Spamtastic Sunday

On Sunday the kids and I met Auntie, Uncle C, Cousin Mathew & Lon in Minnesota for a visit to the famed SPAM museum. I need to be honest, I thought my normally fun & quirky family had lost it at first. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy the sights, but was very excited to see Mathew (it had been a couple years already) and to meet Lon.

I will admit, I was wrong. The museum is much more than a couple cans of SPAM and a newspaper article. I thoroughly enjoyed not just my wonderful company but the interesting, interactive exhibits as well.

When we pulled in we noticed that all of the parking spots for the museum were labeled.

Family photo op. I still think Auntie was talking to the statue.

gratuitous pose with the huge can of SPAM

The movie was actually pretty good. If they would show those commercials on tv I think public opinion would be slightly better.

Sis & Bug listening to the informative switch board. Apparently the sound was turned up pretty high.

It took teamwork to lift that 50 lb crate

I told Lon to let go when they had it pulled all the way to the top, but Bug said he didn't want to try flying today.

Yeah, that's me being goofy in the radio booth.

Bug & Sis taking their turn

The first smell of SPAM

The first taste

The reaction. I don't think she's a fan.

Bug's first taste

He enjoyed it

I didn't realize Sis knew the words to Thriller, but she put on a show for us with the safety glove.

Ready to enter the work zone

The competition to assemble a can of SPAM begins

Even with their assembly line the kids couldn't beat Lon.



The cool conveyor belt that followed us through the museum.

Mathew & Lon kicked some serious butt at the Spam Exam game show. 10 for 10. Way to go!!

Sis wasn't real thrilled about us taking pictures of her in the gift shop. No, she didn't get to bring a hat home.

I was very glad that Lon is vegetarian, so we found a very nice Chinese restaurant for lunch instead.

Under the Sea - Dream Adventure #2

Blame it on my Dad with his influential love for wilderness and fishing. Blame my Grandparents for providing the grandchildren with the opportunity to stay at their house on the lake for weeks at a time in our youth. Blame my mother for instilling an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and experience in me at a young age.

I have long been a swimmer, even now maintaining my $50 a month YMCA membership just for access to the pool. (lovely small town Iowa with only one year-round accessible pool). I took my fill of science classes in high school. At one time I was on the right track to attend LSU's Marine Biology program, having been accepted into their pre-science program by the time I was a Senior in high school.

Then life happened. Personal situations changed and I decided that I didn't want to raise a baby by myself all the way down in New Orleans while juggling college and work. I don't regret choosing motherhood. I don't regret working my way through the local junior college or the important life lessons I've learned along the way. I wouldn't trade in those last years I had with my parents or the new life I had with my children for anything.

That doesn't mean that my dream of underwater adventures has to die though. I still dream that one day I will take an opportunity to learn how to scuba dive, that I will some how be able to afford the equipment and treat myself to a few water world visits. Maybe Australia, maybe the Johnson atolls or Tarawa, maybe the Bahamas, or the Gulf of Mexico. There are so many underwater territories that I still dream of exploring and I will get there some day!

Rays of Sunshine

Isn't that a lovely picture? I found it over at LennoxC's Flickr page

We started to see some very positive changes today. The power of prayer is amazing! R is out of the hospital and back on base. He has responded to antibiotics, so it was possibly some sort of infection. He will get to graduate from Basic next week and continue to schooling in Mississippi.

Another positive is that my Dad, who went into acute care yesterday, gets to return to the nursing home tomorrow. He is making a speedy recovery from bladder infection.

I also have been sick this week with a horrible sinus cold. Yesterday I thought it might develop into pneumonia, but am feeling much better today.

So now all that's left to pray for is that Ex, who lost his job yesterday, is able to find employment soon. It could be a scary road for us in the randomness house without that child support as a back up. We have been through this before though, and I am thankful for all the budgeting tips my mother passed on to me in my youth.

Thanks everyone for continuing to check in! I hope that I will find time for some FUN writing this weekend!

The power of prayer

It seems that we are on our way to having some of our prayers for R answered. Situations can sometimes change dramatically when we pray. I'm seeing some positives happening, so please don't stop.

Today he was seen by a different doctor. This one seems to think that there isn't really a tumor, but that R is suffering from bleeding of the brain. While they run tests and compare results R is back at the military hospital. That part is good news. If he can remain on base through graduation on Saturday he will be able to receive full benefits even if he is medically discharged. The Doctor is also working on trying to find a way to get R's mom down there.

We can see that God is listening to our prayers and slowing things down. We can see that god is working to help our sweet R. Please keep up the prayers everyone. They do help.

A Letter

I wrote the following letter tonight in response to the situation that made me so sad the other day. I am blocking out names for privacy reasons. Please keep this family in your prayers as they face this difficult time.


August 10, 2009
　
Dear ,

I am writing you today to tell you about an amazing young man and a very sad circumstance. My daughter has been dating a wonderful young man, R since last year. Since he was a young boy R has dreamt of being in the United States Air Force. It seemed early this summer that he was well on his way to achieving that dream. He had graduated from high school early, in January, worked through the spring, and left for Basic Training in Texas in June.

He wrote to my daughter almost daily, his letters filled with excitement for their future. His mother updated us weekly on his progress as he rose up to the top ten graduates. He completed all of his testing with flying colors. All that was left was to prepare for the ceremony. His graduation would have been this coming Saturday and he would have graduated with honors.

Thursday, however, brought tragedy to his American dream. R passed out during an exercise. He was transferred to the hospital in San Antonio where it was discovered that he has a brain tumor. Right then and there it was determined that R would not graduate, that he would receive a medical discharge and he would not receive any benefits. Because he is 18 and left for Basic, his parent’s insurance will not cover him. He would not have the option to go on to schooling in Mississippi for jet engine mechanics because he was now considered non-deployable. He will not have the option of re-enlisting after he recovers.

We were told today that R’s discharge could be final in 4 weeks or less. His mother had surgery of her own at the end of June and is unable to drive to Texas to be with him. The local Recruiter has informed her that there is nothing that the Air Force can do to help her get down there. R is not stable enough to transfer back to Iowa at this point.

While it sounds like the tumor can be removed successfully, there is still no word on when. If the surgery is not performed before his discharge is final, this brilliant young man will be turned out without insurance or his family. This seems awfully cold-hearted of our government to me. This does not seem to fit into the ideals that our nation was built on.

I realize that it is too late by this point for anything to be done about R’s case. Thankfully he is a resilient and driven young man that is already planning to take college courses when he returns home. It saddens me to think that our government is turning this brilliant mind away because he had an unfortunate illness at an inopportune time. Had the tumor been discovered two weeks later he would still have the opportunity to follow his dream of working on jet engines for our Air Force. He would not have to worry about paying the staggering medical bills that he is now facing, he would have a better chance of having his mother there at his side.

Surely there is something that can be done to ensure that our young in similar, unusual circumstances are not turned out to fend for themselves so coldly.

Thank you for your time,
　
　

Life

If All The Skies

IF all the skies were sunshine,
Our faces would be fain
To feel once more upon them
The cooling plash of rain.

If all the world were music,
Our hearts would often long
For one sweet strain of silence,
To break the endless song.

If life were always merry,
Our souls would seek relief,
And rest from weary laughter
In the quiet arms of grief.

- Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)


Tonight I had planned on continuing the Dream Adventure blogs that I had started before vacation. Instead, I sit here and think about a very special and important individual in my daughter's life that just found out some devastating news. Sis is not aware of this hardship as of right now. Ex and I don't plan to tell her until later in the week when we have more (hopefully positive) news on the situation. She is going to take this hard no matter what.

Please keep our family, especially Sis, in your prayers.

I will try to get back to the fun blogs later this week as a distraction. Look for more poetry on my other blog soon as well.

Day 9 - conquering the colonial

The following events occurred on Sunday, July 26th

The camera wasn't in any different shape this morning. Rather than putting it out of it's misery with the hammer, I decided that it would make a little more economic sense to return it to Walmart. That was an interesting little venture. The plan was to exchange it. That didn't happen. Instead we spent 40 minutes trying to convince them to just take it back and issue a refund. My receipt clearly stated that the camera could be returned within 30 days. The problem was that I had thrown the packaging away in the hotel room back in Oskaloosa 8 days prior.

Finally the poor girl in the electronics had had enough and allowed me to get a full refund rather than an exchange since they didn't have a comparable camera in stock. After my credit card was refunded we journeyed a few miles down the road to Best Buy. There I bought a Cannon for $50 more than I had spent on the Vivitar. I am more than happy with it. My last film camera was a Cannon and I dreaded switching to digital when the time came. I am happy to say that Cannon offers a comparable digital product at half the price.

Today our plan was simple. We were going to conquer the Colonials and visit all the historic sights I had been dying to see. We started in Colonial Williamsburg with a quick drive-by of the gorgeous William-Mary campus. It almost made me wish I was back in college again.

Then we started our walking tour of the historic district:

I was amazed by the moss on the shingles. Although it would drive me to battling my fear of heights with a push broom and hose, it definitely added to the historic ambiance of the area.

The smallest of these sunflowers had to be 10 feet tall.

My little Minute Man

The future Martha Washington?

Bug and Ashley were quite amazed by this fence.

So amazed in fact, that we couldn't keep them out of it.

A few of the locals.

Yes, Bug was trying to limbo under the horse tie-out

The capital building. According to the book Sis purchased about local hauntings there are some mysterious happenings in this building at night. Patrick Henry denounced the stamp act here.

Playing with my new camera at the cemetery. This small cemetery is sandwiched between the Capital building and the Secretary's office.

Sis resting on the steps of the Secretary's Office. I am starting to get the feel of my new camera now.

I found this old rustic gate quite eye-catching. I would love to have a garden with a gate like this.

Sis just isn't as enthralled with historic places as I am. Here she is resting on the steps of the apothecary shop.

the Raleigh Tavern/ The call for the first Continental Congress was issued here.

A beautiful garden between and behind two of the houses. How I wish we could have walked through.

Gosh, you would have thought these two learned to behave the other day. Nope, Bug & Ashley are in the shackles again.

It was right after this picture that we first heard the thunder and decided to head for the car. We didn't even make it 2 blocks before the down pour started. We were hit with hail and small tree branches as we ran for the safety of Tony's car.

A couple little drowned rats. Oh no, wait, I guess that's just Bug and Ashley.

We stopped at this historic overlook on our way to Yorktown.

This is the approximate site of Powhatan's village where Captain John Smith was held captive.

If you look close at the left side of this picture you can see a rainbow. We actually drove through part of the rainbow in Yorktown. It was a very surreal experience, everywhere we looked around us we could see light refracting.

I would like to say that we were about to finish our tour of the Historic Triangle, but it was not meant to be. The storm hit Yorktown around the same time we did. We sat in the car for 20 minutes waiting for the weather to subside before we decided to head back to Williamsburg for dry clothes. We saw several downed trees along the way, including one that caused a lady to veer off the parkway into the line of trees along her side of the road.

We stopped for dry clearance clothing at Kmart and attempted to continue on to Jamestown. The biggest thing on my must see list was the Jamestown Settlement. I will have to save that for another time. 5 miles short of town we found that the bridge was out. The detour would add another 30-40 minutes on our journey. It was decided then that because of the hour we should just head back to the house for pizza and movies.

Tomorrow we will rise early and start our long journey back. It has been a very enjoyable adventure/vacation and I hate for it to end.

Surf's Up! Day 8

Once again, these events occurred last Saturday.

We woke up this morning and realized it would be a beautiful day to hit the beach. We loaded up the cooler and made a quick stop at Target for a new swimsuit for Ashley. Excited, we loaded up the van and headed out for Virginia Beach. In a short 40 minutes I would be playing in the ocean!

Scratch that. It took us a little over two hours to get there. It seems that someone had a little trouble reading and understanding the posted signs that yelled NO LANE CHANGES IN THE TUNNEL! Traffic was backed up for 8 1/2 miles.

I amused my self by playing I spy with the kids and laughing at all the drivers that would get out and walk around their vehicles to stretch.

Sis amused herself by playing with the camera.

These are two carrier ships we saw docked just before we finally made it to the tunnel.

After just over 2 hours and two bottles of water, I needed to use a restroom so bad that I almost uttered a very unlady like word. This sign made me think twice about it. I really wanted this sign and a hurricane evacuation sign as souvenirs.

When we first arrived the waves were cresting at about two feet.

At some point it was decided that Ashley should be buried.

The view from my towel.

At another point Sis decided that Ashley should be a mermaid. Possible future in sand sculpting?

Later in the day the waves started cresting at about 4 feet.

We were at the beach for about two hours. Even after applying a liberal amount of sunblock, I received a slight sunburn on my stomach.

Bug and Sis both got in trouble with me for playing with a jellyfish today. They are both very lucky they didn't get stung, especially Bug who was holding it.

My camera has continued to act up. As I write this it is laying on the work bench in the garage. Patiently waiting for me to take a hammer to it. I have a pretty good feeling it will go back to Walmart tomorrow.