Awesome Thanksgiving!

Can't believe it is over already! Our family has been looking forward to and counting down to relatives coming for Thanksgiving and now everyone is gone. My parents, both sisters and their families and my brother all came to Virginia and stayed at our house. There were 17 people sleeping in our house. We ate lots of food, saw great sights, played a lot of games, sang a song or two, laughed a lot, and pretty much had a grand time. I'll be posting pictures soon.

Had a bit of a rough morning today. Was going to bring some food to a friend moving to the area from NJ and managed to leave it sit on the counter at home. Barely got Mom and Dad to the airport in time for their flight because of bad traffic. Went to Alexandria to sell back my dreadful math book. Locked my keys in the van. Needed to have a student ID to sell back a book. Don't have an ID because I only took one online course. Had to hike up a big hill to a different building to get an ID. Sold my book. Waited for roadside assistance to come unlock my van. Got a parking ticket while I waited. Enough said. I'm ready for tomorrow.

Quick Trip

In August, Maddie, Hannah, Isaiah, and I got a treat. We were able to fly to Minnesota for a quick visit. We changed planes at Midway in Chicago and were greeted by none other than the Blues Brothers. Yes – my kids know who they are. We have raised them right. We spent a few minutes posing with them during our brief lay-over.




We enjoyed spending time with Grandpa. He had just finished his chemo and radiation.


The cousins had a super time together putting on a play for us. This play was based off the book, "Donald Duck and the Magic Stick."



A few action shots:

I don't think Isaiah was entirely thrilled to be the donkey but he complied.


These three played Donald's nephew's Huey, Dewey, and Louie.




Maddie played multiple rolls: Uncle Donald, the inn keeper, the farmer and the carpenter.


Boy cousins had a little hang-time too.

Back-tracking

Disregard last post.


I was reviewing the posts from the last few months and realized I didn't blog about Charles' promotion. This past summer Charles was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel! Hooray! In the military when you are promoted you get to plan your own promotion ceremony. It was held in a small chapel at Ft. Dix. His new boss at the Pentagon agreed to come to NJ and participate in the ceremony (we hadn't moved to VA yet).


We wanted to have it in New Jersey so Charles' Dad and Nadine could attend.

The ceremony includes removing the old rank and pinning on the new rank . His new boss and his dad took care of the jacket…


and the kids did the dress shirt.




After the new rank is pinned on, he renews his oath of office.


We had a great turnout of family and friends.


One special guest was Helga. Helga has an amazing story. She is from Germany and grew up in poverty. She credits the American servicemen for saving her life and that of her family as the soldiers shared their rations. She married an American Sailor and came to America. She took the opportunity to express her appreciation for Charles.


Charles’ brother Nathanael flew in and surprised Charles.


Charles and his Dad, Nadine, & Helga.


Our family.

This almost makes me cuss!

I can't get any pictures to upload into the blog. I can't even get spell check to work. I've written a couple of posts but they are going to be on hold until I can get the pictures to insert. Grrrrr!

Anyone have advice?

Tomorrow is the day!

Yes, I finally managed to get to sleep and I am awake and well rested. I finished my math class last week. YES!!! It is so refreshing to wake up and think, 'I have no math to do today!'

I have been having trouble getting my computer to read my card from my camera but this morning when I turned on my computer is showed my card so I spent the morning downloading all of my pictures. Tomorrow I hope to turn them into worthy blogs and join blogland again. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Help! I Can't Sleep!

It is 1:00a.m.!! I can't sleep. I have a big weekend ahead. Charles' brother, Nathanael, comes for an overnight visit tomorrow (actually today...). Saturday Nick has a Cross Country meet (2 hours away). Saturday afternoon friends from Ft. Dix begin rolling in for our 2nd annual Army Ten Miler. Festivities will begin with a pasta feed at our place on Saturday evening for 17 people. Then off to the Pentagon at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning for the race with 30,000 other runners!! Charles, Nick and I are all running. This is not a good time for insomnia to strike! I need my sleep. My lists are all made so there is nothing I need to remember keeping me awake...I'm not nervous about the race because I have stuck to my training schedule fairly well...ahhhh, yes! Maddie! Bless her heart. She brought me a gift this afternoon, something she bought just for me on her way out of school, a diet coke. It has been a long time since I've drank a diet coke. I thought drinking it at 3:30 this afternoon wouldn't be an issue. But now here I sit, buzzed on caffeine.

Update

Quick update on life in Manassas. All the kids are in the full swing of school and activities. Nick is running on the Varsity squad for Cross Country and doing well. Madison tried out for the school play but didn't make it. Welcome to life at a huge school:( The student body population at the high school where Nick and Maddie attend is 2800. I can't even imagine that. Hannah tried out for the Volleyball team at the Junior High and made it. Isaiah is floating along just as a fourth grader should do. I am enrolled in an undergrad math course through a local community college. I do most of it online but take my mid-term and final exams on campus. It is one of the last steps I need to take to get my certification. I also need to take the Praxis and 2 Virginia required exams. The end is in sight for me. I'm also going to be volunteering in Isaiah's classroom every Thursday morning starting next week to help with reading groups. Looking forward to that.

The Army 10 miler is coming up October 9. Charles, Nick and I will all be running in that. I've been trying to squeeze my running in around doing math. Today I ran 9 miles (uphill both ways) in the pouring rain...

We've plugged into Crossways Free Church in Manassas and the kids all enjoy the youth programs. Charles and I are joining a small group Bible Study and that also starts next week. Life keeps humming along.

I hope to post a bit more regularly once I finish my math course. It is an eight week intensive and it is over at the end of October. I'm almost half way there. Honestly - I'd rather run uphill in the rain than do math...

Manassas, Virgina

Welcome to our home.



If you visit, you will see that Charles has his own private office...



but our living room is more comfortable.



Charles will be out on the deck grilling something tasty just for you...




This it what you may enjoy if you are in our kitchen...



You may take the turtle cheesecake and enjoy it in our dining room...



or you may want to take the cheesecake out back to our screened-in deck. That's where I'll be eating mine....



After our delicious meal and dessert we could head to the basement to play video games on the large screen TV or we can play a rousing game of ping-pong.



Book your reservations today. The Causey Hotel is open!

The last stop

The last stop on our NE tour is one of our favorite places: West Point. We stayed in Army lodging at the academy. We did a lot of swimming, hiking and eating ice cream. During our hiking we found a hillside covered with ripe red raspberries. The girls and I came back our last day equipped with buckets and picked and picked. We bought some vanilla ice cream on our way back to our room and had fresh berries and ice cream for dessert. DELICIOUS!












The next day Hannah began to itch. Only a small red spot which spread to arms, legs, and face. Evidently she picked in the poison ivy area. But it was worth it.

We got home on Friday and started loading the truck on Saturday for our move to Virginia. Crazy!!

Overall, the move went well. Next post will be Virginia house pictures.

Boston, MA, USA

We changed our plans and decided to check out the historical sites around Boston. We stayed near Lexington and Concord, MA. This bridge is where the colonists took a stand against the British and actually fired the first shots at the British.



We also went downtown Boston and followed the Freedom Trail. We toured Paul Revere's home,



...Old North church where instructions were given to hang the lanterns to let the colonists know if the British were invading "one by land, two by sea."




We stopped by the Charleston Navy Yard and toured the World War II destroyer USS Cassin Young.



We had wanted to explore the USS Constitution but it was closed that day.







We saw the site of the Boston Massacre, went to Bunker Hill and viewed the city from the top of the monument.

We were staying in lodging at Hanscom Air Force Base. There was an indoor pool on base that we made use of a couple of times. The kids and Charles had a contest going to see if anyone could dive out far enough to touch the flags stretching across the pool. Fortunately, I was assigned the job of the photographer. Here are a few of the best action shots.
























































As you can see, Nick won!

We also made a stop at Plymouth Rock after our time in Boston. Not the big slab of a rock most people picture! Plymouth Pebble may be a better name!




We intentionally drove through Rhode Island to complete our Northeastern tour. We ate a Cracker Barrel just outside of Providence. This is memorable because we had stopped late in the day - 7:00ish for supper. I was sitting next to Madison and noticed that she had placer her clear retainer on her little biscuit plate. I had a pleasant conversation with her pointing out the fact that it probably wasn't the best place to keep her retainer. I was assured that it wouldn't be a problem...well, an hour down the interstate after supper, I heard gasping and wailing!! You know the rest of the story...

Prince Edward Island

Of course the high-light and claim to fame is that it is the setting of the Anne of Green Gable series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Way to go, Aunt Linda!!



The story and character of Anne is fictional but L.M. Montgomery used the home of her Aunt and Uncle for inspiration which is still on the island. We camped on the island for 4 nights and after the first day the weather was less than pleasant. Cold, windy and rainy, too rainy and windy to have campfires. There were a couple of nights were I was comforted by the thought that if our camper blew over I would land on my feet. Others in my family wouldn't have been as fortunate.

We explored the shore around the island. It was very unique and beautiful.







We also explored a state park. It seemed very deserted. It had an abandoned feel to it. I stumbled upon this tree one morning when I had ventured out for a morning run. I brought the kids back. It looked like a tree out of a fairy tale or fantasy story. It had a lone Adirondack chair setting under it. Very picturesque.




We rode horses one afternoon - paid to ride on a trail around a pasture and through a grove. Very disappointing. We did drive to a theater in Charlottetown to watch the last Harry Potter movie.

The weather made the time there a bit difficult. We were tired of sitting in the camper. We were ready to hit the road and burnt out on camping. We had planned to camp at Fundy Bay a few nights but decided we needed a break from camping. We set off to head back to the good ol' U.S. of A.