Study Break in Florida

For Memorial Day weekend we planned a Florida vacation. Warren, Kristi, Shawn and I visited SIX amusement parks within three days! One 12 hour day was spent at Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. Two days were spent at Disney World hitting all four parks there AND Downtown Disney. Now that we are back we need another vacation to recover from all the walking we did. We even managed to squeeze in a game of putt-putt at Fantasia Gardens. It has to be mentioned that Warren beat Shawn by ONE stroke, which is a butt kicking in their book. Mom was actually tied with Shawn and Granny was next, while Kristi and I did all we could to just finish.

Three more to go!!!!

National Women's Build

If you look in the back row, left side, you will see a gal in a white hard hat, look to the right of her and you will see myself and Birdie. Yep, this build day was a family event. Shawn brought his mom up and they got to do some interior painting will I help construct the flooring for another home. We were fortunate to have good weather for the Women's Build and everyone had a great time! Soon to be posted is news about South Doyle's Rugby team. Coach Knapp will be traveling with his team to compete for a State title this weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Shawn says it is two years down and only 78 more to go. Leave it to the math teacher to create a countdown for wedding anniversaries! We had a wonderful meal at Regas, one of the older restaurants in town. The food, atmosphere and service was great! Shawn got me some beautiful flowers, a tray for me tea, an embroidered blanket and a nice record player to play the old vinyl records on. I got Shawn a HUGE bean bag (gaming chair). I made sure it was big enough to me a movie chair too that both of us could fit in. It is definitely big enough! I have included photos of our blooming front yard. We have a couple plants that still have not recovered from the bad frost LAST spring but the rest of the yard looks great.

Happy Birthday Pa!

And Happy Birthday to the Pope as well, who knew! Today we all will celebrate Pa's birthday in our own quiet way, all of us released a balloon in celebration, even Mac had a balloon. Marcy and I will each release a balloon with a message as well as plant a lily in our gardens for Pa and hopefully place a frog by them as a little memorial spot to reflect upon.
This past weekend Shawn and I were at Dollywood for a VIP reception and dedication for Porter Wagoner. We were excited at the thought of possibly meeting Dolly in person. Unfortunately we were only able to see her, and honestly that was pretty cool too. We got to hear to talk some as well hear her laugh that ever so popular Dolly laugh. The weather forecasters had been predicting a chance of rain and cold temperatures for the day, they were WRONG! The day turned out to be beautiful and we had a great time at the park. Shawn and I actually spent the rest of the day with my boss and his youngest daughter. The three of them rode the water rides while I stayed on shore and held anything they did not want to get wet. We got to see the new portion of the park that I did a lot of work on, it looks great. Hopefully we will go back soon and actually ride the new ride, by the time we got to it everyone was too wet and did not want anymore water thrown at them. The weather down here is just as crazy in the spring as it was up north! Saturday we got sunburned, temperatures in the 70's and then the past two nights we have had to cover our plants to keep the frost off! Make up my mind! Tomorrow we will be back up in the 70's again and hopefully stay int hat range for a while before the humidity sets in for the summer.

Over half way there!

Spring Break

Shawn and I took a road trip up to New Hampshire to see my dad. Yes, we drove. Luckily we had planned on driving with Pa's passing we were not even sure we were going until a few days before. We had a great time up there! Shawn got to go skiing, I helped dad do some work on his house and we were able to visit all the important folks in Maine.

For those who have not heard yet and are planning on going, Pa's Memorial Service with be June 21st at White Chapel at Norwich University. Granny has asked that in lieu of flowers please make a donation in Pa's name to Norwich or the Alzheimer's organization. Both would mean a lot to the family! He loved Norwich and there needs to be a cure found for this disease!


Here is a look at the new ride I worked on for Dollywood. River Battle, and it is guaranteed to soak you! It has been fun working with Dollywood on this project, as well as a few others. In a 3 month time frame they have transformed this portion of the park. I do not have a photo of the ride completed yet but I am sure Shawn and I will visit the park soon enough to try the ride out for ourselves.