Rafting the Nantahala

Nobody Fell Out! This is the last rapid (and largest) on the Nantahala river. We had a great guide named Jesse that took the time to help the kids learn how to sit and paddle...and insure KH that he could get us all down the river safe. The water flows from the bottom of the Fontana Lake and they generate electricity during the day......so its about 48 degrees. Note the wincing on JH's face as he takes a lap full. MH, JH, Go Postal and I all rode the two loops at Tsali you can ride on Saturday for a total of about 16 miles on our mountain bikes Saturday...so it was nice to give the legs a rest on Sunday and use our arms. After a lunch of pizza and watching the hot shot kayakers in a competition....we all headed home. I am sure JH drove in silence as everyone was pretty worn out.

Looking at the photo...MH is in the front on the right side of our boat, with Go Postal and I behind him. JH is in the front on the left, McH is tucked in behind him with my sister KH grabbing her from behind.

My favorite three year old!

The other day I mentioned I had a lunch date with two blondes....Quiltkeemosable actually believed I was stepping out on Go Postal I think. It was just Buddy and Little Man. They are growing up so fast. Buddy had to go meet his first grade teacher last night so I went over to stay with Little Man who was still napping. At 5:45 I knew he needed to get up so I went up and crawled in bed with him for some tickle therapy. He woke up so happy! He thought it was fun trying to capture a kiss on the camera.

Great Weekend

I got to participate with two different groups of people this weekend but doing things I love. Friday my Miss Bee Haven group had an in town retreat....I worked on getting my antique quilt tops tied in time for company at the end of September (I will post a picture when they are both done and on the twin beds in my guest room). We quilted from 8 am until dinner and finished the evening off with Italian!!!

Then Saturday my ski and outing club took a evening hike to the top of Hawksbill where we wanted to watch the sun set and the moon rise. No chance of rain according to the weather forecast...but alas a storm quickly approached just as I laid out a great picnic. Here is a shot of us all right before our rapid decent pointing out the lightening bolts we see in the distance. We all agreed we would try again, we got a glimpse of a brilliant red ball peaking from behind the clouds and over the rim of the gorge just before we took off. Luckily we made it back down before the rain and lightening got to us. Go Postal and I are off to Tsali next weekend to mountain bike and raft the Nantahala with my sister's family from Atlanta....good thing we aren't camping but staying in a cabin since the remnants of Hurricane Fay may bring us some much needed rain.

Congrats 2LT

Here is Go Postal's nephew at his comisioning ceremony at North Georgia Military College. We drove to Dahlonega early Friday morning to make this ceremony then graduation that night. I am so thankful there are still young people that volunteer to serve our country.

Thirty Years Ago......

This is the house I lived in from 1st grade until the middle of 4th grade in Houston. On the way back from Honduras I knew I would have a long layover...so I used mapquest to locate the street. It has been updated of course but some things were still recongnizable. I remember Uncle Lee and Dad fixing the wobbly light by setting a coffee can around the base and filling it with cement. If you click on the picture and enlarge you can still see the cement ring around the base. I saw a guy pull into the neighbors house...and I asked him when he moved in. I found out he was a first cousin of the kids we used to live by. Ricky was two years older than I and we had all kinds of fun riding bikes around the dead end and imitating The Fonz from Happy Days. He said I normally would have had a good chance to see Ricky about this time of night as he stoped by often but he was on vacation this week, riding his Harley up in Sturgis. Hmmm if we had never moved away...would I have been up there with Ricky on a Harley too? This old Dodge truck is Ricky's....looks similar to Go Postal's old Dodge, that made me smile. Now if I can just get back to Casper Wyoming and check out our next house......

Its a Small World

Imagine my suprise when I saw my college roomate from Texas Tech on the plane from Houston to San Pedro Sula Honduras last week. She and her husband (a youth pastor) were taking 10 kids on a Mission trip...and I was traveling down there for business. We hadn't seen each other in about 10 years....its been 18 years since we graduated. But it was just as easy to visit with her as ever. And she now lives in the same Texas town as my sister's in-laws. We were seated one row apart....I have to believe I was suppose to run into her! I made sure her middle daughter knew all about the food fight her Mom started back in the day. Love Ya!!

Lovin the Summer Hours

With Friday's off, we were able to take a "Daycation" at Wet and Wild. Buddy is here showing me the big slide we just went down. Little Man would have gone down anything there I think, but his lack of height kept him off the biggest slides (which is good, because there is one that is too scary for me) Only one more Friday off...and I am using it well, an in town sewing retreat with the gals from Miss Bee Having.

Hola

My trip to Honduras is going well, we finished a little early today so I am checking e-mail under a plam tree by the pool since they have wireless at the hotel. Not exactly the Honduras Go Postal experienced in January on his mission trip. I would love to get out and explore some handcrafts and local coffee but with my limited Spanish and the potential for crime, its just not worth it. I will be ready for a sweet tea once I get home....there is only so much water, coke and beer I can take before missing tea. This is the Honduran beer I have been having with dinner....its light and not too bitter yet still has a good flavor. It was served so cold last night that ice crystals formed when they opened it....YUM.