Lots of new stuff

Well, I'll start with the oldest and go to the latest stuff that's been going on here.

On the 1st of Sept, the dance team had a Lock-In at school. Basically, they spent the night at school. ;) Anyway, one of the moms who had volunteered told me I should stay too. I had been thinking about it, but putting it off, so I said OK! :) One more mom stepped up too, so there were 3 moms, plus the coaches, plus 16 teenagers! It was fun. We had run of the entire school, and it's a BIG school. They ate, played hide and seek, watched a movie, laughed, screamed, ran through the halls, pushed each other on rolling chairs and in trash cans. Here are some pics...











































Aaron is visiting from Wisconsin one more time before Anisa goes to Italy. That's coming up in 2.5 weeks! We've been slowly, but surely, getting her stuff ready. A lot of it, we can't do til the last minute..mainly the packing part.

This past Sunday, we were supposed to go on a bike ride with Larry and Jan, but they have some remodeling going on in their bathroom, so instead, we went to Great Falls, VA. It's in McLean, about half hour away from here. Unfortunately, everyone else went that day (Labor Day weekend) and it took us 2 hours to get there. It was cool, tho. Once we got there, we hiked on the rocks, looked at the little fishies, and took pictures. Here are some of them.....











































On Tuesday, Sara started school as a Junior! She asked us if she gets a 4.0 this year, would we buy her a car. We said YEP. Now, watch her get a 4.0. :) heehee Anyway, one of her favorite friends, Hannah, spent the night and they watched Time Traveler's Wife, then got their beauty sleep and got up, got ready and I took them to school. Sara said she likes her classes, teachers and even has friends in a lot of her classes (she didn't have many friends in her classes last year). Here is Sara and Hannah. Aren't they beeyooteefull?! :)



















Anisa, Aaron and I planned to go into DC to see the butterflies and try to go up the Washington Monument. Luckily, I talked to Renee that morning and she decided at the last minute to bring Ava and go with us! Miss Ava starts school next week, so this really was her last chance. We saw the butterflies, bugs, skeletons, live fishies and "real but not alive" animals. Here is Ava trying to talk one of the butterflies into landing on her. Poor kid. She only wanted ONE butterfly to land on her and actually, one did, but nobody got a picture of it because he landed then took right off.














Travis is visiting Philly, New York and Baltimore this week, so he's been gone for a couple of days which I think is nice, since I never get a chance to miss him! :) He'll be home on Friday, and I think we're planning a trip to the beach this weekend and HOPEFULLY getting to meet a cousin of mine...actually a second cousin. I'll tell you all about it next week! :)

8-28-2010 Restoring Honor Rally

Today we (Travis, Chad, Renee, Sara Beth, Larry, Jan and yours truly), along with 5hundredthousandmillion people, went into DC to see Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Alveda King and others talk about Restoring Honor in America. Renee, Chad, Travis and I had been planning this since GB announced it MONTHS ago. Renee and I even got matching t-shirts. The guys got new t-shirts, but they didn't match. wierdos. :)






Our day started at the Metro station where the lines and crowds were an indication that we were gonna get smooshed on the train. We got there and had to run back to the house (about a 10 minute drive) to pick up Fastpasses because the lines to buy day passes were so huge (wrapped around the parking structure was one line, and another was inside the parking structure) that it was faster to run to the house and pick up Anisa's Metro passes. :) She is our little hero. :)






We got onto the train, chatted with the others who were VERY CLOSE TO US on the train. We made several new friends. heehee But, then we had to get off the train halfway between here and DC because of "track work". We decided to take a cab from there since the next train through was gonna be packed and all the people off our first train had to figure out how to squish into the next few trains coming through. The cab was a GREAT decision and we got to the Lincoln Memorial in no time. When we got there, we attempted to find another friend who had gotten there before us, but gave up and went to get a seat somewhere that we could at least see one of the jumbo tv screens.


































We got a good seat and saw and heard the speakers and their messages. It was really fun. The Restoring Honor website had stressed that this was not going to be a political rally and it honestly wasn't (although, I've already read some of the liberal press turning it into something negative...how sad). They talked a lot about our country getting back to basics, turning back to God, doing what our forefathers did. For me, as a Christian, it was motivational. Besides the great speakers, I was there with my friends, and Victor, a friend we met at one of the political rallies, met us there!

The weather cooperated kind of. The humidity was pretty low today, so that was REALLY nice, but it was still hot and I think I sweat about 5 gallons! It was pretty icky. After the rally was over, we walked over to Rosslyn, about 2.5 miles to find someplace to eat. After finding our first choice was closed, our second choice was a 45 minute wait, we decided to go to Chipotle, which should have been our first choice. :) We finished lunch and headed back to metro. It was almost as crowded as the morning, but we were just happy to finally be going home. We were all tired, hot, sweaty, sticky and stuffed. :) Now I have to find our next rally to go to! :)

So You're Not Bored. :)

Hi everyone. :) Well, ok, the couple of people who actually see this blog. :) Today is kind of a hot day, compared the last couple of days that were pretty nice and low humidity. This morning it was 72 in the house and outside, but with the humidity outside, it still felt much hotter outside. Now it's in the 80s and icky again. oh well. I'm sitting inside with my wonderful A/C and fans on.

This Saturday we're heading into DC with friends to see Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Jo Dee Messina, Alveda King (MLK's niece) and others. I hope it stays on task to celebrate America's heroes and troops. It should be very fun. Besides, we'll be with our friends, and that's ALWAYS fun.

On Sunday I went to pick up my friend Joe (an 83 yr old guy I pick up for church) and there was a really cute turtle in his front yard. The woman he rents a room from said in the 40something years she's lived here, she's never seen a turtle just walking around outside. I told her we have saved about 5 turtles. I don't know if this is the "year of the turtle", but there sure are a lot of them.

Anisa's Italy trip is coming up. If anyone has any good trip tips, let us know. We're busy collecting stuff she needs. She'll be there for 3 months, so I'm sure we'll be sending a box of stuff in the middle of her trip, or sending stuff with Travis when he goes.

Anyway, this is just a basic, nothing-to-it post, just figured I'd say hi to anyone visiting and tell you to have a great day! :)

random stuff

I have been telling people that I would update my blog, but I haven't...until now. :)

My blog would not be complete if I didn't have a picture of a squirrel. But I am also including, as a bonus, a cicada! This little buggy guy just hatched from his little shell. Now he is living in the trees singing his little summer Cicaday song. :) They can be really loud when they're all singing in their little choir, but it's the sound of summer here. I used to not really like it, until I saw three of these little guys hatch by my garage door. Now, I think they're cute and I appreciate their music more.



















We had Shana out from WI for a week. That was fun. We did a little shopping, went to VA Beach, went into DC, enjoyed Jumbo Slice with Sammi, Anand and Kayley and she even got to watch WSHS Dance Team practice. Here are some highlights from her visit.












































Anisa is leaving for Italy in a little over a month. I can't believe it's coming so fast. Still happy and nervous feelings going through the house. I hope this will be an amazing trip for her and a growing/maturing experience for my baby. I can't believe my "baby" is almost 20! yikes. She has been cooking candy like a madwoman at school. We've had truffles, caramel, brittle and even some cakes... here are her cakes. Ok, I'm not sure why blogger has turned the anniversary cake sideways, but I've downloaded it twice. so, it stays. :)




















I just finished 2 quilts for the dance coaches. The block is Card Trick and there is a little triangle in the top corner of each quilt with a Joker on it. The theme last year was Dark Knight (Batman) and the Joker had a big part in it along with cards. Their colors were purple and green.




















Sara started dance practice again, so summer is officially over. School starts after Labor Day for her. I can't believe she'll be a Junior this year. I hope to get some quilting done when our schedule is back to a semi-normal. I'm also hoping for a camping trip, just Travis and me, to Gettysburg this fall. But that's another blog post! :)

Poor Little Neglected Blog

Oh my, have I neglected my poor little blog. Not because I want to. I miss blogging, I miss my bloggy friends, but that blasted Facebook has been hogging much of my time, and let's just not get started on Farmville..... :)

Anyway, to catch everyone up and to post pics for those of you who just wanna see, here goes.... (this may not be in chronological order, it's just the way it comes out of my brain)

The girls and I went to California. Some of you know we were planning a trip to Ireland this year. We got our passports (finally) and I was checking out all the prices, collecting info from people and websites, etc. I told Travis to make sure to put in for leave before I booked anything. Well, he came home one day and told me he couldn't take leave for the 2 week window we had when Anisa and Sara had off of school at the same time (Anisa is in school for the summer quarter). Anyway, because it's transfer season and the old guys had already gone and the new guys are still learning thier jobs, Travis couldn't get a whole 2 weeks off at a time. Big time bummer for us, but because we are a CG family, we adapt. Anisa headed to WI for a quick visit and when Sara finally got out of school for the summer, we headed to CA and Anisa met us a few days later. We visited only family this time, except one friend I got to see while waiting for Anisa to get to the airport. It was busy, hectic and we did have fun. We went to Knott's Berry Farm, Mt. Baldy and Newport Beach/Balboa Island. The kids had fun with their cousins and favorite uncle Blake. :) The weather was awesome, and as much as I hate California, I appreciated the nice weather it provided (in the high 70s/low 80s with a cool breeze every day and lows were in the 60 - while in DC it was in the 90s/100s with high humidity). You can see pics on my Shutterfly.

So, as I said already, Anisa is going to school this summer. It kind of stinks, because it keeps us home. We can't really make a far, family trip. Weekends are being taken up by Dance Team fundraising for Sara. Ah, having kids who are older and involved..... Anyway, she went in to school on Monday and called about 10 minutes after being dropped off. I though she was going to tell me class had been canceled. Nope. She said she ran into Chef Sholly and he asked if she wanted to go to Italy! The school has a study abroad program and the culinary students can go to Italy for a quarter. She will take classes, tours, and even make a trip to Spain and Germany. Her main post will be the small town of Orvieto. From there they will bus, train or plane to all kinds of places and see different things. She'll learn about meats, cheese, olives and wine. How to get good stuff, how to use it and how to cook it. She'll be gone from Sept to Dec. The only bad thing is my Mommy overprotectiveness. I'll miss my baby. I'll worry about my baby. They speak a different language there that she has to learn before Sept. I know she'll have a blast, I know it's a trip of a lifetime, I just hope she doesn't want to stay forever! :) Or maybe that would be a good thing. We'd have a place to visit when we go to Europe. :)

Another story out here is the summer weather. While we were in CA, a couple of days got into the 100s. And it is not a dry heat. It is so humid and muggy, you can almost cut through the air. It's hard to breathe. I hate it. Luckily, it's cooled of a tiny bit. It's only getting to about 90 this week, but still humid. Like right now out on my front window (where our little sensor is) it's 94 degrees, 44% humidity. My dad said it was hot and muggy down at his house, so I just checked what weather.com says it is. It's 102 degrees and 24 % humidity. Still VERY icky and when it's that hot, it's just plain miserable, but if it feels humid in CA at 24%, you can imagine what it feels like at 44%. poopy! I can complain. I don't complain about rain, snow or freezing temps. I choose to whine in the summer, but now I'm done. :)

Sara is leaving in the morning to Dance camp. They will be there until Tues. I think they learn a couple of routines, team building, etc. It should be fun, but I hope their weather is good. Forecast is for scattered thunderstorms and showers. I just hope they get to stay inside in the air conditioning.

I think that's it for now. I can't remember anything else super important to tell you all. I hope you're having a fantastic day whatever you're doing and wherever you are. :)

Chicks of Cakes.....

Anisa entered the cake decorating competition at Zoofari, a fundraiser for the Panda research at the National Zoo. The contest was judged by Duff Goldman from the tv show Ace of Cakes at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. There were 3 teams and they had about an hour to decorate their cakes before judging. Anisa and 2 other chickees from Art Institute rolled and spread fondant, painted, gently placed cakes on top of each other and then waited to be judged.

They WON! by a long shot. Their cake was beautiful. Duff even told the girls that their cake was one of the most professional looking cakes he had seen done by students!

Here is the team and their cake. We're so proud of the chicks! Oh, and by the way, the entire thing was edible. The little panda on top is a little cake. :)

16 years ago today....

16 years ago we welcomed a new person into our family. SARA!!! :)

The morning of May 19 started like most of my mornings with a 3 yr old. Wake up, get her fed, ready for a bath, clothed, etc....But then, I started feeling weird. Not "in labor" but just weird. I called Grandma and Grampa H who were in town to help out with the big sister when the little one arrived. I put Anisa into the tub and Gma and Gpa arrived.

By the time they got to the house, I knew I was in labor. A baby was gonna be born that day. We finished getting Anisa ready for the day and headed to the hospital. Poor Grampa had to drive and with each contraction, we went a little faster. I had called Travis, who was at work...luckily, he worked right down the road from the hospital. He met us at the door and we went to check in...after I thought I was gonna have that child in the car. My contractions were coming hard and fast. We got checked into the room, changed into my lovely gown and got ready to have a baby. My room overlooked the beautiful Willamette River over Portland, OR. Float planes flew in and out while we were there. It was actually quite nice.

The nurses came in with a teenage girl and asked if she could watch the birth (she was taking some classes and this was part of her "training", I think. We said, sure. As my contractions got worse, this poor girl got a little more green. I looked over and she was kind of "sliding" down the wall to sit down. The nurses came and escorted her out of the room for some juice. Great birth control, let teenagers watch actual births! :)

Anyway, about an hour after I arrived at the hospital it was time for Sara to enter the world. She was anxious to get here, luckily, so I didn't have to push for too long. She arrived and we were thrilled that we had another daughter. Big Sissy Anisa and Gma and Gpa got to come in and see our newest family member. We had a few other visitors during the day (Viv, Sheri, Nay) but spent most of our time admiring our precious newest little girl.

Now, she's 16. Wow, the time has flown by. She is in high school and is driving. She loves to dance and listen to her music. She also loves to put on her make-up and do her hair. :) hee hee Sometimes she can get on our last nerve, but most of the time, she's a good kid and we are so happy to be able to call her our daughter. Sara, I love you so much!!! Happy Birthday!!

Silly Travis

He reminded me to tell you all that we saw another Coastie that works at HQ. We made up our own little team. heehee He mentioned that in the program, at mile 5 there would be a miniature horse to greet us and cheer us on. We got to mile 5 and there was no horse, but as we turned a corner there were TWO mini horses to cheer for us. They weren't actually cheering, but they were standing there looking really cute and it made us smile. I also saw a squirrel. :)

Historic Half Marathon and Relay for Life

Well, we finished. Travis and I ran our first half marathon and survived. :) The Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA is part of the Marine Corps Marathon series.

It all started yesterday when we went to get our t-shirts and bib/time chips. There was a running expo at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. We called some friends that we have known since before Anisa was born, in fact, they were some of our first visitors when we had Anisa and we had her babyshower at their house. :) Kevin and Christine. We've lived here for a year now and haven't gotten to see them, so this was the perfect opportunity. **Real quick, the reason we haven't seen them in all this time is because they live an hour south and we don't get down there often. Ok, so, we had a fantastic lunch with them yesterday, then headed home to go to bed early.

Turned out that Anisa, our darling daughter who we love so much, had other plans. She was spending the night at a friend's house. She had taken the metro to her friend's house so she had to come home on the metro, pick up the car, and bring it home. THEN I had to take them both back to the metro so they could go BACK to her friend's house. ugh....confused, yet?? :) Anyway, we didn't get to bed until 10 pm. That's all fine and dandy if you can get up in the morning at a decent hour, but not if you have to get up before the birdies. We had to get up at 3:45 to start getting ready and have a yummy delicious cup of coffee before we left.

We left the house at about 5:00 a.m. Got a great parking spot at Walfart, and headed toward the starting line. Got in line for the potty, then went to the staging area. Decided last minute we better make ONE MORE potty run. :) Then, we were off. The course is hilly, but not extreme. We run hills here, but not for 13.1 miles. There were lots and lots of people standing on the sides of the streets yelling for the runners to "keep up the good work, you can do it, you're almost done". It was cool. Mile 11 started us up a 2 mile hill. It was not as horrible as we thought it was going to be, but it actually did me in. I had to walk about 50 feet at the top (which irritates the poo out of me, I didn't want to walk AT ALL). We started running again and into mile 12 Travis felt good enough to leave me (not alone...I was surrounded by lots of new friends). :) I turned the corner and saw the finish line and got my second wind. I cranked it out at the end and we both finished strong. We got our beautiful "finisher medals", water, bananas, oranges and pretzels and went somewhere to stretch a little. Then got our belongings from the Marines who were watching over our valuables, and headed to the van. I had brought celebratory beers, but we wanted to get home, so we kept them in their little ice cooler and headed the hour north. We got home, threw in a pizza, headed up to shower then when we were all clean and not stinky any more enjoyed our pizza and beers. Now, I need a nap and a massage would be nice, too. We're both a little sore, but not as bad as we thought we would be. We'll see how we feel tomorrow! :)

Our results are in.....Travis finished at 2:16:49. I was about a minute behind him at 2:17:38. The men's divisions are harder (I think), more competition. There were 5419 finishers. There were 2737 men and Travis finished 1836. In his division (Men 40-44), he came in 329 out of 480. There were 2682 women and I finished 1118. In my division (Women 40-44) I came in 161 out of 400. The average time for finishers in the Men's division was 2:08:51, and in Women's 2:27:25, so we were both pretty close to average. In fact, Travis was 46.6 % and I was 51.2% in our age grade ranking. We are very happy that we finished and our times aren't too bad. :) Oh, by the way, the first place man came in at 1:14:40. Yes, that's ONE HOUR and 14 minutes to run 13.1 miles. The first place woman came in at 1:26:26.

So, if you read the title of this post, you might be thinking, ok, what about the Relay for Life? Well, Sara did that. It is a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society and it's a 12 hour walk all night. It started Friday night at 7 p.m. and ended at 7 a.m. Saturday. I volunteered to be a chaperone until 11, but ended up staying until 1 (which is why I'm totally exhausted now, I'm running on very little sleep for the last couple of nights). We all got there about 6 o'clock to set up our tent and seating area. About 5 minutes into setting up they announced that a severe thunder storm was on it's way and we had to evacuate the field immediately. Everyone headed into the school (it was held at Sara's school). There were a bunch of sweaty, hot people in the gym and auditorium. I hadn't eaten dinner, so as soon as the rain stopped for a minute, I walked to McDonalds to get something to eat. I had to make a quick stop at the bank, then CVS, and I started walking across the street to McD's and it started sprinkling. I was lucky. I walked into McD's and from the time I walked in the door to the counter the sky opened up and it POURED and blew! I ate my burgers, and during a rain break I headed back to the school and they were just letting us back out onto the field. The girls had fun, they walked, they talked, they slept, then came home and slept more. :)

Here are pictures of both events...

Before the race













After the race













Us at the finish line with our medals. :)














Sara and the gang...
Aren't they cute?? This is only some of the team.












The chicks playing Twister. Crazy girls. :)

Speaking of Kids....

Well, I was talking to my Grandma today and she asked about Sara and her driving permit. I had totally forgotten to tell everyone. SARA GOT HER PERMIT....RUN FOR THE HILLS WHILE YOU CAN!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm just kidding about the running for the hills part. She took the test once a while back and missed it by a question or two. The next time she went to take it, she studied really hard and passed with flying colors. So, she is now a driver. It's scary to be teaching another kid to drive. I'm not sure Baby's little carburetor can handle this! heehee Nah, Baby is fine. She's happy to be the one to see the kids learn. As long as Sara doesn't drive her into a ditch or a guard rail, we'll all be fine.

So, I've let Sara drive home from school a couple of times, she's driven in the neighborhood lots and even practiced in an empty parking lot. She's pretty good, but still has to work on her confidence and staying toward the middle of the road instead of the middle of the lane (I don't know if it's just around here, but there are lots of roads we drive on with no shoulders. If you go over the little right line, you're in the ditch). She has to have her permit for a year and 3 months, I think. She took Driver's Ed at school and will have to take behind the wheel before her year is up. But for now, it's just Sara and Mommy (and sometimes her friend, Hannah or Anisa) cruising the open roads of Springfield with me telling her to brake, steer to the middle, use your signal, watch out for that parked car......... Pray for us! :) hee hee

Bragging about my kid....again. :)

This time, I'm bragging about my Anisa. She competed in the Titanium Chef competition on Saturday. She was signed up/volunteered to compete by her friend, Kashif, and was partnered up with her other friend, Michelle. Someone told them not to expect to win, since it's their first competition, but to see it as really great practice....and if they DID place, it would be a bonus. The competition earns them points toward some certificate (I can't remember, but it's a good one heehee).

There were 12 teams of 2 people competing. The main dish was duck. They could prepare it the way they wanted. They also had to prepare side dishes. The girls had decided to make a watercress salad and au gratin potatoes. Before they started, they were given a box with ingredients they had to incorporate into their recipes. Anisa's and Michelle's box had things like cherries, oranges, pine nuts, spices and other yummy things. They cooked, they sweat, they rushed, they sliced, diced and simmered. They had to prepare 2 plates for the judges. One plate was for show, the other was for the judges to eat.

After they had finished they turned in their food to be judged. After all the competitors turned in all their plates and the judges were done tallying they announced winners.

Anisa and Michelle came in 3rd!!!!!!! They asked the judges about what they liked/didn't like about the food, or presentation of the food. They got mostly positives, but the negative they got was about the oranges. The judges said they didn't know what to do with the oranges, were they decoration, dessert, what?? They said to incorporate them into one of the sides or main dish. The girls got medals and certificates. Anisa said she had so much fun that she's kind of leaning more toward a general culinary degree now, instead of baking and pastry. She's going to talk to the Master Chef and then her counselors to see what she should do. Crazy kid.


Here are the girls with their medals and their plates. :)

Tax Day Tea Party

Travis and I attended ANOTHER DC rally. It was the Tax Day Tea Party. It was held at the Washington Monument and had speakers like Dick Armey, Lord Monckton and Ron Paul. The crowd was pretty happy, people of all ages. We saw one guy with a "Stop the War" sign but for the most part, everyone was happy. Here are some pics of the day.

Cherry Blossoms

Well, the DC Cherry Blossom festival is over. The blooms came and went real quick this year. The weather was so weird. The coldest weather, hottest weather, sun, rain..... the poor little trees didn't know what to do. Anyway, Aaron was out here for a couple of weeks and Sara went to WI for her spring break. I took the 2 big kids into DC to check out the trees.

The history of the Cherry Blossoms goes like this... (copied from the DC Cherry Blossom Festival Website)

****The National Cherry Blossom Festival® annually commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, honoring the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and celebrating the continued close relationship between our two cultures.

In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two trees from Japan on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. In 1915, the United States Government reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan. A group of American school children reenacted the initial planting in 1927 and the first "festival” was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the Nation’s Capital.

First Lady Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 more trees in 1965. In 1981, the cycle of giving came full circle. Japanese horticulturists were given cuttings from our trees to replace some cherry trees in Japan which had been destroyed in a flood.

The Festival was expanded to two weeks in 1994 to accommodate a diverse activity schedule during the trees’ blooming. Today, more than a million people visit Washington, DC each year to admire the blossoming cherry trees and attend events that herald the beginning of spring in the Nation’s Capital.

The Festival looks forward to celebrating the centennial anniversary of the gift of trees in 2012 and is planning spectacular events to mark this historic and special occasion.***

Pretty cool, huh?! Anyway, here are some pics from around the tidal basin.

Here is a bonus picture. Travis and I had to go to a retirement ceremony on Saturday, so we took a quick picture of us while we were both all dressed up. :)

bragging on my celebrity friend

Ok, most of you have visited Monica's blog, but you should go there today. She is a REAL QUILT FABRIC DESIGNER. Soon, she's gonna be bigger than Mary E or Debbie Mumm. I'm so proud of my cute friend. If you know her, you know this is something she totally deserves. She's one of the most fun, talented, generous people I know. If you don't know her, well, you can just take my word for it. She is pretty awesome, and now, a celebrity. :) heehee Love you Monica! :)