We had a great time on Friday night celebrating Whitt’s first Halloween! Whitt decided he would dress up as a spider (with a sign “WARNING! Poisonous Whittle Spider! Do Not Touch”) and that I would be his web. Mom, of course, had the choice of being a fly or Lil Ms. Muffett. She chose the latter. After spending a couple of days putting our costumes together we were ready for the festivities.

Getting dressed!!

Test run.....Check!

Our first stop was at the Fitzgerald haunted hacienda where our hostess, Beth Fitzgerald, wore the scariest costume I think I have ever seen, a Mrs. Wuf outfit complete with all manner of NC State colors and insignia. Truly evil and quite horrifying. I had to shield Whitt’s eyes to save him from the terror. Luckily, there was an awesome chunky monkey little girl named Madison, his older girlfriend, (and also daughter of the “devil in a red dress”) to keep him distracted. I distracted myself with the meatball and pigs-in-a-blanket tray, chili bowl, and cupcake tower. We had a great time and won best costume which I only wore a total of 15 minutes all night, which was nice. Had I worn it all night, I doubt seriously that there would have been much festivity to my festivity and I would’ve missed out on all that food!

Our next stop was Alice Bryan’s tomb of doom and the scariest thing about their party (besides Matthew Huneycutt’s pants) was that we got there too late to partake of the Chik-Fil-A Nugget tray! OH GOD! PLlEAeAeaSsssEeE NOOOOoooOOOooOOOOoooOo! Stop the TORMENT! Oh well, we had a great time anyway.

The scariest thing all nite....Huneycutt's pants!

So every year Front St UMC (the church Holden grew up in) has a Touch-A-Truck event to raise money for the Playschool. They usually have fire trucks, concrete trucks, dump, trucks, race cars, police cars, tractors….. you get the idea. This year they decided to have it on Halloween, so not only do you get to touch a truck, but you also get candy. A kids dream scenario, of course.

Little Dino with a dum-dum in one hand and a hardhat in the other.

Safety 1st! Mr. Hayes is not looking for a lawsuit.

My 1st customers!

Hayes Homebuilders decided to attend in large part due to my wife’s efforts. I balked at the idea of attending such an event. My thought was that half of the dads out there had a truck like mine. Why would they want to climb in my truck? Of course this was short sighted thinking on my part. I married Holden…..Holden loves events……this certainly qualified as an event……..Holden has a plan…..and, of course, she’s excited about it. Add all of that together and you’re left with a smashing success. Who cares about the truck? What about the tools? Checking out saws, drills, compressors. Not to mention the opportunity to pound nails into a board, steel on steel smashing mayhem with no risk of reprisal. Add to that the reward of candy and stickers and you have a successful outing. I am learning that if my wife thinks something is a good idea….in many cases (not all, but a lot) it is.

A special thanks to Becca Stephens for providing all of the signage from her son Griffin’s 3rd BDay party!

She chewed on the screwdriver for a loooong time.

I can't get over this little girl's Yoga pose while hammering.

……….picking up where we left off, Holden did get the job at Pier 1 and worked there as Asst. Manager until June. That enabled us to buy the home that we currently live in. My wife is awesoooome. We love it. It’s a two-story brick colonial built in 1930. Three BR/2BA almost 2000 sqft. It’s got a cool old house feel, but it’s still in great shape. Got it for $110,000. Did I mention we love it?

This gave us the necessary space to give our family room to expand, which is great because we had our first baby, Whitt Thomas Hayes, on July 10 (John Calvin’s 500th BDay….yessss!). He’s pretty cool, but it took a few weeks. At first, of course, he would just sleep, eat, poop, eat, poop, sleep, poop…..you get the idea. But now he does cool stuff like smile and yell at me not unlike a Viking warrior preparing himself for battle. He also loves playing PattyCake with his Grrrraaandaddyyy…………. which is not like a Viking warrior at all. He’s still cool.

Holden is a stay at home momma. I don’t know how many of you know Holden personally, but for those of you who do know this to be true: She is uniquely qualified to be a great stay at home mom. She also serves as Head Nurturer, Chief Encourager, and Marketing/Hospitality Director of Hayes Homebuilders. I believe that qualifies as 3 or 4 FT jobs. She is also looking to add positions like Boo-boo Healer and Trainer at the Hayes Family Potty Institute (HFPI) She has the patience of Job and she’s gonna need it dealing with the 2 men in her life.

Hayes Homebuilders is weathering the storm that is 2009. We are in it for the long haul. We’re completing jobs and adding satisfied customers. We’ve begun our “marketing campaign”. It’s more guerrilla marketing than anything else, going to expos, joining networking groups, posting on Facebook and LinkedIn, etc. It’s been a tough first year, but the Lord has blessed us thus far and we pray He will continue to do so.

Hopefully, we will be updating this blog more often. Check back often!

First of all, we are settling in to our basement digs at the Burke B&B (basement & breakfast), although we are not using the basement for anything more than a storage/sleeping facility. We have spent tons of time visiting friends and loved ones and the Dean Smith Center and more loved ones and the Dean Smith Center again. (The Dean Smith Center is the hallowed ground where my beloved University of North Carolina Tarheels play…and win….a lot…for those of you who didn’t know).

Once we returned there was no rest for the weary. We had people to see and places to eat (I’ve gained back all the weight previously lost). We’ve been from Charlotte to Winchester, VA, from the NC mountains to the NC beaches, visiting and catching up with everyone. It’s been a lot of fun and strangely relaxing in a way, knowing that there isn’t a lot of pressure to see everyone and cram it into 10 days before jumping on a plane bound for HI.

We are happy to be home, yet overwhelmed with all the change. I don’t know if you are supposed to move a 1/4 of the way around the world, buy a house and start a business all within one calendar year, but that’s what we are doing. On that note, any prayer offered up to the Lord on our behalf would be GREATLY appreciated at this time. We do depend heavily on His grace and mercy and give Him all the glory for what He has done for us thus far. We are super stoked to see what the future holds and what He will do next!!

As previously mentioned, I am starting (have already started a business). Hayes Homebuilders, LLC is a reality and was signed into existence by the NC Secretary of State on January 1st, 2009! Yikes!! Now, I have joined the ranks of terrified new business owners. And, of course, I’m going to start my business in the worst economic climate in the last 70 years, but looking on the bright side of things…. the sky’s the limit from here on out. I’ve decided to focus in on residential remodels SOOOooo, if anyone out there (this primarily applies to those of you on the east coast) has or knows of any remodeling projects that need my expert attention, then let me know!

As far as a house goes, we are looking at a couple of places in Burlington. We figured that we would start out here, since we know the area, with an eye to move eastward to the Hillsborough/Carrboro/Chapel Hill area in the future. Qualifying for a mortgage, however, has proved difficult. We qualify in every category except ummm…. income! Until recently, Holden was picking up some part-time substitute teacher shifts at Front Street UMC preschool, which is the church she grew up in, as well as some holiday shifts at a little specialty wine and gourmet gift shop called For

All Occassions. I on the other hand have been gainfully un/self employed and anything I would do as HHBuilders would not count as income for another 2 years.

After a long, drawn out, and frustrating attempt at getting a job with Alamance-Burlington School System, Holden did land a job with Pier One as an Asst. Manager! She starts Monday. So now we can move forward with our plans to buy. Hopefully, I can pick up a few jobs and get the ball rolling on the business. We will see what God has in store for us!

We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and here’s to an exciting and prosperous 2009!! God Bless!

We crossed the state line of good ole NC on Wednesday, October 22nd (sweet maggie’s bday, and the day before olivia’s bday)!  What a surreal experience to actually be in North Carolina, it seemed it would never arrive, yet all the same, seemed to come so quickly- crazy!

Coming in from Tennessee brought us in through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, and there is no better season than fall to enjoy the beauty of the North Carolina mountains.  What a spectacular reminder of the gorgeous change of seasons that we have missed, although the cold that often accompanies it is still an adjustment!

We were so excited and so blessed to be able to stay with my sister Susan, her husband Gaines, and their cutie girls Riley and Laurel in Blowing Rock, NC.  Blowing Rock is only about 30 minutes or so across the state line, so we were quickly welcomed home to NC, as they stood at the top of their driveway to greet us! YAY!! We had such a fun and sweet visit with them and it is so wonderful to now know we can see them often! Thank you for a great time and a warm welcome back to NC- we love y’all!!!

After two great days in Blowing Rock, we started the official last leg of our personal amazing race; on Friday we headed to Burlington- where life began for both us, and where God has brought our lives once again.  We made the 2 hourish drive and soon arrived to roads and scenery we both know so well, yet has changed quite a bit even since our last visit.  We stopped first in Graham, NC to see Granny, Michael’s precious grandmother.  She is so special to both of us, and we were thrilled to see her, it had definitely been too long.  We are so glad her home is only about 5 mins from where we will be living with my parents in Burlington.  On Saturday we went to Granny’s for her famous biscuits!! yum yum!! Thank you Granny! We Love you!

Final destination: 547B (for basement) Tarleton Ave!! We made it!! We are so thankful safe travels and all the adventures and hospitality we experienced along the way! Thank you, Jesus!!

We made it to our new (and old for me) temporary (we promise Mom and Dad) home! Of course Mom and Dad were there to welcome us with open arms, a cute welcome home sign, a hot and yummy lasagna and a nicely prepared basement for us to call home! We are soooooooo thankful!! Thank you mom and dad!!! Yall are the best!!!

It is so hard to believe, even as I write this two weeks later, that we are really back permanently and not just for a visit, as it has been for the last four years.  How bittersweet it is, as we miss our Maui home, family, church and friends; yet embrace the love and welcoming of our loved ones of our first home of North Carolina; and are even further reminder that our eternal Home will be all the sweeter one day.  We are so blessed and thank God so much the opportunity to live in Maui, to experience the beauty of His creation, but even more so, the love of His people there-we are forever grateful! And what a blast we had along the way as we crossed an entire ocean and a huge land mass to get us back to NC – an adventure we will always cherish, and crack up about!  We look forward to what He has in store for us now in North Carolina, and wherever else He may lead us in the future. And we thank God that through Him we have certainty in the uncertainty.  YAY!!

here are a few pics of our first days in NC- more to come when I have quicker download time

First city along the way, Indianapolis, Indiana- home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Zachary Harmer’s all time favorite team the COLTS! We enjoyed a drive through downtown and stop at the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium to check out the Colts home and take some memorabilia pics for our buddy Zachary! (We will send you a copy of all the pics Zack)

Next city stop, Louisville, Kentucky for a quick sightseeing of Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is held. We were unable to see the actual race track, but were able to see the outside entrance and a small museum.  I loved looking at the big ladies Derby hats they had on display- oh how i would love to get a big beautful hat, sip a mint julep and watch the races- how fun- just like Pretty Woman!

After this super quick stop we were on to Nashville. We arrived around 6pm, did a brief drive through part of downtown- the Honky Tonky area, Em told us, and then headed over to Emily and Ian’s home.  Emily and I grew up together in Burlington- we attended school together starting in elementary, were in the same Indian Princess tribe- yay Chinook   and attended church together. She and her twin sister Natalie have always been dear friends.

We arrived at their super cute, Carolina blue home, and they welcomed us with open arms and sweet southern hospitality.  We had a great dinner out with them and a mini tour around their neighborhood. We had a brief, but wonderful visit with the Byrams. Ian and Emily, thank you SO much for having us! We had such a great time visiting with yall!

After a nice rest at the Byram’s B&B we went to a cute coffee shop for breakfast and to a used bookstore across the street for our Nashville used book. Then we were off to the Grand Ole Opry…yeeehawwww….. We arrived at the Grand Ole Opry, home of country music’s greats as well as Old Navy, Dave and Busters, and various other commercial icons, seriously, I am standing facing the old building where many country music greats have belted it out, and yep, to my right sits good ole Old Navy- sad day, it is a bit commercialized to say the least.  We still think it might be fun to come back and see a show one day- oh and pick up some affordable crew neck shirts at the same time.

Now we are off to Blowing Rock…yay NC and the fam….

After we left the Fields Inn in KC, we headed for ChiTown. Illinois is remarkably nondescript until you get to the city. Before we got all the way downtown, we stopped for a hotdog. Let me say that Windy City Hotdogs are fantastic… and CHEAP!! For $12 we got three dogs, two fries, two drinks,……. and the biggest gyro I’ve ever seen. I am not exagerrating when I tell you that there was almost a pound of beef & lamb in that thing. Standard sized pita mind you….. it was ill-suited to it’s beefy task, but delicious.

Okay, moving on. We stayed at the River North BW in downtown Chicago. A cool hotel in the heart of the city. Convenient to everything. We checked in, got settled, and readied ourselves fro the show at The Second City.

The Second City is a comedy theater that has launched the careers of John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, etc. So we went to the show and had a great time. We saw “No Country For Old White Men”. It was a blast! Highly recommended.

The next morning we set out to explore the city. We headed out for the subway, bound for Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field is, of course where the Cubs play. It’s an old, beautiful stadium, surrounded by three story houses with bleachers on top for watching games.

After Wrigley, we headed for a bookstore. We’ve been buying old, classic books in every city. I was looking for “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, based in Chicago, but was disappointed when they only had it in paperback. Oh well.

So from there we wanted to get some authentic Chicago deep-dish. Gino’s East was our destination and we caught a train to our bus stop, but the bus we were supposed to catch was late. So, it’s drizzling… not heavy, mind you…. and the bus is like 10 minutes late, so we decide maybe we can take the train down to LaSalle St. and walk what we THINK is probably only two blocks up to Gino’s. We get off the train, come up onto the street and have a look. It’s raining….. not drizzling….. raining. So I run to the corner and try to get my bearings. I look left and up… and up and up. There’s the Sears tower. UH-OH. Judging from the map I had studied at the hotel, my guesstimate was that we were about 10 blocks south of Gino’s.

I didn’t want to get a cab and spend $10 to go a little less than a mile (we’re cheap) and the only bus there is the 165 bus, the very one that was late. Time to walk…. in the rain…  ill-equipped, of course. We finally make it, though and mmmmmmmmm. What a great reward after a mile hike through the city trying not to get hit by a cab…… DEEP DISH PIZZA! It was awesome and really deep!

So, we make our way to the Art Institute of Chicago. We read that it closed at 8:30 and it was about 4:30 when we got there and we had to get the car out of the lot by 6, so it was perfect timing. But, unfortunately the time was in correct and they closed at 5. So, we basically were speed walking through the museum. Oh Monet…. nice…… Van Gogh…. interesting….. let’s go. It was nice enough, but very short. Just a taste.

We enjoyed Chicago though, in spite of all of the setbacks we encountered. We want to go back and check it out some more if we have the opportunity.

Here’s some pics:

However, there are some interesting things in Kansas though we were unable to do any of them: the OZ Museum, the boyhood homes of Bob Dole and Arlen Specter (not really a fan of the name Arlen), birthplace of Eisenhower and two astronauts AND……. the greatest coach ever to teach the game….. Mr. Dean E. Smith… FROM?…… Emporia, KS! Oh, and Kansas University too.

Eventually, we arrived at Heidi’s, a friend of ours house, where we were warmly greeted by the Fields family. Heidi’s parents have a beautiful home with warm beds and HOT WATER!!

Okay…. next day…. Mission: 1. Find good KC BBQ  2. Eat BBQ. Mission accomplished through hard work, perseverance and a wise guide. Jack Stack BBQ. Going to KC or passing within the same time zone? Go to Jack Stack. Seriously. Holden & I got the KC combo plate (KC is known for their classic BBQ ribs). I got burnt ends and beef ribs, because I, being a wonderful husband let my wife order first and she ordered what I wanted, pork ribs and brisket (what can I say… she’s got good taste… heh-heh) and we wanted to try everything. To make a long story short, I gorged myself. We ate at 1 o’clock or so and I wasn’t hungry again until…… well I’m still not hungry and that was 2 days ago.

The portions were huge and we were going to take a picture of the food for the blog buuuuut…. we were overcome by our gluttonous fantasies and crammed our faces, finishing (actually none of us ‘finished’) our plates before we realized the missed picture opportunity. Darn.

There is a Harley-Davidson manufacturing facility there in KC, but they don’t allow any pictures and the main reason for going would be to take pics for Tom, H’s dad, so we didn’t do that. We did, however cruise downtown, which is very nice. We like smaller cities with nice downtown’s we’ve discovered. Did you know that Kansas City has as many fountains as most European cities? Interesting.

Anyway, the main reason to go to KC was to hang out with Holden’s friend and my twin (in spirit) Heidi and that was what we did for the most part. We had a good time of fellowship with Heidi and her mom, Linda. Too bad we didn’t get to meet her dad, but he was away on business (heh-heh) in OK. However, we were able to convince Heidi to attend our ‘Unemployed Persons Luncheon’ on Monday, Oct. 27 to be held at the Burlington Huffman Mill Road McDonald’s where Dollar Menu items & drinks with free re-fills will be served from 12pm-1pm. We are hoping (fingers crossed) that she doesn’t score that job, so she can attend!

Just kidding Heidster! We wish you the best! But you are welcome to attend our ‘Intro to NC BBQ’ class which is available as soon as you show up. Registration is free. Hotel accomodations provided by the Hayes B&B (Basement & Breakfast) as long as Holden’s parents say it’s okay, located on the bottom floor of the Burke Hotel.

Heidi…….. say hi to your mother for me, okay?

Canyonlands was a pleasant surprise. We had not really expected much from the park. I really only wanted to go to see Mesa Arch, but it was really a treat. This is a multi-day park. There are several really long hikes and it is a much bigger park than Arches. In order to fully appreciate it, you would need to spend a good bit of time here. The Green River overlook was beautiful and the Mesa Arch was incredible. Arches National Park has a multitude of Arches, but, in my opinion, Mesa Arch in Canyonlands is the king.

Perched atop a 1200′ drop is a 40-50′ arch. The view through the opening is of the canyon floor below. You can walk across the arch (although I would not suggest it) and some people did. It is made of sandstone and has a lot of fissures running through it’s base. Eventually, as with all sandstone arches, it will fall. A large section of Landscape Arch fell in 1991 while people were under it. Fortunatley, it gave a warning by cracking and popping seconds before the collapse allowing people to escape and one guy actually took a photo of it crashing down. Crazy! They don’t let people hike beneath it any longer.

Okay. We leave Canyonlands and, ultimately, Utah behind headed for Denver. On our way we stopped at Glenwood Springs, CO which is home to a natural hot springs pool you can swim in AND John Henry ‘Doc’ Holliday burial site, in which swimming is not suggested. The gravesite was cool and the hot springs refreshing and relaxing after 3 days of camping.

From Glenwood Springs to Vail. Vail is a beautiful mountain town (as you would expect) with beautiful and expensive homes, condos, and hotels (also as you would expect). Unfortunately for Holden there was no snow on the ground, but she still wants to vacation there. Figures.

On to Denver. This is where the trouble began. I am sure Denver is nice, but we did not have a pleasant time due to circumstances beyond Denver’s control. First, we get into town headed for our hotel in downtown Denver and everything looks great… nice shops, restaurants, looks very corporate and then…..we cross over one street and “uh-oh, it’s ghetto”. So, we decide not to stay there. It’s 7:30. I am starving. So, we try to find this place we had read about, Wynkoop’s. It’s a brewery/restaurant. My kind of place. So, I drive in the direction I think it is in and get within two blocks when the one way sign pulls a switcharooni. Plan B: GPS (I know you’re thinking this shoulda been Plan A, but H was using it to find a hotel.) GPS (Martha as we call her) says that I must drive 2 miles (a lot in a city) in order to get to the restaurant 2 blocks away.

Restaurant: Excellent! Parking: $10. Alright. Now off to find a hotel. So we have these Best Western gift cards, but only have $130 left and we still have Chicago on the schedule. My vote was to keep our gift cards and find a cheaper (Motel 6) place to stay, because the BW is not the cheapest. Get to Motel 6 (10pm) and the lady encased in glass is scared to even stand all the way in the open choosing instead to kind of peer around the corner…. on second thought let’s find that bee-dub.

Call the number in the BW atlas, confirm vacancy, and head that way. Now the Motel 6 was 7 miles in one direction and the BW was 15 miles in the other. Martha says “You have arrived at 9799 E. Geddes Ave.” Unfortunately, no Best Western to be found. So we call. They changed management 5 months ago. They are now a Quality Inn. Are you serious?!

Of course they don’t honor our BW gift card so we head next door to the Days Inn which is cheaper. Good news: $15 cheaper. Bad news: No hot water. Oh well, we’re campers, which insinuates toughness and apathy. Book it! Next morning a bone chilling shower for me and a dirty look from my wife, the recovering burrito, at the mere mention of a shower.

Anyway, a good night’s sleep and a h….cold shower and on to Heidi’s in KC.

Check out the pics:

Next stop: Heidi’s house in KC!

So, we set up camp outside the park on the Colorado River. The campsite was run by the Bureau of Land Management and not as nice as National Park campgrounds, but not terrible. Plus it was a lot warmer that night than the two previous camping nights.

So, this is the land of the Big Horn Ram and I have been looking for one since Zion. Everywhere in the park there are signs for BHR crossing next so many miles, but I never did see one. I was pretty bummed. I wanted to do “Mike Hayes Talks To Animals”. “So you’re a ram… what’s that like? Say hi to your mother for me.” (SNL Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals)

Nevertheless, Arches was really cool! Crazy rock formations. Double Arch was cool. You can climb up the rock walls to some crazy viewpoints. There are some really good hikes to Landscape Arch, Double O Arch, and the famous Delicate Arch. We hiked to Windows, Double Arch, and Landscape. You could definitely do this park in a day, which is nice.

Emma: Absolutely must do! Give yourself  at least 8 hours.

Check out the pics: