

Before the race.  We were freezing and hardly awake.

The race began.  Look at the crowd!  It was pretty hard to run surrounded by that many people.

So, I stole this photo off the Internet.  You can see Kirsten and I on the left.  We are both waving at the camera. She is in light blue shorts and I'm in maroon shorts.

Crossing the finish line.

  Kirsten's husband, Andrew, ran the race too.  He was much faster than us but was there at the finish  to take some pics of us.

Kirsten posted this one on facebook.  My favorite comment was "what did they put in those dixie cups?'  We do look pretty happy, huh?  Not only did they have music all along the course, they had a main stage set up with music blasting.  What a great event.

Georgia on My Mind

Last weekend we made the trek to Savannah, Georgia for the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon.  My friend, Kirsten and her husband, Andrew and I were running in the race.  We made a family vacation out of the event with our great friends and neighbors, the Wardwells.  We hit the road Thursday night and stayed with my friend, Lisa, in Columbia.  It was exactly halfway and a great spot to break up the trip.  As always, Lisa and Chris were great hosts and we had a blast catching up with them. 

Friday morning we jumped back into the car and made our way to the beautiful city of Savannah.  I love the low country cities of Savannah, Charleston and the like.  What wonderful history and a great southern feel.  This weekend the city was invaded by runners.  There were 23,000 people running in the marathon and 1/2 marathon.  Everywhere you turned you could hear people buzzing about the race. (Stay tuned for a post from the race)

We rented a condo out on Tybee Island about 20 minutes outside of the city.  The Wardwells met us out there and the Scala-Wardwell Vacation 2011 ensued.  We had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual tradition.  Thanks for hanging with us, Wardwells.

The Scala boys on a huge ship built in the 1700's.  It still sails and is about to cast off to Hawaii.

As most of you know, Josh is obsessed with boats.  He loved walking around the ship.

Strolling on Tybee Island beach.

It was in the 60's so we couldn't enjoy the water but the sand was perfect.  The boys couldn't get enough of the wide open spaces.

Josh and mini Josh

Check out the awesome crab shack we found.  Eric and Josh did a reconnaissance mission and found this gem.

There were even live alligators swimming around for our enjoyment.

The crab shack was too much fun for Myles.  He was down for the count.

The Scala and Wardwell families

Grady and Myles were so happy to have Emmitt to play with.  They all get along great.  He has just as much energy as they do and that is saying something!

Fun on the beach.

Run boys run

We saw a lot of dolphins cruising around

On the way home we stopped in Columbia again.  This time we stopped at the Riverbanks Zoo.  Don't those boys look like trouble?