Virginia Beach

Ahhh.... I love the beach. You wouldn't guess it, as I don't like the water, and I don't like the hot sun. But it's so peaceful - especially when we always try to go after labor day, when it's still warm, but the tourists have mostly left town. Rudy was a 'little brave', and actually got his whole body wet. Gracie as always, was a fish - she loves the water. And Doni loved the water one day, and didn't love it the next. But, like all kids, he loved the sand.

I'm an AUNT!!!!

Well, it's the closest I'll ever get to being an aunt, as I'm an only child. One of my best friends (Yasmin) had her baby on August 28th. Her name is Celine, and she's absolutely perfect. I never knew how amazing it is to instantly love someone you're not related to. Being an aunt is the greatest thing ever!! Here's Mark with his little angel.
And of course, Yasmin had a perfect labor and delivery, and she was so gorgeous when I saw her in the hospital. I'm leaving her alone for a few weeks as she's inundated with family, but I know I'll have my time soon :)

How much I hate ignorance......

Well, I guess there's not really a scale for how much I hate ignorance, but it's pretty high up there. Rudy was unfortunately stuck at a 'redneck' day care for the past year, when his old day care director (Ms. Haney) left to get a child-care degree (she had been running the day care for 20 years, then the 'board' decided it wasn't enough). Her replacment was this seriously red-neck ignorant bible thumping woman named Angie. Not only did she implement hard and fast gender roles on the children (boys don't do this, girls don't do this, etc.), but they also informed us 2 weeks ago that they will no longer call Rudy "Rudy". They will only call him "Jesse". Apparently they feel that once in Kindergarten, kids are NOT called by thier middle names or nicknames. I don't know where the hell she went to school, but clearly she was home schooled by someone as ignorant as she is. The final straw was on Thursday, when we get a call saying "Rudy woke up from his nap with a rash - you need to come pick him up". We picked him up, and ths is what he looks like:

After talking to Rudy for a while, it appears that he found a fire-ant nest. We had him Benadryled to the limit, plus oatmeal baths and ointments, and 3 days later, they all blistered. I took him to school the next day, and Angie informed me that he "HAS A RASH, and we're SURE it's contagious. He has to leave." Seriously, how ignorant can you be??? And this woman is in charge of my child's safety? Hell no! Due to divine providence, Ms. Haney opened her own day care last week, and Rudy has been blissfully running into her 'school' every day.

BRISTOL!

I went to Bristol, TN for the nighttime NASCAR race in August. I was interested in going (Bristol is known as the 'toughest ticket in NASCAR'), but knew I was probably in for a pretty boring time. Turns out I actually had a great time. Our seats were good, and there were a few wrecks, and I only saw one set of extremely stinkin' drunk people. One thing I just couldn't get over is how much money is involved in NASCAR. Look at all of these people. At several hundred dollars a ticket, not to mention the "fan" merchandise. I love that picture though - it's the preparation for the pledge of allegiance and each pit crew is standing in a line in front of the pits. Very cool. By the way - Paula Dean was the special announcer at the beginning of the race. I do NOT recommend hearing her voice amplified on race speakers. My ears are still ringing with "Howdy Y'all!!!!"

Montreal in the summertime

My work team visited Montreal, Quebec for a meeting in August. It was my first time to Montreal (although, growing up in Michigan, I've been to several Canadian cities). Gracie was insanely jealous that I was going (she has been studying French for 2 years - she's SO much better at it than I was). The sights were beautiful in Old Town Montreal, and the New Town had good shopping and was fairly clean, although extremely congested. I likened it to 'France without the French' - everyone was so kind and overtly gracious :) The scenery was also strange and beautiful, in that our 5 star hotel was across the street from a building that was made out of multi-colored panels of glass. I took a photo of our hotel from inside the multicolored building.

John's 60th Birthday Party

John Peter Williamson turned 60 years old in December, so I decided that a nice celebration would be to invite his family down (from South Dakota/Wisconsin),along with all of his children (JP, Ashley, Christopher, Stephanie, Gracie, Rudy, Doni) for a 4th of July picnic. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the most 'physically able' mood, as I returned from Costa Rica less than a week prior, but my friend Jennifer pulled off a pretty impressive gathering! The wine and grappa came out after the lunch, and that's when things got a little loud. Thank God we didn't pull out the fireworks!

Costa Rica

Well, I finally made it to Costa Rica and back. Needless to say, the first 1/2 of the trip was amazing. It's every bit jungle-beach-GORGEOUS as it comes. The first full day, we white water rafted - Levels III and IV. It was scary and exhilerating - I loved it. Not so much fun for Kris though, who took a dive with the first level IV rapid and tore up her knee pretty bad. :(

The next day, it was Zip Lining. I can't say enough positive things about the experience. Our guides were the utmost professionals, and really worked for thier tips. The hiking was tough, but the flying through the air part was worth it.

The following day, we repelled down 2 waterfalls. Can't say I would do this again. I equate it with being beat to death in a washing machine. I think repelling down a cliff would be exciting, but not being able to see where your feet need to go, and being beat with thousands of gallons of high powered water kind of sucks. There was a moment where I was pretty sure I was going to die. But I did it. Look at the guy at the bottom - WAYYYYY down at the bottom of the picture. That's where I ended up.

The final day, we toured a vanilla farm, and toured Manuel Antonio National Park. It was all so gorgeous. And it's hard to describe how natural it feels to be out in the open with all the animals - monkeys, bats, lizards, snakes, more monkeys and more monkeys.....