Back in June, when I last posted, we were still actively working on the actual purchase of the property next door, but at the time of the writing, hadn't actually closed on it. In July, we finally did just that, closing on the 11th, the same day that we headed to Grandfather Mountain, NC for the annual Highland Games. This year, we not only attended all four days, but we camped out, too...and brought a good chunk of the family along for good measure. Although it rained the entire time, we had a blast, and decided to expand our time next year to camp for the entire week, whether anyone else joins us or not. We have no doubt that the camper will be jam-packed with Clan.
Along with Keith's parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew and wife, and sister-in-law's mother, Jessica joined us, a family friend of ours, and Jessica's aunt and cousin also came up for the day, and we had a mini-reunion, which was awesome, as we haven't seen each other for years. We had several OG'ers come to celebrate, as well. Irene and her friend, Lisa came from Canada and Michigan, Shelley from Maryland, Joelle from Wilmington, NC, and Anita from Sophia, NC. Only Joelle was an old-timer; all the rest were first-time visitors. We're hoping for more repeats next year, and would love to see some of our friends from previous years return as well. We also had a wonderful meet-up with the Ladies of Lallybroch, a sister group of Outlander fans, and some old friendships were renewed and new ones formed. It was great to see our friends Julie from Kingsport and Angie from Georgia here again.
In October, we were blessed with another adopted child, in the form of Jessica's best friend (and our oldest Grandson Gabe's biological father), Rick (a/k/a Irb...short for Ice Road Biker). Irb decided to join us on the Ridge, and he and Keith formed a joint partnership in Keith's business, Phoenix Restorations & Recreations. Having Irb join us was one of the best things that happened all year; he's been such a help for me as well as Keith, and our plans took a major leap forward toward our goals being accomplished at his arrival.
Also in October, our second-oldest grandson went into double-digits, joining his brother, who had reached that milestone in July. Their birthday request, since they hadn't been able to join us for Grandfather, had been to go to the Stone Mountain Highland Games with us. So Poppy and I took them to Atlanta for the day to spend the day with Jessica, Katrina, and Irb. An added blessing was that we were also able to take our granddaughter, Harmony with us. It was truly wonderful to be able to spend the day with three of our angels at once.
In November, we found out that our son, Ian and his family had decided to return to the Atlanta area, so we gained a son, and lost a son, all within a month. We will miss them terribly, but we know that they...as all our children have...must follow their own path.
So far, December has seen a lot of working, on the part of all three of us. Our neighbor, Jeri, who we bought our new home from this year, will be completely moved by the end of the month, paving our way to begin our renovations. We plan on having a quiet Christmas at home this year, with none of the kids (save Irb) joining us. After Christmas, Keith and I will go down to NC to pick up our two oldest grandsons, who will spend New Year's weekend with us. It will be very nice to be able to bring in the new year with them. We don't get to see them nearly enough...a condition we hope will change drastically in 2013.
Once thing is for certain; January will bring massive changes to the Ridge, some of them long-awaited, indeed...and we are very excited to see them arrive.
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