That I haven't blogged since MAY FIRST! 3& 1/2 months later... wow, this summer sure has FLOWN by. And, of course, like many of you, I am totally addicted to Facebook, so that has taken my time from blogging.
Well, here's the rundown of the past 3&1/2 months...
May 2-3, down to Atlanta to "get out of Dodge" for Kentucky Derby weekend. Scratched another baseball stadium off the list, saw my Uncle Dave, whom I haven't seen in YEARS, and caught up with some friends there for church. Rachel, my friend, was actually my roommate at Northland Camp the summer that Chris and I met. It was nice to catch up! :-)
The following weekend, Mother's Day weekend, we flew to Maryland for a long weekend. Ever since our in vitro fertilization/miscarriage, Chris has bought me tickets to go see my best friend in Maryland as a Mother's Day gift. This year, he came along. We had a wonderful time with Kevin and Jos, and got to catch up with a lot of friends from our church there. It made Mother's Day a bit easier for me! I'm so thankful for a wonderful, thoughtful husband!
After 3 trips for me in 3 weekends, we settled down to work, work and more work... with our ministry responsibilities at church added in. We were able to have some fun in there, too!
June was a pretty quiet month for us, though I had a fun opportunity to do a "photo shoot" with my friends, JR & Abbi. They got married in December, and didn't really care for their engagement pictures. I went out with them one weekend while Chris was gone for some work training, and took a bunch of pictures of them. I am by no means a photographer, but I was pretty pleased with the way some of them turned out.
June 12 our church had a "Sister's Supper." It was a ladies' banquet for all females ages 4 and up. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, and God used one of the devotionals in particular to really speak to my heart about something I had been struggling with that week especially. I may have to post about that later.
June 23rd, my dear friend, Shanna had her baby, Mason, at 23 weeks, 5 days along... about 3 months early! It was pretty rough on me, but today he is doing FANTASTIC, and is really a tiny miracle!
On June 30th, my grandparents came down to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati (about an hour & 1/2 from us). I had not seen them in 2 years... to the day! (It was my baby brother's wedding anniversary, and the last time I had seen them was at Nathan's wedding!) I was able to take the day off and spend it with them, which was a huge blessing!
We celebrated July 4th at Indian Creek Baptist Camp (the camp run by our church) on Freedom Friday (which happened to be July 3rd.) Chris had the opportunity to preach in the service... only the second time he's actually had that opportunity since we left Maryland 3 years before. He did an awesome job (I know, I'm a little prejudiced!) I was very proud of him. We took Zack and Dakota with us (Dakota is the little boy I took care of for over 2 years). It was a wonderful night, and we enjoyed it!
July 16th, I was able to head up to Indianapolis for the day to visit with 2 college friends that liver there, Jess and Kelly (and their families.) I so enjoyed seeing them and catching up a little better! I don't live that far away, but it seems like there is never a really good time to go more often. :-(
July 22 was our 9th anniversary. We both had to work that day, but ended up having Friday the 24th off together. We slept in, worked out, then headed out for the day... visited Louisville Mega Cavern, ate at J. Gumbos, went to the Louisville Slugger museum, walked around downtown Louisville (and took pictures), then went to Morton's steakhouse for dinner. It was FABULOUS! We so enjoyed having the day together to celebrate our marriage and our life together.
July 31st, we went to a Louisville Bats game with our friends, April & Scott Mohler. We enjoy the fellowship with them, and wish we could get together with them more often, as well.
The first full week of August brings YOUTH CONFERENCE to Shawnee Baptist Church. This year was the 25th Anniversary of Youth Conference. It was AWESOME!!! We had 1,200+ teens here for 4 days to hear the preaching of God's Word for 3 days, then the last day they spend at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. They usually go to a waterpark on that Tuesday morning, but this year the waterpark came to them... We had a HUGE flood; actually a Flood Emergency was declared for Louisville... basically, if you didn't have to go anywhere, DON'T! It sure made it memorable! :-)
That same week was very busy for me... I worked all week, then was trying to visit with a couple people that were just in town for the week, plus get ready for vacation! I was blessed to be able to see a good friend from MN, Dawn, who was down here meeting her newest grandbaby... and her first granddaughter. I also got to spend some time with a little boy that I took care of in Maryland, Nathen, and his family, who were here visiting as well.
August 8th, after work, we left on VACATION! It was AWESOME, and I didn't want to come home! We visited Chris' sister, Sandy, and her family. We hadn't seen her boys (ages almost 8 and almost 5) for almost 3 years, and her husband in 5 years! It was great to visit with them! They live in West Palm Beach, FL... I was lovin' me some Florida (as my BIL would say!) :-) We went to the beach a couple of times, including going to Miami for the day (and saw South Beach).
On Tuesday, Aug. 11th (Chris' 34th Birthday), we attended a Florida Marlins game. For the first time, in ALL the games we've attended, we FINALLY made it on the Jumbotron at the stadium! We've discovered that it helps to have adorable nephews with you! :-) We ate at Shorty's Barbecue in Miami - one of the top 10 places to eat there. Chris and Tyson played golf two mornings, and played softball one night. Sandy and I got manicures/pedicures (a first for me!), and then I framed some cross-stitches for her, and arranged the pictures for a family photo wall in her house. We attended a home decorating class on Thursday night. Friday we went to Tampa... actually St. Petersburg for a Tampa Bay Rays game. We "tailgated" before the game, which was pretty fun. Finished up the vacation on Saturday by having a GORGEOUS day at the beach, in spite of the rain before we went, and after we went. Also had a joint birthday party (homemade pizza and DQ Thin Mints blizzard cake) for Chris', Tron's and my birthdays. Chris' b-day was the 11th, and Tron and I share a b-day on the 18th. Like I said before, it was a wonderful vacation, and we were so thrilled to be able to go.
Now, it's back to life, back to reality. I've had a little "hiccup" in my job situation, so am working a few less hours for now, and am really praying about the possibility of another job. I'm praying that if God wants me somewhere else, that He will drop the opportunity in my lap.
Anyway, that's the summation of our summer! I'm sure I've left out some things, but that's basically it! Hopefully I'll get some pics posted of different events on here soon. If I don't, you can look on my Facebook page... they are ALL on there! :-)
Have a wonderful night, and hope you all had a great summer! :-)
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
8.20.2009
7.05.2008
Playing catch-up - Memorial Day and Vacation
Sorry I've been AWOL so long from the blogging world... we've been busy!
First of all, I was gone over Memorial Day weekend to visit one of my best friends in MD. While I was there, I also got to visit with some other friends, including the moms and boys that I used to take care of while I lived there. It was a great weekend, and I'm so thankful that my hubby was so thoughtful to allow me to go!
I worked the following week, and then D - the little one that I take care of - had surgery on June 4th. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed, plus eye surgery. I didn't get to see him before we left on vacation, but he did really well, I guess.
Since D was in the hospital, I took the opportunity to go up to our camp (an hour away) and work in the kitchen on Wed/Thurs. I haven't worked that hard since the LAST time I worked at camp, I think! It was a lot of fun, though my ankles were very swollen from standing for almost 2 days straight. It didn't help that I only got about 2 hours sleep... maybe! I stayed in the cabin with the girls from our church - I know, I'm a glutton for punishment!
June 6th, we left for our big vacation. Most of you know that we are trying to get to all the MLB ballparks, so this vacation included four of them! Anyway, we got to the airport to find that our flight had been cancelled one hour prior to our arrival at the airport, and they initially told us that we would have to fly out the next day. Chris was adamant that they find something for that night, and we ended up getting the last seats on a Frontier flight that ended up getting us to Las Vegas at the same time the other flight would have arrived (Thank you, God!) We flew into Denver on the way, and now Chris can add another state to his list of states that he's visited.
We got in late Friday night, and spent Sat. with Chris' family. We got to play with his niece, Korissa, who is 16 months old. Last time we saw her, she was 3 months old! She's adorable, of course! Sat. night we went out to eat at the Claim Jumper restaurant. It is SOO good, and the portions are huge! I'll have to post pics of their chocolate layer cake called the "Mother lode!" It's HUGE! Anyway, we had a good time with all of the family out there. Check out the pictures of family here.
Sun. am, we went to Chris' family's church, and then headed out to LA with Chris' youngest brother, Jon. He's 10 years younger than Chris, so it was fun for Chris to get some time with him, too. They are such goofballs together! Jon volunteered to drive his car on the trip, so we didn't have to rent one, which was a blessing. Anyway, Sun. night we went to an LA Dodgers game. I wasn't impressed with Dodgers Stadium at all! It just seemed really old, with nothing to distinguish it. But the game was fun, anyhow! :-) To see pics from the Dodgers game, click here.
Monday, we went to Disneyland. We had a great, relaxing time there. I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pics of that time at Disney... between Jon's computer and my camera, we somehow lost them. Monday night, we went to an Anaheim Angels game (or whatever the name of that team is now!) I am thankful, however, that we do have MOST of the pics from the Angels game... at least I have some to scrapbook (someday when I get around to it... I'd like to do a scrapbook of just our baseball stadium tour.) I did lose pictures of the outside of the stadium, though... they have 2 GIANT baseball hats made of metal... size 694 & 1/2!!! Also, in the entrance area outside the stadium, they actually have a baseball diamond embedded in the brick work. It was pretty cool!! While at the game, the guy sitting next to Chris was from Dublin, Ireland. Of course, Chris has never met a stranger, so we started talking to him. He was on a 3 week "holiday" from Ireland, and was here in the U.S. taking a bus tour and visiting as many baseball stadiums as he could. He told us that 60% of his yearly salary is spent traveling all over the world! It was really neat to talk with him! Oh, yeah, we also got John Lackey bobbleheads... wooo hooo! :-) I kept one, and Jon and I gave the others to a couple that was sitting behind us. They took them home to their kids. PICTURES
Tuesday, we slept in, then went to the beach there in LA. We had a great time, and there literally was maybe 3 other people at the beach! It was really nice. The funniest thing that happened there came at the end of the day... we had put our towels down on dry sand probably 30 feet from the nearest wet sand. We had gone on a walk down the beach and come back, and were laying in the sun for a little while before we had to leave. We started to feel the mist from the waves getting closer. My towel was first, then Chris, then Jon's. Well, all of the sudden, this wave comes up and goes about a third of the way up onto my towel, but totally soaks Chris and Jon! I haven't seen them move so fast in a LONG time! It was hilarious. Chris jumped up and threw his towel so fast! The funniest part of the whole thing was that we turned around to wash the sand off of us, and Jon ended up walking probably another 50 feet toward the ocean to get the next wave! We called it the "rogue wave!" It just kind of came out of nowhere, and the water wasn't anywhere CLOSE to us after that! Chris ended up getting a new phone out of the deal, since his got sand and water-logged. It actually worked, but wouldn't vibrate on incoming calls, which is imperative to his line of work. pictures... click here and here
Tuesday night, we got what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime event for us. Of course, you know Chris grew up just outside of Boston, moving to NH when he was 12. That said, he is a DIE-HARD Celtics/Red Sox/Patriots fan... I think it's in his blood! Well, that Tuesday night the Celtics were playing the Lakers in the NBA Finals game #3 at the Staples Center. We ended up getting tickets and went to the game. It was so much fun, in spite of the fact that Chris almost got into 2 or 3 fights while defending me from drunk guys! I had never been to a sports venue that sold hard liquor in the stadium before I went to California! Anyway, I won't bore you with all the details of the situation, but thank God we didn't get shot or beat up or something! :-) Unfortunately, the Celtics lost that game, but it was fun to be there anyway! pics of the game
Tuesday night after the game, we headed down to San Diego. Wednesday, we went to the San Diego Zoo, which was pretty cool! We saved ourselves a lot of time by getting the guided bus tour at the beginning, so we pretty much saw ALL of the animals in 35 minutes, and then we went back and spent more time seeing only the animals that we WANTED to see. They had baby panda bears, and we learned that the San Diego Zoo basically grows their own food for their animals and many others right there on the Zoo property. I thought that was amazing.
Goofy pics of us and vegetation; pics of animals
From there, we went to tour the USS Midway... an aircraft carrier there in the harbor. It was HUGE, and Jon was showing us the planes he plans to fly someday, Lord willing! Also, I found out that the USS Midway is the same size as the USS Ariskeny, which is the aircraft carrier that my dad sailed on while he was in the Navy. It was really neat. (pics to come later... I'll come back and post links when I get them all posted on Facebook!) USS Midway pics
Wednesday night, we went to a Padres game. We didn't realize that the wind off the ocean would be SO COLD down there! We ended up buying sweatshirts for twice what we should have paid, but we would have FROZEN if we hadn't... well, Chris and I would have frozen (I was cold WITH a sweatshirt on!) Jon was Macho Man, and didn't need a sweatshirt! :-) The Padres stadium was probably added to our top ten as far as stadiums go... we thought it was pretty cool how they built the stadium to incorporate an old brick building on the left field side. They did a great job of joining modern conveniences with the nostalgic feel. It was nice.
We were going to go to Sea World on Thursday, then head back to Las Vegas. However, we called to check on prices, and it was $60/person, and they told us that they didn't have any Shamu shows until 7pm. We decided to just sleep in and then head back to Vegas on Thursday. We got back in time to eat supper with Chris' family, and then watch the Celtics/Lakers game... and the Celtics win! :-) Chris was glad to be able to spend the time with his family, and watch the game with them, too.
Friday, we basically just relaxed with the family. We went to brunch with Chris' sister, Kim, and her husband, David. That afternoon, Chris' sister, Julianne and I took our niece, Korissa into the pool and played with her for a while. After supper that night, Chris and I, Jon, Tiffany, and Julianne went over to see Kim's house, then we went down to "the strip" to watch the Fountains of Bellagio. If you don't know what that is, it's a huge fountain that does shows every 15 minutes with the water choreographed to music. It is SOOOO awesome! I am mesmerized by it, and would have probably stood there all night watching it. It's about the only part of "the strip" that I like - well, that and the Coke and M&M stores! :-)
Sat. morning early we flew out to Phoenix, AZ. It was 108 degrees at 5 pm that night, so when we got to our hotel, we just relaxed and spent some time together there. I took a much needed nap!!! At 5 pm, we headed out and got some dinner, then went to the Diamondbacks game. I couldn't believe how empty the streets were! I guess no one else wanted to be out in that heat, either! Thankfully, the D-backs stadium has a retractable roof, which they had closed, so it was a nice 80 degrees at the game. Chase Field, we decided, is in the top 10 of stadiums that we've visited. It was VERY nice! The only down side to that game was that we didn't actually get to see much of it until after the 7th inning stretch because there were so many people walking up and down from their seats. It was rather frustrating! We can say we've been there, though, so it's all good!
Sunday morning we got up early and flew home. It was Father's Day, and Chris and I didn't really "celebrate," though I did get him a card. I told him that his new phone and the Celtics/Lakers tickets were his Father's Day present. It was a pretty hard weekend for us to not have a baby to hold here on earth. However, God knows best, and He has a reason for everything. Unfortunately, though, sometimes we know that in our HEADS, but our HEARTS don't want to listen so well! Just because we know that doesn't mean that we don't struggle with wanting it our way!
Well, this is a VERY long post, so I'll put the rest of catch-up on another post. I'm still working on posting pics, but I'm putting links on here to my Facebook albums so that you can see pictures if you want. It's much easier than trying to post a bunch of pics on here!
First of all, I was gone over Memorial Day weekend to visit one of my best friends in MD. While I was there, I also got to visit with some other friends, including the moms and boys that I used to take care of while I lived there. It was a great weekend, and I'm so thankful that my hubby was so thoughtful to allow me to go!
I worked the following week, and then D - the little one that I take care of - had surgery on June 4th. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed, plus eye surgery. I didn't get to see him before we left on vacation, but he did really well, I guess.
Since D was in the hospital, I took the opportunity to go up to our camp (an hour away) and work in the kitchen on Wed/Thurs. I haven't worked that hard since the LAST time I worked at camp, I think! It was a lot of fun, though my ankles were very swollen from standing for almost 2 days straight. It didn't help that I only got about 2 hours sleep... maybe! I stayed in the cabin with the girls from our church - I know, I'm a glutton for punishment!
June 6th, we left for our big vacation. Most of you know that we are trying to get to all the MLB ballparks, so this vacation included four of them! Anyway, we got to the airport to find that our flight had been cancelled one hour prior to our arrival at the airport, and they initially told us that we would have to fly out the next day. Chris was adamant that they find something for that night, and we ended up getting the last seats on a Frontier flight that ended up getting us to Las Vegas at the same time the other flight would have arrived (Thank you, God!) We flew into Denver on the way, and now Chris can add another state to his list of states that he's visited.
We got in late Friday night, and spent Sat. with Chris' family. We got to play with his niece, Korissa, who is 16 months old. Last time we saw her, she was 3 months old! She's adorable, of course! Sat. night we went out to eat at the Claim Jumper restaurant. It is SOO good, and the portions are huge! I'll have to post pics of their chocolate layer cake called the "Mother lode!" It's HUGE! Anyway, we had a good time with all of the family out there. Check out the pictures of family here.
Sun. am, we went to Chris' family's church, and then headed out to LA with Chris' youngest brother, Jon. He's 10 years younger than Chris, so it was fun for Chris to get some time with him, too. They are such goofballs together! Jon volunteered to drive his car on the trip, so we didn't have to rent one, which was a blessing. Anyway, Sun. night we went to an LA Dodgers game. I wasn't impressed with Dodgers Stadium at all! It just seemed really old, with nothing to distinguish it. But the game was fun, anyhow! :-) To see pics from the Dodgers game, click here.
Monday, we went to Disneyland. We had a great, relaxing time there. I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pics of that time at Disney... between Jon's computer and my camera, we somehow lost them. Monday night, we went to an Anaheim Angels game (or whatever the name of that team is now!) I am thankful, however, that we do have MOST of the pics from the Angels game... at least I have some to scrapbook (someday when I get around to it... I'd like to do a scrapbook of just our baseball stadium tour.) I did lose pictures of the outside of the stadium, though... they have 2 GIANT baseball hats made of metal... size 694 & 1/2!!! Also, in the entrance area outside the stadium, they actually have a baseball diamond embedded in the brick work. It was pretty cool!! While at the game, the guy sitting next to Chris was from Dublin, Ireland. Of course, Chris has never met a stranger, so we started talking to him. He was on a 3 week "holiday" from Ireland, and was here in the U.S. taking a bus tour and visiting as many baseball stadiums as he could. He told us that 60% of his yearly salary is spent traveling all over the world! It was really neat to talk with him! Oh, yeah, we also got John Lackey bobbleheads... wooo hooo! :-) I kept one, and Jon and I gave the others to a couple that was sitting behind us. They took them home to their kids. PICTURES
Tuesday, we slept in, then went to the beach there in LA. We had a great time, and there literally was maybe 3 other people at the beach! It was really nice. The funniest thing that happened there came at the end of the day... we had put our towels down on dry sand probably 30 feet from the nearest wet sand. We had gone on a walk down the beach and come back, and were laying in the sun for a little while before we had to leave. We started to feel the mist from the waves getting closer. My towel was first, then Chris, then Jon's. Well, all of the sudden, this wave comes up and goes about a third of the way up onto my towel, but totally soaks Chris and Jon! I haven't seen them move so fast in a LONG time! It was hilarious. Chris jumped up and threw his towel so fast! The funniest part of the whole thing was that we turned around to wash the sand off of us, and Jon ended up walking probably another 50 feet toward the ocean to get the next wave! We called it the "rogue wave!" It just kind of came out of nowhere, and the water wasn't anywhere CLOSE to us after that! Chris ended up getting a new phone out of the deal, since his got sand and water-logged. It actually worked, but wouldn't vibrate on incoming calls, which is imperative to his line of work. pictures... click here and here
Tuesday night, we got what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime event for us. Of course, you know Chris grew up just outside of Boston, moving to NH when he was 12. That said, he is a DIE-HARD Celtics/Red Sox/Patriots fan... I think it's in his blood! Well, that Tuesday night the Celtics were playing the Lakers in the NBA Finals game #3 at the Staples Center. We ended up getting tickets and went to the game. It was so much fun, in spite of the fact that Chris almost got into 2 or 3 fights while defending me from drunk guys! I had never been to a sports venue that sold hard liquor in the stadium before I went to California! Anyway, I won't bore you with all the details of the situation, but thank God we didn't get shot or beat up or something! :-) Unfortunately, the Celtics lost that game, but it was fun to be there anyway! pics of the game
Tuesday night after the game, we headed down to San Diego. Wednesday, we went to the San Diego Zoo, which was pretty cool! We saved ourselves a lot of time by getting the guided bus tour at the beginning, so we pretty much saw ALL of the animals in 35 minutes, and then we went back and spent more time seeing only the animals that we WANTED to see. They had baby panda bears, and we learned that the San Diego Zoo basically grows their own food for their animals and many others right there on the Zoo property. I thought that was amazing.
Goofy pics of us and vegetation; pics of animals
From there, we went to tour the USS Midway... an aircraft carrier there in the harbor. It was HUGE, and Jon was showing us the planes he plans to fly someday, Lord willing! Also, I found out that the USS Midway is the same size as the USS Ariskeny, which is the aircraft carrier that my dad sailed on while he was in the Navy. It was really neat. (pics to come later... I'll come back and post links when I get them all posted on Facebook!) USS Midway pics
Wednesday night, we went to a Padres game. We didn't realize that the wind off the ocean would be SO COLD down there! We ended up buying sweatshirts for twice what we should have paid, but we would have FROZEN if we hadn't... well, Chris and I would have frozen (I was cold WITH a sweatshirt on!) Jon was Macho Man, and didn't need a sweatshirt! :-) The Padres stadium was probably added to our top ten as far as stadiums go... we thought it was pretty cool how they built the stadium to incorporate an old brick building on the left field side. They did a great job of joining modern conveniences with the nostalgic feel. It was nice.
We were going to go to Sea World on Thursday, then head back to Las Vegas. However, we called to check on prices, and it was $60/person, and they told us that they didn't have any Shamu shows until 7pm. We decided to just sleep in and then head back to Vegas on Thursday. We got back in time to eat supper with Chris' family, and then watch the Celtics/Lakers game... and the Celtics win! :-) Chris was glad to be able to spend the time with his family, and watch the game with them, too.
Friday, we basically just relaxed with the family. We went to brunch with Chris' sister, Kim, and her husband, David. That afternoon, Chris' sister, Julianne and I took our niece, Korissa into the pool and played with her for a while. After supper that night, Chris and I, Jon, Tiffany, and Julianne went over to see Kim's house, then we went down to "the strip" to watch the Fountains of Bellagio. If you don't know what that is, it's a huge fountain that does shows every 15 minutes with the water choreographed to music. It is SOOOO awesome! I am mesmerized by it, and would have probably stood there all night watching it. It's about the only part of "the strip" that I like - well, that and the Coke and M&M stores! :-)
Sat. morning early we flew out to Phoenix, AZ. It was 108 degrees at 5 pm that night, so when we got to our hotel, we just relaxed and spent some time together there. I took a much needed nap!!! At 5 pm, we headed out and got some dinner, then went to the Diamondbacks game. I couldn't believe how empty the streets were! I guess no one else wanted to be out in that heat, either! Thankfully, the D-backs stadium has a retractable roof, which they had closed, so it was a nice 80 degrees at the game. Chase Field, we decided, is in the top 10 of stadiums that we've visited. It was VERY nice! The only down side to that game was that we didn't actually get to see much of it until after the 7th inning stretch because there were so many people walking up and down from their seats. It was rather frustrating! We can say we've been there, though, so it's all good!
Sunday morning we got up early and flew home. It was Father's Day, and Chris and I didn't really "celebrate," though I did get him a card. I told him that his new phone and the Celtics/Lakers tickets were his Father's Day present. It was a pretty hard weekend for us to not have a baby to hold here on earth. However, God knows best, and He has a reason for everything. Unfortunately, though, sometimes we know that in our HEADS, but our HEARTS don't want to listen so well! Just because we know that doesn't mean that we don't struggle with wanting it our way!
Well, this is a VERY long post, so I'll put the rest of catch-up on another post. I'm still working on posting pics, but I'm putting links on here to my Facebook albums so that you can see pictures if you want. It's much easier than trying to post a bunch of pics on here!
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