Family Vacation Recap

Branson, Missouri was wonderful! We rented a condo from Thousand Hills Golf Resort and got upgraded for free to stay at one of their brand new condos off of Table Rock Lake. The whole place was amazing and cozy! We definitely hit the jackpot! Below is a video clip of our condo. I took this just before we left Monday morning.

During our stay in Branson, Missouri we did lots of shopping, rode the Duks ("Ducks"), explored the Titanic, and hung out by the pool to catch some rays. We ate at some fabulous restuarants and even took in some gorgeous sights! If you're looking for a sweet place to get away for a nice, long weekend... this is the place to go!

Yesterday, July 23rd, was my dad's 60th birthday! Kathleen and I got up early to make our dad a delicious birthday breakfast. The other night he and our mom went to go see Wicked (mine and Kathleen's birthday gifts for them). Later we had an elaborate steak dinner, followed by a couple more gifts (including an "old man hat" gag gift), and after Young Adult Bible Study we came home for some yummy birthday cake!

On The Road Again

Monday Kathleen and I spent quite a bit of time at Caribou watching the final episodes of The Bachelorette. Unfortunately, I knew who DeAnna was going to pick (I accidentally found out while in New Orleans... bummer), but I kept it well from Kathleen, even though I was anxious to tell her. The good news is... she picked my favorite guy, Jesse! He was my favorite from the beginning and even though it was heartbreaking to watch Jason get rejected, I believe that DeAnna made an excellent choice!

Tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. I'll be back on the road! My family is taking a trip to Branson, Missouri. We've never been there, so it'll be a new experience for all of us. We'll probably do plenty of shopping and hiking to fill our days. I'm looking forward to it!

Nora and I played some sand volleyball in a league with some of her work friends yesterday. Her and I were the best players on the team. We didn't win, but it was still a good time. Any excuse to play sand volleyball is fine with me.

New Orleans Recap

First of all, Thank You to everyone who prayed for the seven of us while we were in New Orleans. It was an amazing trip and we had little, if any, delays, complications, or set-backs.

The duration of our trip was Monday, July 7th - Saturday, July 12th, 2008. We left Parker Road Bible Church at about 5:30 a.m. and spent about 15.5 hours crammed into one mini van. No matter, it saved us a lot of money on travel expenses and watching 5 movies seemed to take our minds off of the fact that we didn't have much room to spread out. We stayed at Berean Bible Church while we were in New Orleans. There was another group from Maine staying there as well. We pretty much spent the first night getting settled and picking up supplies from Wal-Mart.

Day 1, Tuesday, July 8th:

- The home were supposed to work on was unavailable since the homeowner (Gloria) was not ready for us.

- We got reassigned to Buddy and Debbie's homes (the Berean's youth pastor's father and step-mother).

- Did some sanding, painting, and iron work at Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Joined the Maine group for Jambalaya for dinner... a New Orleans favorite.

- Sat in on an evening devotional with the group from Maine.

- Tried pickled pig lips (which we didn't know until after we sampled the offered New Orleans "treat" offered by the Maine leaders).

- Did another evening Wal-Mart run.

Day 2, Wednesday, July 9th:

- Worked on Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Did more sanding and iron work, as well as restoring wood work.

- Cooked burgers on the grill.

- Did a Walgreens run and picked up a greeting card and an Applebee's gift card for Buddy and Debbie.

- Got Frosties from Wendy's.

Day 3, Thursday, July 10th:

- Stopped at Lowes to pick up a supplies and a gift card for Buddy and Debbie.

- Worked on Buddy and Debbie's homes.

- Did more sanding and iron work, as well as restoring wood work.

- Dr. Counts and I drove to a local hospital to meet Gloria at work.

- Gloria signed paper work and we were officially set to work on her home.

- Melissa took us on a tour of the Levy and the 9th Ward.

- Spent some time at the French Quarter.

- Everyone had alligator as an appitizer.

- I had BBQ Shrimp for dinner... ones that I had to pull apart myself.

- Had Beignets (square doughnuts) for dessert.

Day 4, Friday, July 11th:

- Worked on Gloria's home.

- Painted the interior of her garage.

- Restored and painted burgler bars.

- Handed out flyers to the neighborhood for Berean's VBS. The one house my dad had someone answer the door the dog got out and he spent much of his time chasing down the dog with the owner.

- Did our last evening Wal-Mart run.

We left New Orleans at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The trip took about 15 hours and we hit some nasty weather on our way back. We even got through another 5 movies! When we arrived at church we were amazed at how much cooler it felt! We don't miss the humidity at all.

If you want to see more pictures be sure to check my Facebook profile (if we're friends).

Fireworks!

If you know me then you know that I simply love fireworks!  Especially ones that sparkle, change color, or have some sort of movement... basically any firework that sets them apart from the basic BOOM, BANG!  Well, I got to see quite the assortment of fireworks this past 4th of July.  On Thursday, July 3rd Dan and I took a drive to Joliet to watch some fireworks with Jeff (the man Dan has been staying with this summer, as well as a fellow co-worker).  We sat right on the river as the fireworks burst ever so brightly above us... and I mean directly above us!  On Friday, 4th of July my family went over to my Uncle Jim and Aunt Marlene's house for a family BBQ.  Afterwards, Dan, Kathleen, and I rode bikes to mine and Kathleen's high school to view some fireworks from Oak Fest.  Then, Saturday, July 5th Dan and I watched some fireworks that were set off at the country club just behind house.  Did I mention that Dan and I also watched some fireworks from our past trip to Disney World?  Those are my favorite!

Saturday, Dan and I walked almost 2 miles to get to Cold Stone.  We had a coupon and decided a nice walk would be a great way for us to feel less guilty about eating so much fattening (but delicious) ice cream.  Later we did some shopping and Dan found a great new outfit for Deborah and Joshua's wedding reception.  The whole outfit was worth about $150 (from Gap and Express Men), but he managed to only spend about $36!  Yep, we're great sale/clearance shoppers.

Moving on... today after church was Deborah and Joshua's wedding reception.  It took place in an old mansion in Joliet.  Dinner was fabulous and the cake was divine (thanks to Donna).  Deborah was beautiful and Joshua was beaming with pride as he showed off his lovely bride.  It was nice to see Mary and her husband Daniel along with little Emily.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. I will be on the road to New Orleans.  I'm going with others from my church to work on homes that have been damaged by Hurricane Katrina.  Among those who are attending are my sister and my dad.  I still haven't packed... I better get on that.  Anyway, so I won't be updating in a while.  Stay tuned, I'll give a full report on my trip!

New Air Conditioner

This morning I was woken up by some men outside my window, they came to install a new central air conditioner in our home. I was woken up about 15 minutes before I had to actually get up for work, so that wasn't bad. Apparently our old air conditioner was using up too much energy, so this new one will keep us cool and save energy (and therefore, save $$ as well).

The printer is down at work again. Hopefully it'll be up and running before tomorrow... that's when I have to run the bulletin. Not having a working printer can really slow me down, as I have mentioned before. Oh well, things always manage to get done regardless. Maybe not as quickly, but I'm not too worried.

The Taste and More!

Ok, so the past couple of days have been amazing! So much has happened... so that means that this entry is going to be a bit lengthy, but I've got pictures!

Friday, Dan came over and after dinner we went for a walk, played some Wii, and then went to Applebee's for some appetizers. He had a gift card with some money left on it, so we used it up. It was a fun and nice evening.

Saturday, Dan and I took the train downtown to experience The Taste of Chicago. A lot happened! First, while we were waiting for the train to come a man (about my age) had a Seizure! He was behind me and Dan so we didn't see what happened, but then someone cried out, "He's having a Seizure!" A man called 911 and just as the man was coming to we heard the sirens coming. The man tried to leave (dazed and confused). I called out, "Stop him before he falls and hits his head." Dan and two other men tried to keep him calm until help arrived. He was on his way to falling on the tracks! Thankfully, help came and after working with him for a while took him to the hospital. Phew! On the train we were stuck on a car without any air conditioning. Yuck! As we arrived at The Taste a woman approached me and handed me 8 free tickets! Later Dan won 4 more free tickets and then just before we left I found 5 more tickets... so all together we got 17 free tickets! Anyway, we made an attempt to see Stevie Wonder, but the crowd was so huge! We barely caught a glimpse of him. We did see Vinny though! If you watch ABC News, you know who Vinny is! We also got lucky with weather! Storm clouds were pretty nasty, but we managed to get by with some light showers... the rest of the day was all sunshine!

Sunday after church the Young Adults got together for a picnic lunch and some sand volleyball! Again, we lucked out with weather. We got a lot of sunshine despite the rain clouds that kept coming in. We played 5 games! It was a good time!

Monday, Kathleen, Dan, and I went to a White Sox game. We went with some other friends, but we all got separated. No matter, the three of us had a great time! Plus, the Sox won... so that's a good time. Our seats weren't the best, but it didn't matter to us. We took the bus to the game, $3 each way, per person. Our tickets were $8.50 each and hot dogs were 2 for 1 the first hour, so that made the outting nice and cheap!

Well, I'm tired, but I need to get back to work. I know that I had a lot to say today, but thanks for reading!

Weekend Plans

The weekend is just around the corner and I can't wait! This weekend Dan and I are hoping to take the train downtown so that we can check out The Taste of Chicago! Stevie Wonder is doing a free concert at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. I wouldn't mind seeing him... I'm a fan of Stevie. Of course weather might be an issue. It looks like we might have some rain and/or thunderstorms this weekend. Boo! Oh well, if we don't go this weekend I'm sure that we'll find another day to go. We just won't get to see Stevie.