Bocce Ball, Travel Karma, Georgia, what-have-you...

I have been very remiss in posting this week. Mainly due to the fact that I can't find the cord that connects my camera to my computer and posting without pictures is so lame. I blame Paul since he is the one who cleaned out our desk and computer cords and also because I am pregnant, therefore I take no blame or responsibility for anything. Although I'm pretty sure I just lost it. Anywho, I am going to forgo the pictures and post an update anyway. Just stop reading when you get bored.

Family Reunion
Paul and I went to his family reunion at Zion's Camp near Belfair, WA. Paul was on the activities committee and as such told me he needed to buy a bocce ball set. We get into a huge "discussion" in the middle of Target when I find out it's not actually an assignment from the committe, he just thought it would be fun to have one at the reunion (aka he wanted one). So we buy it and head up to the reunion. It ended up being a great setting - there were dorms with bunk beds we slept in (no tents!) and a nice big lodge where we cooked and ate. There were tons of activities, a lake, hikes, etc... and everyone had a great time. Paul's family is all super nice to me and very easy to get along with. The first afternoon, I was looking out across the large beautifully mowed lawn of the lodge and suggested that Paul and I play bocce ball since we own a nice, brand new set. Can anyone guess what the grimace on Paul's face meant in response!?! That's right, the set was safe at home in Bellevue. Gotta love it.

Travel Karma
After the reunion on Saturday evening, we rushed home, switched suitcases and went straight to the airport to catch a red-eye flight to Baltimore for a week at the Delaware shore. (Good news, my luggage from a week prior had been delivered in the meantime so I could finally start brushing my hair and wearing makeup). Our flight arrived in Baltimore about 10 am so we were hoping to be at the beach by 1 pm. As many of you know, my recent travel karma has been pretty bad so instead we arrived at 6:30 pm. An 18-wheeler truck drove off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, completely closing all lanes in our direction. It took us hours just to get from the last exit to the toll booth. It was a bad enough ordeal in the first place, add in being 5 months pregnant, and getting no sleep the night before on the flight, and you can say I was basically out-of-my-mind belligerent.

However, once we got there we had a fantastic week at the beach. We basically sat on the beach all day and watched the olympics at night or played cards with my nephews. My youngest nephew is obsessed with war so I got really good and dealing him all the face cards off the bottom of the deck. The longest game lasted about 10 minutes - perfect. One day that week we went to a water park and I don't know who had more fun - Paul or the boys! I have great pictures of Paul in tubes with them having a blast. For the most part the weather cooperated except the last day when there was a severe storm warning and they evacuated the beach (which I have never seen in my 10 years of going to the beaches there) due to torrential rain and winds. Again with the travel karma. But all in all, it was a great week and a total blast! (And Paul beat Monte in golf, again!)

Georgia on my Mind
While at the beach, my brother who is in the Army and stationed in Germany called to say he was being deployed to Georgia! "When do you leave?" "I can't really say" "Where will you be?" "I can't really say." So that's about it. After two tours in Iraq, I'm sure Bev and their little girls are not happy about him going into another war zone, I know I'm sure not! But he is good at what he does and he enjoys the work and I am proud of him. Incidentally, Paul and I had already purchased two round-trip tickets to Germany coming up to spend time with him and family who we have not seen in a year - and now he will not be there. Now do you believe me about my travel karma??

More Pink
I came into the office today and it was covered in pink bows and mints and a huge sign that says "It's a girl!" There were little hair clips with pink pacifiers stuck to everything. And on my whiteboard, they had put a list of possible names - one for every letter in the alphabet. I thought it was pretty creative: Ann, Barbara, Catherine, Debbie, Elizabeth, Frannie, Gertrude, Helen, Irene, Jennifer, Katie, Lisa, Margaret, Nancy, Olivia, Patricia, Quincy, Rachel, Stacy, Theresa, Unice, Vanessa, Whitney, Xandra, Yvonne, Zahara.

More adventures to come
Tonight Paul and I are going to see Jack Johnson at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Afterwards, we will camp at Dry Falls. We plan to hike around a little in the morning and then tube down the Wenatchee River. Should be a fun time!!