The way the weather has been this week, it feels like fall. And here i am finally having a little more time to sit and blog on xanga again. Sorry friends for the long summer without posting anything. But if you have a Face book, you were able to stay caught up on our busy busy lives.

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. We were in Atlanta GA with many of our friends, and only got home yesterday after driving all night.  WOW!!! does that drain you, staying up all night is not my cup of tea. I need my sleep more than most i believe.

We started school this week to, I think they were a little more excited about starting then they thought they would be. It helped that there friends are all in school so when they tried texting them, they did not answer.

Tonight for supper we are most likely to have our last corn on the cob for this year. Kind of sad, as i love all the fresh fruits and veggies. I did make pumpkin muffins today and did enjoy the spice smell in my kitchen. So maybe i will ready for the fall season. But i sure will miss the warm weather.

So as you enjoy cuddling up to the fire in the next few weeks, or for our southron friends as you enjoy the warm sunshine   Lets all remember to walk each walk as it were our last, to hug that special someone and tell them you love them, to sing with gladness as we have so much to be thankful for. Life is short, what will your family and friends remember you for the most???????????  thats a big challenge for me.

Blessings Till next time. i hope the cob webs wont grow to much on this site till next time.

Aloha!!!!!  

Well time has a way of flying by these beautiful summer days. I can hardly believe its been a month since we went to Hawaii. I sure thought i would be able to post before now. But coming back to strawberries to pick, garden to weed, do some pampered chef parties, have company, go away again and pick black raspberries. It all about makes be spin just thinking about all that work. But so thankful we got lots of jam and whole berries in our freezer now. The lawn is looking nice and green from all the rain, our flower beds need weeded again. And i am trying to take in the summer as much as possible before school starts, i'm not ready for that yet. But i like to start in Aug. we will see how i feel till then, i may be ready to have them back in the books again.

Back to our trip, we had a wonderful time. Many things made our trip a little difficult, but God helped us thru each issue. We were so blessed with safe travels and thanking God for bringing us home safely. 3 other couples went over with us. 2 of them had been there before, so that was nice to have someone know where they were going. We did lots of shopping, relaxing, driving, seeing beautiful scenery and eating.  Eating i think was our biggest highlight. We sure enjoyed all the different fruits and foods from the island. so much for my chatter i will post pictures and tell you more about our wonderful trip. we were gone 11 days it, we sure missed our children and were so glad to come home again.

I loved the scenery there. The beautiful flowers, Oh! they smelled so good. The one day when

we drove by the dock area, there was a very large cruise ship there. It was neat seeing it all lit up

at night.  The bottom pictures with James and I in it, was in front of elephant rock. Can you see the

shape, its laying down with the head toward the water. It was just beautiful, at this point we must have been

2000 feet above the sea.

This picture should have been first. This was our flight out, i was amazed at all

the different shapes of fields. They looked so neat, wonder who planed years ago

to plant in such a faction.

We rented 2 cars while we were there, the one car we put 2500 mile on just by driving

around that small island. They have some amazing roads, WOW!!!! we had to eat ginger

root before going on the one road, it was that windy. They say lots of people get sick, so they

say to eat fresh ginger root. It helped me at least, i felt sick the one day we went up to the Volcano

Mt. but the second day we went over to Hana and i made sure to eat it and it worked.

We were so excited to have this nice home with 4 bedrooms and kitchen and laundry and a nice

deck outback to relax. We were only there 2 nights, and we put a load of laundry in washer on the

3rd day and left for the day. We got home at 6 pm that evening with a note on the door, saying we are

without a home because our house flooded. NOW WHAT!!!!! we worked so hard in getting this place.

Thank God the owner had a small 3 bedroom condo across the street he left us stay in for the night until

we could find another place. We also had all our money refunded, yea!!!!!! We did find another amazing

place i will show you later. Here the washer hose exploded,  this house had some incredable water pressure. the men kept talking about and i guess the hose had all it could hold anymore. It made a huge mess because it was up on the second floor. The water was running out the front door when the guy came home.

Our house was in Lahina, so we went shopping in that neat little town for a few days, while the

men were with our church group there. We walked along the street and shopped till we dropped

almost.

We got are feet wet a few times, it was cold till you got used to it. Never really had a chance to

get in the ocean. We did swim in the pool tho.

This was a small part of some of our food. We did cook a few meals at our house, but the food

there was very high priced. So it was almost better to eat out. A gallon of milk was $9.00 at one

store. Middle right picture, we ladies at at bubba gumps one afternoon. Our table was out by the water.

We saw many beautiful sunsets and sun rises. We even got to see a rainbow a few times. The one

lady that was with us, said the last time they were there they saw one everyday. This sunset below was neat as

it was setting behind another island across the waters. We did get to see 2 other islands from were we where.

Pictures just don't show what it really was like in person. But i hope you enjoy these

breath taking views. I wish you could see how steep some of those mts. were. Yes, the

water was that color. Some one thought it was a post card and never saw real water that color.

We went up 10,000 ft to view a once active volcano. It took us 2 hours to drive up, because the road

is that curvy. It was so neat to be above the clouds without being in a airplane. At one point the clouds

moved and i got a picture of the valley below thru the clouds. The buildings in top left, is some control towers

that tell them the activity of that mountain. the bottom 2 pictures are looking down 3000 ft into the crater. People

ride bike or horseback down the trails. Its very cold up there, so you have to be with a tour guide that knows what there doing.

This is our second house. We were up 3,000 ft again and could look down

over the valley each day. The cool thing was our beds were up even with the windows

so we could look out over the valley at night and then in the morning we could see it in daylight.

It was just so neat, we could see the plans coming in. And we saw them burn sugar can fields and

so much more. We sure loved this house, there were no fans or AC in the place because it's cool

up there all the time. We even got to pick real lemons off there trees.

Just some more beautiful pictures. In Hana we got to see a cross up in the mountain made of volcano rock.

Middle right pic. is needle point mountain. we walked up many steps to different points there.

In the center of that small town of Lahina were we went shopping. Was this amazing large tree, they called

it a Baun tree i think. It had one made trunk but it would grow roots out on limbs and they would come down

to the ground and form another tree, it covered one city block. They had a craft show the one day we were there.

This beautiful glass sink cost $12,000.

One of the couples that was with us wanted to go to a Luau. So we found one we thought may be a

little better to see. Even that was boarder line. The drinks came in pineapples, check out the walk way going

back to it, it even had flowers on it. They are famous for roasting a whole pig in the ground. It was very moist and

good. Then they put on a show for us after we ate.

They had 400 people seated outside and the storm clouds were rolling in that night. But we held our breath in

hopes that it would pass and it did. I loved all the real fresh flowers there, check out that large flower behind

that girls ear.

When we had to move from our flooded house to the new one. It was a hour and 15 min. drive away. And we

didn't want to make 2 trips so we pilled people and then luggage in on top of them. James could hardly get his door shut, i had to help him.

Did anyone ever eat at bubba gumps? They have some of the best shrimp in town. Now i don't like sea food and

for me to like shrimp it has to be good. If you ever the watched the movie "forst gump" that is what this

restaurant was based on. James even had to sit in Bubba's shoes with his box of chocolates beside him.

Shopping there was incredible. This wood piece below left, was carved by a man sitting on the floor with

the wood between his toes and just using a chisel. He made beautiful art. I also loved all the hawaii attire, you could dress up the whole family. they had every size matching. Bottom left pic, we got to sample real hawaii shaved snow cone. It was so yummmmy. And the art picture on right was gorgeous, but it was $12,000.

Top left picture is a coconut tree, can you see the green balls? We did get to drink coconut milk right out of

a coconut and we ate the inside as well. Was very tasty, to me it had a nutty flavor almost like a almond. It was

one of my dreams to have a Lei there, but i didn't want to pay 15- 25 dollars for one. One the road to Hana, there

are many tourist shops along the way and someone was selling them for 3.00 i waisted now time in getting one. I  was so delight.

My lei and James with his coconut.

One other shop we stopped at along that road had some of the best banana bread. they had awards for

there bread, they had some of them were topped with, coconut, chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. When

we were about to leave a fellow brought down a fresh batch of breads that were still warm, we quickly made

our purchase so we could go and eat it warm.

Since i love vanity plates on cars, i take close look to lots of them. I found this bug while we were walking

thru the mall parking lot, it was so cute with its flowers all over it. The picture next to the car, is of the mountain

and sugar can and a plane in between there coming in for a landing. The vanity plate that i loved was this one on

a mini coper. The real hawaiian people only have 13 letters in there alphabet, you can see the chart below.

Some more beautiful senary.

We flew out of hawaii at 9 pm. so we couldn't get photos when we were flying over the islands. I was so

disappointed, many be next time we can land thru the day. The plans in the left picture are when we landed back

in atlanta GA. there were 3 plans beside us landing as well. And the next picture is when we took off in CA. the

mountains were sticking up above the clouds and made a neat picture with the sun coming up. The bottom pics

you can see snow covered mountains.

We 4 lady's did many things together. We had fun picking fresh fruit the one day. The middle

picture is of 3 of our men with 2 hawaiian pastors.

It was very hard to know what pictures to put on here, i have 750 of them. So if you ever want to see more come and visit and i will gladly show them to you. We truely were blessed to be able to go over, it was a dream come true.

Mahalo!!!!! or good bye

50 ladies + shopping = excitement.  That is how many of us felt friday at 3:30 am as we arrived and got on the bus to head out to Dresden OH to tour the Longaberger basket factory. The bus driver was my dad, that was real special. My mom and sister, and my sisters mother-in-law and sis-in-law went along as well, so we all really had a wonderful time. stopping to eat at cracker barrel for breakfast and picking up a few others ladies in Bedford, PA. broke up our trip a little. There were many prizes and games on the bus. What fun!!  we also got our lunches on the bus, some got them in a basket while others of us saved our money to weave a basket of our own when we got there.

We arrived around 12:30 and so we went to see them weave baskets, since there day ended at 1pm. That was really interesting, no wonder the basket's are pricer. They are all made by hand but the best thing is there made in USA!  We walked around the homestead and shopped and shopped till 5pm. then went to our motel and ate at olive garden and went swimming.  Just a lovely end and a fantastic day.

We had to be up  bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for the bus to leave at 8 am. WOW! we got to Dresden at 9:30 and started our long day of shopping. My Dad was the bus driver and was just amazed how long women can shop and still be happy. :) till 3 pm rolled around there were a lot of us ladies sitting and laying in the grass. The bus didn't leave till 4:30 so you know some of us got very tired of shopping, but others didn't come back to the bus till the last min. The many bags and boxes under the bus tells you we all had a fun day.

Stopping at cracker barrel on the way home again for supper, was a sign our fun was soon over. You could tell the phones were ringing and kids were talking to there mommy's and husband's were excited to have there wives back home. I am so thankful that my Husband took care of our children to make this exciting bus trip so relaxing for me. It was neat to make new friends and catch up on old friends lives. If you get a chance to go, i'm sure you will love it as well.

Enjoy the pictures of our tour. the first picture is the Office building that was built in 1995 and dream of Dave Longaberger. It is 9 stories high, the handles are heated so they don't build up with ice and snow in the winter. it was just amazing, they even had the weave affect inside the building.

Our kind tour guide took this picture of all us ladies.

The middle lady in the below picture, is Misty Martin, the one that got the tour together. and her

mom in front and then her sister. She was very organized and made it fun on the bus for all of us.

This now is the biggest basket in the world. Before this building was built, the biggest

was the bottom right photo.

Some purses- a weaver at work -and Some of us ladies in front of many

baskets.

Here we are making our baskets, it was so fun. My mom and sister and myself.

About the time you got the feal of making it, you were done. But it was a neat

experencie.

A wall of baskets.

Some cute basket arrangments, but my since money dosn't grow on

trees i had to let them all there.

our group eating at cracker barrel. And my mom enjoying her basket

lunch on the bus. The bottom photo is our bus.

We took a trolley ride from the homestead over to the factory. My dad

talked to the driver for a while, he was there first man they hired outside of

family. And he has been there for 30 years.  Check out those bags and that

was only after the first day. :)

More pictures of our baskets. So many of the ladies had such beautiful

colors on there basket's. Seeing all the other color ideas, made you want to

weave more than one.

That evening we went to Olive Garden since it was just across from

our hotel. These lovely ladies were enjoying there drinks. then they

gave there strawberries to me and i dipped them in my chocolate that

came with my donuts. So yummy.

The best bus driver. You can see he was relaxing most of the time. He

did enjoy a few shop's but was glad someone was enjoying the shopping

trip. The amazing difference between men and women. :)

Just some decorations inside the office building, i fell in love with many

of them. If only money grew on trees.

Our second day was shopping in the little village of Dresden. It was

a cute little town. they had this old time restaurant called "Popeyes" I had

a huge milk shake that filled this cup up 2 and half times. Just a neat place

to relax our feet.  Some ladies got a dipped strawberry for a dollar, they

looked great.

This was just a few of the shops. So many baskets every where.

These cute children were in front of the library. See she even has a basket

how cute is that.

Now see the space below the bus. It's good the bus was not full, don't

know if we could have gotten much more in.

A happy shopper coming off the bus at 12:30 saturday evening. A very long

and fun weekend.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour as well.