Hot Hot Hot!

We live near the high school and we can hear the football team practicing.† How do they do it?† In pads?† and helmets?† When it is 100∞!† I would be surprised if they aren’t dropping like flies.† <insert lyrics to “Drop it Like Its Hot” here>

Kei has gotten her notebooks ready for school.† She needed 13!† We are both so ready for school to ‘start’ back.† We are starting Monday the 9th.

I found this beautiful moth in our yard.† I have never seen anything like it.† After some research we found out it is a Pink Spotted Hawk Moth.† Lovely…

We went swimming at Cathy’s.† It was great to see our friends.† I hate going more than a few days without getting together!

Livvy spent the night with Kei.† They have made the decision for her to go to PS.† It makes Kei very sad but I know she will shine there.† And the girls will still hang out.† We can’t go long without seeing Livvy.† They played and swam and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning they were telling me something that happened and Nomad came up and joined them in a line.† I told them they reminded me of the scene in “The Sound of Music” where all the kids lined up.

Kei and I went to Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. It was so beautiful.† Breathtakingly beautiful.† From the minute we stepped foot on the grounds there was a feeling of peace.† I would love to go back when it wasn’t 103∞ in the shade.

We didn’t know we couldn’t wear shorts and sleeveless shirts.† They provide clothes for you to wear in the Church.† We tried to get a picture of us in the bathroom.

You couldn’t take pictures in the Church.† It was AMAZING.† BEAUTIFUL.† All the gold, and there was a lot of gold, is REAL!† Here is a picture I found online

There is also a picture of the Shroud of Turin.† Whether or not you believe it is the real deal, it was amazing to see.† I just sat and cried.

The grounds were beautiful also.† We saw the gardener and I told him that I didn’t see how he stood it in this heat.† His response, “I am just so thankful that I have a job”.† I love optimistic people!

There was this little chapel with the Manger scene.† Kei wanted to light a candle for my Mother.† I told her I didn’t think God would mind that we weren’t Catholic.† When she lit it I said, “Momma I hope you are dancing and running and singing and laughing”.† I still miss her everyday.

The gift shop was in this awesome castle.† It was huge and Kei saw a statue of Mary.† She could not believe it was $3100.

We brought a picnic lunch but there was nowhere to eat unless you were in the blazing sun.† We decided to try to find somewhere else to eat.

On the way out we saw a house consumed by kudzu!† It was so cool looking.† We hoped that a family wasn’t trapped inside!† If you aren’t from the South and don’t know about kudzu, legend is that if you leave a baby in the yard, the kudzu will grow around it.

We finally decided to go to Hurricane Creek to eat.† It was too hot to actually go hiking but they let us sit at a picnic table and eat.† Then Kei had to play on the rock climbing wall.

The guy showed us a hornet’s nest that he found.† It was HUGE.† I still shiver thinking about the hornets in that sucker!

After we got home we decided to take Nomad on a ride.† He he loves riding in the car now.† Thank goodness because his psycho barking was driving me crazy every time we took him to the vet!

We had a wonderful day.

Hope you did too!

ìSoutherners must close their windows at night to keep the kudzu outÖî

_{Quote from The Amazing Story of Kudzu}