Author Archives: Elizabeth & Gary's Magic Bus Tour

Back On The Road Again

It was so very hard NOT to drive the Bus to the Byrne house as we drove out of town.  We so enjoyed the babies (and Bethany, David and Westley) and the time we spent with them.  But, all good things must come to an end – and so we took one last look at Charleston and the Chapel of Ease (just down the street from our little home away from home) – and were on our way.


Chapel of Ease 
Next stop – Asheville, NC.  This originally was not even on our agenda, but because of many recommendations from friends, we decided to add it and are very happy we did.  The area is beautiful – so our overnight stay extended to three days!  We golfed and lunched at Grove Park Inn, ‘almost’ golfed at Mt. Mitchell (we were rained out after 3 holes!), drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway to Little Switzerland, and visited and dined at the Vanderbilt home – Biltmore!  
Such a beautiful stop – we will let Gary’s pictures tell the story and talk to you again after the Great Smokey National Park.  

At the 17th at Grove Park

Teeing off on 18 in front of the Grove Park Inn


Rained out at Mt Mitchell Golf Course

George W. Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate
Wine Tasting at the Biltmore Estate Winery
More later –  E&G

Happy Days – Sad Day

The last four days have been awesome!!

There have been feedings, play times, naps on the couch, diaper changes, loads of laundry, lunches and dinners (for the big people), trips to Charleston (for Mom and Dad) and just watching babies. It is amazing how much time you can spend just sitting and watching babies sleep!!


Olivia and George Share a Moment


Elizabeth relaxes with George and Olivia

Gary and Olivia Share a Nap

The last two days gave us two BIG events. Yesterday was Gary’s birthday, with lots of phone calls.  We even had a ‘skype’ call with Heather and Haley, which really impressed Bethany and David.  It was a lot of fun as everyone got to see and meet everyone!  Then we celebrated with a pizza party given to Gary by all the Byrnes – Bethany, David, Westley, George, Olivia and Samuel (who was there in spirit from Charleston)!! After the fun day – we really enjoyed the party. Then – today was our babysitting day! David was back at work and Bethany went to see Samuel in Charleston – so we were entrusted with Olivia and George all to ourselves. Two wonderful things happened today. First – we made it through the day without any alarms on Olivia’s monitor, which means we did NOT have to use any of that baby CPR or monitor training!! Great relief at the end of today. And second – Samuel breast fed today!! This is really big and we pray that Samuel just keeps getting stronger and stronger every day so he can get home and enjoy all the things about HOME that Olivia and George are enjoying.
This evening was a sad one because it was our last night with the Byrne family.  We have soooooo enjoyed our visit here and are grateful for how Bethany and David (and Westley) shared the babies with us!
Tomorrow we are on our way again – off to Asheville.  More later-E&G

The Forgotten Ones

In her diligence to carefully cover the happenings of the last few days, Elizabeth blithely forgot Scout and Belle, the family retriever and beagle.  The poor dogs have no idea how their lives have changed.  While waiting all day for the new additions to arrive, Belle and Scout spent most of the day in their laundry room space with the occasional outdoor break and an evening walk with Omi.
Finally, they were introduced to George and Olivia shortly before bedtime.

Scout is introduced to Olivia.

Belle meets George.

There was much attempted licking and sniffing going on.

Babies, Babies and More Babies

Brace yourselves! Thursday and Friday were VERY BIG days for VERY little people – AND us!!

Thursday was a very grey, rainy day (like one of the worst rain storms I have ever been in!). We got up early and headed over to the Byrne household to help with ‘behind the scenes’ stuff.  David had done a wonderful job of getting the nursery ready for George, Olivia and Samuel’s homecoming – but washing and folding baby clothes was not high on his agenda. (Not a guy thing.) And, there were bags and bags of baby clothes given to the Byrne Babies. So, I spent time washing, folding, organizing and putting away all those cute little clothes while Gary put dressers and strollers together.

(A parenthetical note – it helps to know that Bethany went in for a doctor’s appointment the end of January. They immediately sent her to Charleston (about 1.5 hours from Beaufort) for more testing. At this point, Bethany thinks she will return home and have several more weeks to ‘get things in order’ before the babies are born. Instead – she was put to bed there and the babies were born the next day – January 28. The babies went to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NNICU) in the Children’s Hospital in Charleston and Bethany moved into Ronald McDonald house across the street from the NNICU and has NOT been home since. So – no time for Mom to get the nursery in order as she would like it!!)

Then it was time to get on the road to Charleston as we had classes waiting for us. The drive there was ‘interesting’ as the rain was coming down in sheets! We arrived just in time to sit in on the doctors briefing – which occurs every day around noon. The doctor and all residents and nurses gather to go over each baby (each baby has its own assigned resident doctor and nurse) discussing changes, weight gains, new care instructions, etc. This is quite a site! The other good news today is that Samuel had been moved to the Special Care Unit – so all babies were in one place! This was REALLY special – so there will be more about this in a minute.

Briefing – What a great team

Then we had to scoot to class – first we had our baby CPR class followed by monitor training. All I can say is that I truly hope we never need to use either! And, the good news is that Olivia has not had another episode in several days.

Now – back to the news about all babies in one place. This may not seem like much – but it was a BIG DEAL. All three babies were in the same room and could now be put together – something which had not happened since they were born! What an event – what a day. Needless to say there were many pictures taken – and here are some ‘family photos’! (Gary and I even got in on a few.)

Together again at last

David, Bethany, Olivia, George and Samuel
Gary, Elizabeth, Omi, Mom, Dad and kids

By this time – Gary and I were exhausted!! So, we left the proud parents and Omi (David’s mother Westley) with the three little ones and headed ‘home’ in the still pouring rain. There was no scrabble this night as we both fell into bed. However – remember that thing about the worst storm ever?!?!? Again, we were under storm/tornado/flood watches. A little before 3 AM we both woke up with the sounds on the roof of the Bus. Gary said – hail. We both just listened until there was this HUGE thud right over my head – which scared the crap out of me!!! Again, Gary said – hail. I said – NO WAY was that hail – it would have had to be baseball size to make that noise! Next morning we found the culprit – a limb from one of the many trees over our head – picture below. We were among the lucky ones with our camping spot – as we were not underwater as many of the sights were!


Things that went bump in the night

S

Thank goodness this was not our spot

We did manage to get some sleep and were up on Friday for another BIG day as George and Olivia are coming home today! We did errands in the morning – things for the Bus, grocery shopping, etc. Then back to the Byrne house for more baby clothes laundry while Gary worked on the Bus. Then – the BIG event. Here come Olivia and George with Mom and Dad! This was REALLY SPECIAL – and we are so happy we got to share in the moment!!!! I will let the pictures tell the story —–


Olivia and George arrive home

Their first home cooked meal
Now that we have this posted-we need to get ourselves in gear and get to our post at the Byrne house to help where needed.  More later-E&G

Alabama to Beaufort, SC

Well – when last I left you we were getting lots of rain in AL and hoping for one more good golf day. We got it! We played the last of the Robert Trent Jones golf trail courses on Sunday in Auburn/Opelika and had a very nice day. The rain held off – the sun came out – and we were paired with another couple from Minnesota that played about like us. So – all was well.

After the round of golf we went in search of a Starbuck’s for the internet connection. We became the ‘techie couple on the road’! We found that we could get the wifi connection in the Bus – so sat in the parking lot working on the computer. Gary decided that he wanted to test the satellite, as we had not been able to get it to work in the state park – assuming due to all the trees blocking the reception. So – he cranked up the dish and low and behold we had great reception of the Bay Hill Classic (you know – the one where that guy Tiger that has not played golf for 8 months sank a 20+ foot putt on the last hole to win the tournament!!). Then, we decided to see if we could get Heather and Haley on the skype connection to see what was going on with them and had a nice conversation. So – there we were – in the Magic Bus working on the computer with a skype conversation with Heather and Haley watching golf! What could be any better than all of that?!?

Monday morning we finally left Alabama and headed to Beaufort. We ventured through Atlanta so that we could have lunch and a very nice conversation with cousin Dodge. We were very sorry that Jeanie could not join us and to hear of the recent passing of her Mother. The ears of everyone in the family should be burning as we touched on all of you!!

We arrived in Hunting State Park (our home for the next week) just outside of Beaufort very late Monday night. But, we were up and on our way to Charleston very early Tuesday morning to see Bethany and the babies.


Elizabeth holding George
THEY ARE SO CUTE – AND SO TINY!! I even got to hold George and tell Olivia and Samuel stories. We had a wonderful time spending the day with them all and David drove in to see the kids in the afternoon and we all went to dinner before we returned to Beaufort. Right now they are hoping that George and Olivia will go home on Friday. In anticipation that this does happen – and Gary and I do some babysitting the first of next week – Gary and I are taking a baby CPR course and baby monitor course (Olivia would most likely go home with a monitor on) tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. YIKES!!


Olivia in her usual “tongue sticking out” position.  

Most of today we have been doing errands – like laundry, grocery shopping, taking care of the Bus – AND FINDING AN INTERNET CONNECTION!! This is the hardest it has been to find one. No Starbucks, the library is closed until the end of the week for inventory, etc. etc. etc. Finally found a coffee shop with quite a nice wifi area – so here we are.

You will get much more on the babies in the next posting. Until then – prayers to keep them all healthy. More later – E&G

Alabama & The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail


For the pat week we have enjoyed visiting, golfing, eating and drinking with our friends Jim and Rebecca. The golf at the Oxmoor Valley courses (2 courses) and at Ross Bridge was great. We felt this way even though we got rained off the Valley course at Oxmoor Valley on Wednesday after 13 holes – and as a result of the rain had to deal with cart path only on Thursday at Ross Bridge. Even so I think we all agreed that Ross Bridge was one of the most beautiful courses we had all played – and between us we have played a lot of nice courses. We enjoyed the golf so much we made a pact to return the same time next year to play some of the remaining RTJ courses!!

Yesterday (Friday) we said goodbye to Jim and Rebecca and headed down to Auburn to play another two courses. (This is a deviation from our original plan – moving our journey to Beaufort to Monday instead of yesterday – more on that later.)

I am not sure what I thought Alabama would be like – maybe just did not think about it! But it has been just beautiful. Yesterday the drive from Birmingham to Auburn was more of the same treed/wooded/forested areas with green rolling hills. This time of year the trees are flowering and just leafing out. So the oranges, purples, fuchsias, pinks and whites of the blossoms against the green hills and mixed in with the pine trees – is unbelievable. Even Gary’s adept photography skills can not capture it to do it justice. And, when you add the shading/coloring from the dark skies – it gives a whole other dimension.

Oh yes – dark skies! It rained all the way down yesterday and last night/early this morning we slept under a tornado watch!! Thank goodness, I am here to tell you about it – and the Bus did just fine through it all!

With the rain yesterday afternoon and all day today (rained out of our golf), we have ‘toured’ the Auburn campus and art museum and really enjoyed it. Looks like a fun place to go to school – not enough, though, to make me want to go back!

Well – about out of computer juice here in the Kroger’s Starbucks – so better stop and get this posted. Hope to be back on the golf course tomorrow – more later – E&G

Graceland

We are so glad we stopped to see Graceland and the surroundings, as it reminded us of two things –
1) How simple things were back in the 50’s!! (Makes you want to go back!) There is a lot of beautiful property around Graceland, but the house itself is not the mega-thing we see today from people with a little money. I suppose that to a 22 year old who was raised in a 2 room house, the Graceland house was BIG. But, even in his 40’s – when he died – Graceland was still his home. While some of the decor is ‘interesting’, the house is pretty basic.
2) How enthralled people of all ages are of Elvis – even today. Makes you wonder what keeps everyone so attached to him – and if that would be so if he were still alive today.

After the tour of Graceland, including his two planes, we hopped a ride to downtown Memphis to see the Peabody hotel (had a cocktail here) and Beale St – where we had our BBQ dinner and walked a few blocks being reminded or a miniature New Orleans.

Saturday we drove through more really beautiful country of rolling hills with ranches and farms on our way to Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville, AL. This wonderful park high above Huntsville was our camp for the night. We even cooked – lemon, dijon mustard chicken, pasta and peas. Then I skunked Gary at a game of scrabble!!

Sunday we began our golf at the first of the Robert Trent Jones courses we will be playing here in AL – Hampton Cove River course. This is a good news/bad news course! 16 of the 18 holes had water – BUT, there is no sand! Not one trap/bunker. YEAH for that – as the water took enough of our balls.

After a nice round of golf yesterday, we headed to Hoover (just outside of Birmingham) and checked into a Marriott Renaissance for the next 5 days. Today was a down day – manicures and massages – soooooo relaxing. Now just waiting for friends from CA to arrive and 3 days of golf coming up.

Can’t think of anything else to pass on – except that we were sure glad to see a 500 point day on the market today! Think we might now be able to pay for this trip! More in a few days – E&G

Gorgeous Day.. Ugly Golf

Before our late-morning scheduled round of golf we decided to take a drive through the Arches National Park.  When we checked in at the Ranger Kiosk to buy our day pass, the ranger asked if either of us was over 62.  She explained that “Seniors” could purchase an annual pass for all of the National Parks for a mere $10 dollars.  I jumped at the chance and provided my driver’s license to close the deal.  The ranger very tactfully pointed out that I wouldn’t be 62 until next month.  So with a red face I purchased the day pass and we were on our merry way.  (Seems to me she could have recognized I was already suffering from CRS and given us the senior deal a month early.)  We took a short – but beautiful – hike to a couple of the window arches and just about got blown off the trail with the wind gusts!!  

Our next stop was golf at the Moab course – which is ‘funky’ but beautiful against the red rock formations.  Our first round of the year was less than stellar – at least Gary’s.  I like to think that the wind affected the golf, but that is just pure denial.  Even though, we had a fun afternoon followed by a nice walk into town for dinner.  All in all – another wonderful day – and the Bus is holding up quite well!

Good News (continued)



Good news continues  – the ‘fix’ on the water leak only took about 2 hours and this was a short travel day.  So – we arrived in Moab about 4:30 – had a nice walk about after ‘checking in’ to a camp area – AND cooked a nice dinner (of what else – mac and cheese) our ‘real’ first night out in “The Bus”!!  Now watching the Laker game (where they are killing SA) – what could be better than this??  Tomorrow is a hike around Arches and golf in the afternoon. 

As you can see Elizabeth is enjoying her Prosecco while composing the note above and watching the Laker game.  All the comforts of home !

Good News, Bad News

Good news – Day 1 started out with clear skies. It is the first time we have taken the “bus” out when it wasn’t storming.
Bad news – I am writing this posting from the service department waiting room at an RV dealer in Salt Lake City. We discovered a water leak in the bathroom as we were getting ready to leave this morning. Hopefully it is a quick fix and we will be on our way soon.