July 13, 2009

We had a really nice time being with Geri last night. Of course the time went by way too fast!

Here is a picture of Janine and I. Always love seeing her!!!

♥ Geri and Jeanette ♥

Geri ☺

Football sign-ups

Football sign-ups started today. Nathan has decided he wants to play this year. I'm a little nervous to say the least!
Nathan liked the skull and crossbones on the back of his helmet!

Birthday cake

Finally got a birthday cake for Nathan tonight. We didn't have one for him on his birthday since we were in Tennessee. Bible study was at Bill and Bev's so took it with us and had it there. Nathan wanted an Oreo Blizzard cake from DQ, so that is what he got. So many pieces of cookie on top that we couldn't write anything on it! Don't think he minded~

The technique works!!! (see video below)

Gatlinburg 2009

We had a really nice time in Tennessee this year. It was very hot so spent a lot of time at the pool. Spent one day at Cherokee where we went fishing. Brought back 6 rainbow trout to the chalet and Allen grilled them up for supper. Allen and the two boys spent one day at the Nascar Speed park racing go-carts.

Allen and I in downtown Gatlinburg.


Dad and Mom at IHOP

The only family picture I got of us and it was taken in the parking lot of IHOP's on our last day in Tennessee!!!
Game of mini golf that we played one day when it was rainy. This was an indoor black light course. You can see the glow from the black light off the kids. And yes, that is Allen behind them looking like he is about to club one of them!

There were a lot of these painted bears around Cherokee.

The kids in a giant rocking chair in Gatlinburg.

Game of mini golf on Nathan's birthday. This was a really fun course, but it was very hot that night. Started playing around 8:00 and the temp. was 94 degrees! We had a good view of the tram going up the mountain from the pool.

The pool. Spent a lot of our afternoons here. Sarah, Mom and Dad at the nature center.

Nathan fishing with some help from Allen.
Nathan with the fish he caught. Greg fishing. Greg's catch.

Rainbow trout. A very well stocked pond!
Sarah fishing.

Sarah's catch! She doesn't like to hold them~

Allen and I at Newfoundland Gap.

Sarah, Nate, and Greg at Newfoundland Gap.

We love to go see the bears when we are in Cherokee. This is Ben. He is 23 years old. They told us most bears in the wild only live to be 9.

Another picture of Ben.

Yet another picture of Ben.

Grizzly bear waiting patiently for some apple.

These bears were really good at catching the food that was thrown to them.

Baby bear

Soccer season over!

Nathan's team played their last two soccer games on Saturday. It was the tournament games. They won the first game, but lost the second. Ended up winning the division championship and getting runner up for the tournament. They went the whole season undefeated and then lost their last game that they played in the tournament!

Here we all are at Hacienda after the last game. Coach is handing out their trophies. They ended up with a ranking of 14th in the state of Indiana!

Some shots of Nathan in the morning game on Saturday. The next four pictures are of Nate fighting for the ball. He actually ended up getting the shot, but it took a lot of work. I was lucky that it took place right in front of where I was sitting.

The whole team (coach in white, Allen and the other dad were assistant coaches).

This was their "#1 in the division pose"!! Ha!

Long time away

It seems like I've been away from my blog for a long time, and I have.
My last post was on Nathan's field trip. Since then, as most of you know, I have had surgery and have been unable to really do much of anything. On May 15th I went in for a hemorrhoidectomy. Was not something I was looking forward to at all, but they had gotten much worse these last few months. I will spare you the details, but lets just say it was the worse pain I have ever been in. Period! So glad that I am feeling better. The surgeon told me that I would hate him for two weeks after the surgery, and he was right!
Yesterday was my two week mark, and I was feeling much better than I had even the day before. I went out to eat with Allen and then grocery shopping. First time out of the house in two weeks! It felt great!! Greg was playing in the band last night at the High School graduation and Nathan and Sarah were out at the circus with Grandma and Grandpa Rundle. So we had a nice quiet dinner out.
Sarah told me this morning that I looked like my old self again...not sure how I was looking before that! Maybe it's just that I am walking more normal now (no more old lady shuffle) and I'm actually up doing things. Allen said it was good to have me back too. He said these last two weeks brought back memories of his bachelor days, with having to do all the cooking, picking up around the house, grocery shopping, and laundry. Poor guy!! He really took good care of me though! My parents came over for 3 days last week to help with taking the kids to school and picking them up. They also did a good job of taking care of me during the day. We've had neighbors, family and friends all helping out with bringing over food too. Sure did appreciate all the help and support.
Things are definitely looking up now. Looking forward to taking a vacation in a couple of weeks. Greg decided to not take a summer class this year, his counselor kind of advised him not to. So we are free to go to Gatlinburg after all!!! Yeah!
I am taking a class next week on Differentiated Instruction in the classroom. It's too keep my license up to date. Also hoping it will help with getting a teaching job here for next year. Our school system is requiring all their teachers to take this class, so thought I might as well do it now.
Need to also start thinking about having a garage sale and need to get our pool passes bought! Guess summer is here!

Field Trip

Today I went with Nathan on his school field trip. We went to Notre Dame. I went last year with Sarah and really enjoyed the tour so decided to go again this year with Nathan. The lunch was a big pull in whether I went also! They have the most awesome lunch hall. It is the biggest buffet I have ever seen. There are several different tables, all with different ethnic food. There is Italian, Mexican and Chinese. They will stir fry up just about anything you can imagine. Also pizza table, grill table (hot dogs, hamburgers), a couple of different salad bars, soup bar, ice cream bar, dessert bar, breakfast bar, and then a home style bar with food like steak, pork chops, veggies, mashed potatoes...stuff your mom would cook at home. Plus every drink under the sun. All of this we had access to for our lunch! They gave us a whole hour to eat, so we were able to make many trips!!

The boys in my group saw a student eating and they just knew that he had to be a football player because of the size of his arms. They finally got the nerve to go ask him, and he was. So then they talked to him for a little bit and got his autograph. I'm sure they made his day! Not sure what his name was but his number is 64.

I'm sure that will be the highlight of the trip! That, and Nathan drank Vault for the first time! Ha! He thought it was a big deal, but it's basically the same thing as Mountain Dew.

Brandon, our guide for the day.

South Dining Hall where we ate.

Football stadium

Distant view of the Dome
The Snite Museum of Art sculpture outside the museum
There were tulips everywhere on campus. Just beautiful!
132 Ft. mural on the side of the library. Reflection pool in the front.
Main Building and the Golden Dome Another view of the Golden Dome
Looking up inside the Golden Dome. There were five floors, and then the mural was above that! Pretty high up!

Standing on the steps of the Main Building look out over the campus.

The Basilica

These are the pictures I took inside the Basilica. Sorry, they are blurry. It was dark inside, so I used the night setting, and then the pictures blurred!

The painted ceiling.


The organ!

Another picture of the ceiling.

The Grotto

One of the two lakes on campus.

Little log cabin. Replica of the first building on campus. The original one burned.

I forget the name of this building but it was one of the dorms.