Christmas Trip 2008

Each year, Joe and I take the kids on vacation instead of buying a bunch of junk they'll forget about by Valentine's Day. This year, we are going to New Jersey to stay with a friend of mine. We will be going in to New York City on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, we are going in to Philly. On Tuesday, we are going to be traveling to Washington, D.C. We will be there until Saturday. We have tickets to go in to the Washington Monument, The Capitol Building and The White House. Today, December 26, is a travel day. We drove through Tennessee, Virginia (which is beautiful), West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and into New Jersey! *whew* It has been a day! Virginia was beautiful. We were just miles east of the Appalachian Mountains. They were unbelievable. The little towns on the side of the road were amazing! We were advised to drive through Hershey, Pennsylvania. What a cool little town! Here are a couple of pictures from today.

Not a Clue

I have no clue why when I changed my template it only changed part of it. Any ideas?

An Update

To my friend, Angie: I think you are the only person who reads my blog! Thank you, my dear friend. ;)

We traveled home for Thanksgiving. It was our first Thanksgiving with our families since 2005! It was a . . .crazy Thanksgiving. Traditionally, we spend Thanksgiving Day with Joe's large, extended family. We meet at a Lodge and have dinner together. Joe's aunt and uncle are our hosts. On Thursday morning, they recieved a call that Kris, Joe's aunt's father was unresponsive in the retirement home where he lived. He passed away sometime later that day. My parents had decided to join us at Joe's family gathering. My dad called to inform us that my mom and Estee Lauder had a little tussel this morning. My mom had gotten a gel cleaner in her eye. A quick trip to the ER to get it washed out proved to put her out for the weekend. She apparently burned her cornea or something. She is doing much better now.

We woke up the day after Thanksgiving to understand that Joe's great-uncle, his Grandma's only living sibling of 5 had passed away. He had long battled skin cancer and lost his battle quietly and peacefully. Ironically, he and Kris's dad were "buddies" now in Heaven together! How sweet is that! We stayed in Chattanooga until Uncle Charles' service on Tuesday.

He served our country in peace and war. When he was 15 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. He served four years, was a civilian for a short time and re-inlisted as a sailor. He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was so scared, as the story goes, that he climbed a tree. In the middle of the tree was a hollow. He climbed in. There was a large snake inside the tree. He said he didn't know who was more afraid so he and the snake kept each other company until it was safe to leave the tree. He had a beautiful, full honors, military service and was laid to rest on a hill in Chattanooga's National Cemetery. They released four doves representing The Father, Son and Holy Spirit when they released the last bird, representing Uncle Charles, he flew high into the sky and joined the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on his flight. It was beautiful.

May you rest in enternal peace with our Father in Heaven, Uncle Charles.

Mommies Minute Getaway Weekend

About a year ago, I joined a message board. It is all mom's from all over the country and beyond. The core group started six years ago when they were all pregnant. Last year, before I was a member, they all met up in Chicago. When I joined, they had just gotten back and started planning the meet up for this year in New Jersey, New York City and New Hope, Pennsylvania. I wasn't sure that I was willing to go. . . a little weird, right? Well, I was among the first to book my flight. My motivation was NYC, right? Who would pass up an opportunity to go to New York City? We all arrived in New Jersey, we stayed at one of the mom's homes on Thursday night. On Friday morning, we went for manicures and pedicures, had lunch and went into New Hope, PA. It was a quaint little town with lots of window shopping. On Saturday morning, we went into NYC and on Sunday, we packed, cleaned and headed off to the airport. I can not even put into words what a wonderful time we had. One would think with eleven women, with different personalities, beliefs, lives that things could go bad quickly. I have made 10 friends for a lifetime. Here are some things I learned on my trip:

You can't say, "Do you have a plunger ... and some rags?" with a straight face.

You can never be too silly.

You can't laugh too much, too long, or too loud.

It's a lot of fun to watch your friends have fun.

It takes 48 hours to really loosen up.

It's OK to let someone help you, if they want to.

Dreams do come true, with a little help from your friends.

An almost 50 year old woman can outrun a much younger woman, particularly when a friend is in trouble.

No 2 pictures of the Statue of Liberty are the same even when 50 pictures are taken.

Even rain can't ruin a good time when you are with your friends.

You can function on 3 hours of sleep each night over a long weekend, when you are having a good time with your friends.

A lot can happen in an M&M store.

Many people can look at the same thing, and see things differently.

9 sober women on a train can be very scary and really loud!

Everything tastes better when someone else cooks.

People are different in person than they seem on line.

Seven women and luggage will fit in a minivan.

Sometimes it is better to do it yourself.

No matter how old your passengers are, someone will say, "Are we there yet?"

We all need to take a moment to be sad before we move on.

The best place to have a crisis is anywhere your friends are.

Hot Chocolate is only worth drinking if you have mini marshmellows.

Don't stop at a public restroom if you are trying to catch a boat.

Not all Southern Belles go to charm school.

When we allow the unknown to happen, it can turn out better than we could have ever imagined.

Eleven women, in one house, with two bathrooms can be on time. . . most of the time with only seconds to spare.

We should take the time to find the positive when bad things happen.

Not all NYC firefighters are hot!

Eye injuries must occur in NYC while raining.

Sweetened Condensed Milk is loved by many.

Our perception of others is sometimes correct and totally wrong often.

Here a few of thousands of pictures taken on our trip!

Getting a Pedicure:

Pedicured Toes Lady Liberty

Time Square at night:

I am No Bakerella

So while "blogstalking" I found Bakerella. Coy's upcoming birthday party inspired me to try my hand! Almost laughable, but it was fun!

Thirteen

I can not believe that Coy turned 13 yesterday. Thirteen years he has brought smiles to our faces with his smiling face. He is such a sweet boy, a teenager now. He is having his birthday party next weekend, a skating party! I fixed him pancakes yesterday morning, they are his favorite. We asked what he wanted to do this day. He said skateboarding, just him and dad. He wanted steak and mashed potatoes for dinner. We begged to go out to celebrate 13 years, but insisted on steak and *mashed* potatoes! It seemed fitting to share a few pictures of him through the years:

Bread Machine

A great friend in LaGrange found out a couple of months ago that I was in the market for a bread machine. He and his wife had one in storage, new in the box, with no time or intention of using it. What a blessing to recieve! I have been working on finding a great sandwich bread to no avail as of today, but I am still working on it . I have made monkey bread (yum), pretzels, banana bread, various loaves of bread and these! My prized bread machine token. . .Organic Wheat Bagels! I made strawberry cream cheese to boot with organic strawberries, of course!