Tag Archive for: Family

My brother, Brandon, with my son, Brian

It’s Been A Year

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It was a year ago today that my younger brother died. I’ve spent the last 365 days wondering how this happened, and I still don’t have an answer. Everyone grieves in their own way. I grieve quietly, I suppose.

My son idolized Uncle Brandon. He would ask about him all the time. He always wanted to send him a video message through Facebook. And he loved getting a response back. He would just light up at the sound of Brandon’s voice calling him “Buddy,” or seeing Brandon’s face.

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Meat counter at my local butcher shop

Weekend Cooking Adventure

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Earlier this month, Jen’s best friend, Meagan, and her husband, Graham, along with their two daughters, came to stay with us for a weekend visit.  They brought their sous vide immersion cooker on their last visit (back in July) and converted me from someone who enjoyed ridiculing people who “sous vide” their food into a true believer.  I got one for Christmas and have had a blast exploring new foods (and continually making a few family favorites) since.

During planning discussions for this trip, Megan and I talked about how great it would be to just have a weekend of amazing menus with two cookers going simultaneously.  The concept continued to evolve and a weekend cooking adventure was born. Read more

Brian talking to his new sister

Then There Were Four

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Our family is growing! We welcomed our daughter into the world this week.  She was born on March 5 and weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz.  We’re so glad that she is happy and healthy.

Things are about to get downright crazy around here!

Our son is ecstatic and very excited to be a big brother.  I expect that to last at least 15 or 20 minutes, until he figures out that he’s not the center of attention all the time.

Visiting Santa Claus at the 2017 town tree lighting

Santa Claus

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This week was the scheduled lighting of the Christmas tree at the large shopping area near our home, Holly Springs Towne Center.  They had a light-up Christmas tree, bounce houses, face painting and Cinder, the fire prevention dog.  There were vendors on hand to talk about their businesses and the Mayor was scheduled to light the Christmas tree.  Unfortunately, the Mayor had a family emergency and didn’t make it, so the Fire Prevention Officer and Santa Claus lit the tree instead.

We went up there for a bit to check it out and let Brian meet Santa.  They had a snow machine, which was pretty neat too.  Brian got to practice catching snowflakes and he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  He later advised us that he wanted to huge Christmas tree Santa had just lit, which he won’t be getting.

Halloween (2017)

Halloween in Holly Springs

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Last night was our first Halloween here in Holly Springs.  My wife loves holidays, and this one ranks near the top.  She loves to decorate and she lives for handing out candy to all the little kids in cute costumes.

When we moved into our new house in Jacksonville back in 2008, she bought the best candy, dragged a couple camping chairs out to the end of the driveway to await the kiddos.  We had six people stop by for candy.  Six.  Seriously.

Aside from the fact that we were a dead end road in our neighborhood (albeit one with a full block or more of houses past ours), there was a local church that did a Trunk-and-Treat event near us on the same night, and we’re pretty certain a lot of the kids end up going to that.  Regardless, it was a huge let down and she was devastated.

The following years were similar, I think we probably had 20-25 kids last year.

HOLLY SPRINGS IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!

We probably saw between 250 and 300 kids last night.  Little ones that were just learning to walk and older ones that are probably in high school.  They just kept coming!  Even after we ran out of candy (oops!) and turned the lights off, we occasionally got hopeful visitors testing the doorbell.  It was a steady flow from 6pm to 8:30 or 8:45.

Brian had a blast — he dressed up as a skeleton — and got tons of candy that he really doesn’t need.  We hung out with the grown-ups in adjoining houses and, as always, had a great time with them.

We’re already excited about next year!

Holly Fest (2017)

Hollyfest

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Hollyfest is an annual community celebration each Fall in Holly Springs.  It features vendors (small businesses, charities, private schools, etc.) and plenty of activities for families, such as bounce houses, games, live music, etc.

My aunt and uncle were in town to visit so the five of us went to check it out.

We had been to something similar during the Fifth of July event a few months back and our son really had a blast.  He rode a few rides and went through a couple bounce houses (including a two-story slide that seemed like a good idea beforehand but scared him when he actually started down it) and we all enjoyed walking around and exploring.

As usual, the Holly Springs Fire Department was there with Cinder, the fire dog.  Brian had a chance to sit in a HSFD utility vehicle and “drive” it.

The Rotary Club was selling brisket sandwiches as a fundraiser and we kept getting a whiff of it as we walked around.  They were really good.  It was nice to sit down and enjoy the music in the shade, and spending time with my aunt and uncle is always great.  We don’t see them very often, and now that we’ve moved out of Florida, it will undoubtedly be less frequent.

They had haunted hay rides later in the evening, but we already had plans to cook out on the grill for our guests, so maybe we’ll take that in next year.

Fire Station 1 in Holly Springs

Fire Station Open House

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The Holly Springs Fire Department holds an annual Fire Station Open House each October.  They invite residents to tour the firehouse and learn about the fire department.

There’s a bunch of activities for kids as well, ranging from using a fire hose, sitting in the fire trucks, putting out a small fire with an extinguisher and, of course, meeting Cinder, the fire dog.

We spent an hour or so up there and had a really nice time — Brian especially had a blast sitting in the fire trucks.

He also learned what it was like to use the fire hose to put out a fire.  I wish I had video of how abruptly he turned on the hose.  It was pretty spectacular.

The community outreach of our local fire department seems more pronounced than in Jacksonville, though in all fairness, this is a small town and their presence is much more detectable.  I’ve had a number of interactions with members of the Holly Springs Fire Department and they’ve all been super positive.  They’re very engaging with our son and I can’t count how many times they’ve encouraged me to just drop by the station for a visit with him.  Oddly, given my background in law enforcement, I’ve had virtually no contact with our local police department, though I think they have similar community interactions.

North Carolina State Fair (2017)

North Carolina State Fair

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The North Carolina State Fair was first held in 1853 and has been at its present site since 1928.  It draws a pretty significant crowd each year — last year reaching its second highest ever attendance with 1,028,364 visitors.  The record was in 2010 when it saw 1,091,887 people attend.  It’s held at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, about 20 minutes from our home.

Judging by the map, we only saw about 25% of what’s there.  We went after our son woke from his nap, which means we didn’t get there until 3:30 or so, entering the park around 4:00.  We left when he started getting punchy a little after 8:00, giving us four hours to explore and check out what’s there.  We watched a BMX/Motocross stunt show by King BMX (you may have seen them on the X Games, Dew Tour & America’s Got Talent).  We got some fair food (tator tots with ranch and bacon, gyro) and my son rode several of the rides in Kiddie Land.

In general, we didn’t see any of the exhibits or contents, or take in any of the adult rides.  There was a ton there that we didn’t get to see, so if you have a little person in tow, you may want to play to do this in two trips, or maybe even get a babysitter for one of them.

Overall, we had a blast.  The people-watching can’t be overstated.  There were definitely some characters there.  I never went to the fair in Jacksonville, but I assume it was very similar, albeit smaller in size.

More information about the fair can be found on their web site: http://www.ncstatefair.org/2017/index.htm