Every year in May, we all like to talk about how crazy May is with the end of school and all of the accompanying events. I’ve even heard it referred to as May-hem…and I don’t disagree! This year, May was radically different, just like the rest of Spring 2020. By the time May hit, we were all settling into the fact that we only had two more weeks of online school left and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel! I returned to the office full-time by early May and Emma decided to come to school with me as well. She worked in an empty office across the hall and said it was easier to focus on school work by being in the building. I loved having her around! We had lots of meetings about what school is going to look like this fall and did a lot of brainstorming. More than anything, it was just so nice to be around people!
Looking back over our family pictures from May, you can definitely tell we were DONE being stuck at home! We actually travelled three of the five weekends in May! The first weekend we spent in the mountains with some precious friends from church. Marty and Dawn are part of our life group and they have really just been a huge blessing to our family. We love spending time with them! They invited us to join them for a quick trip up to their cabin in Blue Ridge and it was such a wonderful time! I didn’t realize how much we needed to get away until our tires hit the gravel outside their cabin and we saw the beautiful mountain views. We had a great time! We had so much fun that we came home and then went over to their house for dinner just to continue the great conversations. What a gift to grow new friendships in this season! Our family arrived at home just in time to participate in a fun “drive by” surprise 16th birthday party for one of our sweet friends. We loved standing around in the driveway catching up with her dear family as well!
That next week was a busy one with school things. Since none of the end of the year activities were going on as scheduled, we did them all virtually. It turns out that doing them in person is WAY easier! Good perspective for future years if we return to “normal”. Clint and the kids went out of their way to make a very special Mother’s Day. I woke up to the sounds of lots of giggling from the kitchen. A few minutes later, they came in and “surprised” me with breakfast in bed. What a treat! It was so precious to see how hard they worked to bless me in that way. We had a great time eating and then watching church together. We also went to Poblano’s for the first time in months! We loved sitting on the patio, eating cheese dip, and just being around other people.
The next week and weekend we were around town, hanging out with friends, still getting in lots of walks (the theme of this pandemic) and bike rides. We’ve been so blessed with incredible weather this spring! May 15th was our last day of school. We did a dropoff/pickup carline thing with our high schoolers and it was such a treat to see everyone! Both in the morning and in the afternoon we had a huge crowd of Upper School faculty, staff, students, and families. My heart was full that night! Our faculty gathered on Monday, May 18th for a lunch (catered by Moe’s of course) to officially tie a bow on the craziest school year ever! I can’t imagine another crew I’d have wanted to walk through that with.
The weekend of Memorial Day, which would have originally been the end of the school year, we decided to hit the beach. We left Thursday afternoon and drove to Seagrove Beach/30A. We got there in time to ride bikes and see the beach and then roll over to the Seagrove Village Market for dinner. Their fried grouper sandwich is worth the 5.5 hour drive! Just the view of the waves put my heart at ease. Of course, my kids were thrilled with the pool. That is always their favorite! Clint and I are so grateful for these moments when we can have Emma and Eli all to ourselves!
We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday alternating between the beach and pool. We rode bikes, we ate donuts, Clint brought home fresh steamed shrimp, we met dear friends for dinner at Shunk Gulley, shopped and ate in Seaside, had ice cream at Blue Mountain Creamery, and just generally rested and enjoyed ourselves for a long weekend. We woke up the morning of Memorial Day in time to eat breakfast at The Donut Hole on our way out of town. We made it home by around 1pm and still had the day to rest and get ready for the week ahead.
We had so much fun traveling to the beach, that we decided to use the next weekend to travel to Memphis! Several years ago, my boss decided that we’d take Fridays off in the summer. He’s made a lot of great decisions over the years, but this was one of his finest moments for sure! This year he started the summer Fridays early and I’m so grateful! We left for Memphis on Thursday afternoon and drove into my sister’s driveway around 8:30pm. The main goal of the weekend was to help my mom finish up with some packing and hosting an estate sale. The favorite part of the weekend was lots of special time with my mom and sister’s family. My kids and my sister’s kids just go nuts when they see each other. What a gift! My sister and her husband have a beautiful pool and backyard and all 5 kids pretty much ran crazy for the whole weekend. Tons of giggles, lots of snacks, smiles, laughter, girl’s sleepover, boy’s sleepover, and even more giggles and lots of eating. It was pretty much a perfect family weekend and a great way to officially wrap up the month of May!
