Hope that you all have a wonderful Independence Day weekend.

That pretty much sums up the last week for Greg and me. Friday, June 11th my parents came down to Arlington to trade vehicles with us and to pick up Freyja. They spent the night before heading out with kitty in tow Saturday morning. They graciously left us their Explorer, taking our car with them, as well as taking kitty to be spayed during the week. Poor Freyja didn't know what was coming.

After my parents were safely on the road and as that Saturday was Greg's birthday, I worked on making red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles in Wall-E cupcake wrappers, per his request of course. =) He was allowed one of the cupcakes to celebrate while we packed for the beach, packed up the car, and finished up laundry, dishes, and all the usual stuff to which no one likes to come home. We even packed up the rest of the cup cakes un-iced to share with Greg's family at the beach. Then we hit the hay early so that we could get an early start on our drive to Mom E. and Mr. Bill's place just north of Atlanta.

Sunday morning we woke up, got ready to go, packed the last minute stuff in the car including two lasagna and a refrigerated cooler (also borrowed from my parents) with munchies and cupcake frosting, and then we hit the road at 7:45am. And we drove; or I should say, Greg drove. I'll post later about various ways to survive and even enjoy long road trips later. Anyway, it was a full day in the car, and about 12 hours and 650 miles later we arrived in time to join Mom E., Mr. Bill, Nathan, Grandma and Grandpa for dinner at Williamson Brothers BBQ. It was great to get out of the car for an extended period of time and to see everyone before driving a little further to check out Mom E. and Mr. Bill's new place. Then we went back to their current place and pretty much crashed in anticipation of driving again the next morning.

Monday morning Greg and I were once again up bright and early to get ready to travel. We met Courtney's friends Chris and Jeb who would be joining us for the beach. Then with help from Grandpa and Mr. Bill we loaded up a high balcony table built by Greg's Great-Uncle Jerry so that we could take it to use at our apartment. This was the reason we borrowed the SUV from my parents, and thankfully the table fit beautifully even with two coolers, a large suitcase, and everything else we'd packed. As soon as everyone else was ready and packed up to go, we hit the road once again, to caravan 4 vehicles down to Pensacola beach for the week. There was some excitement getting through Atlanta traffic but after that it was a nice and uneventful drive. Another 7 hours and 370 miles later we arrived at our condo on Pensacola Beach. Greg and I were excited to have arrived after about 1100 miles and 19 hours of driving. Aside from a strange craving for fresh fruit and veggies which meant Subway as opposed to Burger King for lunch, we were ready to run.

Soon after figuring out sleeping/room arrangements and unloading vehicles, Ryan, Christina, and Eowyn arrived. It was great to see how much Eowyn had grown since we last saw her around Thanksgiving and to have everyone there for the week of family fun. Greg and I worked on getting lasanga and other pastas in the oven for dinner that night while everyone else was settling into their rooms and catching up. We frosted cupcakes while Mom E. ran to pick up some salad makings for us. And this is when the refrigerated cooler was a lifesaver as the fridge in the condo wasn't yet cold and we had milk to keep. So Greg setup the cooler in the living room as stop gap measure until the fridge could catch up with all of the drinks and food brought by everyone. Then we all shared pasta, salad, and cupcakes to officially celebrate Greg's birthday. He loved being able to share with his family and I was glad to be able to contribute something by cooking and baking.

I'll post on the rest of our time at the beach soon, but sufficient to say we had a lovely time before we had to wake up early Friday morning to start the 1009 mile trip back home to Virginia. We finished loading up the car, said our fare wells to everyone around 7:30 central time on Friday morning even though some had just woken up, and then hit the road once again. We decided to drive north through Alabama and Tennessee for out trip home to avoid Atlanta traffic which proved a good choice. We crossed the Tennessee border to into Virginia just before 8:00pm eastern time and decided to stop for dinner. Greg was refreshed and ready to drive some more after dinner, so with only a few hours yet to go he finished the drive home not really getting tired until we were about an hour out, and at that point we just pushed on arriving home around 2:00am. Another 17.5 hours and 100 miles under our belts. We unloaded critical things from the car, dropped a beef roast from our freezer directly into our crock pot for the next day and then crashed in our own bed. Neither of us stirred until about 11:00 that morning, at which point we decided to get up so that we could get to sleep at a normal time that evening. We make a quick run to the store, made pulled beef BBQ for dinner, and relaxed.

Sunday morning, we slept in again, each waking up a little less sore than the day before, and worked on getting this ready for our kitty to return home. My parents came to bring Freyja home and to pick up their vehicle Sunday afternoon. Freyja seems very happy to be home and carefully inspected her clean litter box, fountain, and fresh bowl of food. She seemed content to sleep most of the day while we visited and went to grab a late lunch together. My parents left after lunch and started their trek back to PA while Greg and I enjoyed some more time vegging with a very sleepy kitty. This was after, of course, we took pictures of Freyja's shaved belly and stitches which we'll add to her photo album for those who are interested.

And so to wrap up, Monday morning we woke up and both went back to work. =)

Greg and I had a very busy weekend running errands and such. It was good to see the Presley/Elder/Watts family at Kelly's graduation cookout/celebration even if it was only for a brief while.

As for a start to the week, there's busy days at work for both of us and then we still have more errands to go as we have yet to find Freyja's favorite flavor of cat food at most of our local stores. For those laughing at that statement, Greg and I are more than willing to allow you to cat sit while eating your dinner one night so that you can see what a begging for meat kitten pout looks like. Anyway, Petco told me on the phone last night that they have it in stock so we're hoping that we can get it tonight. Here's hoping.

In memoriam for those who gave their last and their all in service of their country and their fellow man.

My Grave
by Thomas Davis

Shall they bury me in the deep,
Where wind-forgetting waters sleep?
Shall they dig a grave for me
Under the green-wood tree?
Or on the wild heath,
Where the wilder breath
Of the storm doth blow?
O, no! O, no!

Shall they bury me in the Palace Tombs,
Or under the shade of Cathedral domes?
Sweet 'twere to lie on Italy's shore;
Yet not there-- nor in Greece, though I love it more.
In the wolf or the vulture my grave shall I find?
Shall my ashes career on the world-seeing wind?
Shall they fling my corpse in the battle mound,
Where coffinless thousands lie under the ground?
Just as they fall they are buried so--
O, no! O, no!

No! on an Irish green hill-side,
On an opening lawn--but not too wide!
For I love the drip of the wetted trees--
I love not the gales, but a gentle breeze,
To freshen the turf--put no tombstone there,
But green sods deck'd with daises fair,
Nor sods too deep; but so that the dew,
The matted grass-roots may trickle through.
Be my epitaph writ on my country's mind,
"He served his country, and loved his kind"--

O! 'twere merry unto the grave to go,
If one were sure to be buried so.

It's bedtime and Greg and Kendi are not paying attention. I'm tired and need my human pillows. I keep jumping up on the couch beside Kendi and cleaning her fingers but she just isn't getting the point. How many times does a gal have to jump up on the couch and walk toward the bedroom before the understand that it's time to go to bed? Silly peoples...