Needed Time Off

On Wednesday May 20th I flew out of Seattle on Southwest Airlines and headed to Chicago. I was able to spend six days with my sister. It was a lot of fun in many respects.

On Thursday I went to work with her and was introduced to all of the people she works with and I was given a tour of admin. Teri works with a lot of nice people and the school she is in, is huge! After introductions, Ter put me to work. Can you believe it? Ter was in charge of putting together a Staff Appreciation Luncheon and I was volunteered to assist her. I was happy to help. We had fun setting up the staff lounge, arranging the food tables and setting up the cookie trays and pop coolers. Teri went all out, with blue and silver table clothes, and stars for centerpieces (their school mascot is the North Stars).

Late Friday afternoon we packed up the TrailBlazer and off we went to Western Iowa. We had a small family reunion planned, but it didn't turn out exactly liked we had hoped for. My Uncle Terry had a heart attack on Wednesday and was flown to Creighton University of Omaha. He was scheduled for open heart surgery Friday morning.

Saturday morning we got up and visited with some family and then headed to the hospital, with my folks, to go visit my Uncle. He looked good and was doing as well as could be expected after having a double bypass. We didn't visit long, but it was good to see him. Later that afternoon we headed over to my other Uncle's house.

Uncle Frank and his wife built a house a few years back on some lake front property. The house was amazing and the view is to die for. To my surprise I was able to reunite with my step-cousins, who I had not seen in over 25 years.


On Sunday, we got up, had some breakfast, and then we all boarded Uncle Frank's pontoon boat. The boat was full and away we went. It was a blast. The lake is feed by the Middle Racoon River. The deepest part is only 23 feet deep, but in most places only 3 feet deep.

After the boat ride, we packed up our belongings, took some family pictures and headed back to Teri's.


Memorial Day was relaxing, Ter took me over to Borders so I could purchase a gift card for my niece's birthday, then we had lunch at Penora's which was yummy, and then we went grocery shopping. In the evening Teri and I played a couple games of Scrabble and then finished the night off by watching a movie with my nieces.

Tuesday was spent at the hospital because my sissy had to have a procedure done and then before I knew it, it was time for me to head back to the airport. The weather had turned bad, so my plane left the gate 50 minutes later than it was suppose to. PTL! though, the pilot was able to get us off the ground safely and even managed to get us into Seattle before the original arrival time.

Steve and Levi picked me up at the airport and we got home around 2am. Wednesday was spent cleaning out rooms and sprucing up the place. We wanted everything to be in order because we had a visiting missionary, from Samoa, and his family staying with us for the evening. But, by the end of the day, there were still so many things I still needed to do. So, I decided to stay home one more day.

Thursday was not spent indoors like I had planned, but instead I spent 7.5 hours outdoors mowing the lawn, racking and trimming shrubs. Steve had six piles of debris to pick up when he got home. Thankfully, Vicki came out later in the afternoon and took charge of a few shrubs and whipped them into shape. The grounds look a 150% better.

Well that is what I have been up to for the last week. Now it is back to the daily grind of things.