Vacation!!!

A few weeks ago Bob and I celebrated our 30th anniversary!
To celebrate, we are taking a little vacation next week. We will be leaving Monday Morning and will be spending the week in the upper peninsula. We plan to spend a lot of time around Pictured Rocks.
So, I won't be around to visit you, but will see you when I get back. Hope you all have a good week!

Our week with Andy

We had a wonderful week of vacation while Andy was home. We didn't do anything special, just enjoyed our time together. I have a few pictures to give you an idea of how we spent our time.

Our cat Oliver, wasn't real sure about this guy who was invading his territory but after a day he found that Andy was fun to play with. Andy pulled out a flashlight with this green light on it every evening and Oliver went crazy chasing it. Here he was flattening himself out, trying to sneak up on the light.

We spent a lot of time with family. Here is Andy with Bob's mom...


and with my Dad. The grandparents were glad to see him again!

We were able to see almost every family member on both sides which was a lot to see! This is Arianna, who rode her bike over to our house on Friday so she could say goodbye to Andy.

Andy was able to meet his cousins fiance for the first time. Ovidiu is from Romania, and will be marrying Bob's niece Alecia in November. Since Andy won't be here for the wedding, it was nice that they were able to meet now.

We spent a day in Grand Haven, visiting Lake Michigan, walking the pier and since it was a beautiful day - we stopped for ice cream! Here Andy was demonstrating how to climb a wall.

He's not really into me taking his picture, but I managed to get a few.


We went to a wedding Saturday afternoon before Andy left, so I got a picture of my two guys together, while they were dressed up.

This picture is a good representation of our week; fun, a little goofy and lots of laughter!
Andy is now in Kentucky, doing paper work that is required when you change bases. It will be about a week doing that before he gets into a regular routine.
We're hoping we get to see him again at Christmas!

On the road again!

Our vacation is nearly here! Bob is still working on Wednesday, but I am already off from work. I'll be picking up the rental car, doing laundry and getting everything ready to go, including baking a batch of cookies for Andy.
We will be leaving here early Thursday morning, as in 5 am. It's about an 18 to 19 hour drive so it would be nice to to a lot of it on Thursday. We hope to make it to Nebraska on Thursday and then to Colorado Springs on Friday. Friday also happens to be our 28th anniversary and I think being in Colorado with Andy is a pretty good way to celebrate!
I plan to take my laptop along but probably won't have time to visit your blogs or do much updating.
I'll take lots of pictures though, so be ready for that! We plan to return on August 30.

Just the facts...

One last post about vacation. Hope you aren't all sick of this!

Miles traveled: 2750

States traveled through: 10 + Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania.

Cost of gas for entire trip: $349.15

Lowest price seen for gas: $2.53, somewhere between Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina

Highest price seen for gas: $2.89, somewhere in Ohio

Awful odors smelled: 2 - one in Ohio, one in Charleston. Laura thought she wouldn't survive it!

Wildlife seen : Dolphins, alligators, lizards, eels, egrets, turtles and 1 palmetto bug!

New vegetation seen: Kudzu, tobacco, cotton, palmetto trees

New food tasted: fried okra and collard greens. (Sorry Leslie - we never had a chance to try boiled peanuts)

Injuries sustained: One twisted foot when I lost my sandal while stepping off a curb, One scrape to Laura's foot, when I ran over it with a piece of luggage.

Oceans visited: the Atlantic

Military bases visited: Fort Jackson and Fort Eustis

Time spent laughing: too much to count

Blogging buddies met: 1 - Dena, in Summerville!

Most horrible hour: the hour we spent driving around Washington DC, in 6 lanes of non-stop traffic!

Number of crying females when we met Andy again after 9 weeks: 3

Number of crying females when saying good bye to Andy: 3

Sundays spent away from our churches: 2 - we were blessed on those days by traveling through the Smokies on the first one, and the Appalachians on the 2nd. We were able to listen to sermons on tape and worship music. Truly a time to say - "How Great Thou Art"

Hotels stayed at : Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express. Holiday Inn Express won our vote as the best.

Amount of rainfall : 3 drops

Time spent held up in traffic by construction or accidents: None

Mechanical problems: None

Crabby family members and arguing: None

Number of steps we climbed on the Yorktown: Don't know, but it was too many!

Blessings on this trip: too many to count.

Time spent with family: priceless!

Graduation Day

Friday was graduation Day. 920 soldiers graduated, from 5 different companies. It was a nice ceremony, but not the tear jerker we heard it would be! It is quite something to see them all marching and lining up.

Here is Andy in his dress uniform, minus the jacket.

Proud Dad and Mom with Andy

Laura, Aaron, Andy, Heather

After Andy received his papers, he was released to us to drive to Fort Eustis. On the drive through North Carolina we stopped at a Civil War battlefield. This home was used as a hospital during the war. The family remained upstairs while 600 Union and 45 Confederate soldiers were treated. It is in nearly the same condition as it was at the time.

We are now in Virginia and will be starting for home after we deliver Andy. Hopefully we won't be too teary as we start home! It's been great seeing him again.

Here he is!

Today was the long awaited Family Day! We got to the base about 8:30 and settled into the bleachers. The program started at 9:00 with a chaplain opening with prayer. They welcomed everyone and asked who had come the farthest. The person who came the furthest was from American Samoa. There were also people there from Germany, Hawaii and Alaska! They recognized veterans who were present and gave a short informational talk. They then did a demonstration on military maneuvers. Then they said it was time to do what we were there for and that was to see our soldiers. Smoke bombs went off in the distance, and the platoons marched out through the smoke. Here they all are marching out. We then had to go on the field and find our soldier, which didn't take as long as I thought it would.

This is Andy's barrack. In the foreground is a rubberized area that they did their workouts on. Andy's room was on the top floor.

This is Victory Tower. We saw a group working on it today. They were scaling the wall, doing ropes, rappelling...

Here is Andy! We were so happy to see him. He looks great. I noticed that his walk is even different - his posture is straight and he walks with confidence. We met several of his "battle buddies" and their families. We had the whole day and were actually kind of bored because there wasn't much to do, but it was so nice to spend time with him and hear more in depth what his time there has been like. We were able to observe something that we thought was really impressive. On an army base they are very respectful of the flag. At 4:50 we were sitting outside and a bugle sounded over the intercom. Within 5 minutes we saw several soldiers begin to stand, including Andy. At 5 pm they played the bugle retreat over the intercom, and all the soldiers saluted. This is the time they take down the flag and Andy says that all over the base anyone who is outside, stops what they are doing to salute. Even people driving, stop, get out, and salute. They do this in the morning when it is raised also.

Tomorrow morning we will have graduation at 9:00. He will be released to us after that and at some point we will begin the drive to Virginia. I'll try to post some graduation pictures tomorrow.

It's been another great day!

What a fun day we had today! We started the day by heading for Summerville where our blogging friend Dena lives and has a store. What a treat to meet someone in person that you have gotten to know from a blog. I can report to you that Dena is as sweet in person as she is in her blog! Even the guys came in and agreed that it was really nice to meet her! Here is a picture of Dena and me. (Ginger - this is for you!)
This is a picture of her store. What a cute place! If I lived in the area I would definitely shop here! She has the cards, stationary, purses, papers, monogrammed items and more.

As an added bonus, we got to meet Annie who had fallen and hurt her nose, and Dena's Mom who was taking Annie to the Dr. We all hope her nose isn't broken!

After we left Dena, we went to Cypress gardens. What a fun stop. (Dena - looks like a great place for you and your sisters to visit with the kids). They have a butterfly pavilion, that was filled with many different types of butterflies.

Aaron spotted this little guy hiding outside. We saw a few different types around the gardens.

We had a tour of the swamp, in a flat bottomed boat. I would have never thought a swamp could be so beautiful. Here's a few turtles we spotted on the ride.

We even saw an alligator sitting on a log!

There were lots of water lilies.

This is another place where several movies were filmed. This bridge was built for the filming of The Patriot. They also filmed The North and the South, The Notebook and a few others that I don't remember.

Here is a beautiful view of the cypress trees in the swamp. These trees live about 600 years and these trees are about 300 years old.

After our boat ride we walked the trails, then drove to Columbia. Tomorrow is family day at the base and I can't wait to see Andy! I will post pictures of him tomorrow, but I don't know what time we will be back at the hotel.

Hey Ya'll

We are having a great time here! We started this morning by visiting Boone Hall, which is an old plantation. There have been 3 movies taped here; The North and the South, Queen and The Notebook. The picture below shows the view as you drive up. The road in is lined with live oaks and is really spectacular.This is the front of the plantation, which we enjoyed touring, although it is not the original plantation. It is actually the fourth building and was built in the 1930's.
This is the oldest live oak on the plantation. It is over 600 years old.

Here is one the the buildings that housed slaves. This plantation made bricks, so their seconds were used for these buildings.

After we left Boone Hall, we called Dena and to find out how to get to Market. She was a great tour guide and told us how to get there. Below is a picture of the Market. It covers quite and area and is filled with all kinds of vendors. We had fun walking through it - and we made a few purchases.

On the suggestion of our other tour guide - Megan, we went to Sullivans, on Sullivan Island. Below is a picture of my plate, to prove that I ordered fried okra! I actually had fish too, which isn't my favorite thing, but it was all very good. This was a restaurant that we would have never found on our own; it seems to be more of a local spot, so we were really glad to have that suggestion. Everyone tasted the okra, but I'm sorry to report that Aaron and I were the only ones who liked it.

After supper, we drove to Isle of Palms and went to the beach. We all walked in the Atlantic Ocean, which was surprisingly warm.

We finished the night with a stop at Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. We had a fun day and felt like we really got to enjoy some local things. Thanks Megan and Dena, for sharing your beloved Charleston with us. We think it's great!

Here's the pictures!

These pictures go with the post below. Megan - I hope they don't make you too homesick!This is a view of the new Arthur Ravenal Bridge, from Patriots Point.
This is the Yorktown. You can't believe how big it was. It held 3,000 sailors along with 390 officers.

Here is Bob in a Grummond Cougar. This plane was inside the ship, and was only one of many.

This is the view from the top of Fort Sumter.

Laura and Aaron

Heather

A row of cannons along the edge of the Fort.

A view of the Fort as we approached from the ocean.

Do you see that black thing in the water? It's a dolphin - you'll just have to trust me on this!

A bird we saw along the water edge - maybe Dena or Megan can identify it?

The sidewalk along Battery Park. There are Palmetto trees everywhere here and they are really beautiful.

Look at these beautiful houses. It's fun to just walk down the street.

That's it for now - more pictures tomorrow. I hope you don't get sick of looking at them!