A Glimpse of Europe...
Darling Krystine has not yet woken up long enough to look at pictures with me and tell me about them - so I'm fairly LOST as to what MOST of her pictures are at this point! I will share with you just a very few (out of about 400 - which i thought was really conservative for 11 days...) until she explains to me WHAT they ARE! These I recognize!
I still can't believe my daughter was actually standing there
TAKING this picture!
But... at least I know what country she was in!
AND I know where she was that NIGHT too! :)
And this was her group heading into the Louvre...
Amy & Krysti in front of the Arch de Triomphe
(but I BELIEVE this is the "little one" - isn't the BIG one out ON the road???)
(but maybe it's just the view .... maybe it IS the big one...???)
WHAT DO I KNOW????
LOL!
I knew Europe would corrupt her!
THIS...
... is my new favorite picture of Mathew...
Horrible shadows, and sunglasses hide his eyes... but for
some reason, I just LOVE this picture!
Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy!
Goooooooood Grief Charlie Brown!!!
I just can NOT believe how busy I've been. Alright... FIRST... I apologize! I'm sorry! I am... truly! I knOw you've been neglected! And I'm still busy ... and I don't have MUCH time... but I am going to post ... something! The weekend was FABULOUS! Relay For Life was AWESOME! Here are a few pictures of our team -- I only have ONE with me in it -- cuz... well... I was taking the pictures! But... well... here! (click 'em to big 'em!)
This is Sue, and Bonnie (my boss) in the turquoise t-shirts. They were walking in the Survivers Lap - and I was cheering them on - and embarrassing Bonnie! :)
This is Sheriff Evans! He came by to get a tatoo. ( the Curvettes were selling tatoos and face painting) The normally very subdued Lynn got all excited and started prancing around saying "I get to DO the Sheriff! I get to DO the Sheriff!" ... we were rolling!!!
Can we paint some faces? Darn tootin'!
I had an absolute BALL at Relay! I got to see sO many people that I haven't seen in yeeeeeears! Tons of people from my kids elementary and middle school days! Teachers... and moms... and dads... And ALL ( I mean ALLLLLLLL) of the Coyle family... for those of you that don't know -- my Derek's best friend, Scott Coyle, died of cancer when they were 13 years old. It was a very tough time for all of us as HE was very much a PART of our family!!! He and Derek were like connected at the hip for 2 or 3 years before he got sick -- and missed each other horribly when Scott was in the hospital! We were always postitive he would beat it though... I don't mind tellin' ya it hit us all really hard when they finally told us he wasn't going to make it. I don't think we could have been more devastated if it HAD been one of our own... we sure do miss that boy. So it was really nice getting to see the family! ALL of them -- aunts, uncles, grands, nieces, nephews... the whole shebang! And Judi (Scott's mom) is IN CHARGE of Relay for our County -- so she was master of ceremonies, and it was all just very cool! Of course, I did shed some tears... but that was okay too....
And here are the die-hards.... the Curvettes broke camp around 11 pm, but we five were still hanging around at 1:30 ... we left not long after that though! I had to get up early Saturday morning!
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Yea! Saturday morning I had to get up and COOK! I was up making potato salad and 2 pasta salads and 2 trays of brownies to take on the Father's Day excursion Sunday! Then Dennis and I left to go to a pool party at his friend, Andy's house! I haven't been down to see Chris and Andy in aaaaaages... well... not since they built their new house! About 3 years ago! I knew Andy had moved UP in the world... but when I saw his house I could NOT believe my eyes! It was like my DREAM house! (although waaaaaay bigger than I would EVER want to keep clean!) But it was all stone -- not just the front -- the WHOLE thing! And the beautiful in-ground pool in the back - with the tile and flagstone and the built in hot-tub that waterfalls into the pool.... *rolls eyes*... I will NOT be envious... I will NOT be envious... I will NOT be envious!!! LOL! Did I mention the wrought iron fence all the way around ... the yard... not just the pool! Sooooooo... I just walked in announced that I was there to visit the lifestyle's of the Rich and Famous! (what else COULD I say???) Sheeeeeeesh! We had a ball! The first person I "met" there was the OTHER gal who took my "new members class" at church! LOL! Small world! We were BOTH amazed! "How do YOU know Chris and Andy?" "Well.... how do YOU know 'em?" Hehehehe.... it was funny! Sooooooo.... we had fun! It was Andy's birthday - and they had gotten a boat load of crabs, so we sat around pickin' crabs and talking, and taking a break to swim every now and then! Life doesn't get MUCH better that that! We only stayed until about 8:00 though - cuz I still needed to do a Walmart run, and I had to go home first to drop Dennis off! I finally got to bed around 10:30 ... and then was up at 6:30 Sunday morning to go to church, then a meeting about Vacation Bible School (which I am working at in July!) and then home to get Dennis to the BOAT by 11:00! The BOAT will have to be a later post though -- cuz right now I have to go cook dinner and get to Bible study! But when I get HOME I'm coming visiting! ( i am! i really yam!)
Andy and Dennis pickin' crabs!
And you thought the MVA was bad???
Ugh! Let me tell you a little something about the Passport Office... on a scale of 1-10 for frustration, the Passport Office rates 2.7 MILLION! The MVA only rates a 10! Ya wanna hear the WHOLE story? Or the Readers Digest condensed version? Buckle up... you're in for a wiiiiiild ride!
First, let me say that EVEN my congressman was UNable to "get through" to the Passport Office to TRY to locate Krysti's passport! They called me back Wednesday afternoon and said that they couldn't get through so they were just going to give us a letter of dispensation and that would get us IN to be seen. Don't believe it! They barely glanced at that letter and were totally non-plussed by it! And 97% of the people in the room today NEVER spoke to their congressman's office!
But... Wednesday they called and said to come pick up this letter, and then take 2 more passport pictures, and take them down to this "special" office in DC, and we would be seen! So Krysti got the pictures taken, drove to Greenbelt to pick up the letter (about an hour) ... then drove into DC where she only got lost twice on the way to the passport office. However... the intern at the Congressman's office had told us that the passport place would close at 5:00 - but that is wrong! It closes at 3:00! So Krysti got there at 4:45 and was SOL! On top of that she was lost again (for the 3rd time) and called home sobbing! I tried my best to get her out of there looking on a street map online.... *sigh*... but she finally saw a cop and flagged him down. He got her out of DC - but going in the wrong direction and she ended up in Virginia! She called sobbing again! THIS time we knew exactly how to get her home! No prob ... long drive - but home, safe and sound! I made her a pan of brownies and things were soon looking up! But she swore she was NOT driving back down there again alone! Sooooooo....
... I got the 2nd shift off this morning, and Krysti and I headed down -- taking the METRO this time! We got down there and found the place with no trouble -- got there about 12:15! We were lookin' good! We thought! We checked in and she was handed a number -- D00136 -- and a receipt that said our estimated wait was 2 hours and 1 minute! Not bad. Then we started hearing the stories.... of the people who had been there since the doors opened at 7:00 AM! Oy. When we arrived they were calling D00069 ... and there were twelve windows... so we thought 2 hours sounded like plenty of time. But it wasn't. Turned out only ONE of those windows was calling "D" numbers. All the others were calling "A" numbers. We wondered what the difference was between an "A" and a "D" ... but we didn't want to waist anybody's time asking questions! We HAD a number! Well, by the time our 2 hours and 1 minute were up, they were all the way up to D00085 -- still 50 (51 actually) away from us! What's more, we've now figured out that only people who's flights are leaving TOMORROW are getting their passports TODAY. Everyone else is being told to come back TOMORROW to pick up their passport! GRRRR! We pretty much resigned ourselves though that that was just the way it was going to be! Soooo... it turns out that the office does not CLOSE at 3:00 -- but they do lock the doors at 3:00 and no more people can come in! However, if you are already there, you get to stay! (lucky you!) Oh... another funny thing about the 3:00 "bewitching hour" -- the ticker timer suddenly says the wait is now "0" minutes! Oh boy! We are ALL going to be seen immediately! All 350 of us! Yea.... right. We actually did finally get seen at right around 4:30 -- about 4 hours and 15 minutes after we had shown up. (or 2 hours and 14 minutes past our estimated wait time!) However... being "seen" was not the end for us! Ohhhhh no! Krysti just happened to ask if there wasn't ANY way that we could POSSIBLY get her passport tonight. WELL! It turned out that because HER passport papers were actually IN that very building (and not in Boston or Connecticut or Miami) that she COULD stay and wait for a "late" issue. They said it would be around 7:00. So we figured okay... we would just go get a bite to eat and come back. WRONG! You can not leave the building without a pass to get back in. So Krysti went and asked for a pass and was told that "No" we could not have a pass to go get dinner. They ONLY give 15 minute passes to go fill parking meters! So... I went over and asked for a pass to go fill my meter. ( I figured I'd run get us something and bring it back! Even though no food or drinks are allowed ...) BUT I was told "NO" I could NOT have a pass to go feed my meter because it was too late in the day and the meters didn't need to be fed MUCH longer. (not that that would stop DC cops from towing my car IF my car had indeed been parked on their streets!) So it turns out that not only are they holding her passport hostage, now they are holding US hostage too! At 6:30 we met a guy who had been there since 7:00 AM... and he had been seen before noon and was told his passport would be ready by 2:00 pm - come back then! So he DID go and get a bite to eat, and came back... his passport wasn't ready at 2:00 -- and it still wasn't ready at 6:30 either!
You just can NOT imagine the frustration levels that were in that room. And I have to say that 99% of the people TOTALLY kept their cool! I was amazed that there were a g'zillion children in there -- some who left the house this morning thinking they were going on vacation, only to get turned away at the airport because although they had been told they ONLY needed to show proof that they had APPLIED for their passports - when it came down to it - that proof was NOT acceptable without their BIRTH CERTIFICATES! But... the passport office has their birth certificates because you must give them your ORIGINAL when you apply!!! We met a LOT of people who were going through that! And what I started to say was I was AMAZED at how well behaved all these kids were. In all those hours I did not witness ONE major meltdown! Really kept ME on MY toes!!! So... next time you have to visit the MVA (DMV in some places) ... just be thankful you're NOT at the passport office!
Krysti DID finally get her passport! We got out of there just a little before 8:00 PM... and were home by 9:45 .... I still had to make a pasta salad so it will be cold in time for Relay For Life tomorrow night. And then I just HAD to come tell this story! Sorry I wasn't around to visit today -- and honestly, I won't be around much for the next 3 days! I've got a weekend that is too busy for real! I WILL try to visit a few of you here and there when I have a few minutes -- but it's just gonna be crazy! Now, I'm off to bed!
I thought about going with a pet picture... or a kid picture... or a cake, or a donut, or even making a pan of monkey bread! I decided against ALL of those when Carol came home this evening - and even though I'm not her mama (yet) she said "Mama... I brought you a present!" She even made me close my eyes and hold out my hand! And this was what she brought me! A bottle of Cool Ocean perfume! Normally I only wear Red Door - but Carol wears this kind frequently - and I always tell her how good she smells when she does - so she brought me some! I think the perfume is sweet (but not TOO sweet - its soft and nice...) -- and I thought Carol was VERY sweet to think of me and buy it for me! (for no reason whatsoever!)
