Last week, after we got back from Norfolk Tuesday evening, was like a three-day marathon to get ready for the weekend. A BIG weekend!
But Friday was pretty fun. Anthony and Lori were hosting a little boy from NYC via the Fresh Air program, and I got to have him and Austin here for the afternoon. They made the cutest pair!
When Lori came to pick them up she was sporting a new pair of Brooks that she had just gotten for $40 at Ross. She raved about how comfortable they were, so I knew what I had to do. I went to Ross to see if they had my size. They DID! And they are AWESOME!! And pretty cute besides! I am on a constant quest for shoes that I can wear without pain. These are the best thing I've found in a few years.
On Saturday our little Houserville House of Hope hosted Benefeast 2015 - our annual fund raiser for local friends and family living with cancer. We had not bought a permit to put a sign along the street, so my friend Roxanne decided to get some balloons and hold a sign out there herself!
The weather was perfect for such an event. We had vendors outside.
And the Warriors 4 a Cure team did all the food - good food at great prices!
Here are some of the vendors. This is a display of some of the beautiful baskets my dear friend Kris Karl Davis makes.
We had at least six tables of items for silent auction - incredible things to bid on. We had some fun bidding wars going on!
Inside was the music all day long, starting with our own praise team, which we have named Soul Harbor. Unfortunately, no one got a picture of us.
Here are some of the other bands - there were twelve in all. We ranged anywhere from praise and worship, rock, blues, jazz, alternative, classical, and gospel.
Anthony and his Texas Blues Alley band brought the house down as always. He hasn't done a gig since last year's Benefeast, but you would never know it.
These teens, Here All Week, had an amazing sound!
My friend Marybeth always has fun singing with her son Steve.
This guy, Eric Ian Farmer, sings with tremendous talent and soul.
The last group, Four Corners, was INCREDIBLE!! It did not matter if they were featuring the trombone, the saxes, or the the guitar, each one of them was unbelievably talented. It was especially fun because we've known some of the band members, Duane Bullock and Gary Abdullah, through Anthony and Lori for many years.
It was a great day. Dick ran the sound and helped to change the set between groups all day long, so he was exhausted.
One thing that unsettled us late in the afternoon was the need for an ambulance. Sally Ripka, the DEAREST lady in the church, was manning the ticket desk all day. And then she suddenly collapsed! We were scared and praying as the ambulance came and took her to the hospital. Later we found out that they discovered blood clots in her lungs! We were SO thankful that she was not home alone when this happened! The last I've heard, she's doing well on blood thinners.
On Sunday morning we did a group photo to send her our get well wishes.
That's all I have time for. The next post will be filled with CUTE pictures from the rest of our Sunday at Bianca's first birthday party.
I can't keep up! I have too many picture-worthy things going on these days! Now an entire week after Sophie's race at the AAU Jr. Olympics, I am finally posting about that day. (I woke up this morning before 5 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. So I decided to come out here to the computer and blog if I'm not going to sleep anyway.)
Last Monday we did not need to be at the Jr. Olympics event until afternoon, so in the morning we took the long commute to Thyda's Navy base where she works in an office. She was on leave all week, but needed to turn something in. It's probably not a long commute because of miles, but because of SO. MUCH. TRAFFIC!! I cannot imagine doing that drive every morning and afternoon.
Here she is in her cubby. I was glad to meet her co-workers and to see where she spends her days.
When we got back from that, we packed some things and headed out for our next long commute to the Norfolk State University where the Jr. Olympics were being held. You would think that if Ray and Thyda's address is Norfolk and we were driving to a university by that name, it wouldn't take too long to get there. WRONG!
When we got to the University, which is right in the city, we spent at least half an hour trying to find a place to park. We had the website for the event, which showed some spectator parking lots near the stadium, but it seemed they were all full. No street parking was available either. Poor Ray. He was the driver with four "back seat" advisors/complainers. Finally we found a church parking lot that was taking $10 per car for a parking spot. We felt like kissing the man when we gave him the $10.
But finding a place to park did not mean we were THERE yet. I kept looking at my watch and thinking, "If we came down here to see Sophie's race and we miss it because we couldn't find a place to park......." We had to walk at least ten blocks (I honestly don't know how many.) I just know it was HOT and FAR!! Once at the stadium we had to get our tickets and THEN find Lisa and Sophie! Thank God for cell phones!
Lisa had found a shady spot outside the stadium where we could relax and cool off and eat until time for Sophie's race. Things were running behind schedule. I was GLAD!! As we ate pizza we watched Sophie do some warm-ups.
After a while Lisa and Sophie went into the stadium and kept us informed by text as it got closer to time for her Sophie's age group, the 10 and 11 year-olds. Then came the most frustrating part of all. Going into the stadium, crowds of parents and kids coming out, trying to figure out where Lisa was, trying to find anywhere at all to sit that was somewhere near the 100-meter dash. I had really hoped to be able to video her race, so instead of sitting up on the bleachers where there was no hope of being able to see (there were people standing all along the railing), I decided I was going to find me a spot at the railing.
Well, the people at the railing were not so inclined. I asked, "Could I get in here for just a bit? My granddaughter is soon running." They looked down at me like I was crazy or something. So I just kept listening and being sure that if my phone would lock, I could quickly see in the bright sunlight how to get it to the camera. And then I heard someone yelling, "Sophie!" and I just saw her flash past as I looked between people at the railing. I lost my composure at that point and yelled, "I MISSED HER!!!!" Again, the people at the railing looked at me like I was crazy. I turned to go find the others and discovered I had not been far away at all from Lisa. And she had gotten a great video.
I can't figure out how to share it here on my blog, since it's not on YouTube. But here are some pictures. This one is a screen shot from a video that was on the Jr. Olympics website. Sophie is the one in orange.
And I LOVE this screenshot that Lisa took from her video. Look at her go!!!
After the race she was all smiles. There were 111 girls in her age group for the 100-meter dash. When she entered the competition she was ranked 50th. After this race she was ranked 34th. And she had only competed in five track meets before this event! She will be a force to be reckoned with next year after a year of training!
This was our hot, tired, somewhat cranky crew!
The walk back to the car was even worse than the walk from it. It was hotter and I could have sworn it was further. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Ray offered to carry me on his back, but I declined, hahahaha!
When we got back to Ray and Thyda's place, we CRASHED. Leo thought I made a pretty good pillow!
Later in the evening we got enough energy together to go to Qdoba for some food. Lisa and Sophie did not join us there, but stopped in later at Ray and Thyda's place to hang out for a while.
The next morning we all (except Ray, who had to go back to work that morning) ate together at the really cute Sand Fiddler Cafe near Ray and Thyda's place, even closer to the airb&b where Lisa and Sophie were staying. We LOVED it! We loved the food, the atmosphere, the beautiful things on the walls that were for sale, and the sweet, southern gal that was our waitress. We had a great time.
Then we had to say our goodbyes, pack up our things, and be on our way. Destiny was staying with Ray and Thyda for the rest of the week, so we decided to take a different route home, up across Virginia and West Virginia into PA.
Once again, leaving the Norfolk area was beautiful. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the beautiful beach homes we passed on our way out.
The Virginia countryside.
Sometimes we drove through small towns.
A silica mill in West Virginia.
And the lovely PA countryside, always a beautiful sight as we drive up route 99.
Here's a great picture that Thyda or Lisa posted on Facebook the day after we left. They had gone out to see a fun show. I wished we were still there having fun with them!
I'm just SO GLAD we were able to go at all. We had a lot of fun and made some great memories. Thank you, Sophie, for being the one to make it happen! I have a feeling we might be making more trips because of you in the future!
On Sunday I never did get dressed in regular clothes! In the morning I took my good old time making breakfast in my pajamas.
By the time that was all cleaned up it was time to get into my swimsuit and coverup for our day at the beach. They live just five minutes away, and the place where Lisa and Sophie were staying was within walking distance of the beach!
Ray grilled hot dogs and beef kabobs for our late lunch.
My view of the sky as I lay on a recliner later in the afternoon.
I spent some time in the water - it was warm. But the waves were rougher than I felt comfortable with. The rest of them spent a lot of time out there. Dick loves to put a snorkling mask on and look for shells, etc.
Sophie and Lisa didn't come till later. They had to go to the Norfolk State University to pick up Sophie's registration packet, and besides, Lisa did not want her to be out in the sun for too long the day before her race. When they did arrive, Sophie and Lisa went out for some more fun in the water.
When we got back to Ray and Thyda's house there was great demand for the shower. I wasn't as sandy as everyone else, so I got started on the Lime Cilantro Chicken and Southwestern Quesadillas that we were going to be having for dinner. I didn't get one picture of that scrumptious food or of our time together eating (Lisa and Sophie came over).
After everything was cleaned up I finally went upstairs for my shower, and I got right back into my pajamas!
Destiny had fun playing with Thyda's hair.
Ray and sweet Leo. We all love him so much. Well, both hims, hahaha!
My next post will be about Sophie's race on Monday, including a GREAT picture of her. Tomorrow (Friday) she will compete in the long jump. How I wish we could be there to watch!
Wow! Over a week since my last post. I'm still alive and kicking'!! We've been to Norfolk, VA and back. I'm just so busy catching up that I can't find time to post. I have way too many pictures to do the whole trip in one post, so I'll try to quickly share the ones from our first day.
We left our house around 7 AM Saturday morning and drove the three hours to Reading to pick up Destiny. Once again I was impressed by the beauty of our rolling mountains as we drove down 322.
After we picked up Destiny we stopped for a late McDonald's breakfast.
There is no fast way to get to Norfolk/Virginia Beach. Especially from Reading, PA. I very much wanted to avoid the beltways around Baltimore and DC, so I had printed out directions on Mapquest for going down through Delaware. (Old school, I know.) However, when you've become used to listening to Google Maps tell you every turn several times over, it feels hard to follow directions on a piece of paper. So I started up Google Maps on my phone. After a while it became apparent that Google Maps was determined to take us to the beltways around Baltimore and DC. SO CONFUSING!!! My paper directions said one thing, my phone was saying another. We finally had to ditch the voice on my phone.
Crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
It was a long, slow trip down Route 13, sometimes in stop-and-go traffic, sometimes through towns with many traffic lights. My dear husband did all the driving, and I tried not to gasp at every little thing that scared me.
I had downloaded To Kill a Mockingbird onto my Kindle, so Destiny was well occupied in the back seat with that. She had never seen it or read the book before.
A few times we had to stop for rest rooms and they were always horrible. I always have a travel pack of Wet Ones in my purse, and I had to use up half a pack just to be able to trust getting anywhere near the toilet.
Crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is nothing short of astonishing. Seventeen-and-a-half miles across!!!
Finally, at 6:00 PM, after being on the road eleven hours, we drove up to Ray and Thyda's townhome. We had been in touch with Lisa and Sophie who had flown up from Tampa earlier in the day and were already settled into a cute airb&b apartment near the beach just a mile from Ray and Thyda's. We both drove up to their place at the same time! We all just relaxed and had some fun first, of course with Leo. He is the SWEETEST dog!!
Then we headed out to eat dinner at Bahama Breeze. The wait was to be 45 minutes, but there were things to do while waiting. Like corn hole. Ray and Sophie on one team....
Destiny and Thyda on the other.
There was a live band playing that Dick thoroughly enjoyed.
They brought us paper and markers for a drawing contest.
Sophie drew her version of Uncle Ray!
Lovely ladies, Thyda and Lisa.
FINALLY a table for seven after an hour-long wait.
The girls got their drinks inside carved coconuts!
Sophie and Uncle Ray again. He amused her thoroughly - as he always does.
Me and my big girl. I was SO, SO happy to be able to make this trip and spend time together!
My next post will be about our hot day at the AAU Jr. Olympics competition on Saturday.
