Molly's New Bed!!

Thanks to the quilting and sewing skills of my sister, Molly got a new bed for Christmas!!! Notice the letters--even those were cut out and stitched!!
Kath--you're so crafty!! Love You! Molly loves it!

The 3rd Love

Hailey...........Me.........Molly.........

Long Time No Post....

Standby, we will be posting soon...........

The Birthday Boy's Big Night

I wish I had more pictures of Trav's 30th, I'm hoping Bob will send some more...but either way, these are the pics that we did take...



No better way than to have all the brothers take shots! :)







Pre-gaming before a night @ the casino! Chclsea's Dad and Grandma came along with Trav's buddies...





Me preparing drinks for the B-day boy and his friends!!



(Caroline--this pics for you...I'll call you) LOL





THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT

A ring that was Trav's Grandfathers and had been in the family for years. Trav's mom was super excited to give it to him and Travis was just as touched and emotional to receive it! (It looks great on him)!!

The "Boat House"

We didn't realize it until a couple days after we got there, but we're thinking it's called the boat
house because of this awesome rock mosiac wall in the living room...Do you see the boat?!?


Here's the view from the living room--right across from the beach..

One of the few nice days we had where the sun was shining all day long...


A view @ sunset....3 out of the 4 days we had a great pacific NW sunset :)


And, no matter what house Travis and I find oursevles in, the kitchen is always one of our favorite rooms :)

Up-Close and Personal w/ a Boeing 747

Eversince Bob sent us pictures of him and Shannon in front of the 747 @ Evergreen Aviation, I've been dying to get in front of it too :)

So, when we were in OR Travis and I took a drive by....



**The landing gear was 1/2 my size!!


**Bob said once the jet landed, everything was gutted; including the engines--these are not the real engines just replicas. But we still thought it was cool!


**Had to get a pic of me by the nose to show just how big these things are!

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Last night I attended my cousin Michael's wedding (pics to follow). Below is a poem that was read...it's beatiful (and hearing it read at the wedding made all of us girls cry)

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Alive

We are............as we said before between work, school, and other day to day factors we have been very busy in recent months........However........Stay tuned.........BIG NEWS......may be coming on friday.........

We're Still Here

I just wanted to post and let everyone know we're still alive! We've been extremely busy at work and with school. Here's some events that have happened in the past month which have caused us to go into hiding:

1. Busy at work! Sikorsky is not allowing any new hires. As a result, we are consumed w/ working the job of two and in Trav's case, three people. Also, Because of the economic situation Sikorsky has assigned the entire company 3 furlough days which we will not get paid for.

2. My Great Aunt suffered a stroke about 2 weeks ago. She's doing good now but has been in the hospital and rehab. Good news though--she goes home tomorrow! We've been spending the last two weeks painting and cleaning her apartment so she'll be all set once she gets home~we are all super excited!

3. In 5 weeks Travis will have finished the last of his classes for his associates--he just has to CLEP Science and Math (tests given to satisfy a 3 credit course) and then he's done!!! CONGRATULATIONS. He's been working so hard for the past year on this!

4. Now that the warm weather is finally gracing the state of Connecticut, we are finding ourselves on the linx more and more :) Check out this course that we golfed last week—Quarry Ridge. The course is insane, built on the side of a mountain and very tough (and steep), By the 6th hold I was using my club as a cane and a walking stick to get up the deep inclines! But it was a blast playing--actually, any time I play golf with Travis is a blast; it's an awesome bonding experience!

A Lesson Learned

For all of those who told me a bunny would be a horrible idea (Trav & AK), you were right!!! Honestly, the poop, the cleaning, the lack of affection they have towards humans--I can't take it. So, I decided to look for a new home for them and I got a nibble (no pun intended). Come to find out, Josh's (my sisters BF) dad used to have bunnies and would love to welcome two of them into his home!!! So, this week will be the last week spent with them; although I'm sure we can visit them at any time.

So, what I've learned you may ask?!?!?

To consult either Travis or AK on any more radical ideas that may pop into my head :)

Neat Picture

So, we left work around 4pm today because it started to snow. By the time we got home, the snow had started to stick to this berry tree in front of our condo. The snow looked so pretty that I decided to take a picture. Here's the pic....The amazing thing about this picture, is that it looks like it has been taking at night with stars in the sky!!! Not the case, those white specs are snow flakes and this picture was actually taken when the sunlight was still out. It's so weird how the flash made the background look like it was night time...

New Addition....(s)....

So, there is this pet store about 2 minutes from our condo. Every now and then Travis and I go there just to "browse". Last time we were there, about two months ago--they had a couple cute cute bunnies. I mentioned to Travis how I'd love to have one for some company when he travels. His response, "absolutely not, they smell"...so, I let it go. Well, the night before V-day Travis went out for while and Shannon and I stayed home...He got home and about ten minutes later, asked me to go into the kitchen. As I got up, I noticed the front door was wide open so I went to shut it and saw....about 6 v-day balloons attached to a cage with an adorable gray bunny in it!!!! I was (and shannon) completely shocked! She's adorable; Travis is adorable (and great) here's a few pics

So, we decided to name her Ginger! We bought a litter box and all kinds of toys. Today, as she's poking around our house Travis and I start wondering if she'll get lonely. After all, she'd run around the house jumping and skipping all by herself. So, I decide to go out just to look at other bunnies. Well, it only took about 30 minutes and....

Yes, two cages!

Yes, two bunnies!

So, in conclusion. We now have two bunnies.

**Oh, did I mention--the one Trav got for me is already using the litter box--yes, you can train bunnies!!! **

I have more pictures coming..

The Best Bond Ever

So, as you all know Shannon has spent the past week out here in CT. It has been absolutely fantastic! It has been such an amazing week of bonding with eachother and just plain old having a good time. On the first night, Travis and Shannon really had a good heart-to-heart. They made a fire, and sat for about 30 minutes in front of it just reminiscing of old times and talking about the future ahead of them (us, the family). I tried to play "paparazzi" and spy to cetch some candids--here's some of them.... The pictures do not do this moment as much justice though as a video would've....I had a tear in my eye watching them; they were just adorable, adorable, adorable!!! I only hope that every son has the love for his mother as Travis has for his and vice versa. It's beatiful....

Meet Jen's Dad

He is a happy man!! As you can see from this picture with his daughters!!!!

Or here with his wife!!!!

And here he is with Jen's sister's boyfriend Josh!!!

Oh wait......look at his face when Trav is in the picture....should I be worried?!?!?!

Just kidding Bob!! I just had to do something with this picture!!!!

NOLA

Just wanted to say that we've made it home and the pics are coming!!! I think we're going to split them up into a couple of different posts. In the mean time, enjoy the pic of Saint Louis Cathedral--the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the USA. It's a beautiful building which reminded me of a scaled down Magic Kingdom!

Lobster Rolls!

About 3 weeks ago, Travis came home from the grocery store with rolls and three lobsters for lobster rolls. I'm really not sure why but lobsters up here have been ranging from $3-5 a pound which is really cheap. It's been great--we all love lobster! Below are the essentials to any good lobster roll!!


1. The best rolls ever
2. Some great lobster meat

3. I forgot to take picture, but a heavenly amount of butter!!!

4. A good man who will not only cook the lobsters, but crack them too :)

** I wish you all could have seen Travis cracking the lobsters; we didn't have any crackers and were having a tough time finding a hammer so Travis used a big copper pipe!!**