Nags Head, NC Beach Trip 2015

We just got home from a beach vacation.  It was super fun.  It was incredibly exhausting.  Good times were had.  I love that prior to going on vacation, I am SO VERY EXCITED to go...

And then when it's time to come home, I can't wait to get there and sleep in my own bed...

This trip was a conglomeration of Davidsons and Acuffs and was only possible thanks to the participation of all!  The first half of the week was mostly Davidsons.

Popsicle and Reese

Reese loves it when people read to her.  If by "read" you mean "skip several pages at a time and basically flip through the book."

Aunt Julie

Gram catching some Reese snuggles.

We played on the beach.  We got sand EV.ERY.WHERE.

We avoided sharks by staying out of the water.  But we stayed ever-vigilant...

The only shark-sighting, thankfully.

The second half of the week was Acuff-filled.

The Colonel

The Memaw

Scott and Betty Anne

John and Nikki

 

We found perfectly good toddlers washed up on the beach.

We took obligatory sunset photos.

We laughed.

We cried.  

We took #pinterestfail photos.

Good, good times...

Describe Your Father and Your Relationship with Him

My Pa.  He is tall.

"Lemme 'splain..."

I already know that I will not be able to do my dad justice in one blog post.

"There is too much...lemme sum up..."*

My dad, Retired Air Force Colonel Steven David Acuff, is by all accounts an incredible man.  He loves the Lord with his whole heart and is committed to his relationship with his wife and kids.  He's been married since 1968 to my equally incredible momma.  He's has four kids, two boys and two girls.  He served in the Air Force for 30 years as a C-130 pilot.  He loves:

• history
• politics
• air planes
• driving
• traveling
• talking to people
• laughing
• his family
• John Wayne movies
• and helping people

just to name a few.

Dad, Mom and Nikki 1971

With Baby Nikki 1970

Easter, 1978 (Baby Betty Anne)

Easter 1979 (BETTY ANNE LOOK THIS WAY)

Pilot Dad, Midriff Shirt/Mullet Betty Anne. Yikes.

Reliable ride-giver

Camping Enthusiast

Wood-chopping project supervisor

While growing up, I remember my dad traveling a lot with the Air Force.  When he was home, he would take all of us kids (on bikes) running with him while he trained for one of the four Marine Corps Marathons that he ran.  He taught me that I was built to run.  Or so he told me anyway.  Even when I'm not in the habit of running, I think about it often.  He would help us kids memorize bible verses as he ran.  His faith was (and is) hugely important to him and he imparted that to me and my siblings.  We had devotions in the morning (at the crack of dawn, as I recall) before we all left the house for the day.  He would read something out of the bible to us and each of us got a turn to pray.  I am so very, very grateful for the spiritual guidance and leadership my dad provided in our home.

When I got to high school, it was just me left at home.  My siblings were all in college or no longer living at home.  I didn't love being what felt like an only child.  I missed my brothers and sister!  But it was at this time that my relationship with my dad started to change.  We had a lot of time together, as he was traveling for work less.  We watched Disney movies (Lion King!) together.  He helped me with my paper route every single Saturday when I delivered The Washington Post on base where we lived.  I would hang on to the back of the Ford Explorer, tossing papers to houses as he drove slowly.  If he disapproved of one of my tosses because it wasn't close enough to the person's door, the vehicle would stop.  Because we had a routine, I knew I should just go ahead and go get that last paper I threw and re-position it closer to the door.  The Colonel had standards.

As I applied to colleges and started preparing to leave home, I remember countless conversations about those topics.  I appreciated his input, perspective, and willingness to listen to me.

I highly value how he treats my mother.  He showed me by example, not through words, as I grew up how a husband should treat his wife.  Even in their disagreements I saw each of them be respectful towards one another.

He didn't invent these concepts, but he liked to use them and enforce them:

"If you don't have time to do something twice, do it right the first time."

"Do the right thing even when nobody is watching."

I observed him being a man of integrity in his job, his church and his home life.  Related to the integrity characteristic, he also is a ridiculously hard worker.  You know the type from his generation... they are a breed about to go extinct in this day and age.

When I told my parents about being pregnant with Chloe, my daughter I placed for adoption, he was kind and gracious.  He put her ultrasound picture on his dresser and prayed for her daily.  Watching him with his grandkids now is such an incredibly awesome experience for me.  In my mind, he's superman.  He can change diapers, play outside with them, or squelch a temper tantrum if needed.  He asks James and Reese "Have you ever seen a horse eat an apple?"  They innocently say "No!"  He then proceeds to grab right above their knees and pinch, usually causing them to double over laughing and squirming to get away.  He also asks them if they've ever had a knuckle sandwich (while holding up his fist), but he doesn't follow through on that one. :)

If you didn't/don't have a great relationship with your dad, come talk to me.  I'll see about loaning** you mine because he's pretty awesome.

Pa, I love you dearly and you are not allowed to die until you're 150. Kthx.


*Princess Bride quote

**Fees will apply.

Columbia Life: A Day at the Park

And by "day" at the park, I mean "hour", just to be clear.

We headed downtown to check out Finlay Park here in Columbia, SC.  It was chilly out (40's--that's chilly to us, balmy to some of you), but definitely tolerable.

Reese is still working on the whole walking-thing.  She requires, shall we say, "assistive devices."  During our time there, she walked at least a half of a mile.  She's napping now.  She may sleep until tomorrow morning after all that exercise.

Wow that's a lotta purple she's wearing.  Who dressed that child?? (cough cough me)

Memaw and Pawpaw appear to be Reese's security detail here.  The Colonel is ever vigilant.  Thankfully the Colonel is not too proud to push a stroller with a hot pink blanket in it.

James enjoyed three different sized slides.  A small, medium and large one.  He would go down one, stand up and say "Again?!"

There were some shady, shady characters (pictured above) at the park.  Thus the need for the security detail.

Do you ever feel like you're just watching life pass you by?  Reese does.

When you find yourself in that situation, be sure and invite others to join you as you watch life pass by...

Come on down for a visit!  We'll take you to some of our new favorite places!

Peepaw

My Peepaw.  I miss him.  "Betty Boop".  That's what he called me.  If anybody else called me that, I'd kill 'em.

Peepaw was a kind-hearted old man.  Always looking to help out others.

If something broke, he was the fix-it man.  He wasn't too much into aesthetics, so his "fix" may be an eye-sore, but the formerly broken thing would at least be functional again.

He loved camping.  He and Granny were my "camping" grandparents.  Granny and Peepaw had this cute little blue and white Scotty trailer.  They camped in that thing all over the U.S.  When our family would join them, we'd usually bring a pop-up trailer with us.  Maybe a tent, too.  Sometimes we'd take turns eating in the Scotty trailer with Granny and Peepaw, since it wasn't big enough to hold all of us at once.

Peepaw, far left

He used to ask me how school was going.  "School" could be kindergarten, high school, or college.  School was school.  Education was pretty important to him.  I'm guessing it's because he didn't go to college.  I don't know though...we never had that conversation.

There are lots of conversations we never had that now I wish I had the opportunity.  I wish he could meet his great-grandchildren.  I'm sad that James doesn't get to go camping with him.  Sure, Scott and I can take James camping, but it'll be different.  Peepaw never met a stranger in a campground before.  He talked to everybody.  Found out where they were from, how many kids they had, how long they'd been married, what they were having for dinner that night...  He was a friendly kinda guy.

In the past year, I've missed my Peepaw more than usual.  I think it's because I'm a parent now and I realize how MUCH I don't know.  How much I need the input and experience of those that have gone before me in this adventure.  I'm so grateful to have my parents and my in-laws involved in my life.  Lots of wisdom there.  Grandparents are a whole 'nother level of wisdom, though.  I wish I still had access to all that they had to teach.  I guess this is just how it goes, though.  When you're a punk kid and have plenty of time with your grandparents, you don't care as much what they have to say.  As an adult, as a parent, when you want their input more than ever, they are no longer around. <sigh>  Hindsight is 20-20.  Now my parents are the grandparents.  I wonder if that scares them as much as it scares me.  Before, I was two generations away from being the "older, wiser generation".  Now I'm only one generation away.  If something happened to my parents, me and my siblings would be the "older, wiser generation".  That is SCARY.  We don't know enough!  I don't know enough...

Back to Peepaw.  He was bald.  He said things like "God only made a few perfect heads...the rest He covered with hair..."  He had a "Bald is Beautiful" bumper sticker on his pick-up truck.  He also had a "Virginia is for Lovers" bumper sticker.  Now that I think about that, it grosses me out a little bit...

Peepaw always went on walks with a walking stick.  He was not dependent on a cane or walker to move around.  Quite the contrary. But for some reason, he always had a walking stick, whether we were walking around a neighborhood or hiking in the woods on a camping trip.  I thought it was the thing to do...pick out a good walking stick at the beginning of a hike.  Pretty sure I was doing it wrong, though, because early on I'd get tired of lugging it around and I'd toss it by the wayside.

Peepaw, far right, WITH walking stick

One time we were all eating dinner around at his house and his brother, Uncle Sam, pulled into the driveway in his HUGE RV.  Pretty sure Peepaw didn't consider camping in a HUGE RV "real camping".  How he displayed his displeasure at the pretentiousness of the monstrous vehicle was by shaking his head and saying "Good Gosh!"  We all laughed and laughed when he said that.

Oh Peepaw.  I wish you were here to live life with us now.  With your grown up grandchildren.  With your children who are now grandparents.  With your great-grandchildren who don't even know they need a walking stick to go hiking...  You are missed.