I need a vacation

Back at work after a week off today, and I have to say that I feel like I need a vacation. Guess that means that I had a good vacation.

I unplugged from the computer Friday afternoon, picked up Jenny, Frank, and Erich at the airport, finished packing, and got to bed late. We awoke early and packed up the family. Off we went to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina The drive takes about 9 hours. The kids both did exceptional this trip. We were expecting wining and crying. Not much of that to our surprise.

Hilton Head was pretty cool. The house that Mary and John rented was awesome. We spent the majority of our time lounging by the pool and at the beach. We had a stream between the rental and the golf course. Pretty much any time of day you could wander out and find an aligator lurking or basking on the shore. That was cool and a little freaky with young kids.

The house had wireless access, but honestly I enjoyed unplugging. I checked my e-mail once during the week, but otherwise avoided the computer. It was a nice change of pace.

I am sure Erin will be blogging, so I will fill in a link to hers later.

We got home on Friday evening. Saturday we slept in. After our coffee Frank hinted that if I was interested he wouldn't mind getting started on wiring the garage. So we launched into an all day project of dropping 2 dedicated 20amp circuits into the garage. We ran into several issues along the way, but in the end I was only out $200 and the interior of the house is still within spousal approval. End result 14 new outlet locations, a master switch to shutoff the outlets on one circuit (for power tools), and no more extension cord to the garage door opener. I will get a shop update posted in a few days for those who want visuals.

Yesterday was a yard work day. Started early by heading out for coffee. Get home to find that we left our grinder in SC. So off to Target for a new grinder. Not a burr grinder, but it is much nicer than our old one. If the old one pops up again Erin can designate it to spice chopping or something. After coffee I cleaned up the yard to prep for mowing. Then Erin and Jenny took off. I put Erich to work mowing the lawn while Frank and I watched the kids. Erich didn't seem to mind doing laps on the riding mower. I fired up the weed wacker and edged/trimmed where the mower couldn't reach. In the afternoon Frank came out and went fishing for dead branches in our treas. He broke off a bunch of limbs and I stacked the debris curbside for pickup.

I ended the weekend by touring the next door neighbors shop and sampling some home brews that he had on tap. His beer was good and the shop was also nice. He showed off some of the pieces in the house that he had built. Overall it was a good getting to know the neighbor visit.

That's all I got for now. Check back for a shop update.