Bob & Janet

Thought I would throw this one in the mix since I am always being told that there are no pictures of me! Well, that's because I am the one taking all of the pictures that are posted - Love to all.............

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...

Merry Christmas to everyone! Everyone in our house slept in - what a treat! It was a great morning for everyone - Nick was still feeling rough with a 104.2 fever from having been sick, but still managed to muster up enough energy to open up gifts and smile. The wheels fell off later in the day, and he took a long nap, which did help a little. All the kids in the "hood" were out with their new stuff, and the rage seemed to be ripsticks (which Nick and Hayden both received) and also air soft guns (which they both received) Christmas was wonderful for us all, and I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Coach...

Bob is showing off his new ornament that Grandma B and Grandpa Mel got him. It's a little sweater with a whistle around the neck and it says "coach" All of our lovely new ornaments were added to the tree on Christmas eve, except for Bob's. We waited until Christmas Day!

Best Friends...

As you can see, Sara's Christmas gift is as friendly as one could imagine. He is huge, although he is "bending down" to be at Sara's level. Sara rides Badger every day, and is so thankful for the boys getting her a halter, lead rope, chain, etc. to help her out. Both sets of Grandparents, and Uncle Chris and Uncle Rick sent the kids money to buy what they want. Sara will be buying a bridle and girth with her money. She is also trying to get more jobs babysitting to help offset the costs of her beautiful horse! Way to go Sara!!!!

Finally a saddle...........

Once Sara finally woke up, we could get down to some serious business of opening up our gifts. Sara was thrilled when she opened up a nice blue, plastic gift bag with a saddle in it. I had told her that it was damaged in shipping and we could not buy it since it was now "damaged goods" Needlesstosay, she was thrilled to have her own saddle that will fit her for quite a while.

Wakey, Wakey, it's Christmas morning

Can you believe I had to go and wake Sara up to come and open up her gifts. Hayden woke up first at 7:30 am (only because his alarm went off) then I woke up and Nick and Bob followed. Sara was off in lala land.

Nick & Hayden

Nick and Hayden had been riding on a small ramp belonging to a boy down the street. They all seemed to have a great time with it, but they (of course) all wanted a bigger one. So, since Santa Clause is so nice you can see what he brought them on Christmas Day. What a ramp, 3 actual ramps and a rail for the skateboard. I just hope they don't break a bone before the end of the hockey season!

WELCOME "BADGER"

Here is the newest addition to the Winch family. His name is Badger, he is a thoroughbred and stands 17 hands tall! WOW! He used to be a racehorse and won money. He is now retired (at the ripe young age of 7) and is now a jumper. I went to pay a little visit to him Friday afternoon (he had just arrived from Ohio on Friday morning) and I wanted to get aquainted with him before he was presented to Sara for her Christmas/birthday gift combined! He is so friendly, he let everyone pet him and was disappointed when everyone left his stall. He loves the attention. Both Hayden and Nick will be able to ride him since he is so gentle. Mom will just continue to shovel the manure that she is so good at doing.

"Badger"

This is Sara receiving her "new horse." We had just brought the horse into the barn to surprise her. She was picking up spilled horse food when we brought Badger in. Holly made sure to saddle him up and bring her helmet from the other barn so that Sara could just jump on him and ride into her little fantasy world. WAY TO GO SARA!!

Stall Decorating Contest

Hi Everyone..... this was "our stall" after we had decorated it for the contest at the barn. It turned out really nice, I made a mantle shelf (just a short one because we needed to make sure the stall door would open) We were thrilled at how well it turned out. We did not win, but had a lot of fun doing it. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ....

This picture was taken on the back patio of the house. In the brown shirt is Nicole, she owns the house and is married to Eddie (picture below), the older lady to the right, Hazel is Nicole's Mother who lives next door. She was a very nice lady indeed. In the red shirt is Nell, Grandma Mary's younger sister, and then of course Sara in the background. I managed to snap this picture while Bob was trying to get a good angle for his picture, and that's who they are all looking at. Dinner was excellent, and because there was so much food left (they had 3 turkey's and 2 big ham hocks) we got to bring home left overs which of course made Bob happy. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you are all now preparing to celebrate my favorite time of the year CHRISTMAS!

The boys

This is (from left to right) Uncle Kirby, Grandpa John, Bob and Eddie. Eddie is Bob's cousin and Kirby is Bob's Uncle - Eddie's Dad. This picture was taken "under the house" where Eddie was deep frying 2 turkey's for dinner. They were absolutely delicious. I heard the skin was amazing, but I did not touch any because of the "fattening" aspect of it. Unfortunately, when we took this picture Eddie's brother Bo, who was finally home for good from Iraq had not yet arrived.

The 80's are back

This is Hayden in his 80's outfit - well, part of it anyway. As I said earlier, they ran out of the house fast and I couldn't get a picture of them in their costumes. I had to settle for his wig and glasses, and that was it. I was happy to get that. For those of you who are wondering about Sara, she made an "ELF" costume and went trick or treating with her girlfriend outside the neighborhood and I did not get to see her wear what she had made.

Pumpkin carving

This was my first ever attempt at carving a pumpkin. I don't think I did too badly. You can see the witch on the broomstick to the left, a spider at the top, and supposedly a jack o lantern face on the bottom right. When it came time to do the face, I had just had enough of the darn thing. Way too much work when your on the last minute.

Front porch

This is the left side of my front porch (looking out from the front door) Unfortunately, I had to turn the lights on to take this picture, so it doesn't look too scary. It was much better in the dark, with selective halloween strobe lighting. I used pillows for the graves and black bags and a suit bag for the graves also. Next year will be much better as the ideas will flow a little sooner.

Tye Dye mania......

Nick and Hayden both decided to create their own halloween costumes this year. It's nice when they get older, because you save the huge expense of buying the store bought ones. This one was actually Hayden's idea and Nick took to it too. You may be able to see that I did cover the counter top with lots of cling film first. We all managed to ruin our own shirts with the stuff. I had black ink on my hands for 3 days after that. But it sure was a fun experience, and I think they did quite a good job too.

Tye Dye

This is Hayden's finished product. This shirt is part of Hayden halloween costume. I didn't see him with his outfit on either. I did however, manage to take a picture of him a day or so later with his wig and sunglasses on.

Tye Dye

This is Nick's finished product. He also had a mask that was the same color as his t-shirt. I don't have any pictures of him dressed for halloween, because they were so excited that they rushed out of the house and I didn't even see what they looked like myself! (Mother of the year award huh?) ha ha

Emily & her pumpkin

This is Emily. She is in my M/W/F class, and she is the sweetest but biggest handful in that class. I just love to scoop her up and hug on her. She is full of trouble, but it's always the fun kind. I just had to take this picture of her to put in a book I am making for an end of year gift. Emily is 3 years old and just learned to write her first name properly.

Instructions....

This is the "talking pumpkin," his name is "JACK" and he explains how to go out and pick your very own pumpkin in the many rows of vines. He also tells you how to cook the "brains" of the pumpkin and then you can eat them!

Then you are told to "feel your head, know the size" and "only pick a pumpkin only as big as your head.

Boone Hall Farms

Just look at this wonderful looking Jack-O-Lantern! This is every kids dream at Halloween. Well, the kids from the school I work at got to jump on this, as well as go for a hayride and pick their very own pumpkin from Boone Hall Plantation.

SOCK HOP

Look at the state of these boys!!! They were all wound up because they were heading out to the local Sock Hop. It's a 4th & 5th grade dance. The ones in Oviedo that Nick and Sara went to were "very small" compared to these. In Oviedo there were about 100 kids, but here they sell 600 tickets (sell out) in a couple of days! Not too small to say the least! Anyway I took these four "Goonies" to the dance and driving them all their is quite an experience indeed. Coming home is worse - I think they spend their "dinner" money all on candy. Air Heads to be exact. Anyway, the main thing is, they have a brilliant time and can't stop talking about all they do in the 2 1/2 hours they are there! Time to go and get tickets for the next one! Watch out girls!!!

Hockey Tourny

Here's the CHARLESTON WOLVERINE PEE WEE TEAM. We just hosted the first ever "Face Off" tournament and came in second. It was so much fun. The team played against our old Orlando Stars team (Nick played with them) and we ended up being victorious, although it was back and forth the whole game. I got to be a scorekeeper and loved every minute of it. Being on the same side as the coaches and listening to them, seeing and hearing the hard hits - what a difference than being on the spectators side! WAY TO GO WOLVERINES!!!

Tub time....

Here's Nick relaxing in the bath tub in my room. I think if I remember correctly, he was in training for American Idol. He was using the shower head (looks like a phone) as his microphone!

I caught him off guard in this one. He was quite surprised!

Sing out loud Nick!!!

Golf stuff

Dad only got to play golf one day, due to the nasty weather that we had. Evidently, when he played up in the mountains while visiting with Paul, he lost a lot of his golf balls. Well, Hayden had the answer for that one - he told Grandpa that he had lots of them that he found out on the course and he could take as many as he wanted to.
So, here you see Grandpa Mel going through Hayden's stash of balls in his blue bag. Of course he had already taken out the Tiger Woods ball, the Pro V 1 balls, etc. He's smart, nobody get's his good ones!

Mum & Dad

Mum and Dad came to visit us, and stayed through Sept. 3rd. It was a great opportunity to celebrate Hayden's birthday while they were still here.

This picture was taken out on the patio later in the evening, you can see we had all eaten birthday cake and ice cream, 'cause we are all smiling with full bellies!

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!!!

Boston College....

Hayden loves Boston College. Here, he is holding his Boston College "frozen four" tournament t-shirt and a BC college t-shirt. Also you will notice on his head he is wearing a BC cap.

Hayden has a dream of going to Boston College on a hockey scholarship and then playing professional in the NHL.

It's always fun to have those great dreams and desires as a youngster. Never stop dreaming and wishing Hayden!

Hockey Gloves

Hayden had been asking for hockey gloves for his birthday. He had been wearing Bob's for some time. So, needlesstosay he was thrilled when he opened up a box and found the exact pair he had been admiring online.

Now if you know Hayden, you will know that he is a shopper. Anything he wants he lets you know and you are not allowed to forget - all his "shopping" is done online.

The B.B.Q. Kings......

Well, we put Bob and Dad in charge of the grilling, and we made a point to tell them to "watch" it carefully. It seems that when Dad cooks, and Bob cooks (not necessarily together) they have a habit of burning (like charcoal) the food they cook.

This was an opportunity for each of them to watch the other and get it done "right." Well, they did a better job but we did have to remind them to go outside and literally "watch" the food cook as they would get carried away doing other stuff.

Sara & Nick - 1st day of school

Don't blink, you will miss the "love" that they are feeling for each other! This won't happen too often for sure.

Nick and Sara "rise" at 7am and catch the bus at 8am. Nice little sleep in compared to Hayden.

They walk to the bus stop together, of course on opposite sides of the road. Nick and Michael stand on one side of the road, and Sara and McKenna on the other - when the bus arrives the girls cross and get on the bus. I guess the boys have cooties at this age! Hmm how long does that last????

Sara and her Dad. Bob makes sure to tell Sara that she is NOT allowed to talk to any boys! Talk about protective!

Sara was an absolute nervous wreck, she could not eat breakfast, said she had stomach ache and thought she was going to throw up. Of course, Nick found this to be quite amusing! Real nice little brother huh?

Nicholas and Dad...............

Nick was not worried at all about school. He actually went for 1/2 a day on Monday to what they call "Camp Cario" it's for all rising 6th graders to go and get familiar with the school ahead of time.

Today would be a breeze for Nick! Too cool dude!

Hayden - 1st day of school

Well, here he is - Hayden had to be up at 6am to catch the bus at 6:45 am. He couldn't believe how dark it was!
He did however, manage to get up quickly with no problems. I think there was some anticipation about his 1st day of school.
We met his teacher on Monday, and she is young, slender and really "hip" no wonder he had a smile on his face after meeting her!






Here's Hayden with his Dad right before leaving for the bus. Dad was singing the "Pinckney Pirate" song to Hayden, who in return looked at Dad like he was a nutcase. But if you know Bob well, you know he can turn just about anything into a song and make it sound good. Hmmm, maybe he should have been a rock singer.

Oh yes, Hayden also has to wear school uniform! Not pleased, but I could at least get rid of those gold soccer uniform shorts that were absolutely manky!!!

Then of course, there's me! I have to get my hugs in too before school. Hayden told me that I was not allowed to go to the bus stop (just outside our house) I am sure you all know what my response was!!!!!

For those of you who don't know, this is our little "breakfast nook" that overlooks the pond in our backyard. Great views to say the least.

Sara & Tess

This is Sara riding her "project" horse named TESS. She is a lovely horse who seems to like Sara very much. Sara had worked so hard at the barn the last half of the summer, that her trainer - Holly decided that it was time that Sara was rewarded, and also learn how to really take care of a horse as if it were her own. This now means that Sara can ride 7 days a week if she wants to, but she also has to do the "taking care" part of owning a horse too. Mind you, she has done most of it for a long time now anyway - she has become an old pro at shoveling the "you know what!"



That's about all the info I can give you on TESS, as I am not too up on my horse stuff. I go to the barn with Sara quite a lot and work up a sweat myself. My biggest friends at the barn are the ticks that seem to like latching onto me! Nasty really, but I am an old pro at flicking the little buggers off of me.
I pretty much stick to working with a drill and doing repairs at the in the barn
, shoveling the muck and feeding the horses with Pete "the hired hand" (picture of Pete to follow). When Pete and I get to working together, Sara laughs her silly little head off!

Kirby arrives............

Here's Kirby, he arrived on Sunday afternoon ready for a week of fishing, swimming, golfing, and whatever else 3 little boys can get up to.

As you can see Kirby has two nicknames with us, one being K-Man and the other K-Dawg. I don't really know where the K-Fed came in, but there you have it.

They are all ready to get up to all kinds of no good. I hope Bob is ready!!!!!

IOP Beach

Here they are at the IOP before getting into the water. They all took turns using the body boards, diving into the surf, etc.

They were having so much fun in the water. We saw a huge dolphin about 20 feet away from us - what an amazing sight when something comes so close.

No jellyfish this time, and certainly no sharks like last week.

Way out in the ocean, I zoomed in as far as I could because there was no way I was venturing way out there. Kirby to the right, Nick to the left and Hayden looking for a wave.

They had so much fun body surfing and diving into the waves. It was tough to get them out of the ocean just to eat!

This was at the IOP beach - the boys knew that if they helped clean up our stuff and were well behaved, they would each get an ice cream after we got changed.

I think the ice cream bars were the cheapest thing I have found in South Carolina. Oreo cookie and chocolate chip cookie with ice cream in the middle were the favorites!

White water river rafting

This is Gloria, our friend from Orlando who moved to Brevard, NC. Her husban Juan is Bob's old assistant soccer coach and they all went rafting with us. This included their boys Juan and Pablo. I am in the back of the raft taking this picture. We had just started down the river, and talk about cold, this one was FREEZING! If you put your legs in (which we did a few times, your legs would turn numb!
All in all, it was a great experience. Nobody fell in from our group, or from Bob's group. The girls including Nick beat the boys (Bob's group) to the bottom of the falls.


Here is Bob's group getting into the river. Just as slow getting in as they were getting to the bottom. They tried to cheat by having Hayden knock us onto a big rock and getting us stuck! Nice try, but we (the girls & Nick) were way too smart for them. We got off the rock by "rocking" the raft and moving to the back and immediately paddled like maniacs to very quickly pass them and give them a taste of the freezing water by splashing them fiercely.
It was so much fun, I know we would all love to do this one again.

Here we are, all in a line (except me taking the picure) ready to brave the lazy river.

The river is named - The French Broad. It is one of the 3 largest rivers in the world.

We had a lot of fun doing this, although in some spots it did get a little shallow. We would have to get off our donut and push it ahead. We certainly didn't want it to POP! The river was cold at first, but then after all of the splashing and dunking of each other we really got used t0 it.

The beauty of nature

This is the back of our house. I came into the kitchen/breakfast nook and saw the Mum and doe - it seems they are waiting for the other doe to join them before they decide to cross the yard into the woods. They have noticed my movement and seen me looking at them. They didn't seem to mind though, so long as I did not go outside to bother them. What a beautiful sight. This happens almost on a daily basis - crossing our yard. It's so nice to see while we are sitting on the back porch eating dinner.





Mum makes the first dash across our back yard to the woods on the left of our house. One doe is close behind, but the second is strolling in the woods on the other side of the yard to see what it can find.














Here's the Mum and doe waiting for the sibling to decide whether it will join them or not.

If you click on this picture to zoom, you will see that the second baby finally arrived and joined the Mum and sibling. It is kind of hiding behind the other one. And Mum is ahead of them.

"I got one!!!!!"

Nicholas caught this Red Fish this morning (Fri) at the dock. What a beauty. It is 19 1/2 inches long, no weight to report since they forgot their scale. Nick and Hayden were both so excited, they brought it home and gutted it, and added it to the others we have in the freezer. We will be having a fish fry this coming weekend and enjoying the catch. I will let you all know how they tasted.

Nick and the "daddy fish" and Hayden and the "baby fish" When Hayden is not golfing and sneaking onto the golf course, he is fishing off a 1/4 long dock with Nicholas. They got lucky this morning and both reeled in something tasty.