Remembering the Charleston 9

  Three years ago yesterday nine Charleston firefighters lost their lives fighting a blaze in a furniture warehouse. It was the most costly since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    In my opinion the best way to honor fallen firefighters is to support your local fire departments and encourage their training. Both hands on training (live burns) and in knowledge based training (classes) so that tragedy like this does not happen again. The following is a picture of the site of the Charleston 9 fire that Jim and I stopped by when we went to Charleston last year. There are flags where each of the 9 men were found, which was the most emotional part to me. It is not just a line of flags that match and blend together, they stand as individuals. My heart goes out to the families, friends, and co-workers of those who were lost. We will never forget.
  
   
  

Adventures with a Teenager Week 1 Day 3

  

   On Tuesday I had to go back to work :(  Katy got to experience her first day alone since Jim's ACLS class lasted all day. When he got home we ate a quick dinner and went to Broadway at the Beach to watch Avatar in 3D at the IMAX. We couldn't allow her to watch it the first time at our house on our tv! We enjoyed the movie with 400 others.

The movie was over around 8:45 so we walked around and shopped/checked things out till the fireworks started at 10. Our first stop was a little electronics shop that had lots of neat gadgets and then this ipod pig. It is a dock that has speakers for eyes. (My sister takes pigs to the fair so this is a reoccurring theme in our family).

Next we wandered through It's Sugar. They have some crazy candy themed items; lip gloss, candles, stuffed animals, and clothing. You can also make your own candy bar.

They had a great display of artistry. I happen to love Jelly Belly beans.

Then there were these monstrous Gummi Bears.... and I thought of my Uncle Bruce.

They even have them on a stick... cause you would want to eat them like a sucker? I mean I get that the ears, feet, and arms may be small enough to nibble off but the rest I think you would have to put on a plate and cut up in order to eat. Besides if they are real Gummi Bear consistency wouldn't they flop around? I just envision it twisting around on the stick while I try and chase the perfect bite or falling off the stick completely. And the alternative is what? A not gummy Gummi Bear? Eww. Have I ever told you the gross Gummi Bear story? No? Let's just say when you make jell-o shots Gummi Bears do not make a good addition, not sure if it was the refrigeration, alcohol, or jell-o.

After leaving It's Sugar... without any candy :( We walked past some of the newer activities. This one was just too amusing. They are flimsy plastic orbs that are blown up with air once the children/small adults are inside & the kids are never able to fully stand up. My question how long is it safe to be in an air tight bubble & what if it gets a leak? There are some ferocious and hungry animals in that water.

Just look what they do for a handfull of really expensive dog food!

In the Tiki Jim store we found these while the spelling is off our names were right next to each other!

Sisters :)

Outside of the new Ron Johns (which just opened) they had this really pretty sand sculpture.

 

Then finally it was time for what we had been waiting for.

And on the way home we had to stop and get ice cream. Sonic has this great deal that you can get sundaes for 99 cents after 8pm.

Katy's Here

   As I have talked about  a bit before my sister is staying with us for three weeks this summer. She got here today! It was also her first time on a plane and her seventeenth birthday! Mom snapped a pic of Katy getting ready to go through security.

And an hour and a half later she was in MB!

 

We easily found her luggage (the MB airport is small and easy to navigate) and made our way into the 94 degree heat which felt like 105 and 60% humidity! Welcome to South Carolina no need to drink water you breathe it in. Katy's first request was for food.

We decided to eat at Bonefish Grill for her birthday dinner. Katy actually tried new food! This is the girl who will order chicken tenders with ranch at EVERY restaurant. She had the chicken marsala and loved it! I'm so proud of her for trying new things. We discussed what she'd like to do and see while she's here and picked the must do's and maybe trys.

On the way back to the house Katy gave me a present! Silly Bands in OSU shapes! The new logo in red and a buckeye leaf in grey. These are my first silly bands and while I feel a bit old for this trend since they are OSU themed I feel I must.

Once we got home Katy was able to settle into her temporary bedroom. She also got to see Tucker and Scarlet who were excited to see her. Scarlet has never properly met Katy as the last time she was here they brought Cruiser (my parents' monster of a black lab) and Scarlet spent the next 4 days under Jim's bed. Scarlet was a bit more curious this time. Turns out Scarlet doesn't just attack my hair she like's Katy's hair as well!

Once we all changed and our food digested a bit we went to the beach!

South Carolina State Competition

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      This past week the South Carolina Fire Rescue Conference has been here in Myrtle Beach. They have a bunch of seminars, a big hall with vendors selling all things fire rescue & some fire trucks new and old, and a state Combat Challenge competition. Last year we were unable to make it to the convention center to see all that stuff so we made it a point to stop in this year and check things out. We enjoyed walking around and looking at all the equipment. They even had an Omniflight helicopter in there which sparked two debates 1) How did they get it in there? and 2) Could Jim fit in one of those? They used a trailer type thing and we were told that Jim could indeed fit. Although from looking inside it appears the patient's head is literally on the medic or nurses feet. I don't think I could focus on what drugs to administer when and how much when flying in that tiny thing.... kudos to those who can and do.

Beautiful old fire trucks.

And I HAD to have my picture with this truck!

     We each got a little something.... I got a t-shirt and Jim some sort of belt that he has been wanting. We had to leave to get to Broadway at the Beach where the Combat Challenge would be taking place. We arrived with plenty of time and I was able to watch the Explorers (teenagers) competition

     This ended up taking much longer than I think they had planned and the Combat Challenge portion didn't start till almost 4. I sat with Jody (Jim's station 8 captain's wife) and Kristin (Team Horry member Ken's wife). There was much girl talk to pass the time and Jody and I quickly found that Kristin was prepared for ANYTHING! She had an extra strength tylenol, vitamins, tissues, hand sanitizer, two kinds of gum, an umbrella, a digital camera, a video camera, two phones, and much much more! My new theory is who needs to pack just invite Kristin! Despite the slow start we were excited to see the guys warming up on the course.

The following are pictures from the HCFR Team Horry Relay team #1

 Arron W. pulled the rope but I missed that (sorry Aaron you were just that fast!). Medeiros on the stairs.

Howell with ten stitches in his right index finger hitting the keiser.

Howell running the cones as well.

Noreck with the hose pull.

Jim on the dummy drag.

Team Horry won quite a few trophies that day.

1st in Team Relay

 Mike Medeiros, Aaron Windsor, David Howell, Mike Noreck, Jim Edbrooke

1st Team Horry 1  and 3rd Team Horry 2 in Team Challenge

2nd Mike Medeiros & 3rd Jim Edbrooke in Individual Challenge

2nd Matt Smith in Cheif's Indivitual

3rd Pam Wingate and Lt. Rainbolt in Co-ed Tandem

NOW Kristin has everything in her purse! :D

I did video Jim's run but due to Blogger being difficult I will have to upload that in another post.

Busy Weekend

 We have had quite the weekend! Friday we got to meet the newest member of the Andrew family. Totally adorable, and a full head of hair! I had forgotten about the tiny little grunting & sighing babies make. I got to buy the cutest tiny little outfits for her! I even got matching pink shoes (which her mommy appreciated). Remember how I said we need to avoid those little ones in order to stave off baby fever... yea, seeing Jim holding her = AWWWW! After that Jim and I went to work out then came home and did some serious cleaning (Katy is coming next weekend remember). We even moved the stove and fridge to clean out all the dog food Scarlet has swatted under there.... I now know why we have to buy more so frequently (honestly could have filled one of the small dog food bags with what we cleared out).

    Jim worked Saturday. So I kept up the pace. Worked out, went shopping for shorts that are appropriate for work, a little work, and some more cleaning.

   This morning Jim and I got ready and went to breakfast Jack DeBroules in Garden City . We had the unlimited breakfast for $5.99... sooooo good. You get to order your items and then they come back and ask which items you would like more of and they then cook them for you, so it is all freshly cooked! Jim was only able to eat three plates of food. Here he is in his food coma! We have to go back soon to try their lunch/dinner menu... if their bbq is as good as their breakfast I can't wait!

After breakfast we went for a walk on the beach. The beach was crazy busy and full of people. When we got to the water I understood exactly why. It was the perfect temperature! I did NOT want to leave.

But I needed to get home... one of those ugly migraines had started again and I needed a nap before my afternoon events started.  Remember how I said we have some great wildlife outside our house....

We have seen these before but never caught quite this great of a picture. I laid down for a few hours (sleep & an ice pack are about all that give me any relief). Fortunately since my "alarm clock" fell asleep as well I woke up with enough time to go to my next event.... a Baby Shower! (I told you we are surrounded!) This one is for Jim's previous Captain Howell's wife Candace.

There were tons of adorable baby items, and silly baby games of course. But I also learned that my mom is not the only one to air little tid bits in public. Although Candace if it makes you feel better at every large milestone since I graduated high school my aunts have "happened" to mention at the age of 2 I mooned my Aunt Beth and it was caught on film... in a picture that continues to reappear.

After the baby shower I met my wonderful husband, who remembered every single item on my "please bring" list and then some. I met Jim at the beach and we spent some time in the water

The waves were great but a bit strong. I had difficulty keeping myself out at the same place as Jim. He is trying to teach me to use my little body board. I've got the riding over them just not the riding them into shore (anyone have any suggestions?). I got knocked around quite a bit before I retired to my little beach chair and watched Jim. Such a great way to end a busy day! Now for a little tv and cuddle time!

More Wedding Recaps

  Last time I told you all about the proposal. As I mentioned before we were keeping the engagement quiet until I was able to tell my sister, we didn't want her to find out on facebook or someone else. I had however kicked my research into overdrive. We knew that we wanted to get married here in Myrtle Beach as we felt planning a wedding in Ohio from SC would be difficult and let's be honest I am too much of a control freak to let anyone else take care of the details for me.
   We checked out several venues. There were hotels, banquet halls, and even one park. I did a lot of my research online, requested information, and crunched numbers. We had hoped to get married in April or May 2010. Our families were immediately concerned. My mom was afraid having the wedding during the school year would prevent many from attending and Jim's sister has several conferences for work in May and didn't know exact dates for us to plan around. It was very frustrating and stressful to feel like no matter what we did someone (close to us) was going to be upset or disappointed. We knew that we didn't want to wait until the height of tourist season when rates for hotel rooms would sky rocket and the heat would make a wedding dress and tux unbearable. I was getting antsy with our options getting more and more limited and nothing set in stone. Finally we found The Breakers. Their prices were reasonable and venue beautiful, they were even planning to start rennovating their ballroom October 2009 to get rid of the red and gold decorating for more neutral colors. The only hang up... they only had two dates available for Spring 2010 March 27th and April 17th, the latter of which another couple had "penciled in". So we "penciled in" March 27th and crossed our fingers for April 17th as we were hoping the longer we waited the warmer the weather.
   We waited for about a week for a call from Brynda from the hotel. When we finally heard back the April 17th couple had decided to keep that date, so March 27th it was. I could finally order those Save the Date postcards I had been drooling over! I had found a deal at VistPrint, I was able to get 100 for the price of shipping only! Now all we needed to do was put together a guest list so we could mail out those pretty little postcards!
  

Long time no blog.

   Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Jim has been working a lot lately it seems, he had a swap and an over time shift (woo hoo, those are pretty rare these days). I have been having some migraines/headaches for the past week and a half. We have a lot of exciting things coming up though. June 11th is the first Combat Challenge Competition for this year! It will be here at Broadway at the Beach, this is the state competition so some big rivalries. I can't wait to cheer on Team Horry! Shortly after that my sister Katy will be arriving for her visit & we are also planning another camping trip! I guess what I am trying to say is I promise I have exciting stuff coming up again soon.