Coming home today...uh, PSYCH

So I was supposed to come home today.  We pull up to the airport entrance to see this:

One side of the road was blocked off because it was broken up.  Police and a towtruck watched to make sure that cars didn't get stuck. 
So after forging across the river, we get a call from dad saying that my flight has been cancelled.  But we still needed to go in to reschedule and that kind of sort. 
We get in looking like half blown half drenched rats. 

And so we waited in line.

For an hour...and didn't move.

There was only one lady handling our line and there were two men holding it up because I guess they wanted to leave today. 
To top things off, I took dramamine before we left on our hour drive.  I was about sleeping on my feet.  Once the two men moved, the line started moving.  Course, we didn't stand there without being entertained.  A huge cricket had made its way into the airport.  First, a lady slightly tapped it with her foot squashing its juice out of its limp crunchy body.  And then a pretty pretty tall man finished it off by walking across not noticing that he just murdered a innocent bug. 
So we got to listen to the commentary on the bug. 
Once we got up to the desk, we had to figure out whether or not my flights would get me home.  We decided it would be best to wait till tomorrow. 
So then we headed back home.  After nodding on and off on the ride home, I crawled into bed and slept.  I had woken up at 2 or 3 because of the tornado sirens.  Thankfully, it was north of us.
So we're gonna try again tomorrow:)  

Each to the Beach

Saturday- all of us girls and Amy(their mom) packed the beach bags and cooler into the trunk of the car and headed off to the beach.  I had forgotten how hard it is to take pictures in the bright sun because you can't see the screen.  So I hoped that my fingers weren't in the way and that I was getting a picture of something good.

People who decided to plop down in front of us.  Oh well. 



When we first went into the water, I was a bit paranoid.  I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't see all that clearly.  I'm paranoid of sharks anyways, but then I couldn't see the ocean floor so I was worried about crabs and such. As far as I'm concerned, those pinchers could whack a whole toe off.   So once we waded back up to the shore, I put my glasses on. Even if water splashed up on them, it was better to have some sight then none. 
There were quite alot of dolphins being sighted.  We even got pretty close to them.  A fish popped up out of the water and the next thing you knew a dolphin gobbled that thing up mid air.  We weren't close enough to touch them or anything though. 

I was looking at the boats and such not really paying attention to around me when I felt like I was getting poked by something sharp on my back.  Well, like I said earlier, I'm already paranoid.  So when I look over my shoulder to see a baby crab starting to crawl up my back, I flip out.  I stood straight up and started trying to get away.  Of course, the others thought it was funny but hey.  Theres no telling what that crab might have done if I just let it crawl up my back. 

Tower of Sand Balls.  The unknown wonder of the world.  ;)

A couple of us are a little redder face than before we went to the beach.  Plus our arms, legs, neck and some of our back.  Haha, eh, maybe I should've put more than one coating of sunscreen on.  Needless to say, people at church knew that we went to the beach. 

Katie, Me, and Kimberly

Despite being sunburned, we had alot of fun.  Just gonna be using a lot of aloe vera for the next couple days. 


Romping in Botanical Gardens

Friday-The guys finished their day of school and we being the adventurous people who didn't want to sit home all day, went to the Botanical Gardens.  Its a place to walk around with different kinds of gardens in it.

Community Garden

This was growing in the compost pile.  However it was pretty.
:)



Caleb, Kimberly, Christian.  Aren't they sweet?

Fountain in the rocks

More of the Community Garden

I've seen this one around Alabama alot.

They call this art?

He's a biggin!

Koi Fish pond:)

Desert Garden

Christian posing for me

The Rose Garden

The Larger Koi pond

Caleb bombing my picture

Hoping to catch a turtle

Caleb managed to scoop a turtle out being lured in by bread, but no sooner that he got it on land that it bit him and escaped back into the water before the rest of us could get to his spot.  Then we ran out of bread so we couldn't lure them in.  A couple foreign people tried to catch the big koi fish as they passed through.  One of the guy's plan was to try and scoop it out of there.  The only thing he scooped out though was water which landed on Christian who was next to him.  It was pretty funny:)

We did see a snapping turtle head, but he wouldn't show the rest of himself so I couldn't get a picture of him.  His neck was really long so when you first see him, he looked like a snake. 

 

It was a fun day:)  Katie who had stayed home, made pizza dough so that when we got home we could make our own individual pizzas:)  It was good.

Thus concluded our Friday.





Skip a day to Thursday

Wed was a normal day. 

Thursday, Me and Kimberly went to Tropical Smoothie to get smoothies.  Hence, the name tropical smoothie.  We no sooner pull into the parking lot when Kimberly's phone rings.  She picks up an 8 year old boy from school everyday and watches him till his mom comes home.  His mom said that he was complaining about his back and neck hurting and that she needed to pick him up early.  So we backtrack to his school, pick him up and take him home.  We were there about an half an hour to an hour when his dad came home to take over. Course, time flew by as we talked and played with their Yorkie, Chipper.

Chipper

 So we headed back to Tropical Smoothie and got a smoothie and half of an sandwich.  It was pretty good!  Mine was called Sunny Day.  It had Kiwi, Mango, Orange and Banana in it.  I didn't want bananas in it so they switched it with pomegranate for me.  It was awesome:)

We then rented The Lone Ranger and us three girls watched it while folding laundry. 

Day 6 in AL

You're like, but Rachel, what happen to all the other days?  Hmm, well I didn't really take pictures,and nothing too significant happened.  Day 1 and 2, Thursday and Friday was spent traveling and being sick. 
Saturday Day 3:  shopping and going to a b'day party and egging people's houses(gasp)  Its actually not as bad as it sounds.  You're hiding Easter eggs in certain people's yards as quickly as possible(you don't want them to catch you in the act)  Then leave a sign on the door telling them that they've been egged.  One of the eggs is empty but its symbolic saying, Jesus has risen.
Easter Sunday Day 4.  Side note, Their church is super duper big.  Their 3000 to about the 100 people in my church can be a bit overwhelming!  So to start the ball rolling we worked(watched kids) during the 1st service.  The 1st service is more traditional, music wise.  Plus they have their own orchestra if that isn't amazing!  Back to watching kids, in the class that I was helping watch, there were a total of 23, 4 and 5 year olds.  I don't think they were too rowdy.   After that, Sunday school.  Theres enough people for guys and girls to be separated into different classes(going by grade!)  Then there was 2nd service.  In the beginning there were a couple baptisms then the service continued.  The 2nd service's is like the music you'd hear on the christian radio.  They have their own band and what not. 
Then Home.  A couple families that the Millers know(the family's last name that I somehow didn't mention in the first posting??) came over.  So after a great meal, hiding eggs for the littler kids, laying on the couch, I went into one of the bedrooms and laid there. 
Monday Day 5:  hmm... Monday...I think Monday was just an ordinary day.  One of the girl's had to work from 7:30 to 3 so I didn't see her till then.  Played Go fish with the boys.  Helped clean the house a bit... yeah.  That was Monday.

So now onto Tuesday!  The day that I decided to take pictures. 
All of the Miller kids have SAT testing this week so they left around 8.  Their mom had to work so it was narrowed down to me, Mr. Miller and Christian(he's the youngest of the bunch.)  Mr.  Miller showed me some things I could do if I wanted then he left for work. 
Once Christian finished school, we went out to pick up some of the larger sticks that had fallen.

The stick pile

Watering the bushes because we can;)

Did some laundry, played Farkle with Christian then everybody came home.  Had Tacos for lunch.  Afterwards me and the 3 boys sat down and had an intense game of Go Fish.  I know.  It just sends chills down your back when you imagine it.  Hairs standing straight up on your arms, I bet. 
Visited with Kimberly(oldest girl)  before she had to go to work then moved into Katie's room(2nd oldest girl)  Before long, I was outside playing tag with Christian and Andrew(2nd oldest boy)  and their friend, C.J. , their neighbor.  Jumping through bushes and scaling over the chain link fence is something I haven't done for a while.  Did get a bit scraped up, not sure when it happened though.  The boys continued playing, I, on the other hand went into the house. 

Around 5 or 6, Caleb(the oldest boy) had a ball game.  So I tagged along with him, Kimberly and their mom to the ball park.  After having Kimberly try to explain what was happening, half way through, I just gave up on trying to understand.  I guess we play the less complicated version of baseball at home.  Tried a peanut, DID NOT like it. 

Peanuts is like their major crop down here I guess?  Just like we have a popcorn festival they have a peanut festival.

There was a couple balls that made it over the very very tall chain link fence to where people are sitting.  One of which was two benches from hitting me and Kimberly.  We sat at the top of the bleachers. 

Caleb can throw a pretty fast straight ball which may be the highest of compliments, but compared to the pitchers on the other team who were throwing every which way and that, it's a pretty high one in my mind.  Caleb's team won by one. 

Afterwards, we came home, ate something, and went to bed.  I think we didn't get home until about 9 or so.  Hope to get more pictures taken as the days progress:)

In the air

So.... flying. 

On the 17th, at 2:30 in the morning, I got up to get ready to go to the airport.  I was going to fly down to Alabama to see a couple friends of mine and stay with them for two weeks(Booyah!)
I was a bit concerned about Lucy since she just had surgery done, but my grandpa and grandma were going to watch her so that gave me some reassurance.  Skeeter doesn't mind being on a one man ship(or kennel in her case.)  so she's at home. 

Got to the airport, went through the scanners just fine(thank goodness!)  then we waited.  It was then that Dad realized that the airline people must have switched gates for our plane because what was on the screen wasn't matching our tickets.  Thankfully, we caught this way ahead of time so that we weren't rushing all the way down the other side of the airport to the gate. 

 

The plane wasn't as large as I thought it was going to be,(not that I cared either way) just wasn't what I had visioned in my mind. 

After all the announcements from the lady, we took off! 

 

We weren't in the air very long when I started regretting not taking air motion sickness pills.  It hadn't really crossed my mind that I would get sick having my stomach levitate up and down.  So I got to see the inside of a plane bathroom for the first time. 

It was about an hour flight before we landed in Atlanta. It was going to be an hour layover. We arrived at gate C and had to get to gate G.  It took a train to get us there.  Apparently, if you don't hold onto anything you fall down onto other people.  Luckily, I got to observe this, not reenact it to the other passengers. 

 

This plane was bigger than the first so there was someone sitting beside me this time.  I was sick on this one as well.  (my condolences to the man next to me.  Oh, and dad too.)  Just my luck the bag had a leak in it. 0.o  We arrived in Panama City, Florida a half an hour later. 

Found my luggage, met up with the grandma of the people I was going to see, said goodbye to dad, and left.  Dad was going to head right back to home.  I believe he got home around 9. 

 

I was feeling a bit stable, but wasn't overly the greatest.  I actually had I guess jet lag the next day and stayed in bed for a while.  Everything is spinning, even when your eyes are closed, and you feel sick.

 

So yeah.  That was my flying experience.  Wasn't my favorite, but hey, beats a 14 hour drive in the car. 



 

My little baby!

Okay, so she's not a baby, but I cuddle her like one. 

We've been having some troubles with neighbor hood dogs coming to our house lately.  I guess with the warm weather and all, people are letting their dogs out.  I don't mind as long as they don't do any damage.  Three different dogs have come to our house so far. 
Two of which , one of the pipeliners thought were ours.  Upon telling him that they weren't, he told us to lock them up in our barn till quitting time.  One of the dogs we attached a note to the collar explaining what the situation was.  The next day we got a call from a lady across the field thanking us for taking care of her dog.  Apparently the dog was an inside dog who had just had surgery. So we only saw that dog once. 

Then thats when trouble started. 

I left the dogs out over night and the next morning when I went out to let them out there was a yellow  lab next to the kennel.  The lady's dog was also a yellow lab so I thought maybe it was hers. 
However, it wasn't because this one was a male and the lady's was female.  Upon getting closer as the dog ran away, I saw that it had tried to dig into the kennel leaving holes all around it.  Thankfully, he did not get in seeing how Lucy was in heat. 

This dog hung out around the house all day a couple days later. I looked out the window to see him and Lucy together.  Lucy had unfortunately had dug out.  (which isn't too surprising seeing how holes were dug all around.) 

I was mad, I'm not going to lie.  The thought of my dog getting bred by a dog three to four times her size was,well, upsetting.  I couldn't get close to the dog,(good thing too or I probably would've strangled it) but it had a collar. 

At the time I was watching Katie because mom and Sarah was gone.  They came home not long after the incident.  And that's when the great search began.  I couldn't follow the dog because it had disappeared somewhere in the pipeline and when ever it leaves our house it goes a different direction every time.  So I gave our surrounding neighbors a house call.  SEVEN houses I went to, nobody home. I guess they had plans for their Saturday afternoon.  Finally, I went to one of the neighbors just to ask if she knew who owned the dog. (They also have a lab, but it wasn't theirs.)  Thankfully, she was home and she thought she knew who owned the dog. 
So I headed down the road about 2 miles(yeah,  2 miles)  to the house.  The lady opened the door and I asked her if she owned the dog.  She said it was hers.  Luckily for the lady, I had just gone through seven other houses to let off some steam in my car. 

Here's the ticker.  She knew that her dog was running around and that it had been gone most of the day.  To which I replied, "Well, its been hanging at our house all day, and my little dachshund is in heat.  She got out today, and your dog bred her."

What the woman said next shocked me and I think if I wasn't in shock that I wouldn't have been so mild mannered.   She said, "Well, its the female dog's owner's responsibility to keep their dog locked up when they are in heat."

I think my mind exploded out the side of my head. 

"Your dog has been hanging out in OUR yard for the last couple days, and tried to did into OUR kennel.  And my dog was locked up, but dug out because of your dog.  So please if you could keep your dog locked up, I'd greatly appreciate it."  I said(still mild mannered)

"We'll try to."

Then I left.  And that's when I wasn't so mild mannered.  I mean, the nerve of the woman.  Maybe she didn't understand the situation.  Maybe she didn't realize that if I don't get my little dog fixed that it could potentially die.   I mean, she wasn't sorry that her dog was running around.  

I think I wouldn't have been quite so upset if she had apologized and had been concerned.  I don't know maybe that's just me. 

So Lucy is going into the vet on Monday to be spayed.  She'll be home Tuesday.  I'm a bit concerned because she has some separation anxiety issues.   But I'm glad that the vet can get it done before I leave on my trip so that I'm around if any problems arise. 

So I guess the moral of the story is, people keep your dogs in your yard because if they're in my yard I might have to do something.  Drastic.  More drastic then telling you that you're dog is in my yard.

Or that people are arrogant pigheads who should apologize for their mistakes and not be so proud.