Labor Day at the Lake

We soaked up every last minute of summer.  Countdown to Memorial Day is on!

Sunday Sunday

1976 style to celebrate Kembree's 40th!  Skating was so much fun.  It was just like riding a bike (for one of us!).  

The Most Magical Days of Summer 2016

Were spent at Disney World with some of my favorite people!  We really only decided to go about 45 days before we left, but everything worked out great.  We stayed on property at one of the smallest resorts which worked out perfect as it had only one bus stop.  We got to the parks when they opened and stayed till they closed (with a break in the middle).  The meal plan was a great deal given the 3 character meals we enjoyed.  Fast passes are the way to go!  And I can not wait to go back!

Now for picture overload, because one day I really am going to turn my blog into a book (and these are just a few favorites of the 500+ we took and doesn't include any of the photo pass pictures we had taken with our package).  These loaded backwards, so scroll to the bottom and work your way up.  PS...I really do like roller coaster, but probably not as much at Lily does!  Actually all 3 of these kids LOVE rides and went on everything they were tall enough for!  Oh and when you have 11 people, matching shirts are the only way to go!  

Our Project

We love going to the lake.  We watch lake front living weekly and have been looking for several years at property there.  Really because it is just fun to look and dream of owning a lake home.  The drive up is the closest thing to reminding Ray of home, so he loves the drive.
We love the Greer's Ferry portion because it is so rural...you have the Dollar General, the Hardware store and Large Mouth Pizza.  Hurricane Bay is really one of the only bays in the huge lake and it is one of our favorite areas on the lake, but it also has a lot of large, expensive homes so we had written the bay off.  Well, this spring the realtor we had worked with in the past sent me an email to tell me there is a steal in Hurricane Bay.  Basically the owners hadn't used in 5 years and live in CA, but they were very picky about who they would sell it too. Plus it needs updating (which he knew we were in for a project).  We went in with a crazy low offer and after a counter and an email to the owner later...our dream came true!  It is the perfect little bungalow on El Camino Real!  We are lake front with a boat launch and working on a community boat dock with the corp now!  We have great neighbors and can't believe we actually own a lake house!

We have basically gutted the inside...scrapped the popcorn ceilings, removed wall paper from every room, removed the shag carpet and are now working on repairing and priming the walls for painting. I planned to share the progress, but my computer has its good and bad days so we shall see how often I get to posts.  

Make A Wish & Flying

Last year, I became a trained Make-A-Wish Pre-Flight Captain, after a friend told me of the need in the Mid-South.  Basically I greet wish families that travel at the airport as they leave for their wish.  I help the families easily get through the airport process, wait with them at the gate to help ease their fears and to build excitement for their trip.  Basically, I get to use what comes second nature to me to ease the worry and fear in others.  I LOVE it!  I've had some difficult greets, but mainly they are full of excitement!  Especially this family...Sweet Amber was headed to Hawaii on an early morning flight this week!  Her 10th birthday was Saturday and her goal was to swim with the dolphins.  I'm happy to report that her mom texted me a picture of her doing just that today and it made my day! The pride in her dad's eyes said it all...these trips really are for the whole family!

I went through wish granting training last month so that I would be more informed on my greets, but during the training I decided they needed wish granters and I could easily do that!  So, I have my first family meeting on Tuesday with a fellow wish granter.   Wish me luck!

Speaking of flying...I went up with my favorite pilot the other day!

We had a great flight and got to see this cutie for a bit!

Throwing it back

To that time we stood in the middle of Hoover Dam and didn't get wet!

That time the tooth fairy didn't come

Since I reference this blog for when things happened...
It was Friday, May 6, 2016 when Dr Godat (who is a great oral surgeon...2nd time I've had to use him) did an extraction, bone graph and post placement on one tooth, a gum graph on another and root scaling on a 3rd. The gum graph still hurts like heck, but hey my mom made me her banana pudding! And for the next 2 weeks I'll continue to eat soft, cold foods...maybe I'll loose a few pounds in the process!

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That week...

When we were both traveling in the West and Ray convinced me to meet him in Vegas and play tourist! For the record I'm not a great tourist...because really are there vacations that don't involve beaches or ski slopes!

I love that Ray got to see the Mob Museum, Pinball Hall of Fame, and Atomic Energy Museum! We walked the strip and went into hotels we had not been in before (I do love seeing all the beautiful flower displays!). Then on Sunday we went to Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon West. I seriously hope to go back to Grand Canyon national park sometime when we can hike and spend more time there. The views are stunning, but it is a long way down! Plus as a bonus, I took Ray to my favorite Las Vegas restaurants! We went twice to Firefly (off strip) which may be my all time favorite restaurant...and Ray's too.

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Gorgeous Night

For a Gorgeous Wedding! It's been a while since we have been to a wedding and we had the best time celebrating with the happy couple. Tracy and I met at Junior League and through my dear friend Jeri probably 6 years ago. She is so much fun and we are all so happy she found larry!

I rented the runway for my dress and could not have been happier. It fit perfectly and I got tons of compliments. Now, I just put it back in the provided garment bag and drop it off at UPS. I'll definitely be doing this again!

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St Barth French West Indies Vacay

Everyone asks why we picked St Barths...Ray has a customer that goes every year and he has been telling me how much they like it and how he wanted to go for years...I just wanted to go somewhere in the Caribbean and I had read this island was unlike the others as there are no big resorts, no people trying to hassle you on the beach to braid your hair and no poverty stricken areas, plus it is French!  We both agree that it lived up to our expectation plus some!

Every direction you looked was beautiful, the water was crystal clear, the food was delicious, their wifi was spotless (which is important when you work from home) and the people are some of the nicest you will meet.  The only thing is the roads are narrow and hilly, so driving can be intimidating at first.  However after a day you get the hang of it.  People also make comments about how pricy this island is...it can be pricy, but it can also be reasonable.  We were pleasantly surprised at how reasonable most everything was...of course there are some restaurants and hotels that are crazy expensive, but that isn't what we like anyway.  We like to live like a local on vacation and that is what we strive to do.

We flew into St Maartin and took The Voyager ferry to St Barth from Oyster Pond.  We had the best food and conversations at this little bar while we waited for our Ferry!  You can jump a commuter flight, but we booked so late they were all full.  It is the shortest runway and I hear quite an experience that we must do next time!  I however loved the 30 minute ferry ride.

All of the beaches are public.  Only 3 of the 14 beaches have any buildings on them...all the rest are just natural and amazingly beautiful!  At the entrance of each beach you will see a tile sign that is significant to the area.  St Jean is built up in that it has a few very small hotels and some restaurants which have beach chairs their customers can use...it is adjacent to the famous Nikki Beach.

Yes, the runway is right next to St Jean.  It was so cool to watch the planes land.

Several of the beaches you must hike too...this was along the way to Colombia which is about a 45 minute hike.

And worth every minute of it!

 Lunch at Cul de Sac Beach was so peaceful.

This is Ray pondering the hike to Washing Machine Beach from Grand Fond.  For some reason this hike did not scare me, but Ray says it should have!

The natural pools when you got to Washing Machine Beach (which is named for the way the waves hit) were amazing.

Always remember to stay grounded...this was one huge anchor!

The smaller the car the better...this little Jimney served us well!

We visited all of the beaches and I loved every single one of them, but I think Gouverneur is my very favorite (Ray's favorite was Saline).  Ray isn't much into swimming in the ocean for extended periods of time, but we swam at this beach for hours.  The water was amazing and the view breathtaking.

On the last night we watched the sun set at Shell Beach...look at all those tiny shells.

This was our hotel...it was an 8 room bed and breakfast.  Perfect location in the middle of the island and right near Lorient beach.

These are the hotel managers and they were so pleasant and gave us great tips.

Waiting for the ferry on the morning we departed.  I'm counting down the days till we can go back!

For my own records, I'm going to update this with the restaurants we liked and other tidbits when I'm not so tired.