Catch Up

Well lets see sense I last blogged I went to the mountains of North Carolina, (they are gorgeous) went back to New Jersey, celebrated my birthday, went to D.C for the day and missed my flight home, had jury duty, and I can't remember what more went on.

Most of the group who were at the MountainTop Retreat

We spent the rest of that weekend (the 11-13) seeing the sights and checking out the area. On Monday we jumped into the car and headed west towards Asheville, N.C. We were strongly relying on TomTom to get us where we wanted to go.

The drive was pretty nice once we got out of the rain and onto the scenic highway. We them spent the rest of the week with a large group of "older young people" in the mountains. It was encouraging and a blast. We went hiking on Tuesday, To the Biltmore on Wednesday, and on Friday we attempted to white water raft. Not much water white or other wise on the river because of the lack of rain. We still had a great time.

The group I toured the Biltmore with. Mike, Beth, Faith, and Ted.

Saturday we all said good bye and headed our separate ways. Sunday was my birthday and potluck in Dorothy. That evening there was a sing at Russell and Linda Ruga's place. Abby surprised me with a cake, flowers, and everyone singing happy birthday. Monday Babs, Jenny, and Cindy Sikora and myself went out for lunch. Spending the day with the girls was a nice treat. Tuesday was my day to fly home. The plan was to go up to D.C for part of the day because my flight didn't leave until 3pm. So we (Phillip, Abby, and I) went to the Natural History Museum. Unfortunatly I got to the airport just a little late and they would not let me check in. Thankfully I was able to get on a different flight. I got home at 1am and not 10pm, but I did get home!

I am still managing to keep busy, and that is how I like it.

Playing Tourist

We spent Friday visiting plantations and going to Duke U. While we were at the Duke family homestead the sky opened up and it poured.

Slave Housing at the Duke Homestead The Duke home
The Chapel at Duke, It is gorgeous
The pipes for the organ. There was a wedding rehearsal going on and a guy told us that there were three weddings planned for Saturday in the Chapel.

The latest from N.J

Saturday: Susan and I were lazy most of the day. In the afternoon we went out to The Fire station where Bill works and watched them do practice extractions from a car. It was very neat.

Sunday: Susan and I went out to Bull Run and walked around and saw where the different battles took place.

Monday we went to the Marine Corps museum.


I arrived at the PHIL train station yesterday where Abby picked me up. We went to her in laws for brunch and then ran errands. I also took a great 2 hr nap!!! Today Philip and Abby are having all of the Sikoras over for supper. Scott and Lisa Rochon and their three kids are here from Florida. It should be fun! Tomorrow I leave for N.C. to meet up with Lori and then go up to the camp "near" Ashville.

Flickr

Here is a link to some of the pictures I have taken so far.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/10566346@N06/

The 4th of July

Bill and Susan are married!

One of the reasons I came to the D.C area was for my friend Susans wedding. The 4th was a busy, busy day. We all had a great time and ended the day with a minor league baseball game that tried to get rained out. It was just a little rain, but umbrellas went up very fast. Oh well we didn't melt.

My week so far

Ok so Monday started with me dropping by my Grandmas to say hi, and me taking her over to the hospital. She is ok, but there was some confusion about her meds and she had fainted a couple of times. It was decided that the fainting had to do with the heat. I had been in the high 90's and reached 102 on Sunday. Oh ya this was in WallaWalla.

Tuesday was uneventful, last minute prep for my trip.

Wednesday: I spent the day in either an airport or a plane. My flight out of PDX was delayed 45min. That was fine as I had a 3hr layover at LAX and a entire row to myself. When we landed in LAX we were told there had been some kind of security breach and the traffic coming in and out of the airport had been stopped. I still have no idea what happened. After going from the Alaska gates to American I was informed that I was not in the computer. Can you say slight freak out. They sent me to customer service and everything was straightened out. Again my flight was delayed and this time very full. Oh ya did you know that if you want food on American it costs $10 for a sandwich and chips, $3 for a cookie, or chips. OUTRAGEOUS

I am spoiled by Hawaiian Air and Southwest. Any way I arrived here at 12:20 am local time.

Thursday: I slept till 10 local and we have been puttering around doing wedding stuff.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The title says it all. It hit triple digits in Walla Walla this past weekend. I was to hot for my liking. I had a good time in the "city so nice they named it twice" I leave Wednesday a.m. for Virginia where it will be hot and humid. I still have to pack and finish some shopping.

Packing, Funerals, and other not so fun stuff

Well lets see what I can keep putting off until later. I still need to pack for WWC but I can't leave until Friday afternoon so why worry right. Of course there is the packing to think about for my 20 day trip back east but I don't leave til Wednesday so whats the rush. Of course there is the online class I am "taking", it's a geography class and basically all essays. Sorta been putting it off. I need to get my act in gear.

Back to the packing thing. OK so I was sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor coming to the realization that all of my shorts are to big.(not that that is a bad thing it's just a pain)

Hello... west coast girl Summer type weather just decided to join us in the last week or so. When you are going to be in Virginia, NJ, NC where it is hot and humid you need shorts. So that means a trip to the store where all the women's shorts no matter what size seem to be too short or too stretching, or just not in my size. The answer came to the men's section! Wranglers are great!

Friday I will be going to the funeral of a friend from high school. J.R was a wonderful guy with a fantastic voice, who loved the Lord. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. I really don't like funerals ( I guess if I did there would be something wrong with me.) thankfully I know I will see J.R again when the Lord comes.

Alright enough stalling I gotta stuff to get done. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

My cat Quest being Lazy

Work in progress

Hi all,

Well I decided to give blogging a try. We shall see what comes of this little experiment.