Jacksonville Trip

In April, I got to go to Jacksonville to visit my parents.  I didn't know until I got there that my sister would be there too.  We watched a lot of TV and went to the movies.  We also went to see the Jacksonville Suns.  They are a minor league baseball team.  The entertainment at the game was Whiplash the Cowboy monkey.  He is a little monkey that rides a god.  He did a few tricks.  He was so cute!  We also went to Jacksonville Beach for opening weekend.  It strange to think about swimming in April.  I got to see a friend of mine from camp, Vicki Carter, who had recently moved to the area.  I hadn't seen her in about 5 years!

Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey!

Mom & Kate

Me & Dad

Jacksonville Suns baseball

Quijibo and I met up for lunch.

Jax Beach

Greyhound track.

New Zealand Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was the greatest vacation I could have asked for.  We had such a good time.  I took about 900 pictures.  That is why I am not even trying to post them on the blog.  Hopefully, the links will get you to my Snapfish albums.  Trust me, it is worth the time to look at all of them.

We started off from DFW airport late.  Which casused us to miss our connection in Salt Lake City.  But they got us on the next plane to LAX.  Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek rode with us.  David tried to get me to go talk to him, but I wouldn't know what to say.  In LA, we went out to dinner with David's Marine friend, Alan.  He took us to a Cuban restaurant.  Then it was on to the overnight trip to Auckland.  The whole trip there took 25 hours.

We walked round Auckland by ourselves the first day.  Our tour started the second day we were there.  It took us to Waitomo and Rotorua.  I think Rotorua was our favorite place.  We got to go to a Maori hangi.  It was so much fun.  It was very authentic.  But the stench was pretty bad.  All the volcanic activity makes it smell like farts!  Then we flew from Rotorua to the South Island.

In Christchurch, David's friend's son and grandson, Andrew and Tom Blakie, picked us up and showed us around.  Then fed us some local favorites at their house in Brookland.  Then they took us snorkeling in Kaikoura.  The weather was great!  We picked up our campervan from Christchurch and tours the whole South Island ourselves.  They drive on the wrong side of the road and teh wrong side of the car.  It was so beautiful.  We went to the Cadbury chocolate factory, saw Milford Sound in the rain, saw two glaciers, and went bungy jumping.

We didn't want to leave.  After 14 days though, it was time to go.  Andrew took us back to the airport.  It took us 29 hours to get home.  David said he saw Hulk Hogan at LAX while I was sleeping.  All that flying was such a beating.

Thank you to everyone who helped us get there.  It was a magical honeymoon!

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2079707017/a=8099366_8099366/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast/

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2080087017/a=8099366_8099366/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast/

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2085312017/a=8099366_8099366/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast/

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2088953017/a=8099366_8099366/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast/

Tubing On The Brazos

Last weekend, David and I went tubing on the Brazos River near Cleburne. We went with a bunch of his friends from high school and their friends and their friends. There was a lot of people there. We rented tubes at a place called Rhodes. They drove us to a drop off point. We picked up three tubes. One for me, one for David, and one for the cooler. The river was slow and shallow. But the weather was nice and the water was a good temperature. The float lasted about 4 hours. It was a nice relaxing time. Some cows came up to drink by eh river, but some drunks scared them away. Toward the end I lost my sunglasses in the river. we went to Applebee's after where I froze my butt off! I was wet and sunburned. I found out that hard way that my sunscreen is not water proof. David did too. He didn't bother putting any on until we were all ready wet. On the way home, I noticed my toenail (the bad one) felt funny. I touched it and realized it was no longer connected. I cut the whole thing off when I got home. It must have been from all the tinme in water. Anyway, it was super fun and I would like to go again.

Parent's Visit: Dinosaur Valley & Baseball

My parents came over last weekend. We had some great fun. We went to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. We got a little bit of a late start, but it was a weekday, so there wasn't much traffic. When we got there, it looked like they were setting up for a YMCA campout. A little boy asked us what tribe we were in. My mom thought he was disappointed when we pulled into a camping spot just to park there. WE got out and walked around. The dinosaur footprints are hide to find. We asked everyone we passed. We took the long way around to where they were. The tracks were interesting. They were first found in 1909 in the Paluxy River bed. They called them sauropod and carnosaur tracks. I guess they are like a Brontosaurus and a raptor-type dinosaur. After we took pictures, we high-tailed it back home to the Rangers Game.

The game was at Frisco Ballpark. They were scrimmaging the Kansas City Royals. We had lawn tickets. That lawn is so steep we could barely sit. There were kids sliding down the hill in a sleeping bag like a sled. I don't think I will get those tickets again. The Rangers ended up winning.

Brontosaurus

Reminds me of Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Roar!

Don't eat me!

Help! It's T-Rex!

Mom and Dad and my long lost relative, T-Rex.

Finally found the tracks!

Creepy...

Hard to see the tracks because of the shade.

This one is underwater.

More tracks underwater.

More watery tracks.

Dad's Euro shoe in a Big Foot track.

Dad crossing the Paluxy River with a purse.

Beautiful landscape.

Dad likes to take the hard road.

Every road is the hard road for mom.

Christmas Vacation

We went to my parent's house for our Christmas vacation. My Grandma and my sister were there too. We arrived on the day before Christmas Eve. I was feeling a little sick. but the end oft he day, both David and I had full-on colds. I was looking around my parents house for something to take. All they had was Nyquil that expired 2 years ago or DayQuil that expired 1 year ago. My dad told me it would be okay since it had never been open. Weirdo. On Christmas Eve, Dad, David and I went to go see The Day The Earth Stood Still. It was okay. We went to my mom's church for mass on Christmas Eve. While we were in church, someone papered the parking lot with flyers about submitting ourselves to the true religion of Islam. Real classy. Go ahead and put out all the literature you want, but do it on a better day than Christmas Eve when you know everyone is in church. That's just tacky. Anyway! Then it was present time! I got my Dad a DVD of logs burning. It may sound cheesey, but he really likes that channel. I got a bunch of cool stuff from my family. David got me an iPod charger and a Cricut die cut machine. Kate made me a magnet board. My parents gave me gift certificates and a Circut cartridge. Christmas was mellow. We didn't go anywhere. We watched movies and played Seinfeld Scene It. On Boxing Day, we went to St. Augustine to meet up with my cousin, Chelsea and my Aunt Susie. We couldn't see anyone else because of how sick we were. They had to stay home with Stacey's babies. After we ate dinner with them, we went on a ghost tour. I would have liked it to scariest, but I was so sick it wouldn't have mattered. We rode the trolley around the town and they told us about the different ghosts they have there. We left the next day. The airport was a madhouse. I thought we weren't going to be able to make it for a second. It was good vacation, I wish I could have enjoyed it more by not being so sick!

Canoeing on the pond in my parent's backyard.

More canoeing.

Grandma doing the dishes, even though I told her not to. :)

David in the living room.

A very artsy shot of us canoeing.

Family Xmas shot.

David and I by the tree.

The 'rents by the tree.

Very attractive...

Tree full of presents!

David is a gift to us all!

Puzzle time. They didn't finish it before I had to leave. So I couldn't put the last piece in. :(

Grammy pondering the puzzle.

All of us at the Monk's Tavern in St. Augustine.

Chelsea's Wedding

I took so many pictures when we went to North Carolina, it took me forever to get them on here. Beware, they are in reverse order. I don't know what I was thinking...

My cousin, Chelsea, got married in Duck, North Carolina on 10/25/08. David and I flew in on Thursday night. We met my parents and sister at the Norfolk Virginia airport. Then we drove a hour and a half to the Kill Devil Hills Days Inn. It was pretty awesome actually. We rented a cottage on the beach. area of North Carolina, called the Outer Banks, is very touristy in the summer. We went there in the off season, so it was empty. I like it better that way.

On Friday, we went to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial and the Lost Colony of Roanoke. The weather was windy and rainy. It was much colder than I thought it would be. That Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, where we finally got to meet Scott. He seemed like a cool guy, but I only got to talk to him for a little while.

Saturday started off bad. David was really sick. I thought he wasn't going to be able to make it to the wedding. But around lunch time his sickness wore off. We went to the ceremony which was on the beach in Duck. The weather almost didn't cooperate. But I once heard that it was good luck if it rained on your wedding day. After the ceremony, we got some bad information and missed the family picture. I am still upset about. Can you tell? Dinner, dancing, and skateboarding was to follow at Bob's house. It was a 3-story house with a party tent set up in the driveway and an empty pool in the back. The food was awesome! There was these crab-stuffed mushrooms that I could have eaten a whole plate of. The Hershey Bar cake was so good too. They had an open bar and their favor was a pale ale that had their picture on it. The waitress cleaned mine up before I could save it. There wasn't much skateboarding because of the weather, but I got to see a little bit. After all the traditional wedding stuff, the limbo started! My sister disgraced the family again by losing to my cousin, Stacey. Kate just needs to focus more on her training. She even ended up with a boo-boo on her foot.

Sunday we left in the afternoon. I hope people remembered we were there, because there is no official photographic record. I will certainly remember it!

Me on the beach the day we left.

David on the beach.

A nice, clear view from our cottage.

Kate limboing at the reception. If you look closely, you can see Aunt Nancy and Stacey's devil eyes staring at her because they know she is coming for the title of Limbo Queen!

Chelsea's wedding dress limbo.

More limbo!

The one round I made it through.

The cousin pic.

Kate running from the bouquet in the pool.

Chelsea getting ready to throw!

Cake cutting.

The cute cake topper.

The back view of the cake topper.

Scott's cousin skateboarding.

Me, Chelsea, and Kate.

Chelsea's bouquet, made by my grandma.

The first dance.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Scott Greene!

Dad with his mom and sisters.

Leaving the ceremony.

Hooray! It's over!

Smooches!

Me and Kate's feet.

The vows.

The groomsmen.

Chelsea being escorted by Uncle Charlie.

The flower girls, Scott's nieces.

My aunt Susie waiting for Chelsea to come down the stairs.

Aunt Susie being escorted by Dad.

Grandma escorted by Andrew.

The ceremony site.

David and Kate waiting for the ceremony to start.

The fam inside the rented house.

Pretty flower arragnement.

This would be a cute picture of us, but it was blurry.

Flower girl baskets.

Mom and Kate waiting for it all to start.

Ken on a skateboard.

One earring to rule them all.

Aunt Nancy and Ken.

The Roanoke play stage. There wasn't anything to take a picture of there.

David and I at the Wright Brothers Memorial. I thought this was hilarious! He didn't think so...

The markers for the Wright Brother's flights.

Wright Brothers placque.

A reproduction of the Wright Brothers hanger.

The memorial on Kill Devil Hill.

The markers from the side. You can't see number 4.

The handsome devils.

A model of the glider that made the historic flight.

Another glider model.

Glider from the side.

Our Days Inn cottage.

Us on the beach.

Empty beach.

A Coast Guard plane flew by.

The beach from our cottage.