15th Briana Day Anniversary

15 years ago, Doug and I met our beautiful daughter for the first time in Chongqing, China. It was a day of excitement, relief, chaos and fear. Her entrance into our lives completely changed us for the better and we are blessed and honored that we have been able to raise this amazing young lady and watch her grown and blossom.

 A day of powerful memories...

Finally some quiet back in the hotel room...

 

She certainly changed our lives for the better...

Here is our China travel video for anyone who would like to watch or re-watch our journey to China...

 

Here's to 15 amazing years.

Briana's Camp/Workshop at SCAD

 We left our house early on Sunday morning - the check-in at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) started at noon. 

 

 The drive to Savannah was a breeze - traffic was terrific and we got there right at noon (thank goodness).

We were directed into a parking garage and we were greeted by volunteers in green t-shirts (current SCAD students) with bubbles and applause...

 

Everyone was so incredibly friendly and told us exactly where we needed to go throughout the campus. It really was a greatly organized experience.

 The lobby of Bri's dorm room...

 Welcome to art school! LOL!

We were given Bri's room number and we headed upstairs. The rooms had a joint living/kitchen area and bathroom area and there were two bedrooms. Bri had one roommate in her room and there were two other girls in the other bedroom. 

A personalized note was left for Bri by one of the resident assistants welcoming her (we were the first to arrive in the dorm room)...

Some sites of the campus/dorm...

We got B's side of the room all set up...

 Her roommate Emily then arrived and Bri was ready for us to head out.

We didn't see Briana again until we went to the open house on Friday.

 She did text us daily letting us know what she was up to and that she was eating healthy (usually included pictures)...

She sent us a picture of a sunset from her dorm room one evening...

 

 This is what I wrote on FB about Bri's experience...

"Briana had an amazing experience at her SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) camp/workshop last week. She took two classes - figure design and character drawing. She learned so much. This SCAD program is a well-oiled machine! From applause and bubbles from the volunteer staff when we pulled into the parking garage to all of the activities they provided these kids in the evenings. It was great. They had a movie night, pool night, riverboat night and a silent disco night. And everything was very well chaperoned which put my mind at ease. Briana got along amazingly well with her roommate Emily and that was a blessing. Doug and I attended an open house on Friday and spent the day with Briana seeing what she had been up to all week. I cannot tell you how proud of Bri I am. She is definitely an introvert, but she went to this camp anyway without knowing one person. She put herself out there and had a really good time. It was amazing seeing her in this atmosphere and in her element. I'm not positive if SCAD is for sure where she will land for college, but it is definitely in the running. She liked it so much, she may even attend again next year."

 Pictures of her experience...

I will write more about Doug's and my visit to SCAD to attend Bri's open house in a separate post.

This was such an amazing experience for her. Doug had been mentioning this program to her for a couple of years now, and I wasn't sure she would actually be interested in attending. I'm so glad she did. Now she has had a very, very, very small taste of what college life will be like - and that is a good thing. She has so much potential and I know she is going to do AMAZING things in her future!

Our Summer Trip To Savannah

 We made yet another trip to Savannah, Georgia in the summertime (we had taken Bri twice to Savannah before in 2012 and in 2015, both times to enjoy the week of July 4th), but this visit was quite different.

Doug and I didn't spend the week with Briana, and this time, we were all in Savannah the week before July 4th. Bri attended a week long camp/workshop at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Since Doug and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in May, we decided to spend the week - just the two of us - celebrating our belated anniversary in Savannah while Bri was attending camp. We were right down the street from the SCAD campus on River Street, so in case she needed us for any reason, we would be close by (she never did of course).

 It was pretty appropriate for me and Doug to be in Savannah on our 25th anniversary because we had spent our very 1st wedding anniversary in Savannah as well. Gosh, how young we look...

As crazy hot at the temperatures had been in GA in mid-June, temps were SO much better that week. Still warm but not oppressive. It was breezy on the river, which was so nice. And because we were visiting the week before July 4th, it was much less crowded than during July 4th week. We got a pop up rain shower here and there, but otherwise, it was a great weather week.

Briana had a terrific time at her camp, and Doug and I really enjoyed our time in Savannah.

We spent a lot of time on River Street, but we spent more time exploring the historic district than we had in years past...

Doug and I had (still have) some personal things going on in our lives (both sad and stressful), so this bittersweet trip was a much welcomed distraction for both of us. Despite what life "stuff" we had going on, we really did have a very nice time in Savannah. It was a wonderful trip. And Briana had a great experience which made it even better.

So my next number of posts will be all about our Savannah adventure. Hope you enjoy!

Summertime (All About June)

It is definitely summertime here in Georgia - the hot temperatures and thick humidity let us all know that. Heh.

As you know, Briana's summer break is always quite short because the school system is set up to have multiple breaks throughout the school year. She has just nine weeks of summer vacation. As of today, she has a little over 3 weeks of summer vacation left before she starts back on August 1st. Yes - it totally sucks going back so soon and when it is so hot outside. But, it is nice when we get that week long break in September.

 I reminded Bri that she only has two more early August start dates (junior year and senior year) because when she starts college in the fall of 2024, she won't be starting the school year quite as early. Just two more times!

 The first week of Briana's summer break was completely taken up by virtual driving school (there was a teacher teaching and Bri logged into an actual classroom). The course was long. It was pretty boring (the teacher really tried to make it less boring). There were a lot of videos to watch. But, Bri did learn important stuff and she was very happy she was able to learn it from home rather than sitting in a classroom all day for an entire week.

As soon as she learned all the "book" stuff, she was able to sign up for actual driving lessons with an instructor. She has taken three driving school lessons already (and she is still learning/driving with me and Doug too) and they have gone really well. I snapped a photo out the window when she headed out on her first lesson (I didn't want to embarrass her!)...

She will most likely get her license sometime in August - we are not in a super rush to get it the millisecond she turns 16. We want to make sure she is really ready.

When she was done with her driving course, she asked if she could go shopping. So, Bri and I had a mom/daughter shopping day at the mall...

I was looking in Bri's closet one day and realized she owns a ridiculous amount a LOT of graphic tees...

This is just a fraction of what she owns.

Right when school ended, Bri made a decision to cut her hair. She was really wanting a new shorter summer do, so she had it cut just below her shoulders...

It is so cute and she loves it. It is so much easier to deal with when it is shorter.

The temperatures in mid-June in Georgia were unusually, crazy hot...

One day, Bri and I went to our neighborhood pool to beat the heat...

 My hydrangea bush and my gardenia bush both bloomed in June - that made me so happy...

Bri had some fun friend time in June (watching movies in our home theater, going to the mall)...

Bri and Doug have done some baking together this summer. They worked really hard on a sourdough starter. Their first sourdough bread loaves were baked on Memorial Day weekend and they were really good...

Then they made another loaf a couple weeks later - and it was even BETTER. It was amazing in fact...

And then on July 4th, they made cheesy sourdough popovers...

So delish!!!

June for our family is packed with so many different birthdays (including mine) and Father's Day too. It is hard to keep up with them all.

This year, my birthday landed on Father's Day. Doug and I had to split our special days - heh. We've had to do it before and we manage to make it special.

The day before my birthday, I spent the morning/afternoon with my parents. My parents gave me presents and a little cake...

We also exchanged Father's Day gifts with my dad that day as well.

On actual Father's Day, Doug and I decided to celebrate Father's Day in the morning and my birthday in the afternoon/evening. I made Doug French toast in the morning, and Bri and I gave him his gifts...

 

 Then Doug decorated the kitchen in a sunflower theme and gave me a cake and presents. I chose "Cooks and Soldiers" as my restaurant choice for the evening. I love it there, but I know Doug loves it too - so it was our joint Father's Day/birthday dinner...

 

And here is all the food (tapas) we ordered (and it was all AMAZING)...

Sliced ribeye, potatoes in a delicious cream sauce, bikini sandwiches, shrimp, sausages wrapped in croissants, shishito peppers and ice cream desserts - it was so delicious.

A few days before my birthday, my friends Amy and Valerie joined me for a joint birthday celebration hibachi dinner. All our birthdays are in May and June and life gets so busy and hectic - we decided to just do a one-time get together! Always a great time...

Right at the start of June, Amy and I had dinner together at a local restaurant where I ate scallops with cauliflower puree and a side of fries with herbed mayo. So good...

Since I am on a bloggy food roll, Bri had really been wanting to try MrBeast Burger. If you don't know who MrBeast is, then ask your kids. He's a YouTuber that Bri follows. He has restaurants all over the country and you can only order takeout from them. So one day, Doug suggested we order it...

Bri and I split a burger, a Nashville hot chicken sandwich and some loaded fries. The sandwiches were pretty good (could have been hotter but the delivery took a while). The fries looked super messy, and I wasn't sure about them, but dang those were really good. Who knew pickles on French fries would be good? I know now.

And while I am still on the subject of food, I just have to show off the crockpot ribs I made for Memorial Day (a throwback to May)...

It was my first time attempting ribs in a crockpot and boy did they turn out good!

On a different note, Mei is doing well. She loves summer because we are all around so much. She is still a bit hairless on her legs and belly and she is still obsessed with her "babies" (Angry bird stuffies)...

We did have to leave her for a week though (my parents checked in on her) - which always makes me sad.

The last week in June was pretty exciting for our family. Bri attended a SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) camp/workshop in Savannah for the entire week. Doug and I decided while she was there that we would celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (belated) in Savannah. We stayed in a hotel on on River Street - just the two of us...

 

 

Bri loved attending the camp, and Doug and I enjoyed our week away together. We got back home right before the 4th of July. I will blog all about our adventures in Savannah soon.

Thanks for reading about our June (trip details coming soon). I can't believe we are halfway through 2022. Time certainly does fly!