Christmas 2013 part 1

We spent Christmas this year on the North Carolina beach. We left on December 20th and stayed in Columbia, SC Friday night. We enjoy visiting state capital buildings so we started the trip with a tour of the state capital.

This is one of the most friendly cities we have been to. Strangers waiting to cross the street would talk to you. We were really impressed.

Rudolph the raindeer

Rumor had it that Rudolph was practicing in Lake Arrowhead tonight. I did not see him but saw some hoof marks.

Thanksgiving 2013

Plates are all aligned for that big meal.

Dance team

Monday night we went to a basketball game and Taylor performed with the dance team at halftime.

Trip to Kingsport, TN

We went to Kingsport to hang out with the kids while Mommy and Daddy went to Texas for a short vacation. One afternoon we had lunch at a German restaurant in Virginia named Gasthause Edelweiss that Derek and Karen had recommended.

It was a light day and the owner visited with us and we talked about the German towns that we had visited.

She came over to America when she was 16 as did Nana's grandmother (GG's mother) when she was 17.

A view from the top

A nice view from the living room to enjoy the fall season.

Next view will be a winter snow storm. Stay tuned.

 Oh, by the way, please click on the picture to see the full beauty.

Training exercise

Lake Arrowhead held a training exercise Saturday for an elite group of terrorist experts at our community park. There are 23 stationed in Marietta and cover the whole state. Three of the members live in Lake Arrowhead.

We decided to go and see if we could take some pictures. To our surprise we were given a personal tour of the operation. It was quite informative.

This is a decontamination unit where members walk in one end and come out the other completely  "clean".

We were told they could communicate with troops in Iraq at any moment.

This is inside the mobile laboratory where they can get quick analysis of chemicals.