Happy Birthday Betty!

(Birthday flowers from Sue, Bob and Andrew)

She's Number One

Last night and tonight, Paige (Edy's eldest, age 12) had a softball game, so we went to watch. Her number is 1 and she plays left field, or is it right field? Anyway, she was in the outfield between 2nd and 3rd bases.

Paige in the outfield, ready for some action.

Waiting for the pitch.

Focused and ready.

Poptart and Popcorn

Well, I woke up this morning with a headache again, but not quite as severe as yesterday's. It still required an imitrex to relieve the pain, unfortunately. But, it worked.

We just hung out around the house this morning. I packed up and showered, while Katie played with Justin and Josh. We ate lunch, took some photos and by about 2:30pm Katie and I were on the road back to Regina's parents' house in Waynesboro.

Below are some of the pictures I got of Katie, Justin and Josh before we left. Oh, and the bunnies, too. The dark one is Josh's and he named him Poptart. The white one is Justin's and he named him Popcorn. They're really sweet. I shot some video of them which I'll post next week after we get home.

Katie and her cousin Justin

Katie holding Popcorn

Josh holding Poptart

Justin holding Popcorn

Justin giving Katie a ride.

Josh holding Poptart,
Justin in the back
and Katie holding Popcorn

Ugh!

Darn it, today I woke up with a pounding headache. Right behind my forehead. Katie woke me up at 6:41am, which surprised me because so far on this trip she's been sleeping in until 7:30am - 8:30am. I promised her that most likely nobody else was awake yet, so she climbed into bed with me and fortunately, slept for another hour or so. I managed to take some caffeine tablets (no-doz) and Aleve, because they were within reach. But what I really wanted was an imitrex which was all the way downstairs on the first level and I was on the third level. I just couldn't bring myself to make the trip so I decided to lie down in bed for a while longer to see if the caffeine and aleve would do the trick.

When Katie woke up, I realized my head was still in a lot of pain, but I had to get up with her anyway. We went downstairs and I quickly took an imitrex and grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer. Katie, Justin and Josh watched a movie for a little while and I managed to eat some breakfast while holding the ice pack to my forehead and visiting with Peggy. Within an hour or so, I began to feel better.

The combination of pills I took made me feel pretty out of it, so I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon. I was bummed about that because the sun was shining and it would have been the perfect day to be outside with the kids.

Fortunately, when I woke up, I felt pretty good. We then went out to dinner with our twin Aunts, Sharon and Karen (our Dad's sisters) who live in the area.

After returning home, we enjoyed some homemade vanilla ice cream Peggy had made earlier in the day. We topped it with strawberries, whipped cream and blue sprinkles. That was quite a treat!

The kids were exhausted and went to bed at a pretty decent time, allowing me to watch LOST, which was an awesome episode, by the way, and I can't wait to rewatch it as soon as I get an opportunity.

And now, everyone else is in bed, but because I slept all afternoon, I'm not quite tired yet. Even so, I should go lie in bed. Maybe I'll surprise myself and actually fall asleep.

View of tonight's sunset from Kenny and Peggy's house.

More Cousins...

Today after lunch, Katie and I drove to my brother's house to visit them for a couple of days. He and his wife have two boys, Justin and Josh. Katie's excited to be here visiting her cousins and getting to know her aunt and uncle.

The first thing we did upon arrival was to open a whole bunch of wonderful presents they had for Katie. One of the presents was a t-shirt with a black velvet image on it which she got to color in with markers. She put it on immediately after completing it and it took a lot of convincing to get her to take it off for bed time. She loves it.

Katie's cousin Josh helped her color the t-shirt they gave her.

And here she is, modeling the finished product.

Later, at bedtime, Josh offered to read Katie a bedtime story. From his extensive library of books, he chose The Little Engine That Could.

Somebody's Watching Over You

That's what Jim the plumber said after inspecting Regina's parents' broken water heater, "Somebody's watching over you, that's for sure."

Regina and I had noticed that when showering, we would run out of hot water before finishing. We didn't remember that happening last time we visited, so we figured we should investigate. The first thing we thought of was to check the temperature on the water heater. Maybe it was set too low. Well, this water heater didn't have a convenient, well-marked dial on the outside, but rather it had two panels secured with screws. We suspected the temperature control was behind one of those panels, but we weren't sure. We also couldn't find the manual. So, I looked it up online and learned that this particular model is old enough that the manufacturer didn't have its manual online anymore. Regina suggested looking at the manual for one of the other similar models. Why didn't I think of that? Good idea. I learned that the temp control was indeed behind the secured panels. I removed both panels and found a bunch of wires, screws and jumpers, protected by a plastic shield and on top of that was a layer of insulation. I couldn't figure out how to increase the temperature, but I did notice that there was a lot of corrosion. That prompted me to call the manufacturer's tech support. He suggested calling a plumber to replace both heating elements.

Jim the plumber arrived at about 2pm and took a look. He said he could certainly replace the heating elements, but his recommendation was to replace the whole thing. He proceeded to show us how the wires were falling apart and there was evidence of fire inside the unit that had burned the plastic shield and the insulation. He said we were lucky it didn't burn the house down and that if we hadn't called when we did, that's exactly what would have happened. Needless to say, Regina's Mom took his advice and replaced the whole thing and upgraded to a higher capacity heater. So now, we're back in business. Hot showers for all!

Sunshine and Yard Work

On our first full day here, Katie played with her cousins continuously, after having spent last night over at their house. Tomorrow, "the cousins", as Katie calls them, have to go to school even though it's their spring break. They are making up for snow days earlier in the year. So, because it's a school night for them, Katie couldn't spend the night at their house. Tonight when they left after dinner here at Regina's parents' house, Katie cried and cried because she was so sad she wasn't with them. I got lots of cuddle time, which I don't often get anymore, but hated to see her so sad.

Regina, her sister Edy, and Edy's husband decided it was the perfect day to do a little landscaping in their parents' backyard. So, while the kids ran around outside in the sunshine, they dug up old, unwanted plants, tilled the dirt and planted a couple of dogwood trees and a bunch of plants and bushes. They did all this work in the area of the backyard where there used to be a water feature. Regina's Mom had it removed a while back, but never did put anything in its place.

The next and last step is to add mulch, which will happen another day this week. Of course it'll look better in a year or two when the plants have had time to flourish. But, here are a couple of pictures of their hard work today:

Regina transplanted some petunias in the planters on the deck outside the master bedroom and she also hung some flowers as well.

We ended the day by grilling hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner. Katie was exhausted and went to bed easily. Yay!

Heading Back East

Our 4:45am wake up call was brutal, but necessary to catch our 7:45am flight from Portland to Washington Dulles. Almost immediately after takeoff we got a nice view of Mt. Hood, so I snapped a few shots of it.

We arrived in Northern VA without incident, although our landing was rather tipsy due to high winds. I've been a frequent flyer since early childhood and this was the first time I worried that we might not experience a safe landing. Fortunately though, the pilot was able to stabilize the plane before we hit the runway.

Within about an hour after landing, we had claimed our bags and were in a rental car, heading south toward Regina's parents' home. About three hours later, we arrived safely.

Katie is spending the night with her cousins, so Regina and I are enjoying a bit of peace and quiet as we wind down from a long day of travel.