On a mini-vacation!

First, thank you for leaving me comments about Jackie..I truly appreciate. I believe the only way she's going to get well is by prayer and the grace of God. So, thank you for continuing to keep her in your prayers.

3 1/2 weeks til we leave for San Diego and Disneyland! I've been so excited that I can barely contain it!! In the meantime, Herman is off from work this week so I took today (Tuesday) off so that we can spend some time together. We spent Saturday up at his cousin Jeff's house. It was his wife's (Estelle) 50th birthday party. It was great to get together with everyone. And we all had a big surprise when Jeanette, Tante Toni and Chrissy all showed up from FL! (Tante Toni is Jeff, Jeanette and Max's mom...Herman's aunt on his dad's side.) We saw Jeanette and Tante Toni for Jillian's (Jeff's daughter) graduation party a month ago so we certainly didn;t expect to see them for a few more years. What a great surprise! The other nice surprise was seeing Max's daughter's Victoria and Mackenzie! We haven't seen the girls in many years due to family conflict. (Doesn't every family have one?! LOL!) Victoria is Becky's age and Mackenzie is 10 years old. They have both gotten to be so grown up and beautiful!! I was so happy to see them! The only Bousche missing was Louie..again, another family conflict keeps them at bay. Louie is Max's twin brother. Herman's sister remains close to Louie and his family but my father-in-law refuses to have anything to do with him or be in his presence. It's really a shame as life is way too short. Anyway, we (Herman, John and I) had a great time catching up with everyone!

Becky flew home from FL on Friday evening. She looked so beautiful! All nice and tan...dressed in black pants and black, flowy shirt. She looked so grown up! She had a great time with Dar and the boys. I just wish that she was a bit more excited about our trip to CA than she is.

Sunday we just hung out. My brother is up from FL so he came over to visit. Actually, he hurt his back working so he came over to use my hot tub. He wound up going to the ER because of the pain he was in. He was supposed to leave yesterday. I hope that he is feeling better. (He works for a moving company. He got hurt moving some over-sized boxes.)

Yesterday we went to Dorney Park!!! We got on the rides as soon as we hit the park. I'm such a kid when it comes to rides! I love roller coasters and Dorney has great coasters! They have a new one this year: Hydra- The Revenge. It is a floor-less coaster..you ride on the top of the track with nothing above or below you. You get a lot of "air" on this ride. No great big drops but lots of flips and dives. Great fun! Towards evening we got right on and sat in the front seat...twice! What a blast! I also love Talon, Steel Force and Dominator. Go to the website and check out the rides. It's quite a bargain if you get a coupon from Subway or Burger King. $27 per person gets you into the water park and amusement park! It's clean, well planned out and has a friendly staff. We love Dorney Park!

Today we'll stick to mainly indoor activities as it is hotter than hell outside. It was hot yesterday but it's worse today. The humidity is creeping up so it's swampy outside...ugh. I had hoped to go down the shore on one of my days off but it's not looking too good right now. We're less than an hour from Point Pleasant but it's hot down there, too. We'll probably get some goodies to snack on and a few movies and the makings for pina coladas..nice way to spend an evening!

Well..I should really get something done here today. Perhaps laundry if I can manage to coax the kids to bring their stuff down. That, and the kitchen floor could stand a wash. Actually, when I think about it....almost everything in the house needs to be doen. Screw it...bring on the pina coladas!!

Peace!

Yeah, I know..I'm bad..

Yes, I'm quite aware that it's been awhile since I've posted. Shall we play "catch-up"??

Becky left for Dar's on Wednesday the 13th at 8am. I took her to Newark by myself, as Herman had to work. Besides, only 1 parent is allowed to escort her to her gate. She arrived in one piece and they were all happy to see her! They spent this past weekend in Cocoa Beach and at Universal Studios. They had a blast!!

John decided that he wanted to spend a few days at his cousin's house in NY. So, I took a nap after taking Becky to the airport and then drove the hour and twenty minute drive up to my sister in law's house..and turned around (after a cup of tea!!) and drove right back home. Then took Rachel for an MRI of her brain at 9pm that same day!! I was exhausted!

It was nice and quiet around here for a few days, with Becky and John away. Rachel is fairly quiet and spends alot of time away from the house, either with friends or at work. You would think that the house would have been cleaner, but ALAS! It wasn't....

I went on an investigation to a battleship a week or so ago. It was very cool! Once the investigation is posted, I'll put a link here for it. (SJPR invited TSPR to join them for this one so it will be on SJPR's web page.) The cool thing about this investigation was that it was right across the water from a music venue! We got to listen to a live concert of Staind and Three Doors Down...for free!!! LOL....

On a heavier note, please keep my daughter Jackie in your prayers. I won't go into details but she is not doing well, mentally or physically..so please, if you can spare a prayer..my family and I would be very grateful. This child needs more prayers and good thoughts than any of you can imagine. Anyway, thanks in advance for your good thoughts.

I really should go and do some relaxation exercises..keep my head screwed on tightly for the next day or so.

Peace..

4th of July party and other stuff..

4th of July was supposed to be a quiet barbeque at my house. We had invited my mom, sister & her family and 4 of our friends. That makes 5 of my family (me, Herman, Jaclyn, Rachel and John), 4 of my sister and mom, and 4 guests. That makes 13 people for a barbeque. My sister backed out..my mom stopped by for a half hour or so. Sooooo...how then, did the invited 4 friends turn into 10 friends??!! Easy..."Oh, I heard you're having a party...mind if I/we stop by?" How do you say "no"?! You don't. We had tons of food so we of course said, "Sure! C'mon over!"

Needless to say we had a great time. Burgers, hot dogs, steaks, wings, shrimp & rice and some pasta salad. And beer....lots of beer. Everyone brought over at least a case each...We'll have beer til Labor Day!! And fun...lots of fun! This is a fun crowd. No one gets obnoxiously drunk..they're all pretty mellow. We ate from 3pm til just after 9pm.

Poor Herman, though. He was awakened at 6am by a phone call from his boss. Apparently the girl who covers the Philadelphia office wasn't answering her pages nor her cell phone nor her house phone. So Herman had to trek to the Phila. office (which isn't in Phila. propoer..it's in a northern suburb) at 830am..It's a 1 1/2 hours away from our house. He wasn't  happy. He made it back in time to run around for ice and propane.

Saturday I had to take John to the doctor's office...where he was diagnosed with shingles!! She put him on an anti-viral medication and he's feeling better. Poor guy! Thankfully he has a very high threshold for pain so he wasn't in excrutiating pain.

Becky is headed  for Dar's on Sunday. Unfortunately, so is Hurricane Dennis!! LOL! Becky is supposed to fly into Tampa at 1130am or so on Sunday morning but I expect that that won't happen. I'm sure that she and Herman will be sitting at the airport all day, trying to get her there later in the day or on Monday morning. We'll see.

Have I mentioned how happy I am that it is Friday? Wellll..it is and I am!

Ok...John and his friend Matt want to head to the mall now so I'm out!

Peace!