DIY Tank Top

I get really hot in t-shirts so I prefer tanks. I took an old t-shirt that I was going to give away and remodeled it into a fashionable tank with matching watusi rag. I plan to wear my new ensemble to work in the house/yard or to go shopping at Wal-Mart/Fred's/Cost Plus/Pic-n-Sav where the clientele will appreciate my look.

Step 1: Find a t-shirt.
2. Cut out the sleeves.
3. Cut out a V in the back.
4. Cut the bands off the sleeves and use them to accessorize.
5. You can slip the ties under your bra, tying the bra and tank together so your straps won't show.
The possibilities are endless so have fun.

Paris in February

In February of 2010, I went to Paris for an EF Educational Tours Teacher Convention. I left on Thursday and returned on Monday night. Even though the trip was short, I had a fabulous time. I loved walking around Paris during the winter, seeing the tree branches and snow on the ground. I met some awesome teachers and learned so much about group travel.

Fourth of July 2010

Spring Flowers 2009

Paris, Provence, and Barcelona 2010

London, Paris, Rome 2009

Virginia Vaca 2010

Pride Day/ First Day of School 2011

Jackson Hole Boy Scout Trip

Fourth of July 2011

The entire Jackson crew came to the river for the fourth, minus Jackson who was at Boy Scout Camp. (He was dearly missed.) Fireworks were definitely the highlight of the day. The little boys didn't even wait for dark. James Hogg invited us to watch their show, which was spectacular. We took the pontoon boat over and joined several other boats, watching a fabulous display while listening to the soulful

tunes of Marvin Gaye. Back at our place the nephews put on a show, and then Catherine (C-Woww) shot her party pack.

Earlier we had enjoyed Big Daddy's burgers and hotdogs and Nanny Boo's baked beans, along with a variety of chips, dips, and desserts. We had a very special fourth and enjoyed our time together. Hopefully, we will continue this tradition for many years.

P.S. Before Jackson left, we made the annual 4th of July picture. John David does not have a goatee; that's his stitches. (Please refer to the Harbor Island post.)

River Fun

Finally, after many, many years, Norma and Charles decided to build a house at Gantt. Words cannot describe how much fun we've had this spring and summer at The River. We moved in March 2011 and basically, we've kept the house occupied ever since. Thanks to Jill and Drew, we all learned how to wake surf; Jody, of course, was a natural. Jackson and John David have mastered the art of slaloming, following a Jackson and Thompson family tradition. All the boys enjoy wakeboarding and tubing. Growing up, we spent lots of weekends skiing with Big Daddy behind the wheel! I'm so thrilled we are passing on our love of the water to our kids.

Our favorite spot is the porch, where we love to swing and rock while visiting, napping, and reading. I'm sitting here now enjoying a July shower. The weather is cool, and we feel as if we were in the mountains. It's hard to believe we are only ten minutes from town.

Harbor Island 2011

We took our annual Thompson family vacation to Harbor Island this year, marking our third visit to the South Carolina Coast. We stayed in a duplex called Pelican's Point. Pat, Tommy, Sally, John, John David, Jackson, Schatzi, and I made the trip. First, I'll just outline what we did each day.

Saturday, June 25th
We left Andy early that morning, heading north and then east across Georgia. A highlight of the drive was our picnic at Lane's Peach Farm. We arrived in Beaufort that afternoon, stopping at Publix, of course. We arrived at our house on Harbor Island early enough to walk on the beach.

Sunday
After a pancake breakfast, we packed our lunch and headed to Hunting Island, a state park only a few minutes away. We stopped at Barefoot Bubbas, a store that had everything we needed for fun, including free ice cream. We sat on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, watching the tide come in. Later on we climbed an old lighthouse and moved to the north section of the beach, which has a very unique look. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed swimming and watching the tide. We rented bikes from Bubbas.

Monday
We decided to avoid the rides to Charleston and Savannah and opted to visit Beaufort. I shopped a little, purchasing redneck wine glasses, a floppy orange hat, and a turquoise fascinator! We toured the harbor and a little of the historic neighborhoods. Back on the beach, I took lots of pictures of shrimp boats and dolphins. We had fun sitting on the beach until it started raining.


Tuesday
After taking Schatzi for a walk on the beach, Sally, John David, and I went on a photo shoot at St. Helena's Island. We found a sunflower patch, which was gorgeous. Then, we visited the Penn Center and the ruins of the Chapel of Ease. John David and I went to the Gullah Grub for lunch. I had she crab soup and he had fried shrimp. We also enjoyed sweet tea and cornbread. We took Jackson some peach cobbler. Jackson and John enjoyed playing tennis.


Wednesday
We went back to Hunting Island, which is just so ideal for a day at the beach. Due to hurricane damage and erosion, many of the trees have fallen. We set up under the trees, which provided lots of shade. We swam, took unusual pictures, read, and looked for shells. That night we celebrated John's 49th birthday, having fresh boiled shrimp, Nanmama's secret sauce, and Sally's chocolate dessert. All of the food was delicious, much better than any restaurant. We continued a new tradition of viewing that day's pictures on the tv screen.

Thursday
We decided to return to Beaufort, getting out and walking around the historic homes. A lady invited us to tour her patio. Everyone in Beaufort was extremely friendly. The houses all had lovely gardens; it would be a nice place to live. We ate lunch outside; I had the shrimp patty sandwich--yummy!. After we returned to our temporary home, Schatzi and I decided to finish reading my book. Jackson and John were playing football, and John David decided to go biking. I should mention that the chain had come off twice already, and it was an old bike that had no handbrakes. Unfortunately, the chain came off again, resulting in a bike wreck that left JD's chin in a mess. John and I took him to the Lowcountry Urgent Care facility where he received FIVE stitches. He was a big boy and didn't even cry!

Friday
We chose to spend our last day at Hunting Island. The entire group enjoyed this semi-tropical paradise. The only thing missing was a daquiri machine.
Saturday
We returned to Andy, stopping again at Lane's for peaches. We had a wonderful vacation, very relaxing after a ten-day tour of Europe. We enjoyed spending time with the grandparents and aunt. We've been taking these vacations since Jackson was two, and now he's fourteen. I know boys will never forget all the fun times we've had together going to the mountains and beaches.

Tour, cont. Assisi and Rome

Sunday
We resumed our schedule with optimism! We left Florence by coach and headed to Rome via Assisi. We stopped at a pottery factory, which is a nice place to shop. Assisi was a favorite for all. It was quaint with small streets, which was a break from the capital cities. We could safely break into small groups and just wander around. Several in the group went to a restaurant for homemade pizza, which they said was delicious. John and I had a romantic lunch outside, dining on pizza and bruschetta. We shopped a little, ate gelato and toured the basilica, which is adorned with beautiful frescoes. The others basically did the same. After a few hours there, we motored down to Rome. We went straight to our restaurant, which was across the street from the coliseum. We dined on pasta, again, but it was good. Afterwards, we had a night bus tour of Rome, narrated by Chris, our director. We drove a very long time to our hotel, the Hillary, in Villetri, over 50 miles from Rome. The hotel was very nice, but the location really messed up our time in Rome. I deeply regret that for our participants because it left us with no free time. Overall, I was happy with EF and our hotels were all very nice, but this location was unacceptable.

Tour 2011 Cont.

Friday
We continued our stay in Paris for most of the day. We toured Le Louvre that morning, splitting into small groups. Thanks to John David's research, we saw many of the famous works, including paintings by Italian and French artists and statues. Our group, Janet, Sarah, Toby, Robynn, John and moi, left and crossed the Seine to find a lunch spot. We enjoyed sitting outside eating quiche. Toby enjoyed a real lemonade (citron presse). We rejoined the large group and walked to L'Opera, splitting into small groups for free time. My group, John David, Jackson, Carol, Sarah, and Stephen, actually went inside and toured the Opera. This was a highlight for all of us. I had never been inside, and it was truly spectacular, rivaling anything at Versailles. Afterwards, Jackson went to his favorite shop, Zara, and bought a yellow shirt. Carol bought a blue and white striped shirt, very French. We met the large group and returned to the hotel to prepare for our overnight train ride to Milan and then to Florence.

The Train Ride from Hell
I warned everyone that of all my adventures in life, the craziest ones had happened on trains. We would not be disappointed. I'll just list everything that went wrong:
1. We were supposed to go from Paris to Florence, which would mean leaving early that evening and arriving early the next morning, around 7:30 a.m. Then we would eat breakfast and tour Florence. We had big hopes for shopping, eating a relaxing lunch by the Arno and seeing all the wonderful Renaissance architecture.
2. EF decided to put us on a train to Milan, which would arrive at 5:00 a.m. and then another train to Florence.
3. A tunnel in Switzerland closed due to a fire, which rerouted all trains. Thus, we knew in advance that we would run 4-5 hours late.
4. Our train left an hour later than planned--9:30 p.m. We knew we would not arrive in Milan before 10:00 a.m.
5. Once onboard, we actually had fun. We were in three cars. Car 1: Carol, Debbie, Joy, Sarah, Cathy, and Robynn; Car 2: Janet, Toby, Sarah, John, Jackson, and Dawn; Car 3: Josh, John David, Stephen, Armon, Aaron, and Claudia. I thought it would be wise to put the ladies in the first car away from the students. However, they had French women next to them who partied and entertained the train workers ALL NIGHT LONG!
6. We were having a good time, having found the bar car, when we realized we had stopped in the middle of nowhere. At some point we realized we were stopped for THREE HOURS! The next day we found out that someone had died on the train, and we had to stop for the investigation.
7. Around 1:00 a.m. we decided to call it a night. Jackson and Sarah slept on the top bunk, Janet and I had the middle, and Toby and John the bottom. We settled in for some much-needed rest.
8. Early that morning I heard the screeching sound of brakes and the teacher from Hawaii screaming, "Who did that?" One of her students had "accidentally" pulled the alarm, which resulted in our stopping for another hour.
9. Finally, at 2:30 p.m. we pulled into Milan.
10. We could not catch another train until 6:30 p.m. so we reached Florence at 8:30 p.m. that night!
I have to brag about our group. They were fabulous. They lost their day in Florence but graciously made the most of the rest on the train and the shopping/eating in the Milan train station. I have to admit that the train station was very nice, if you have to be stuck somewhere. Jackson went to Zara's and bought another yellow shirt.
Once we got to Florence, we ate pasta, which was very tasty. We walked around for about an hour, not really long enough except to see what we had missed! Unfortunately, these things happen in our travels and our life. We just make the most of what we have and move on.

London, Paris, Florence, Rome 2011 EF Tour

Participants: Dawn Thompson, group leader; John, John David, and Jackson Thompson; Janet, Toby, Sarah, and Josh Atkinson; Sarah and Armon Momenpour; Stephen Caton, Aaron Lin, Claudia Williamson, Robynn Wiggins, Carol Moore, Debbie Grissett, Joy Norris, and Cathy Dowd

Day One Sunday
We left for ATL on Sunday, June 5th at noon, traveling by private vehicles. We left at 9:30 P.M. that night, flying British Airways for London

Day Two Monday
We landed in London around 10:30 and were met at the airport by an EF rep. She took us to our hotel, the Ibis in the Docklands by bus. We passed many famous sites along the way. We stored our baggage and left by train for Westminster Abbey. After a brief tour, we took the Tube to restaurant, Mr. Fish. Unfortunately, we were late; therefore, we ate fish and chips out of a box, sitting on the sidewalk. However, the food was delicious. Afterwards, we took the tube back to Westminster. We took lots of pictures of Big Ben and Parliament by the river Thames. Then, we crossed the bridge and headed for the London Eye. We thoroughly enjoyed our 30-minute ride, seeing all the sites of London. We took the Tube back to the hotel and settled into our rooms.

Day Three Tuesday
We got an early start with a bus tour of London, stopping at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Our guide, Barry, was fantastic. We walked from the Abbey to Buckingham Palace where we saw the end of the Changing of the Guards. We loaded the bus and headed for Windsor Castle. There we ate at the Cinnamon Cafe, enjoying delicious food, such as jackets (baked potatoes) and apple pie. We toured the castle, which was a favorite of the travelers. We took the bus back to London and ate near St. Paul's. We had cottage pie and apple tart. That evening we rode the tube and then walked around, seeing Trafalgar Square, Leichester Square, and Picadilly Circus.

Day Four Wednesday
We loaded a bus for Pancras Station, which serves delicious croissants BTW. We took the EuroStar to Paris. This is a very pleasant 2-hour train ride. We arrived at Gare du Nord and took a bus to our hotel. We did not travel through the city center but took the perimeter to Porte de Versailles to our hotel, Aparthotel, which was very nice and spacious. Chris, our tour director, urged everyone to stay at the hotel and rest, but our group left and took the Metro to the Place de la Concorde. After visiting the square, we walked all the way up the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triompe, stopping along the way at a crepe stand and McDonald's for hamburgers, fries, macaroons, and coffee. We rode the Metro to Place de Guichy where we met the group at Les Balcones. We ate chicken and wild rice, which was very tasty. We took the Metro back into the city for our Paris Evening Tour. First, we took a cruise of the Seine. The weather was warm enough for us to sit outside. It was a beautiful evening. When we returned to the pier at 10:00 P.M., the Eiffel Tour lights began to twinkle. We visited the Tour Eiffel and then took a bus ride around the city. We returned to our hotel late that night, exhausted but thrilled with all we had seen.

Day Five Thursday
We began our day with a city tour, stopping to take pictures along the way. Our guide talked the entire time and gave a very informative tour. Many of our travelers took brief naps due to our late night the previous evening. For the afternoon we headed to Versailles where we ate lunch (croque monsieurs, sandwiches, pizza) and toured the palace. Although the tour was good, it was crowded due to a throne exhibition. We didn't have time to tour the gardens so first-time visitors really didn't get the full view. I highly recommend watching the movie Marie Antoinette. One really has to have studied French history and style to fully appreciate the grandeur of Versailles. Louis the XIV was a genius. Unfortunately, the excessive living and neglect of the commoners led to the downfall.
We returned to Paris for a dinner at Flam's, which serves very thin pizzas. We rode the Metro to Montmartre, visiting Sacre Coeur and Place du Tertre.