Save the Date

I know it is a long ways off but I want everyone to save June 6, 2008. You may wonder just what could be happening that far away that I would want you to set the day aside. Okay so you are really just thinking, well it is Lauri, she has to plan everything.

Well this time it isn't me that the day will be most important for. This is the day we are hoping to be buying all kinds of pink baby clothes because there is going to be a new baby in the family.

That's right Andy, Nikki, and Riley are going to be adding a new member to their family. Well Nikki will be doing all the hard work for the next 8 1/2 months but Andy and Riley wanted to be included in the good news.

So keep thinking lots of pink thoughts and we will keep you up to date on the excitement.

What's New

Thought I would catch up on what is new and exciting around here, ok it more like what is pretty much the same and kind of mundane.

Nikki and Riley flew to Mass to visit her grandma and aunt and uncle for the weekend, it was pretty much of a whirlwind tour. Flew out of Orlando Friday morning and back on Sunday afternoon. They had a good time and that is all that matters.

Mum and Dad have gone to Kim's until Dennis transfers back to Jacksonville, he should be here the second week in October. Kim will be in Virginia for training for about a month before she heads overseas.

John is still floating around in the Atlantic or Med or somewhere in that area. He has taken the rating exam and we are all keeping our fingers crossed for him to get promoted.

Kimberly is at collage and all is going well there.

Leesha is in Omaha and doing great, we got pictures from her a week or so ago and it looks like she has it made for living arrangements.

Chris just got back from the Game Stop Managers Conference in Las Vegas, he had a good time and was very tired when he arrived home. He is still putting in lots of hours at the store, he is in the process of hire some more game advisors (GameStop employees official name). Maybe we will see a bit more of him for a while, but even if we do it will be short lived because the holiday season will be starting soon and he will be very busy at the store.

Andy is working hard, his job site is winding down and he will be moving to a new one, we are all waiting with bated breath, well maybe not but we are curious as to where he will go.

Kathi and David will be on their way back to Hawaii, just couldn't get enough the first time. They arrive on the 21st of Oct, which by the way is our 30th anniversary. Where does the time go?

Christopher is back in port but that is about all I know.

I've been working on scrapbooking, lots of pictures from Norway. I'm getting there and hope to be finished in the next month.

I think that brings up up to date on everyone. Have a great day and I'll be back soon.

Playing at the Park

What a great time we had today. Went to the lakefront to walk and play at the park. Got all sorts of surprises. Saw the big backhoe moving dirt around and the bulldozer with a bucket putting the dirt into dumptrucks. When we got to the park found that there was a little water park to play at. We weren't prepared, no sunscreen was the biggest thing we were missing but we will be prepared the next time.

Riley had a great time playing in the water and trying to figure out where the water was coming from and why it would go away sometimes. He was pretty lucky because he was never under the bucket that would fill up and spill all over the place so he never got to wet until he decided to sit down. We had a really good time and will have to go back someday soon.

Riley's Walk

Riley always gets so excited when we go for a walk and today was no different. The walk itself was much nicer, we were a bit earlier then normal so it wasn't quite as hot and the sun went behind some clouds for some of the walk. All the ducks were in one place today and didn't run away when we stopped to look at them so Riley was thrilled with that and had a good laugh at me quacking at the ducks.

Celebrating Birthdays at Kim's

Started our day pretty early, Riley had spent the night with us so Nikki and Andy could celebrate her birthday. We were up at about 0500 and in the car at about 0530. We made a stop at Mobile on the Run for ice, a cold soda, and hot coffee. Picked up Andy and Nikki and headed to the turnpike at about 0615.

Stopped at both rest areas plus there was trouble on the Turnpike at Wildwood and we really couldn't figure out how bad it was and if the road was actually closed. When we got there traffic was driving in the breakdown lane and not getting backed up yet but I could see it happening. It was a double trailer Fedex truck that had flipped over and made quite a mess. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we got to Kim's at about 0945.

Had a good time, watched Breann learn to ride her new bike, the big boys play horseshoes, and just the normal stuff. Lunch was delicious, hamburgs, hot dogs, and hot links on the grill, Tom did a great job as usual. Cake was next and we celebrated the Aug and Sept birthdays: Dad, Dan, Jodi, Tom, Kim, and Nikki.

Headed over to Nikki's folks and celebrated her birthday again. More cake, this time an ice cream cake from Publix. Looked very good but none for me. We finally hit the road to head home at about 1930 or so. Traffic wasn't to bad, could have been alot worse. Got home at about 2230.

Had a really great day, but there were lots of tired people thank goodness we all have Monday off.

Scrapbook Shopping in Tampa

What a fun day we had yesterday, went to two scrapbook stores in Tampa. Started the day by waking up Riley as soon as I got to the apartment, and I mean I woke him up. He usually has his eyes open when I go in to get him but this morning he was all curled up in the corner of his crib just enjoying dreamland and this mean monster came and pulled him out of the crib. He didn't even want to open his eyes and just kept scrunching his face up, very cute.


Got him fed, bathed, and dressed, and we were all ready to go when Tammy showed up. Drove over the Jodi and Robert's, put the carseat in their car and we were off. Didn't hit much traffic and the first scrapbook store was very easy to find. They had lots of stuff and it was a huge store. We were the only ones there the whole time. Robert walked to a farmers market type store and got some mango salsa and cuban bread so we were all happy. Most of all Riley because he was out of his carseat and being pushed in the stroller, although I think he would have liked to have been running around the store.


Then it was off to the next scrapbook store. This is where the fun on the road started. We had to go up around the airport and the road was a mess. Left exits and right exits and we were always in the wrong lane but we finally made it to our exit and all was well. Had no problems finding this store either and again lots of stuff but very crowded here. Still found stuff we had to have.

By this time we were all pretty hungry especially the little boy. Stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch and although Riley wanted our sandwiches he was very happy with his ravioli and sweet potatoes and carrots. I don't think I have ever seen him eat so fast, he was very hungry. Now that our bellies were full it was time to head home. The ride home was very uneventful and went pretty quickly. All in all it was a great day.

Fun Times in Norway

This was Tromso, Norway. We were beginning to think that we would never make it to the top of the mountain.

Started the trek where the ship's shuttle bus dropped up off on the other side of the water. Lots of people were looking to take the bus across the bridge, but not us, it didn't look that far, we had all day, and the weather was beautiful. So off we went on foot. The hike across the bridge wasn't bad, a bit windy but that just made it more comfortable walking. It was also nice to see when we reached the top of the bridge that the long side was the part we had just walked up so going back would be very easy.

The first stop was at the Arctic Cathedral (in the picture of Dan above it is the white triangle just behind him). It was a very beautiful church, very simple painted white inside with light stain woodwork. The stained glass window in the rear of the church took up the whole wall and was beautiful.

Now we were in search of an ATM, so asked the clerk working in the gift shop at the Cathedral and he told us we would find one in the shopping center just down the street about 400-600 meters. So we are talking 1/2 mile at the most. To make a semi-long story short we figure it was closer to a mile but we did find it and were able to get some more kroners. Which we needed to be able to take the cable car to the top of the mountain.

Once done with the ATM we had to retrace our steps to the Cathedral and then walk up to the cable cars. Really don't understand why the cable cars start in the middle of the mountain and not at the bottom but that is what these did. Finally made it to the top and it was well worth the hike up to ride the cable car. The view was fantastic.

We had a good time taking these shots. I took the one of Dan and of course I had to ask him to back up a couple of feet because that is what we do. Usually though there is a fence to prevent you from falling off the mountain but here there was nothing just a drop down about 100 feet or so. As I was asking Dan to back a couple walked behind us and just started laughing and the woman told me to be sure I had his wallet before he took his steps back. I was still laughing about it when Dan took my picture.

The picture of us in the snow was another fun one and if anyone was watching I'm sure we provided them with something to talk about for the rest of the day. From the time we got off the cable car and Dan saw there was snow further up the mountainside he wanted to go up to see it. Well the first patches we saw we quite a ways away and I really didn't want to hike up that far. But when we rounded on of the corners on the trail there was a patch. Not to far away but enough of a distance so not everyone was running over there to see it. Dan got there first, I was dragging my feet looking at the flowers along the way and hoping Dan would just look at the snow and walk back to me and we would be done with the patch of snow. But no, he scopes out the area and sits on the rock waiting for me. I get there and he asks me to set up the camera to take a picture of us. The rock that would be the acting tripod was a ways from the rock we would be sitting on, but beggars can't be choosers. I set everything up and hoped that we were at least in the frame. I wasn't going to lie on the ground to check it out. So hit the shutter button and run, well the snow was slippery and hard to run on and of course the camera went of just as I was turning to sit down, viola, the only butt shot of the vacation and I took it of myself. So I told Dan he would have to do it because I wasn't going to make the running on snow trip again. Dan presses the shutter, runs, makes it to the rock, and we wait and wait and wait. Well he didn't push the button hard enough. So back he goes for the third time is a charm shot and what you see above is what we got. We were laughing pretty hard by the end of all this and i guess it was worth hiking up to the snow patch, (but don't tell Dan that).

That was it for the top of the mountain, rode the cable car back down and walked back across the bridge and headed to a museum that everyone was talking about to see if it was the one Dan wanted to see. Well turned out to be more of an aquarium and not the polar exploration we were looking for. This lead to the most expensive bathroom break of the trip. Dan went into a 7-11 type store to use the bathroom and bought a Coke Light, a $5.00 Coke Light. At least it tasted better then the coke light we would get in Spain when we were there.

Back to the shuttle and the ship, this was quite a day and we had lots of fun.