I’m typically quite the homebody, content to be home with everyone around me. But when the chicks are scattered, I am compelled to go to them! In what ended up being a quick turnaround after returning from the drive to Dayton, I hopped on a plane to visit Tiffany in South Carolina.

It was another fantastic weekend–lots of talking and doing touristy things, like walking around the Soda City farmers market. We enjoyed some delicious Brazilian steak. My mouth is watering just remembering it now.

We walked along the riverwalk, though our walk didn’t last long because the weather was unbearably hot.

We also spent a day at the local botanical garden and zoo.

We saw fascinating animals, but what we kept our eye out for more than anything else were these creatures, which we found everywhere along the way.

We stayed at a hotel for two nights and spent the final night at Ft. Jackson. After seeing where Tiffany has been living for nearly three months, my respect for her skyrocketed. The living conditions are less than ideal to put it mildly. But she endures without complaint.

The weekend came to an abrupt end before dawn Monday morning. I saw the sun rise while waiting to board my plan to return home.

With Tiffany in South Carolina for three months training for her army job, we decided to visit Jake for a long weekend in August and keep him company. Molly didn’t want to be left behind, so we packed her into the car with us. (She may have come to regret accompanying us later…see below)

Jake and Tiffany did a lot in 2 months to make their house a home,

including putting up a hammock in the living room.

Jake has a great setup for doing grad school homework in the office. He had a big lab write-up due the day after we arrived, so he excused himself to work on it that night.

At least he looked like he was having fun!

A couple days later, Jim helped him put up a wall-size white board so he can work out complex equations without having to erase.

The boys played lots of spike ball in the yard.

And we got to meet Poppy, Jake and Tiffany’s friends’ new puppy. Poppy the puppy. We were in love.

It reminded us of Molly at that age. The next day, we thought we would have the elderly Molly meet the whipper snapper Poppy. It went just as we expected.

Notice the stress on Molly’s face. She kept hiding behind me or retreating to a corner in order to get away from the little squirt.

When it was clear she had had enough, we separated the dogs to their own corners.

We spent two days at the National Museum of the Air Force. It was massive and full of more aircraft than we’ve ever seen. And we’ve seen a lot of aircraft over the years.

The masked brothers in front of a replica of the Wright Flyer.

There was so much to see and read. We also took advantage of learning from some of the docents roaming the hangars.

Some of us flew in the flight simulators.

I loved watching Jake share the knowledge he’s gained over the past few years. And I think he loved sharing it with us.

This museum is impressive to say the least. We really needed another full day to see everything, but instead we sped through the last hangar and were more or less the last ones out of the museum at closing time.

Jake and Peter cooked up a fish fry one night,

and it was a hit with everyone.

It was a fantastic trip and so good to spend time with Jake. We did miss having Tiffany with us, however. It helped to know that I would see her the following weekend!