Gracious Hospitality at Ivy Hill

Yesterday we left from Laurel with Dianne's mother, Sylvia, and drove to Vernon, Alabama, for a visit to Jeanne and Don's Ivy Hill home. This home is a work in progress, and, oh, the progress they have made since buying the house last year. Through their creativity and talent and hard work and sweat, they are transforming this neglected property into a beautiful home. It's a place to which all are welcome.

The table was set for a post-Christmas dinner, and what a spread it was. So many delicious dishes, one plate just wasn't enough. After the meal, we introduced the Thornton grandchildren to letterboxing. We seem to be spreading this "disease" wherever we go. Lizzy, the youngest grandchild at six months of age, declined the outing, indicating she'd rather have a nap. The grounds of Ivy Hill provided many great planting spots. This fun day ended with a few posed shots, though it was almost dusk by the time we thought to do so. In the grandchildren photo, Alex just wasn't feeling photo shoot. Getting the entire Thornton clan into one photo was quite a stretch, but all 18 squeezed in. After returning Sylvia to Laurel, we visited some fascinating places on the way home. The Alabama Veterans Memorial in Birmingham...... and Birmingham's one-fifth scale replica of the Statue of Liberty. Coincidentally we found letterboxes in each of these locations. Before we returned home, the van's odometer rolled over to 100,000 miles, accomplished in just a little over three years. Hmmm... maybe we need to be traveling a bit more.

Miss Butterfly Lady Has Arrived

Heather and Emma are visiting Marion for two weeks. Emma has her own stamp now, so a letterboxing adventure in Woodstock is a must. But first a little game of Guess Who, one of Emma's and Dianne's favorites. Of course, Emma won...again! Emma really liked the idea of wearing the gloves Mimi (Marion) brought to keep her hands clean while searching for letterboxes in the forest debris. Once the box was found it took a while for Daisy Lady (Marion), Miss Butterfly Lady (Emma), Ladybug Mama (Heather) and Catface (Ken & Di) to stamp in. By the time Miss Butterfly Lady and Uncle Ken found the last letterbox of the day behind the Dairy Queen, the sun had set on a perfect day.

Mystery of One Kind and Another

When Alison and Kyle came for a visit, mystery followed. In spite of the 20 degree weather, we set out to search for letterboxes at Stone Mountain Park Home to the annual gathering of the southeastern letterboxing association, the park is teeming with letterboxes. By the end of the day, we had found around 30. In addition to more letterboxing around Peachtree City, our fun-loving cousins' visit also inspired a murder mystery party, where everyone took on a role, most of us suspects in the murder of Ron McDonald, who flipped burgers at the diner our characters worked at or frequented.Who knew there were so many suspects around? From our friends Jamey and Dan......to our godsons, Maxwell and Elliot. In the end we discovered that Lois Fastlane was the culprit. Never trust a dentist..., er, a reporter!

We're High on Cheaha

Looking ahead to the next Wood family reunion in 2010, we traveled to Cheaha State Park near Anniston with Jonathan. Alison and Kyle met us there and we checked out the Bald Rock Group Lodge. The meeting room was very spacious and seems perfect for some Wood eating and entertaining. After checking out the lodge, we squeezed in a little letterboxing. This was Jonathan's first boxing experience and he definitely got into the spirit. Although we were unable to locate the box that is supposed to be in this rock formation... ...we did find the box hidden near Bunker Tower at the top of the mountain, the highest point in Alabama.

Breakaway Bar Mitzvah

Heading out to Raleigh, NC, for the bar mitzvah of one of Ken's young cousins, we were eager to see relatives we haven't seen for too long. We left home Friday morning in plenty of time to make it to the 6 p.m. dinner in Raleigh.

Unfortunately, our van was not as keen on going to Raleigh as we were. Just outside Greenville, SC, it refused to start after we filled up with gas at $1.38/gallon. After the first tow truck broke down with our van on it, a second truck arrived to transport the van and us to Breakaway Honda, the local dealer. We waited... and waited... for the diagnosis of the problem. It turned out that replacing the battery solved everything, but the technician was thorough and tested other electrical issues to be sure. Finally, five hours after we arrived in Greenville, we were on our way again, arriving in Raleigh four hours too late to make it to the dinner. We did make it to the bar mitzvah on Saturday morning and were very impressed, both with Eli's erudition and with the esteem that the congregation so obviously holds for the entire Mills family. Taking photos in the synagogue was not allowed on the sabbath, but we had a wonderful time at the luncheon after the bar mitzvah visiting with Baumgarten relatives. Too soon, it was time to leave.

What better way to spend the first week of December than a trip to popular Asheville, North Carolina? This was actually a multi-generational girl trip to celebrate Dianne's sister Jeanne's sixtieth birthday. Ken went exploring on his own while the girls did their sightseeing. The primary object of the trip, of course, was to see America's largest private home, Biltmore House.

Groundless design

A perfect climbing tree