Mama Having a Proud Moment. . . .

Out of the blue I get a text from Sprat; "I had to argue against Jesus today in class."   I was like What???, He responded it was a debate on who was more influential to Christianity Jesus or Constantine.  So I had to ask, why he was arguing for Constantine.  He said, that was what he was given.  I asked how he did and he said he lost, and badly.  I asked if that was bad for his grade, he said no.  He also said; "I can't win when I'm fighting Jesus."  Well, my heart just filled with:  joy, pride, love, and tears.  All I could think was WOW!  Maybe I didn't mess my kids up as bad as  I thought, maybe just maybe I did do something right. 
You guys all know Sprat's school is closing and he is looking into another college in Massachusetts near Boston.  He went for his tour a week or so ago and he went by himself on a tour with these high school seniors and their moms.  I felt a little sad for him but at the same time was so very proud of him for taking that step in his college career.  He has really jumped in to find his school and connect with the people he needs to connect with to make this all happen.  He met with the head of the healthcare management program at this new school and he liked him and liked what he had to say about the program.  I think he is going to be Boston bound again this Fall with a new school and a new lacrosse team.  The lacrosse coach invited him to watch practice while he was there on tour also.  Sprat also pointed out one very important statistic, this college is 7 girls to 1 boy. 
Stay tuned we will be announcing officially soon, so very excited for him. 

Summer Activities. . .

I have been trying to find some cool things to do with Big T while Sprat is away at camp for a week.  I found this cool website and I thought I would share it with you.  www.factorytoursusa.com

You can click on your State or a State that you would like to visit and it will show you factories that give tours, some are free.  I found several places we may check out in the next few weeks.   I will be sharing our adventures too.

I found a working dairy farm and an automotive plant that I think would be really neat to see.  I hope Big T will enjoy these places.  We already have a trip planned with my sister and her girls and my mom next week and I am really excited about it.  I am going to keep you in suspense right now though.
Many of these places at factory tours are free the others charge a nominal fee.  Stay tuned for our adventures.  

Ghost Tour of Wilkesboro. . .

We went on our first ghost tour.  Wilkesboro offers a ghost tour once a month starting in April.  It is a walking tour that lasts about an hour and a half.  Ours lasted almost two and a half hours, we had really good guides.  We learned a lot of local history from the Civil War era.  We got to see some historic spots in Wilkesboro and hear the local lore of who haunts what.  Our guides were very knowledgeable in the local history and Civil War history also.  We heard two stories of one hanging and how the great, great, great grandson of the hangee went into law because he said if his great, great, great grandfather had a good lawyer he might not have been hung.   He is a prominent attorney in the area today.  We saw the old jail that held Tom Dooley, yes the one the song is written about.  We were able to go in the slave quarters of an old home, the slaves had put a curse on the family that lived in the main house.  The curse was written on the wall of the slave quarters.  There were skeleton heads of a horse, a dog and some other small animals hanging from the ceiling.  Sprat swears the horse head was moving, we all said it was a draft, but the other heads were not moving.   Big T felt the cold spot where a little girl was run over by a carriage in the drive way of the main house that had the curse.   We got to see where the Tory Oak once stood.  The Tory Oak was where they hung British sympathizers.  The oak stood for more than 300 years but in 1989 Hugo took its toll.  There is another oak in its place, still young and not yet as grand.

Vacation? ? ? ? ?

My kids keep asking, are we going some where this summer?  I always reply, I am going crazy want to come along.  Our family is a little nutty.  We have not gone on a true "vacation" in two years so we are talking about trying to this year.  The kids have been busy with baseball and football camps the last two years,and it just has not worked out for us.  Jack played All Stars the last two years and of course that takes up a lot of time.  This year he said he didn't want to do All Stars so he could go to our Church camp.  We said that was fine.  The coach, however, talked him in to playing All Stars but told him it was ok if he missed practice or a game for Church camp.  We said that was fine too.  So I have to try and work in a trip somewhere in between camps and All Stars.  Big T informed me that he wants to go on the ghost tours around the beaches of North Carolina.  He has developed quite an interest in ghosts and the paranormal.  They have been studying North Carolina history in school this year and of course they have talked about pirates and the light houses also.  I have found several different places around that offer ghost tours and pirate tours.  If you guys know any interesting places to visit please post a comment.  We are going to have quite the adventure this summer.  Check back to see what all we find.