Travel and Family

I've been quite busy with a trip to Tennessee and then a new job. So I sort of neglected my computer for a while. Even my email started growing cobwebs.

Our Tennessee trip was wonderful. We visited with our son, Tim (although he will always be "Timmy" to me), his wife and our grandson. We met our new granddaughter for the first time - even though she is sixteen years old now. That's a whole other story. It was like one of those knocks on the door a man might receive, and when he opens it, a pretty young girl says, "Hi, I'm your daughter." Sort of like that. And oh, there's more. She's pregnant. That will make me a great-grandmother at fifty-two. Joy. God does have a sense of humor, doesn't He? She was nice though, pretty and well-mannered, but did not express much consideration for what lies ahead of her. I don't think she understands. The poor thing. Her childhood will soon be gone.

We had much to eat over the weekend, and being in Nashville, you know it was all SCRUMPTIOUS! Friday night, we had beautiful fireworks and a wonderful finale at my son's home. He barbecued, and the food was the best. Saturday, it poured rain during the city of Nashville's fireworks, and we all got soaked, but what fun! Sadly and prior to fireworks, the news of Tennessee Titan, Steve McNair, hit the streets like wildfire. We were eating at a restaurant/brewery about two blocks from where he was killed when we heard the news. Very sad.

It's always hard to end a vacation with family and say goodbye until next time. I keep thinking of the beautiful home my son built for his family with his own two hands, and I feel very blessed to have such a talented son. It makes me so happy to know he takes such good care of his family.

Frodo made the trip just fine. Although, I think he likes hotel rooms better than the car. He's such a good travel dog.

I started a new job this past Monday. It's the reason I haven't been on the computer much. I'm not used to working. I think it has taken me most the week just to get used to rising earlier in the morning. I'm a secretary for a group of psychologists at a local hospital/rehabilitation center. Very interesting work. Very busy office. At least the days will go by fast.

A Merry Trip to Maryland

We packed up our suitcases, grabbed the dog and jumped into our SUV for a trip to Maryland over this past weekend. Spending Friday night in Herndon, VA was exciting for Frodo, our beagle. He loves hotel rooms so long as we physically stay in the room with him. Otherwise, he makes lots of noise unless in his crate. We spent the night there so we could pick up our son, daughter-in-law and grandson, Michael, very early the next morning from Dulles airport.

We drove to Maryland where we stayed the next two nights in a wonderful cottage right on the Patuxent River. The weather was beautiful even when a ferocious, but wonderful storm passed through. It was all so refreshing spiritually and mentally.

I have to say Don out-fished his son. It was, after all, Father's Day. The fish were all cleaned for us by the gracious owners of the cottage. How wonderful! We packed the fish on ice and took it home. It's in our freezer waiting to be devoured. The best part of the trip (besides seeing family) was sleeping next to open windows. The breeze from the river served as the best fan ever, and the waves lapping against the rocks lulled me to sleep.

It was the first time Don and I went crab-picking. It's certainly not like ordering them in a restaurant. There's a lot of work to eating a crab! By the time I was done, I don't know how many I ate, but they sure tasted good.

After about 10 or 15 minutes into traveling back home, we received a phone call to check our luggage. Apparently, Don had packed the diaper bag in with our suitcase, fish and doggie bowls. A diaper bag is certainly not something we will be using, but they needed it in a great way. So we returned it to them, and it was a good thing too because we noticed we had forgotten Frodo's bear. Oh my! We couldn't leave that behind. It's a toy black bear that used to be stuffed with cotton. Frodo sleeps with it every night. Before going to bed, he fetches it from wherever it is and brings it to bed with him. It's adorable. But we would have had to buy him another one if we left it.

Life is back to normal now, and Don is out walking the dog. It's good to be alive and able to enjoy the life God has given us - even, or especially, all the small things.

Island Adventures

Okay, so we look like a couple of tourists. This was just one of the many pictures that we took or had taken. The location is Sandals Halcyon in St. Lucia. It is the smallest of the three locations on the island, but we loved it. There wasn't the hustle and bustle of the larger resorts. It was so laid back, we struggled to stay awake. The beach area was small, but it suited us just fine. The employees were outstanding and went out of there way to make the stay a wonderful experience.

The trip to St. Lucia started with a limo trip from our home to the Philly airport. It was nice to be pampered for a while. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare for this travel savvy couple--right up until the time I read the wrong gate number! We walked all the way across the airport from terminal A to terminal E. We sat there until it was suppose to be boarding time. That's when Cheryl looked at the boarding pass again and discovered that we were suppose to be at terminal A where we started. Have you ever run a mile to catch a plane when you had arrived two hours early? When we arrived at the real gate, red faced and sweating profusely, we were the last to board just before they shut the door! Did I mention that we had upgraded to first class so that we could board first! Needless to say Cheryl was not a happy camper!

After that ordeal the remainder of the trip was fairly calm, that is, until the "bus ride" to the resort. Turns out the resort is 1 1/2 hours from the airport. The "bus" turned out to be a 10 passenger van that seats 8 comfortably, unfortunately, there were ten of us plus luggage! St. Lucia used to be a British island I think, but at any rate, they drive on the wrong side of the road (if you are from the U.S.). Actually they spent as much time on the right side of the road. It seems that you can pass anywhere at any time as long as the other car decides to slow down for you.

I said all that just to say this: we found out that for a small price (comparably) you can take a helicopter that only takes 20 minutes and leaves your nerves intact! It was an awesome flight over the middle of the island.

The trip home was uneventful. Our limo was waiting for us, and we got home at about 2 AM. Needless to say, our beagle was extremely happy to see us! For more pictures of our trip, go to the link that says "Our Photo Site" in the right column of this blog.