Stuff on Vacation

The last few days have been busy. Friday we went down to Portland, Oregon to meet a friend that we know from playing World of Warcraft. He was very nice, almost exactly as we thought he would be, a tad shorter than we had thought. Had a lot of fun seeing the city there, I have never seen that city before and was very excited. We saw multiple mountains like Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Ranier (I think), and Mt. Stevens. It was pretty cool, next time I am going to take a map of Washington with me. I have an atlas that I would like to highlight the different roads I have been down and keep track of where I have gone in Washington.

My mother in law and her husband got in Friday and went to her mom's place. We were going to go there Friday night but were all so tired and no one felt safe enough to drive the hour and a half drive. They live on the port, and look out their front window to see the harbor, and ships. We left to go to their place and ended up having car trouble and getting there two hours late (some of that two hours was just us leaving later than we wanted to). I got to see the antique shop that Paul's grandparents own and run, that was pretty cool. I love antique shops. I love Paul's grandparents, we call them the Quacks, I think cause his grandpa used to quack at them, lol.

We went on a walk on the beach there, saw the Pacific ocean, and the beautiful waves. Lots of sand dollar things. The one on the left is the most common thing we saw (I borrowed this picture from someone online, not one I took but very close to what we really saw).
I saw some whole ones but I decided to not keep them, not really sure what they were and how/why they washed up on the shore. I hated the idea of possibly killing a living thing by picking it up. I now know that I didn't kill it, they wash up on the shore after they die, it is the way the ocean cleans these out/up.





















Later that day we got to go out to eat with the Quacks for Pizza, and with Paul's mom and her husband, it was a lot of fun. We then went back to their place and had blackberry pie that was made especially for Paul, since he loves the pie. As we were getting ready to leave Paul and I went to look at the harbor and were lucky enough to see a seal sticking it's head up and swimming about, that was really cool. Paul, his mom and her husband and I went back to his sister's place and went to sleep. I realized this was the first time that I had driven further than a half hour with Paul's mom and her husband, it was fun.

This morning we were able to hold our two month old nephew :) he has a head full of hair and brown eyes. He is so pretty and so small. I love babies, love holding them, watching them and just loving on them. We also got to see Paul's older sister and her husband (the parents of our nephew), they said their plane trip was good, which could have been bad flying with a kid.

Currently Paul and I are alone, the rest of the family went to meeting, they are all Jehovah's Witness's, which is a bit weird for me since I have never been a Witness, and I think it is awkward for Paul since he used to be a Witness but now we are Lutheran. It just is weird.

Later today we are going to a family potluck... so that should be interesting. I get to meet Paul's extended family on his dad's side of the family. It will be a lot of people and I am kind of nervous. I just hope I don't put my foot in my mouth like I usually do, or say anything weird.

Alright going for now, the family will be back in probably an hour or so... I think anyways.

Later!

Family, Friends... Can't wait

I leave Thursday morning to see my family and friends in Virginia. Hopefully that night I will be able to see My cousin and his wife before they go on vacation on Saturday, My cousin just got back from fighting overseas so I am very very glad that he came back safely. He has gone twice, this time he was in Kuwait and last time he was in Afghanistan, his troop lost two men in the Afghanistan trip, I don't believe there were any casualties this last trip. My cousin got married last year before he shipped out and for the whole year his wife has been by herself, but now they are reunited. :)

Friday I plan on spending my whole day with my group of friends who were all part of my friends life that passed away last Monday. This is definitely something I need right now, it is very hard to be away from people during times like this. I have friends who love me here and want to support me here in Wisconsin, but none of them know my friend, and I really need to share stories with my friends. To know that we are all having a hard time right now, that it's ok that I am not "Okay" with this yet. Yesterday I talked to one of the girls and it was so nice to be able to share some of the harder moments this past week. I will be visiting the grave on Friday and possibly visiting with the family, we will see what they are up to.

Saturday and Sunday I hope are family and baby filled. I keep getting videos of my nephew sent to me and they are just so cute! He is discovering his hands and how to grab at things, he loves to sit in his bouncy chair and play with this toy that has song, lights and a dancing monkey! How much better can you get? He kicks his feet to the music and gets really excited.

Monday and Tuesday I hope my parents are able to take the days off and that we are able to spend them together. If they have to work then I will have to see. One of those days I have to go see my grandma, she is getting older and every second counts, every visit is important. She is looking forward to seeing me and I am looking forward to seeing her.

Wednesday I head back to Wisconsin... such a short trip home. :( I wish we lived closer to family, but I really wish they lived more out here. The climate in VA really makes me cranky, and miserable. We will see, I think in the long run I will be further away from my family but closer to Paul's, Paul wants to move to Washington or Oregon in a few years so we will see what happens.

Anyways, off to get ready for work. Gotta wake up Paul in a bit so he can get ready and then we walk to the bus stop! :)

The beginning

I love when you first start a blog... and you think, "Oh yes this is the one that I will update forever and ever." Well sometimes that doesn't happen.

I hope to not let that happen with me, but sometimes that's the way it is. I have a myspace, and a livejournal and they haven't been updated for a bit.

Well a life update real quick... my sister got married and is now going to have a baby, they also moved to Montana. My parents came to Wisconsin for a week for the first time in the three years that I have lived here. I still work for Roundy's, but I have moved to a new position of building the ads as of Tuesday. :) I am very excited about this.

My favorite things to do while on vacation are miniature golf and shopping/window shopping. I learned that this week while my parents were here. I do not so much enjoy the hiking and walking up towers, though I do enjoy the view once I get up there. I enjoy walking when it isn't humid and hot outside. My least favorite thing is the sweating and yuckiness that goes with those walks outside when it is icky out.