I'm Alive! lol

Geez oh pete’s I haven’t journaled or really read journals in a month…well ok that is an exaggeration but it has been a few weeks….for some reason October has turned out to be a turbo busy month for us…

To start with the most exciting news….I have a new niece…now I haven’t met her yet, so I’m the worst aunt ever! Lol….but I’ve seen pictures and she is so pretty….I can’t wait to hold her and kiss her lil cheeks!! What a blessing! I was waiting really impatiently to hear news about sister and G-girl on Monday morning as hubby and I were driving home from Virginia….

So umm I don’t really remember when the last time I journaled so I’ll just tell ya’ll about our trip through a noreaster (or however ya spell that lol)….so if ya’ll remember right, we were first going to go to North Carolina to see a tractor pull on Friday evening…well by last Thursday we could tell that that would be rained out so we got out our maps and figured out where else we’d like to visit on our way to VA beach….so in high school we did this school trip to D.C., Williamsburg, Monticello, and the beach and I was telling husband if I knew where Monticello was that would be cool to stop there because it was a really cool place (umm…for you non-history people, Monticello was the home of our third president, Thomas Jefferson). So we looked at our maps and sure enough, Monticello was right on the way….

So Friday morning we headed up the highway…it was mostly a sunny and beautiful drive in Kentucky and the changing fall colors provided some really breathtaking scenery….but about halfway through West Virginia it started being overcast and not really raining but this constant fine mist and it was turning colder! The mountains still were beautiful though. On our drive almost to Charlottesville, VA (which was to be our stop for the night) we saw an exit sign to Cyrus McCormick’s farm…who? Husband was quick to tell me that he invented the first hay baler (I think)….anyway so we decided since it was getting kinda late that that would be a stop for Monday on the way home…so we got to Charlottesville and this is where fly by your seat planning is bad because we weren’t familiar with the area so we didn’t know where all the hotels were so we ended up staying at a Holiday Inn for $139.00…argh…we were looking for a cheapy motel but again, it was dark and rainy and we were just done….so we sucked it up and paid their high price…the only solace is that that was the only night we had to pay for on our four day, three night excursion…

So we checked in to the hotel and went down to the restaurant for a bite of dinner and then we were pretty tired by then so we went to sleep…I tried to watch The Soup on E! but I fell asleep so I just turned the tv off….

So Saturday we got up…bright and early…oh wait…no bright just early…it was rainy and cold…grrr….we went to BK for some quick breakfast and off to see Monticello….there was a school group there which was kinda strange because it Saturday….but anyway Monticello (phonetic spelling Mont i chello) was so very cool….it was even neater than when I went in high school probably because I paid attention a lot more and just found it all fascinating to see where one of the great founding fathers of our country lived. Monticello is actually one of the very few places in the world that has actually been declared not just a national treasure but also a world treasure. There is actually some sort of world decree that it be preserved at all costs. The house is at the top of a small mountain and the view (even on rainy days) is just awesome….on the tour I was struck by one thing in particular that our tour guide said and that was that he brought out the fact that Thomas Jefferson, our third president, had to dispatch troops to take care of some Arabic terrorists in the middle east during his presidency and in fact the Marine’s song that goes “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli” Tripoli refers to the Battle of Derma – in an Arabic country. History really does repeat itself….

Anyways, so we spent quite a bit of time there just soaking up the scenery and history etc. Then we decided to go see James Monroe’s home which was just a couple of miles away….that was interesting on a smaller scale…his house wasn’t nearly as grandious. Again for the non-history buffs…James Monroe was our fifth president and also notably as our tour guide there pointed out, Monroe held the most political offices prior to his presidency than any other president ever has. Also very interesting was that one of Monroe’s daughters was best friends with a girl who was also like a daughter to Monroe and she eventually married Napoleon Bonaparte, who of course, sold us the Louisiana territory for a song (something like 1.3 million for this huge chunk of territory). However, the U.S. just didn’t have that sort of cash so Monroe actually had to go to a bank in England and apply for a loan to purchase the territory.

Well after that we decided to head on to the beach…so we drove another couple of hours. As we got closer and closer to the Norfolk area we hit some torrential rains and thank heavens husband was driving because I just freak out with rain that hard. I just kept muttering how disappointed I was….but then we got about twenty miles from the shore and it stopped raining…it was still cold and cloudy and very windy but the rain did go away. We got to our hotel there…right on the beach on the 12th floor overlooking the beach…checked out our room and the view. Husband is just such the extrovert. He was asking everyone he saw that worked at the hotel where they recommended that we eat. Oh yeah…when we first got into our room, there was something wrong with the television so husband called down and they sent someone up to fix it….so the guy knocks on the door and I answer it and they guy just said (well it’s really hard to imitate someone in type) HHHiiiiiii!!! He was this hippy from way back…so the guy’s trying to fix our tv and husband keeps asking him questions about the area…I’m actually glad of that though because the guy gave us a lot of good tips of what was good in the area….everyone at the hotel was just super friendly and helpful….so we went to dinner at a place called Abbey Road (think Beatles) and it was really yum! Then we went walking on the beach…in the cold wind and the cold water even! Husband and I kept saying if we didn’t catch pneumonia it would be a miracle…but really it was the least crowded that I’ve ever seen at VA beach which made it really pleasant. So we walked on the beach some but after walking around most of the day we were t-i-red so it was another early to bed evening….which was really ok because that was my intention this trip to get up early and just squeeze as much out of the day as possible…plus with the windy weather, I had absolutely no reason to fix my hair….great excuse to walk around all day with vacation hair! Lol

So Sunday morning husband woke me up pretty early as per my instructions because my goal was to see dolphins and/or to see the sunrise…well it was still very overcast so no sun really….but as it got light husband quickly spotted dolphins just off shore….and after much pointing and persistence….I SAW DOLPHINS!!! Lots and lots of dolphins….really it was probably better that it was overcast, I’m not sure….because we saw them out there jumping and playing and probably eating ALL DAY!! How cool!! I was so excited!! So we were having so much fun just looking at the ocean, that we decided that we’d just have to make another trip back this way to see Williamsburg…we decided to be beach bums all day….it was a little warmer and a little less windy….so we trotted out to breakfast (we did a lo-o-o-ttt of walking on this vacation) and after breakfast we walked on the beach a while…we eventually ended up back in our room for a short rest and then we took off to see some lighthouses….we saw the first lighthouse ever built in America…way cool…oh and it was on a military base (Cape Henry I think) so when we entered the base we had to get out of the car and they ran a metal detector and we had to open all our doors and trunk and hood of the car….my first military search…it was quite exciting! Lol Just a little ways down from the lighthouses was a monument called First Landing Cross…it was a marker of sorts to the first landing of the pilgrims on American soil. There were also just some spectacular views of the ocean from there and also of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge….

Umm so then we went to a late lunch at the best place ever…if ya ever go to VA Beach ya gotta eat at Captain George’s….it was a huge seafood (and other food too) buffet. Yum!

Then back to the hotel for more beach bumming….we also walked the boardwalk and just did some touristy shopping….I was so sore when I went to bed that evening I thought my legs were just going to fall right off….or I wanted them to fall off so they wouldn’t hurt anymore…lol….

Monday morning, something happened to the clock and husband “accidentally” got us up an hour early so instead of watching the sun rise at 6:40ish, we watched the pre-dawn sky brightening at around 5:40ish….argh! lol…we did actually get to see sunrise on Monday…figures…we were leaving and it was sunny…oh well…we didn’t see anymore dolphins though…well we did see a few but they were a lot further out than on Sunday…we got all packed up and headed down the front desk to check out and heard the sweetest news of all…you don’t owe a thing you are free to go!!! Wahoo!! Priority Club points rock man!! I told husband that that made up just slightly for all the traveling he did with the old company…lol…

And we were off…we did stop at the McCormick farm and there wasn’t a whole lot there…some very old farm implements…it was a very scenic place though…I almost wished we had a picnic there….it was mostly a nice place to stretch our legs a bit….

We finally got home late Monday night…12 or 13 hours on the road….Tuesday we both just rested and recouped and definitely didn’t set foot in the car! It tore me up a little though not to go see my new niece (again – worst aunt ever!) but I know that I’ll be going up this weekend and I’ll hopefully get to spend a lot of time with her and sister – a lot more time than I would have been able to do on Tuesday cuz it would have been just a quick trip up and back…

Anyway…work has been busy and tonight husband’s company is having a dinner…it may be a bring your own tissue sort of affair, because I’m sure they will be doing some sort of tribute to husband’s late boss….Friday I have my get together with the group of ladies I’ve been karaoke-ing with – third month in a row…I told husband that I have made a whole other group of friends and I really look forward to getting together with those ladies every month! The wacky lady who hosted it last month won’t be there…thank heavens…she’s one of those people that is to only be taken in tiny doses! Lol

And then first thing early Saturday morning I’m heading to Ohio to see my new niece!!! I can’t wait to hold her and kiss her chubby lil cheeks…I keep looking at her pictures and I just can’t get over how much she looks like I-man…SO CUTE! Lol…I talked to I-man yesterday and I asked him what he thought of his new little sister and he said everybody keeps asking me that…that’s what I think about it…lol…so I changed the subject…poor lil guy! Lol

Well I better go before I need a publisher for this entry….I just had a lot of catchin up to do…I need to catch up on my reading of journals very soon too…hope everyone is doing well….lots of love and prayers!