The Americans are Rockin'...swimming anyway...

Hello Friends!!!

After returning from my trip to the Centerville/ College Station area, David and I have really been enjoying the Olympics. Today David took me out on a date and instead of going to a movie after dinner, we went and rented movies to watch, instead, we got caught up in watching the Olympics and the American swimmers kick butt and take names. Seriously, did you see the men's 4x100? What an amazing race!!! I was screaming and yelling and jumping so much that Boots, my little dog, almost ran completely outside. Anyway, as for updates on what has been going on...

I left Del Rio last Friday, Aug. 1 to head back to my hometown for, as my mom likes to call it, "my last summer fling." I drove into College Station and met my mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa at my brother, Meghan, and Elizabeth's house for pizza. Boots was really excited to see that we were at Sadie's house and did donuts until I opened the gate for him to go into the backyard. Elizabeth has gotten so big. I am really not going to enjoy long amounts of time without getting to see her. However, I did enjoy being able to see her and her parents then! Friday night after dinner, my parents and grandparents and I all went home. David flew two flights on Friday and did not get in from the squadron until around 9:00 p.m. How bad does that suck to have to stay at work that late? Someone has to do it I suppose.

On the 2nd, Saturday, my mom and I woke up relatively early and drove to a town in East Texas called Canton for their first Monday event. It is basically a whole town that revolves around a Ginormous flea market. They have everything from livestock to antiques to jewelry to clothing to home decor and everything in between for you to browse through. Mom and I figured up that we walked for a total of about 7 hours looking for treasures to buy. We both found a few things that tickled our fancies, but didn't by any means go over board. The best part of it was for sure the company. After we closed Canton down, we headed back home via Palestine and their Wal-Mart, then relaxed the rest of the night. As far as Dave said, he spent some time Internet surfing, working out, and watching t.v. What can I say, when I'm gone, his life is just down right boring. ;) (Just kidding!)

Sunday, Mom invited my grandparents over for lunch and as always, I ate too much and was pretty full for the rest of the day. We didn't really do much more than that, other than make some shower invitations for one of my friends from home that is having a baby in October. We also addressed then and got them ready to send out. Dave did more chillaxin' and gettin' PUMPED for AGGIE football!!!!! I think he is addicted to the Aggie football count down. I think he even knows how many seconds it is til the Ags play again. I must admit, I like college football too.

Monday, Mom and I had to go to Brenham to pick up some transcripts from Blinn so I can get admitted into the grad-school program that I am going to get my masters from. We'll just say it has been very frustrating for me and that I am ready to get finished with this registration and admission mumbo jumbo. After we picked up my transcripts, we tooled around a few of the local antique shops as well as Wal-Mart. We couldn't find exactly what we needed, so we decided to go on into College Station to look for it. Exactly how we got there, we still don't know, but our trip from Brenham to CS was certainly a different route than we have ever experienced. We'll call it an adventure. We were also able to check out the new Target in CS. Man I miss that place. I can always find something good there. It is probably good that we don't have one here. I might spend more than is necessary. As for Dave's Monday, double turn and late home coming. Grr he says about the late part.

Tuesday, I went over to College Station to visit with Meg and Elizabeth. Lizzy slept, ate, kicked, cooed, and slept some more. It was really nice to be able to spend time with the girls. We all get along so well. I was able to see Luke for just a little after he got home from work, then I headed to Flynn to stay the night with my grandparents. My grandma made dinner for us. I LOVE her cooking. She always does such a good job. I have tried and tried to duplicate her recipes, but I fail EVERY time. Dave only flew once because of a weather recall due to the tropical storm. Del Rio didn't get any rain, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

As for Wednesday, I stayed and talked with my grandparents until around 3:30, then I had to take Dave's truck to the service station to get a tune-up and brake check. Mom and I hung around the house for a while, then decided to go walk in town at the track with my friend Wyndee and her mom. It was really nice visiting with them. They always have lots of funny things to share with us. Dave had a really busy day with flying and scheduling due to the fact that only he and one other instructor were at work. Everyone else went on leave, so Dave's work load doubled, maybe even tripled. He made it through though and is probably better for having to face that.

Thursday, Mom and I woke up and headed to Madisonville to help my aunt decorate for her son's rehearsal dinner. I was there from about 10:45-12:30, then I went back to C'ville to get a hair cut, then picked up a few things from the house that mom decided she needed, then headed back to Madisonville for some last minute decorating. We had a "snack" with my aunt and cousin at a local restaurant, then headed home to get ready for the rehearsal dinner, then with my dad we drove back to Madisonville only to wait for an hour and fifteen minutes on the bride and groom to show. I know everything was about them, but I got hungry!!! The dinner went off without any other hitches, then we went back to Centerville. Mom and I went back to the track and walked, then called it a night. Dave had another long, tiring day of double turning and scheduling, then a late night dinner he had to scrounge for himself. How sad huh?

Friday, I got up early, got ready, then headed to College Station to spend the day with my friend from home, Tara. I was her birthday and she asked me to spend it with her. I got to have Starbucks, eat out, and watch a movie and did it all before 4:00. It is so amazing what you can do when you wake up early. We had a really good time spending time together and made it home around 5 that evening. I hung out around the house for a while, then got ready for my cousin's wedding. The wedding started at approx. 8:30, then we went to the reception. Everything seemed to go pretty smoothly other than the fact that the AC in the church didn't work, and that the dad was late because he got stuck in traffic due to an accident. My cousin is married now, none the less, and is already back in Virginia doing Navy things. We didn't leave the reception until about 1:30 after cleaning and loading wedding decorations. Dave spent another LONG day at the squadron and was frustrated he didn't get home til 9:00 or 9:30. I feel bad for him when he has days like that. He is always so ready to come home, but just can't seem to get away from his duties. The Air Force is definitely getting their money's worth out of him that's for sure!

Saturday, I slept late, then packed my things and headed back to Del Rio. I stopped for lunch at my grandparents, stopped to say goodbye to Luke, Meg, and Lizzy, then made it back home around 9:00. It was sure good to see Dave. He is so sweet too. He bought me welcome home flowers and a welcome home card too. He wanted to take me on a date, but he didn't think he could wait til 9 to eat, so I asked if I could get a rain check. Of course he agreed, then we decided to go to our friends Frank and Kathy's for fight night. Needless to say, that was entertaining and relaxing all at the same time. Call me crazy, but I really enjoy watching UFC and people beat the crap out of each other. Who knows, maybe secretly I wish I could fight like that... Or maybe it is because it is mindless entertainment. Either way, I like it.

Today, Dave and I slept late, ate a big breakfast, watched the Olympics, cleaned out our storage closet, and went to dinner at Chili's. I mostly liked being able to spend time with him, no matter what we do.

Dave has work this week and hopefully it will turn out to be a little less crazy than last week and I am going to do everything I can to enjoy my last week of summer vacation.

We hope everyone is doing well. Keep us updated on what's shakin' with you guys. Until I type again, GO America GO!!!

Lana