I have loved fireworks for as long as I can remember. Growing up in a tiny town, we would attend the 4th of July parade, that ran right past our church, and our whole church would eat together and then we would all head across the street and stake out a spot on the park grass to watch the wonderful (and short) firework display.
When we lived in VA we watched them from where ever we happened to be that day, often we were visiting family or friends... but I was determined to see the fireworks from the National Mall at least once before we moved.
So, in 2004 I organized a huge group to go down to the National Mall and we would play games and eat all day and then watch the amazing display of fireworks. I cooked for a week before hand, and on the 4th Drew and I, along with our faithful friends Mike & Sarah dragged 6 gallons of water and lemonade and a HUGE cooler almost a mile from our car to the perfect spot on the Mall. Well, about 45 minutes into the whole ordeal it began to rain, and not just rain.... it POURED. Within about 30 minutes we were soaked to the bone an ended up sitting in a Red Cross van because the lighting was so bad they made is get in something grounded. Drew and Mike waded (yes, WADED, not walked) back to our car. There was so much rain the street drains were backed up and the water was up to their knees at some points. So, once the guys had the car, Sarah and I made a run for it and grabbed the cooled and hauled it 5 blocks to meet the boys with the car. That was about 4pm.
We spend the rest of the day at Mike & Sarah's apartment taking turns standing naked in the Laundry Room while our clothes dried and eating GOBS of potato salad... since the 30 people that had RSVPed of course never came. So I missed the fireworks completely, and I don't think I will ever quite recover.
Our local baseball team has fireworks after every Friday home game, so we go whenever we can. It has been good for my pour firework-loving heart but I am still not the same.
Sunday we are heading WA & OR for a week of vacation. Yes, our first non-family-purely-vacation vacation. :) And we plan to spend the 4th in Portland and then catch the Ft. Vancouver fireworks... said to be one of the biggest west of the Mississippi...so hopefully my heart can heal a little bit more. :)
6.29.2007
Bumpersticker for the Day
I LIKE YOUR CHRIST
I DO NOT LIKE YOUR CHRISTIANS
THEY ARE SO UNLIKE YOUR CHRIST
Family
Ok, I know it has been almost a month since I have posted. Well, the title sort of sums up when our life has been for the past month. :) I love being from a big family (ok, big is a relative term... there are 5 kids in the family). But that also means that in a month you can have a brother who gets married, and grandmother in the US from India, a mom who visits with another brother for 3 weeks, and a brother that is just 5 hours away at Ft. Benning...
My mom was here with my youngest brother Buzz and two of my new sister-in-law's siblings for about 3 weeks. We had a great time, attending an Asheville Tourists baseball game where Mimi (Meredith's 10 year old sister) was chosen to go out on the field and answer a trivia question (which she informed us later they gave her the answer to) and won a gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods. (I have a few pictures I will post soon). We also saw the Biltmore Estate as well as visited a few of our favorite restaurants.
Andrew, Buzz and I were also able to sneak away for a weekend to visit my brother Micah in Airborne school at Fort Benning in GA. If you ever have to go to GA, go in the WINTER!! It was NASTY!! It was so hot, humid and bright, we mostly sat in our hotel room playing Imaginiff, and saw Ocean's 13. (If you haven't seen it, you should.... we all really liked it).
And although she is not in my biological family, I will definitely claim her as a sister... a wonderful friend from church who is leaving for Thailand to be a missionary for 2 years moved in last weekend. It has been great to have a female roommate for a change! She left today for a month in NYC for training and will be back for a few weeks in August before heading to Bangkok.
I think that is all for now! :)
L
P.S. In addition to the rest, I also cut 9 inches off of my hair!!!
My mom was here with my youngest brother Buzz and two of my new sister-in-law's siblings for about 3 weeks. We had a great time, attending an Asheville Tourists baseball game where Mimi (Meredith's 10 year old sister) was chosen to go out on the field and answer a trivia question (which she informed us later they gave her the answer to) and won a gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods. (I have a few pictures I will post soon). We also saw the Biltmore Estate as well as visited a few of our favorite restaurants.
Andrew, Buzz and I were also able to sneak away for a weekend to visit my brother Micah in Airborne school at Fort Benning in GA. If you ever have to go to GA, go in the WINTER!! It was NASTY!! It was so hot, humid and bright, we mostly sat in our hotel room playing Imaginiff, and saw Ocean's 13. (If you haven't seen it, you should.... we all really liked it).
And although she is not in my biological family, I will definitely claim her as a sister... a wonderful friend from church who is leaving for Thailand to be a missionary for 2 years moved in last weekend. It has been great to have a female roommate for a change! She left today for a month in NYC for training and will be back for a few weeks in August before heading to Bangkok.
I think that is all for now! :)
L
P.S. In addition to the rest, I also cut 9 inches off of my hair!!!
6.08.2007
A Few Pics from the Wedding...
When the bride is one of 8 and the groom is one of 5, there are a lot of people in a family picture!
The "oh-so-cool" wedding party... Micah (brother of groom), Ryan (groom), Meredith (bride) & Mikaela (sister of bride).
6.02.2007
Bumpersticker of the Day
I AM NOT WEARING ANY PANTS*
The truth of this statement was not verifed by the reader.
Where Does The Time Go?
This post's sponsor is American Express, because 10 miles from the Springfield, MO airport a rock flew up and hit the windshield of our new rental car, the first one we have ever rented since Drew just turned 25 and I still am not there, and left a huge crack. However, our car insurance company covered everything but the deductible, and Am Ex covered that, so we were out $0.00!!!
OK, I am back at home, but life is not quite back to normal yet. :) It may be a few weeks. :) Here is a recap of our time in MO! I am sorry I don't have pictures to share, since I was in the wedding I didn't take any pictures!!
Well the first order of business, since I was wearing a sleeveless dress at the wedding, was to rid myself of my farmer's tan, and I had one day to do it. My parents had rented a condo on Lake of the Ozarks, so on Wednesday (we flew in Tuesday night), we rented a pontoon boat and two jet-skis. Unfortunately Meredith was not able to join us, but her 6 younger siblings were there, along with my 4 brothers, my husband, my parents and Shanthi Patti (Grandma Shanthi, my dad's mother) and Namu Patti (My grandmother's sister Namu who lives in Dallas with her daughter). We had a great day, spending 5 hours on the lake just relaxing and exploring the lake. I had never driven a jet ski before and about 5 minutes after I left the rental place, my brother hopped on behind me, as I attempted to make my first turn and sure enough, in slow motion, we tipped, tipped, tipped and ended up in the cold water. Thankfully the rental lady had told me how to flip it upright, so we were back on our way in no time. :)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday were spent preparing for, and attending the wedding. I must say I like the groom's side better... they just have to show up!! We spent Thursday decorating the church. We transformed the dingy fellowship hall into a high end restaurant with chair covers, linens, china and Christmas lights. Friday we had the rehearsal lunch (only after an amazing pedicure) at a Chinese/sushi place in Springfield, MO. I must admit that I didn't like sushi at first, but it is definitely growing on me...
The rehearsal was short and sweet, I think I can now call myself and Expert-Isle-Walker-Downer. After the rehearsal the guys headed our for a night of fun (which you can read about on Ryan's Blog) while I fell asleep in my hotel room at 10, you would think I never get to sleep! :)
The wedding day was amazingly calm, after brunch with the other bridesmaids we headed to the church at noon, pictures at 3, wedding at 6, dinner at 7, bride and groom gone before 9, cleaned and packed up by 11:30!! We now have another female in the family!! (I promise to post a few pictures when I get them).
Early Sunday we drove up to St. Louis (after dropping off two different parties at two different airports) and met up with a childhood friend. We had a wonderful time catching up on each other's lives and on the lives of mutual friends. And she is currently working on her Ph.D. in History so she was the perfect tour guide. :) We had a great time touring St. Louis! Andrew went up in the Gateway Arch for the first time (if you ever go, nix the video, we slept through it, live footage from 1965...snnnnoooorrrrrreeeeee), and we toured the Anheuser-Busch Factory and managed to get caught in a MO thunder storm and end up SOAKED. We had a great time anyway, it was worth the free beer at the end. :) RANDOM FACT: Did you know that there are over 250 Budweiser Clydesdale's, and they have to meet certain restrictions as far as height, and color to become one? AND each horse eats 35 Quarts of grain, 60 Pounds of hay and 30 Gallon of water PER DAY!
On Monday we toured St. Charles, home to the first MO state capital (1821-1826) and it is the place where Lewis & Clark left for their expedition of the Louisiana Purchase! It was a quaint little town with cobble stone streets and fun shops. RANDOM FACT#2: Beaver hats were the most desirable hats at the time, (not coon skin hats, a top had made of beaver skin) and hat makers would make these hats with glue that contained mercury. And with the constant exposure to mercury it would slowly soak into their skin and slowly make them go mad... hence the Mad Hatter!!
And now here we are Saturday, we had four days home and yesterday my mother, along with my youngest brother, and Meredith's two youngest siblings, John & Mimi came and will be here for a few weeks! It is quite a full house and makes for a interesting situation with 6 people, a dog and a house that is on the market. :)
And tomorrow Ryan & Meredith are coming home! We are having a BIG party for them tomorrow afternoon... 80 people have RSVPed, which means that there are problem 15-20 more that forgot!!!
OK, I am back at home, but life is not quite back to normal yet. :) It may be a few weeks. :) Here is a recap of our time in MO! I am sorry I don't have pictures to share, since I was in the wedding I didn't take any pictures!!
Well the first order of business, since I was wearing a sleeveless dress at the wedding, was to rid myself of my farmer's tan, and I had one day to do it. My parents had rented a condo on Lake of the Ozarks, so on Wednesday (we flew in Tuesday night), we rented a pontoon boat and two jet-skis. Unfortunately Meredith was not able to join us, but her 6 younger siblings were there, along with my 4 brothers, my husband, my parents and Shanthi Patti (Grandma Shanthi, my dad's mother) and Namu Patti (My grandmother's sister Namu who lives in Dallas with her daughter). We had a great day, spending 5 hours on the lake just relaxing and exploring the lake. I had never driven a jet ski before and about 5 minutes after I left the rental place, my brother hopped on behind me, as I attempted to make my first turn and sure enough, in slow motion, we tipped, tipped, tipped and ended up in the cold water. Thankfully the rental lady had told me how to flip it upright, so we were back on our way in no time. :)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday were spent preparing for, and attending the wedding. I must say I like the groom's side better... they just have to show up!! We spent Thursday decorating the church. We transformed the dingy fellowship hall into a high end restaurant with chair covers, linens, china and Christmas lights. Friday we had the rehearsal lunch (only after an amazing pedicure) at a Chinese/sushi place in Springfield, MO. I must admit that I didn't like sushi at first, but it is definitely growing on me...
The rehearsal was short and sweet, I think I can now call myself and Expert-Isle-Walker-Downer. After the rehearsal the guys headed our for a night of fun (which you can read about on Ryan's Blog) while I fell asleep in my hotel room at 10, you would think I never get to sleep! :)
The wedding day was amazingly calm, after brunch with the other bridesmaids we headed to the church at noon, pictures at 3, wedding at 6, dinner at 7, bride and groom gone before 9, cleaned and packed up by 11:30!! We now have another female in the family!! (I promise to post a few pictures when I get them).
Early Sunday we drove up to St. Louis (after dropping off two different parties at two different airports) and met up with a childhood friend. We had a wonderful time catching up on each other's lives and on the lives of mutual friends. And she is currently working on her Ph.D. in History so she was the perfect tour guide. :) We had a great time touring St. Louis! Andrew went up in the Gateway Arch for the first time (if you ever go, nix the video, we slept through it, live footage from 1965...snnnnoooorrrrrreeeeee), and we toured the Anheuser-Busch Factory and managed to get caught in a MO thunder storm and end up SOAKED. We had a great time anyway, it was worth the free beer at the end. :) RANDOM FACT: Did you know that there are over 250 Budweiser Clydesdale's, and they have to meet certain restrictions as far as height, and color to become one? AND each horse eats 35 Quarts of grain, 60 Pounds of hay and 30 Gallon of water PER DAY!
On Monday we toured St. Charles, home to the first MO state capital (1821-1826) and it is the place where Lewis & Clark left for their expedition of the Louisiana Purchase! It was a quaint little town with cobble stone streets and fun shops. RANDOM FACT#2: Beaver hats were the most desirable hats at the time, (not coon skin hats, a top had made of beaver skin) and hat makers would make these hats with glue that contained mercury. And with the constant exposure to mercury it would slowly soak into their skin and slowly make them go mad... hence the Mad Hatter!!
And now here we are Saturday, we had four days home and yesterday my mother, along with my youngest brother, and Meredith's two youngest siblings, John & Mimi came and will be here for a few weeks! It is quite a full house and makes for a interesting situation with 6 people, a dog and a house that is on the market. :)
And tomorrow Ryan & Meredith are coming home! We are having a BIG party for them tomorrow afternoon... 80 people have RSVPed, which means that there are problem 15-20 more that forgot!!!
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