Thursday, August 28, 2008

finally house news!

we are still at ft. benning, so i am taking full advantage of the internet. james has meetings all day, and maggs and i are just chilling.

here is a picture i forgot to put up last time. this is the only one i got from the drive down to georgia. it's from our first stop to fix the mattresses.


so we closed on our house on 21aug. we went back with the old owners and they showed us around a bit more. let us in on any house secrets, and exchanged numbers if we have any problems. they are also military, and are heading to ft. bragg. so we just flip flopped!

we met a few of our neighbors. barbecued at our friend's (adam and erica) house one night. they live the next street over. james was in afghanistan with adam. it's nice to have friends close!

they invited us back over saturday night. they live in a culdesac and were having a block party with a few of their neighbors. so we had even more food from the grill. enjoyed everyone's company and the late summer night.

we spent a few days and nights unpacking. i did our bathroom first and so far that is all i have pictures of. so here you go...

the master bathroom!

that is adrienne's aloe plant i brought with us while she is traveling. hopefully i can keep it alive!

i love our soap dish and all that. it's made from recycled glass, and oh so pretty!

once we get back home, i'll take some more pictures!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

we were back home in indiana...

for a few days. at least.

i got real bored in the car and doodled on my toes.

we stopped at a gas station and was greeted by this POW semi. it took my breath away, and made me smile. it was like it was a sign from grandpa.

we flew home from atlanta so we could be with my family and there for grandpa's funeral. our friends took us to the train station so we could take that to the airport. the train is called the marta. i was highly amused because that is one of my favorite camper's name!

so in that one day we rode a boat, drove a car, rode a train and flew in an airplane!

it was our first flight together, and james said he knew we'd have different travel styles. he likes to sit in the bar until boarding, where as i like to stalk the gate, and make sure i don't miss anything! we got into indy real late, and a big thank you goes to james' dad and stepmom for picking us up. we were in bed around 3am that morning. yikes!


we had some issues the next morning with the truck. so james decided to stay in lafayette and fix it, and i rode up with supa, dav and jade. jade and dav got cozy in the backseat. she looked like she was hugging dav. she really loves him!

sunday brought the wake. dad asked james if he would wear his uniform, and he was honored to. i hardly ever see james in his uniform let alone standing at attention. and when they played taps, and he saluted my grandpa it was too much. i am so proud of both of them, and the job they do/did.

the following day james had the opportunity to present the flag to my aunt janet after the other soldiers removed it from the casket and folded it up.

i wish my grandpa had the chance to really meet my soldier, and vice versa. they met many years ago, but james was just a high school boy then! the month or so before the wedding they had another chance to meet, but grandpa was too out of it by then.

i just can't say enough about my two favorite sergeants!

after the funeral we headed back to lafayette. finished packing, went furniture shopping (another thanks to brian and cheryl for that generous wedding gift) and said good-byes.

we had a few more glitches which i will spare you of. let's just say we went to bed at 4am wednesday morning and instead of leaving early that morning we left late that night. had a few more issues. due to the mattresses on the roof. spent about 2 hours and only got 1/2 hour down the road! drove all through the night. (on very little sleep) and made it to our house closing appointment at 8:45am thursday morning!

here are pictures of all my stuff, and our shower and wedding gifts, crammed into the uhaul. james said he figured we'd be driving through kentucky and tennessee so he and dad thought the mattresses would fit in nice on top of the trailer!

cori stopped by for a quick visit/goodbye. me proving to ma that magglio was ready to go on another adventure. my toes with the fabric from our new couch. macy love and magglio getting one more snuggle in. and us, ready to head south!


house pictures and current news soon!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

dolphins.

we still don't have internet at home, but lucky for you we had to go down to fort benning for paperwork. which means we are staying in yet another hotel. yay free wi-fi! maggs got to come with us. this should be interesting.

so here are the pictures from our day with the dolphins. we had a mom and her calf. the mom's mom was actually at this lagoon too. she is estimated to be 53 years old. the average life span of a dolphin is 25-30 years. crazy! she was nicknamed "hot lips" because when she kisses a guy with a beard she doesn't want to let go! too bad james didn't get a kiss from her.

we learned a lot about dolphins that day. this place is a research center, non profit organization. so basically our tickets helped put fish in their coolers. pretty neat!


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

a time for everything.

life has been crazy.

a time to laugh...

the rest of our honeymoon was spent on a private island in the keys. it was a nice escape from the madness. the highlight was our visit to the "dolphin research center." we got to swim with the dolphins! this was on my life list, and james sure did surprise me.



(dolphin pictures next time)

and a time to cry...

the end of the week brought some hard news to take. my grandpa's health had been diminishing. my dad called to tell me he was going to be put in hospice. he also told me how he had the opportunity, thanks be to God, to baptize grandpa. we are so thankful for that!

14 aug 08 my grandpa went home to be with grandma. it was so hard to hear, but i know that grandpa is in no more pain, and back with his love. i recalled a time when grandpa was telling me how hard it is to lose the one you love. and how "no one wants to play cards with you, because you don't have your partner." i like to think they are up there playing pinochle!

we headed home a few days early. no big deal since we had been fortunate to experience so much already. the road home was long, but it was so nice to pull off on to rt2, back to those familiar places. home.

my grandpa is my biggest hero. i know i have said it before, but i cannot explain how proud of him i am, and how blessed our family was by having him as our role model.

for those who don't know, grandpa served in ww2. he was captured and spent 4 months as a POW. when grandpa died, i felt like it was not only a loss to all of us, but also a huge loss to our country. i wish everyone could have met him, and known him like we did. it is so hard to see many of our veterans pass. thank you to all of them for the sacrifices they have made for all of us.

we love you grandpa. say hi to grandma for us!

what's next for us? we are packed up and ready to hit the road. one last time.

georgia...here we come!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

the cabin.

so we headed on down to the blue ridge mountains. which happen to be real close to where we are moving to. we booked the cabin before we knew we would be stationed there. it is so beautiful! the guy who built it spared no expense. the rooms were amazing. along with the view, which is how it got it's name. "amazing view." we spent our time playing pool, air hockey, cooking, hot tubbing and enjoying the view. i also got to swing in the hammock adrienne gave us. it was so comfortable! not much better than that!

Monday, August 11, 2008

chatanooga fun.

papa had told us about a place in chatanooga that we had to check out. lookout mountain. we headed down and found that there were three main attractions all real close to each other.

we bought the package for all three and began at the "incline railway." you take a cable car up the side of the mountain. there are two cars, and as one goes up, the other comes down. the work on a pully system, and won a mechanical engineering award. it was pretty neat, and also a bit scary as you were going up at a 72 degree grade. you could see the buildings below from the ceiling of the train car. the view, of course, was amazingly beautiful.


from there we went on to "ruby falls." another cave. this one we took an elevator down through the limestone. it was pretty neat. a long walk, but finally we got to see the indoor waterfall. they shut off all the lights before you walk in the opening where it is. when they turn on the lights it is truly breathtaking. it is also a lot cooler (temperature wise) in there!


the last stop before we got back on the road was to "rock city." a big rock garden, and the place where you can "see seven states" on a clear day. this was probably our favorite stop of the day. there was a lot to see, and some real cool rock formations. plus we got to see "lover's leap." i highly recommend hitting these places up, especially for some vintage vacation fun. they just have that feel to them.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

from bowling green to nashville.

so after we left indy we headed on down to nashville. on the way james spotted a billboard for "lost river cave" we pulled over and were pleasantly surprised with a fun cave and boat tour. it was so neat! there used to be a nite club down there in the 30's. hearing tales of the stairs they had to go down, and seeing pictures made me wish we could have shared a dance or two back then. nowadays they have wedding receptions, proms and other things held there. pretty cool!


that night we stayed in nashville. my only request was that we went to "wildhorse saloon." we did, and it was great! heard a live band, saw real cowboys two-steppin' with their girls, and drank some jack and coke. mmmm.

hokay so...

aunt nancy asked how i got my blog all fancy so soon.

truth is...i looked into it awhile ago. we had the g-mail set up for our web page, and i thought "eh? why not!"

so lucky you...another blog from me. james is currently watching a scary movie, and i can't handle them. so here i sit.

after the reception we drove down to indy. we had a fabulous suite in the conrad for two nights. we were greeted, hugged, and congratulated by some girls out for a bachelorette party. they were fun! our hotel was connected to the mall, so we ventured out one day. grabbed some lunch and walked around.

as we drove out of town i suggested we hit up 'cheeseburger in paradise.' it was my favorite place to go when i lived in greenwood. we got some free drink samples from mike the bartender, and we were back on the road to nashville.

Friday, August 8, 2008

testing...

out this whole new blog. figured new life, new blog.

we are in stuart, florida. james left me for the brewhouse. mostly so i could watch the opening ceremony in peace. i figured i could multitask. so here goes.

the wedding (8.2.8) was the most amazing day! everything went perfect. we cannot thank everyone enough for all their help and support. we really appreciate it! it was a long time coming, and we wouldn't have had it any other way!

the day was beautiful. we are so blessed with the friends and family we have.

here are just a few snapshots that someone captured on my camera. many, many more to come.

happy day!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...