After a wonderful visit up at my parent's house in A-town this past weekend, I jumped on the road back to Blormal. I repacked the car and then headed down to Chattanooga. When I left my parent's house my car thermometer read -6 (wind was ~ 30 mph)...wind chill was about -25! Holy freezing temperatures Batman! That is DAMN cold. With the high winds coming out of the west, it made for a very difficult and frustrating drive back to Blormal. The heat in the car was working overtime to keep Payton and I warm. On top of all that, I forgot my phone charger! Dang it. After refueling and getting something to eat in Bloom Bloom, Payton and I got the car adapter/inverter/converter thingy for my phone and headed south once again. Things were running smooth until just past Effingham. The adapter/inverter/converter thingy for my phone charger stopped working! Consequently, I didn't have a phone for the duration of my journey. No phone, high wind, and bad radio for the remaining 6 hours! I will leave out all the cursing, yelling, and frustration. All I will say, is I was very happy to be in Chattanooga with Andy... after 12.5 hours on the road :)
Andy made me an awesome dinner, which I was unable to eat due to all the gas station junk food and queasy stomach. I got a shower and we talked and relaxed. Ahhhh it is feeling more and more like home =) The Christmas lights were even up:
I thought the Christmas lights looked AWESOME!
Monday morning Andy went to work and I got to play. It felt so strange to be the one staying home while he went to work. I went rock climbing at Little Rock City (LRC) in Soddy Daisy, TN. Literally 5 minutes from our house! I went with our friend Kevin Todd. Kevin just moved to Chattanooga too! We are going to have a great crew down here. On our first boulder problem, I totally ripped a corner of my middle finger on my right hand off. Nice size chunk, but nothing to keep me from climbing more -- or typing ;-) I tried to take a picture, but our stupid camera was not cooperating. I will tell you, it is a nice war wound ;-) After I got the bleeding to stop, we went and did a couple more problems. Since I am not really solid at climbing right now, I didn't do too much "exciting" stuff. I still loved being out there. Trying to climb on real rock is amazing. I always feel like a much better climber outside than inside. Not that I am really all that much better, maybe it is all in my mind. Later that night, our friends Brad and Hailey came into town. They crashed at our place so we could all go climb on Tuesday--minus Andy...he had to work :( So Kevin, Brad, Hailey, and myself headed to this new area in Dayton. Not too many climbers have cleaned or set up boulder problems yet. We were all so super stoked to have a rock playground that didn't hold any expectations for us to live up to or fall short of. We weren't too familiar with the area and where all the "good" rock was, so we did a lot of hiking and not too much climbing. Personally, I didn't care. I was happy to be outside, not at work, and not in IL weather. My legs are sore and I am a happy climber. Ahhh the Chatt.
Tomorrow, we are going to paint the kitchen and pick up the house for Christmas. Andy is only working 10-4 and then I think I want to go to mass someplace. Andy and I are doing Italian for Christmas dinner. I am going to try my hand at homemade Italian beef. I am also going to make 2 pies, lasagna, and garlic bread. I invited Tyler and Lacey Klein (owners of the bike shop), Kevin, and Andy's cousin Jacqueline and her boyfriend Brent. Other than that, I don't know what our Christmas plans will be. Mostly hanging with our babies and enjoying the A-W-E-S-O-M-E weather. I am really trying not to rub it in, but I do NOT envy our friends and family in Illinois.
I will leave you with a new picture of our children (Atreyu, Payton, and Sebastian)...
Later taters,
Heather
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