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| "Squeak, squeak!" |
The 4th of July was pretty low-key. It was my holiday at work and I had also worked the two days prior, so Matt and I really didn't get to officially see fireworks together. There was a big display of lightning that weekend, however, which I got to see through the windows of the 4th floor of Riley...a poor man's firework show! Of course, we did see plenty of fireworks throughout the neighborhood and around town during the week prior and the week following the 4th as it has been legal to shoot off fireworks in Indiana for the past couple years.
On July 15, we left for a family vacation to Hilton Head, SC, to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa Seitz's 50th wedding anniversary! Matt's parents and brother graciously took care of Thor for us while we were on our trip (thank you again!) and their house was only five minutes off of the route to Hilton Head. We dropped Thor off, had some Skyline Chili for lunch, and drove to Asheville, NC, where we stopped for the night. It took us a bit longer to get there than we had anticipated as we hit a very large storm as we were driving through Tennessee. We had to stop several times as the rain was so heavy that we had next to zero visability. When we finally made it to Asheville that night, we were too tired to even get anything to eat and fell asleep almost instantly.
We got a late start the next morning as well. My phone was charging in an outlet far away from the bed, so I opted to use the alarm clock that the hotel provided instead of the normal alarm on my phone. I set the alarm for 8:30 am and then crashed for the night. What I didn't realize was that the clock was actually set 12 hours off! So while I set the alarm time properly, the alarm didn't go off when it was really 8:30 am because the clock thought that the time was really 8:30 PM! We woke up about 15 minutes before we were supposed to check out (10:45 am) so we didn't get breakfast or time to shower. We made it to our rented house around 5:30 pm.
Mom did a great job picking out a house for the week. It had seven bedrooms and was perfect for our large group! It also had lots of decks/patios, a swimming pool, a hot tub, and an ourdoor bar area!
That night, we went out to dinner at a WWII-themed restaurant called the Big Bamboo (a family favorite both times we had previously been to Hilton Head). It was nice to catch up with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Susan and Uncle John, my parents, and Eric. Uncle Tom, Aunt Kathy, and cousins Allison and Scott did not arrive until about 10:00 that night, as they made the trip from Baltimore, MD, all that day.
Here are the highlights of the trip:
- Sunday: Church, hunting for alligators (we couldn't find any!), and spare ribs for dinner at the house. Also relaxing at the beach and at the pool.
- Monday: While everyone else went to Savannah, GA, for various tours, Matt and I opted to explore the island a bit. We went shopping and had dinner at Steamer's Seafood. It was delicious! This may have also been the day that Uncle Tom, Aunt Kathy, Allison, Scott, Eric, Matt, and I went to see Harry Potter.
- Tuesday: Beach day! Pool day! We also had a professional photagrapher take pictures of the family on the beach as a 50th wedding present to my grandparents.
- Wednesday: A group of us went for a trail ride through a nature preserve on the island. I went on a trail ride at the same stable when I was a sophomore in high school and it has definitely grown! It was a busy place. Afterwards, our group met up with the rest of the family for dinner at a "local gem" of a restaurant where they had a lot of Packers memoribilia. Then some of us went to Harbor Town (home of the famous red-and-white-striped Hilton Head Lighthouse and some famous golf course) and bummed around. Then of course we came home and went to the beach!
- Thursday: One group went parasailing and I heard that they all had a great time! While they were off parasailing, Aunt Kathy, Allison, and I went shopping. Aunt Kathy ended up buying a miniature turtle (I think Scott named him "Koopa.") We also stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, The Sea Shack, to pick up lunch. It is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has very little seating, styrofoam plates and plastic silverware, and delicious seafood! Later that evening, a group of us went kayaking and were able to see dolphins!
- Friday: There were two group fishing expeditions on Friday. My group went deep sea fishing in the morning. We all caught something (except for Uncle Tom, but he seemed pretty content just dipping his line in the water and enjoying a beer!) and had a great time. Grandpa caught a few black sea bass and a shark! Eric and Dad both caught sharks, and Eric also caught a very strong sting ray! Matt hooked a big Spanish Mackeral and I caught the largest black sea bass of the group. That afternoon, another group went out on an off-shore fishing trip. They also caught sharks and sting rays, but much smaller ones!
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| Happy 50th anniversary! |
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| Harbor Town |
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| The group before our trail ride |
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| Just horsin' around |
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| Kayaking |
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| Matt showing off his crab-eating skills |
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| Black sea bass |
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| Aunt Kathy demonstrating the proper way to hold a crab |
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| Uncle Tom. "Here, fishy, fishy, fishy..." |
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| Dad with a death-grip on his shark |
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| Matt's Spanish Mackeral |
We left the island on Saturday morning and arrived home on Sunday evening. We made a stop in Knoxville to sleep...being on vacation made us very tired! :-) Thor was very glad to see us when we picked him up from the Drapers'. He loved playing with his doggy friends, but we could tell that he missed us!
At the beginning of August, I started taking a tap dancing class! I took dance classes until I was 11 and tap was my favorite. I had wanted to get back into it since high school but since I was so involved with tennis, horseback riding, and working, I didn't really have time to add one more thing to my schedule! I found a great little dance studio that has adult classes so I am taking classes with two others who are just getting back into dance. We are all having a great time and are looking forward to dancing to the song "Ay yi yi, it's Christmas!" by Ricky Martin at our first performance in November!
On August 13, I was supposed to go out with friends to celebrate our friend Alyssa's birthday, but I ended up not going because of bad weather. Mom and Dad went to the Sugarland concert at the State Fair that evening and I'm sure you all know what happened there. Mom and Dad enjoyed the opening act, Sara Barielles, but Dad decided that it would be a good idea to leave because dark, ominous storm clouds were rolling in and he figured that the outdoor event would end up be canceled anyway. As they were getting to their car, Mom turned around just in time to see the large metal stage collapse. There have been 7 fatalities and over 40 injuries from the stage collapse. My friend Katlin was there and cell phones for some reason were not working properly at the fairgrounds and it took my friends and I quite awhile to get ahold of her and make sure that she was okay (which she was!). Here is Dad's account of the accident, and of selfless bravery that the Hoosiers at the fair displayed. Instead of running away, many ran towards the accident to help.
http://seitzupdate.blogspot.com/2011/08/seitz-update-14-august-2011.html
On Thursday, August 18, Matt and I decided to go downtown to watch our minor league baseball team, the Indianapolis Indians, play. There was a deal going on that night where for $15 each we got a ticket to the game, a hotdog, unlimited soft drinks, and the choice of either an Indians hat or t-shirt. We had a great time, even though our team lost.
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| Go, Indians! |
That's all for now!
Stacey, Matt, and Thor
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