A few pics from D#1 trip to Europe

A special day!

9:25 a.m.

Happy, happy birthday

dearest sweet pea!!!

12:58 a.m. - thereabouts

I'm heading there now. BUT went shopping today (Tuesday) w/D#1 for D#2's b-day tomorrow. I just had to get her a few extra things. She'll turn 15 at 8:05 a.m. My goodness time sure flies. Seems like I waited and waited for her, and now she's 15. I just love my little girl to pieces! They all stay our little girls forever, don't they?

Lazy Day

Well, hubby's on our town's 4th of July Committee and he and D#2 just came from uptown pricing all the fireworks for the fireworks stand. What a job. Every year he says he's not going to get involved again and every year he does. This year I videotaped him saying it, so you better believe I'm gonna pull it out when he decides he's going to take it on next year.

D#2 still has to take care of a house that she's been house-sitting for 2 weeks. She does such a good job watering plants, caring for the animals, etc. She did have 3 houses there for awhile, but they're back home now. She makes sure she talks to the animals (dogs and cats) and pets them, so they're not starved for attention too!

D#1 spent the afternoon watching The Lion King on DVD for the 1,000,001th time. She was showing me some of the live performances on the internet from the Tony Awards...I would've LOVED to have seen it! Now she's out mowing her grandparent's yards. She's a real go getter.

I should be doing something constructive around the house, shouldn't I? Nah. I'll just enjoy today and start in tomorrow. D#2's birthday is Wednesday, so I ordered her ice cream cake today and will probably go to the mall Tuesday for a gift or two. We already gave her some $$ to go shopping for her "birthday gifts" with her friends, so the last gift or two I can't resist.

Beautiful day here, too! It's in the mid 80's, sunny and just beautiful! Too bad I can't drag my desktop outside...

Laundry Day

I'm so happy, she's home!!! They came off the plane and down the ramp last night at 11:50 p.m. and looked SO tired, but so happy to be finally home. After all the hugs and greeting each other, we hauled it out to the car and stopped by Sonic for something to eat on the way home. That was fun going "out of the box" (for us) and eating at Sonic at 12:15 a.m. Did you know there's alot of people out then??? ;-)

While we were ordering she took all the presents she bought for us out of her suitcase and backpack to give. She now has a magnificent snow globe collection! She got her sister one and a t-shirt, plus a little bank that looks like those red phone booths in London. She got tons of little things that are so cool...oh and a few Christmas ornaments! Every year when we go somewhere we buy an ornament for the tree--she got us one from the Lion King theatre which looks like the masks, and one from Buckingham Palace. It's all so awesome.

We all slept late this morning and the girls are still in bed. Hubby had to go to work, but I'm sure he'll be home taking a nap soon. I've got to get laundry started, and there's alot of it!

But I'm so happy to do it...she's finally home!

SHE'S FINALLY HOME!!!

More later....zzzzz.zzzz.zzzz......

Is today the day?

Well, the group spent the night in the Chicago O'Hare airport. She said that they were all jet-lagged and were asleep early. This morning before they got on the plane to Denver she got a croissant and a Starbucks Frappucino, so she'll be WIDE AWAKE most of the day. They sent a student with a sponsor back on the 6:30 flight, so the rest of them will be home tonight.

WHAT an adventure!

ETA: 12:30 p.m. CST
They made it to Houston and are on their way to Denver! I know her luggage made it because I
called the United ticket counter and the guy knew EXACTLY which piece hers was when I told him her name! LOL You can't miss a bright purple piece of luggage with a pink tag on it--her strategy for identifying it worked great.

Just saw the meter reader out in our circle...nearly scared the pee outta me. I looked up out the kitchen window and some guy is standing there looking at the side of our house.

ETA: 7:30 p.m. CST
They are STILL not home. I've have a gazillion phone calls this afternoon about flights, people leaving, people NOT leaving, etc. As of this second, they have a flight in at 11:45. That, however, is penciled in. I'll believe it when I see them. If you don't have to use United Airlines, DON'T. They are EXTREMELY unorganized and overbooked.

So close, yet so far...

Well, while on the way to the airport this morning, D#1 calls and says they're in Chicago and the flight has been delayed from 12:09 until 12:50. No problem, I'll just kill time in Target. Then she calls back and says it's been delayed until 1:30. Fine. We'll kill time at the mall. THEN while in the mall she calls me and says their flight has been cancelled. Of course, my motherly instinct kicks in and I think CANCELLED??? WHADDYA MEAN CANCELLED? MY DAUGHTER MUST GET HOME AND YOU HAD BETTER FIND A WAY TO GET HER THERE, UNITED AIRLINES! LOL Right now they've got a game plan, but things keep changing second to second. Thank goodness we have nationwide calling on our cellphones and hers is charged up from sitting around waiting. Parents are keeping in touch and volunteering to drive hither and yon to pick everyone up in case we have to. I love our little town's support system. And the adult on the tour with them, which is my good friend and the girls' second mom, has been just absolutely marvelous. She's a strong gal and is just really helping everyone out. I love her to pieces.
I'll keep this updated for those 3 of you reading! ;-)

The Last Day in London

She called and said that tonight (right now) she had the opportunity to see the stage producton of The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London. She has wanted to see this FOREVER and she's not only finally going to get to see it, she's seeing it in LONDON!!! She called from a red phone booth in front of the theatre and was as happy as a clam! I'd LOVE to see it with her, but I'm just thrilled she got to go!

They're leaving London at 8:00 a.m. in the morning and getting in to our airport at 2:09 p.m. FAST trip, eh? LOL only seems that way. It's more like leaving at 2:00 a.m. our time and 12 hours later getting in here. I can't WAIT to see her!

7:41 p.m. CST
She LOVED the Lion King! She said she was surprised at how small the theatre was, but that it was SO cool. The kids are all packing now and have to be at Heathrow at 4:30 a.m., so they're just staying up until they hit the plane. Then I'm sure they'll all z-z-z-z-z right over that ocean, unlike on the way over. I'll meet her at the airport at 2:09...whoopie!

What a day

I think the kids are probably ready to head home. I know the chaperones probably are! The kids are loving London and shopping the dickens out of it. They've seen some GREAT sights from what she says and only have 1 more night after tonight overseas. I'm just praying everyone makes it home safe and sound. D#1 is already wanting a special dinner of chicken strips, peas and rice when she gets home (what a combo!). I'm making a copycat Cheesecake Factory cheesecake right now for her. Her favorite.

Oh, and I imagine I'll be up to my NECK in laundry too! So if I disappear for a few days, that'll be why! She said she got a Beckham soccer shirt today...I'm not sure if she knew who David Beckham was before the trip, but I think she does now!

I'm posting a picture of the tour group together in London yesterday.

Yippee!!!!

I heard from her! They're having a great time in London and were going out for the evening when I talked to her. She's going to order fish and chips and see if they're the same as we had at the British restaurant in Santa Monica. She had SO many stories to tell...one was about the ladies in the room next to her. She said someone snuck in their room and stole the ladies' passports, money, etc. EVERYTHING but their clothes. The woman woke up and found some man at the foot of their bed. That is what woke D#1 in their room and she said there was alot of scuffling around then. The robber threw everything out the window and jumped out after it. THAT'S WHY I TOLD HER TO SLEEP WITH HER NECK POUCH ON WITH PASSPORT AND MONEY! LOL I have a personal satisfaction now that MAMA was right! *for once!*Will write more later...

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Well, I stayed up until 1:45 a.m. trying to call daughter #1 in England. I couldn't reach her at all. Come to find out this morning from another parent that there are TWO tour groups there with the same name and that our group hadn't even gotten there yet! I hope to hear something from her today.

I've got to run up to the post office today and mail some things. Ugh. I just don't want to fix my hair to go do it. NO makeup for me...everyone will just have to suffer!

Daughter #2 is still in bed. She wasn't feeling good yesterday, so I'm sure she's sleeping in and feeling cozy with the rain coming down.

Oh, the pic is from D#1's trip to the Summer Choral Institute at a local university...she won an $800 scholarship. She LOVED it!

Sunday, Sunday

Well, we tried to call Paris yesterday but they said there were no phones in the rooms and the tour group wasn't in yet. I left a message, but chances are they won't get it to her. I did see where she'd gotten something at the Louvre, so I'm sure she's having fun. That's the one place she really wanted to see.

Getting ready to leave for church. I think I'll come back home later and take a nap.

Lazy Saturday

Well, we're a lively bunch around here. Daughter #2 had friends spend the night and they were up all. night. long. We heard them every time we woke up and heard them getting the newspaper this morning. *yawn* They finally crashed around 6:30 a.m. and got up around 1:00 p.m. They're going shopping this afternoon at 3:00--oh, they're celebrating my daughter's birthday at the end of the month and other friend's birthday that was the first of the month. Good idea to combine 'em! BTW my daughter is taking the above pic...she's not in it.


The cat's even taking it easy today. We had big storms here last night and today she's relaxing out on the deck. I'd love to do this.


Finally! A picture of daughter #1 in Europe! (see red circle) Looks like they're in Florence getting ready to get on the Eurostar. I'm going to try to call her later on today to see how things are going. It would be SO much fun to spend the day in Paris. I've been watching webcams, and it is SUCH a beautiful city.

I've got to do laundry. First I have to tear myself away from the computer long enough to put a load in. I keep thinking I'm going to see something from #1 here!

Will probably post again later after I hear from her.

Update

Just a quick update...the Europe trip is going well. Yesterday they went to Pompeii and the Bay of Naples. She said she got to stick her feet into the Mediterranean! I'm so thrilled she gets to take this trip of a lifetime. The kids were so tired they slept from Rome to Naples, then back! I would've been afraid I'd miss something. Today they're supposed to be leaving Rome and taking the Eurostar overnight train to Paris. How EXCITING does that sound! I've been watching her account as she uses her debit card...and that is fun in itself. The tour group they're with provided lots of good things for them to use over there like phone cards and debit cards. Although they have a section on their site where we can look at uploaded pictures and GPS locations, that part sucks. There's only 1 picture per day and so far we've not seen ANY of the kids in our group. Plus their GPS isn't working. Oh well, as long as we talk every few days, we're doing good! The parents all call each other when they talk to their child and convey messages, experiences, etc. This is SO cool!

Daughter #2 got a new "do"!

I love this new color and cut!

My baby's in Europe...sniff sniff!

Here's a few pics of my daughter and the tour group leaving the airport early EARLY Monday morning. She's 17 and I think I gave myself an ULCER worrying about this trip. I've heard from her 4x since she left--2x in the states and 2x from Rome. Sounds like they're having a BLAST so far!

Garage Sales

I really do NOT like garage sales. Our town's garage sale is tomorrow and my daughter (at right) is emptying the house of all the junk we have, but I just CAN'T watch all the memories going out! Am I the only one like this?