Fall Fun in the Bailey House - 2024 Edition - Part 2

 The hits just keep on coming!

It's not a great photo but we were able to see the comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) fly by. That was pretty cool!  We walked over to the area behind the elementary school across the street from our neighborhood, but the kids were too impatient, went home and missed it.

And of course, the leaves began to change. I took this one on my way back to my car from the office in Cambridge.

Grant kept on running. 

And then... just before Grant's 15th birthday, I got deployed to Augusta, Georgia to help with the Hurricane Helene relief efforts. I was there for a month, minus a couple of days I had to come home for a long-standing mammogram appointment. They put us up in corporate housing (all within the per diem rates, don't worry) and our apartments were behind left field at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina. This was our view! Too bad it was November and baseball season was over!

The building we worked in was right on the dry side of the levee on the Savannah River. There was an INCREDIBLE amount of tree damage in Augusta. 

I missed my baby boy's 15th birthday when I was deployed.  He finally got some Dominoes pizza. He's been begging for it, but they don't deliver in our area. So Todd finally got him some for his birthday!

He opened cards and presents, and had cake with Natalie and Todd. 

And I was just there on FaceTime. Poor buddy. He said he didn't care, but I did.

On Saturdays in Augusta, there was a farmer's market one block from our office that we would go down to and grab lunch/snacks from.  That brick building is the Augusta Cotton Exchange building, built in 1886.

This farmer's market might have been the best one I have ever been to.

It was probably the best because it was in the south and I was able to get boiled peanuts (sorry, Grant!) and the world's BEST banana pudding!  I introduced my co-worker Joey to this, and he was obsessed. He's also from Massachusetts and had never had it before!  We spoke to the lady who made the banana pudding and she said her secret ingredient was Chessmen cookies!

While I was in Augusta, Todd and his Wilmington crew went to Day Drinking for the Children. They were really taking it for the team to go day drinking in Boston!  Way to support the kids, guys!

While I was at work, and Todd was out day drinking, Grant was at the Frank Mooney Invitational in Wrentham, which was at the same place as the first invitational of the season. He had a PR (by more than 30 seconds!) in this 3,000 meter race, and he was pretty sure it was because he let the girls team give him these cute braids. That hair is aerodynamic!

I honestly could not believe how beautiful the sunsets were in Augusta. 

On some days, they rivaled the ones we used to have in Auerbach!

It was just so beautiful! I could only see them on Sundays though, because I worked past sunset every other day of the week. 12 hour days, 6 days a week (and 5 more hours on Sunday!) are NO JOKE.

But then I got to go home for a couple of days. This was the only picture we took, and it was blurry! 

Going back to Augusta was hard because it was a really difficult and long three weeks. You hear a lot of horrible stories from people whose lives were turned upside down by Hurricane Helene. We heard stories of children living in cars, people with cancer who had water leaking into their trailers, families living in cramped hotel quarters, people who lost everything... it was a very emotional month.  We tried to get out on Saturday evenings to decompress - and on this evening, we happened to see an awesome Dave Matthews cover band playing down at the amphitheater behind the stadium.

We went to Southbound Smokehouse for Joey's 30th birthday.  Our regional GIS analyst Henry joined us!

We had a great little birthday dinner for Joey (who has his eyes closed in this photo, ha!). Taelise, me, Ingrid, Vanesa, Tiffany and Joey joined Henry and Jonathon (not in the picture) for dinner. Region 1 was well represented in Augusta!

Someone found this picture of Todd, his siblings and their spouses and put a picture of Brad Pitt over Kathleen's ex husband. But I told Todd I thought I should be in the picture instead. He told me it was the early 90s, so I found this picture of me from a 1991 family photo at Olan Mills and poof! I was a part of the family again! I still don't know who our kids look like!

Back down in Georgia, Vanesa, Ana and I went for a walk in a nearby neighborhood and found these GINORMOUS trees all cut up on the side of the road. Vanesa for scale!

I think I took a picture of the Savannah River every time we had a meeting in this particular conference room.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Tally boys and Grant worked the pasta dinner at church - all of the kids getting confirmed this year had to work it (like Natalie did a few years ago!)

On Sunday, after a morning shift at the office, we all went to Mellow Mushroom for some lunch! Me, Joey, Henry, Pablo, Jonathon (being Jonathon!) and Taelise had a great meal as a part of our team building exercise.

Lunch at Mellow Mushroom was followed by some axe throwing - which was surprisingly fun!  Pablo celebrated with me when I got a bullseye!

This was literally the funniest story - we played in two teams of three, Team Stay in Your Lane vs. Team Logistics (inside joke!). We played a game of 21, but our rule was to reset if you got more than 21 points. In the end, our fearless leaders, Jonathon and Henry both hit 21 on the exact same throw! They had an axe off - mano a mano. They had to throw ONCE - whoever got closest to the top diamond won and Henry won it for our team! Go Team Logistics!

Ahhh, yet another LOVELY sunset in Augusta!

I missed my bud's freshman year cross country banquet. So that was sad. But I'm so incredibly proud of him for running this year. I hope he runs all four years because I just really love going to his meets!

The last Saturday night we were there, I went out to the Pineapple Ink Tavern with Taelise and Joey.  Joey was our resident foodie and checked out practically every restaurant in Augusta. He said this one was his favorite, and he visited multiple times. He suggested the Ropa Vieja, which I'm pretty sure is one of the BEST meals I have ever had in my life. 100% hit up the Pineapple Ink Tavern if you're ever in Augusta!

After dinner, we met up with other coworkers for karaoke night over at the Southbound Smokehouse - Vanesa, me, Marissa, and Ana behind us were all from R1 - and we were joined by Pablo, Cindy and Rafael.

Here, we have Vanesa, Taelise, Pablo, Jonathon and Andre being treated to literally the greatest, drunkest couple singing Abba's Dancing Queen (among other songs). Ahhh to be young again!

After karaoke ended, I went back to my apartment, where I noticed they had started to decorate the field for Christmas!  Christmas!? That's coming up???

Tiffany left to go back home a few days before me, and we went out to lunch after work on Sunday for her final meal with some of the team. Rafael left early (he was in the bottom left chair), but Jonathon, Andre, Tiffany, Joey, Ana, Taelise, me and Pablo enjoyed a really great lunch at The Boll Weevil.

Alas, the month I spent on the Georgia/South Carolina border was over - and I was very ready to get back home to my family. I missed Grant's 15th birthday, and Todd's and my 19th wedding anniversary - but it really was an incredible experience and I would love to do it again in the future (maybe after my kids are gone though!) Goodbye Clubhouse apartments!

Forget birthdays or anniversaries or helping those in need... Samantha Brown, one of my all time favorite travel hosts responded to my comment on one of her IG posts! I'm such a fangirl!

And NO JOKE on the same day, Mike Mills from REM liked one of my comments to his tweet! What a time to be alive!

Finally, FINALLY I made it home. I was on the couch, right in my spot where I belong with my honey, the night before Thanksgiving.  Now THAT is something to be thankful for.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal after we watched the morning Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It's one my most favorite, laziest days of the year. I throw the turkey and some gravy into the crockpot. Todd whips up some mashed potatoes. I made some noodles, Stove Top, mom's broccoli casserole dish, and blueberry pineapple Jello, a midwestern staple. Boom. The simplest, most calorically dense meal of the year!

Natalie wasn't feeling well, so it was good that we all were able to just celebrate quietly at home. After a crazy year, we all really DO have a lot to be thankful for. Our health and being together as a family - is there anything more important than that?

And we're on to the holiday season!

Fall Fun in the Bailey House - 2024 Edition - Part 1

 Fall was... not super fun. In fact, most of the second half of 2024 was not fun.

I mean, don't get me wrong, we did some fun things! Like for instance, my kiddos started 9th and 12th grade! This is it! The last "first day" photo on the front steps where both kids will be in the picture. I'm so sad!!!

AND my friend Sara took Natalie's senior photos! I still can't believe this is real. She is literally so beautiful.

Over Labor Day weekend, Grant went on a retreat to Vermont with the cross country team. He didn't want to go (too much time away from his beloved computer), but he actually had a good time.  Here, he was impressing everyone with his knowledge of world flags! 

Todd and I went to the Sherborn Inn (aka: The Heritage; aka: The Fireside Tavern) for Brewfest. The food was really good, and although those little mugs were small, the beer was plentiful!

At my age, having a birthday is never fun!  We ate half this cake at Todd's parents house, and then ate the rest of it on my actual birthday.

But for my birthday, I got tickets to see Shaboozey! So Todd and I went out for some dinner in Boston before the show.

I'm so excited to see Shaboozey!  A little background... I am a Maker's Mark Ambassador for Life (!!) and they send me occasional emails. Well, they sent one over the summer with a "summer Spotify playlist."  TOTALLY random. On it, was Shaboozey's song, "Let It Burn." I was immediately hooked!

The man takes his whiskey VERY seriously. And no, his drink DON'T need no mix! Minus the super drunk 20 somethings around us who were at times, very obnoxious... this was a fantastic show!

We also had a partial lunar eclipse in September - which we were able to capture a bit of when Todd put his camera up to Grant's telescope and took a picture!

Me and my girlies from work took a field trip to the Museum of Science in Boston, which I had never been to!

And then there was Moo Deng, the absolute sensation of 2024. She was memed into EVERYTHING. Including weather maps.

Todd also had his big Cape Cod golf and Brewfest weekend in September. Cooch, Kern and Mike came to our house on the way down there and we went to Ashland Ale House for some dinner.

But then they went down to the Cape for some golfing and beer - and Rybo and Rob joined them!

Grant ran his first ever cross country meet that same weekend. It was in Wrentham and it was POURING rain. Totally miserable. He was very grumpy that he had to get up early to go and run in the rain but he did agree it was a great experience.

Meanwhile, it also rained on the Cape. I think it rains EVERY year that they go to the Cape Cod Brewfest!

Total shenanigans.

I'm so glad they do this to him... it's a little taste of his own medicine! HA!

While the boys were away, the girls got to play! After Grant's cross country meet, I went to the Seaport district to meet up with Dorothy, Michelle and Karen for a fun night out! We went to 75 on Liberty Wharf and it was AMAZING! One of the best meals I've had out in a while.

After dinner, we went to The Sporting Club for some after dinner drinks.

And we had LEGIT the best espresso martinis ever. They even had a little clipped on cone with chocolate covered espresso beans in it. YUM.

And then this happened. Todd had a funny looking mole on his right forearm that he initially noticed in July. He had a standing appointment with the dermatologist in September, so he decided to ask about it. They were like, "Oh yeah, totally basal cell skin cancer."  So they removed it. And they biopsied it. And whoops, it wasn't basal cell - it was melanoma!

Grant had his first home cross country meet at Ashland State Park. He generally came in middle of the pack! I was really proud of him for running cross country this year. He didn't really want to do it (he prefers track to the longer distances). But he did and I think he really improved throughout the season!

Natalie and I saw Jungkook's I Am Still documentary in the theater. That's my bias!!!

AND... Todd had the melanoma removed. Along with about half of his forearm. I won't show you THOSE pictures! Poor guy!  Thankfully, they didn't need to do any radiation or chemo, but he does have to go back to the dermatologist every 3 months for a while. This was NOT a fun time for us.

I know. A cancer diagnosis is tough. You definitely needed another picture of Moo Deng, didn't you? She is just the cutest!

Ok, well, maybe Moo Deng isn't as cute as my boy... here he was racing at Hopkinton State Park. This one was taken by their photographer - she always captured good moments!

Sigh. Unfortunately, this was true. 

We had our annual block party here in town and like every year, the Alpaca's were a huge hit! I think it's funny that these are the only pictures I took of the entire party!

Grant also raced against Dedham (in Dedham) and he had a PR at 23:00.0 for 5,000 meters.

Go Grant, go!

Also unfortunately this fall, Florida got hit pretty bad by two hurricanes. The first was Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the big bend area, but was big enough and strong enough and close enough to push a TON of water into the Tampa Bay area. Indian Rocks Beach was pretty devastated, including the house I grew up in.  They had about a foot and a half of water in our house. Which is actually kind of crazy, considering my parents lived there for 45 years and never once had any water in the house. Some residents of IRB even had up to four feet of water in their homes.

The second storm was Hurricane Milton which made landfall near Siesta Key only two weeks later. My brother and his family went to Brie's parents house (where he took this classic photo long before landfall). I'm just glad to see he has his priorities straight with that bottle of Makers.

We didn't have any hurricanes up in New England this year (that's only because I put a force field over our area, duh). But we DID have the most AMAZING view of the northern lights! I mean, it was incredible! You can't really see any of this with the naked eye, but when you take pictures of the sky, they turn out like this!

I was monitoring social media for any kind of notification when one of my favorite local meteorologists had posted a picture from only a couple of minutes earlier. So I ran outside - and we saw this! It was so beautiful, and just kept evolving.

It didn't last very long but it was just so beautiful and surreal!

Grant really ran a lot this fall!  He even ran in the 2024 Twilight Invitational at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds. Because it wasn't too far from Grammi and Bean's house, we brought them and Aunt Betty with us! Grammi was just so excited to see Grant run!

Grant not only did well, he was actually the FIFTH MAN for his team! AND he was the only freshman in the top 5 of the novice division.

While Grant was busy running around this fall, Natalie was busy applying to college! (Sound of me passing out because I am totally not ready for this).

And she took her bestie, Kaavya to her senior homecoming!

That's all I've got for part one of the second half of 2024. Stay tuned for part 2 where it gets really crazy!