Storms

So I have always been a chicken when it comes to thunderstorms. That was the great advantage of moving my room to the basement when I lived with my parents, but alas I don't live in the basement now.

One morning I woke up to some serious loud thunder, enough that it shock our whole house. For some reason I had gotten out of bed and then another loud blast came that made me jump off the floor, I know some of you are thinking, "it doesn't take much"....still it felt a little close!

Anyway, I had then gone to work that day and when I returned home as I walked to the mailbox I noticed that a tree had a spilt down the center all the way to the ground. At the ground there was bark missing. It looked to me that the tree had been struck by lightning and I could see where the lightning had entered and then exited. I also noticed that if the tree fell it could land on our landlord's office. So I went inside and told Gabe about my discovery, he is the one that works in the office and helps me whenever Rob is gone (like changing my tire!). So me & Gabe went out to see the tree, he had not notice the split. Interestingly enough just as we were walking away the tree's spilt became wider and a large branch fell!!!

It was a little bit frightening....but that's when the rest of the story started! For the rest of the night I had to stay home because the next minute I looked out a fire truck was pulling in our drive. I spent the rest of the evening just watching what was going to happen next and keep Mom in Law up to date!! A fireman came to talk with me and make sure I was ok. They put up tape so everyone would stay awhile from the truck.

Later, Gabe came up and told me I should move the truck down below so I could get out in the morning. He told me they couldn't find anyone to come that night and cut it down, everyone was booked because of the storms. About 2 hours later I was talking to Rob's Mom and heard a loud noise, of course I had to go and investigate! A huge part of the tree had fallen as the winds had picked up throughout the evening.
The next morning as I was walking to the truck to go teach I had to finish the story with final pictures. Praise the Lord no one was hurt, no vehicles or buildings either. In the end it was a fun little drama for me to watch!

The week of the 30th year

The week started out with dinner in Tyson's Corner with my GREAT FRIEND Debie! It was WONDERFUL! She had the waitress surprise me with this piece of sponge cake with a candle, it was a sweet idea the cake- Debie and I didn't care for!!! The waitress even sang me Happy Birthday by herself in Spanish. What a lovely start to the week!

After picking up Rob on Tuesday, who was now home for the next 15 days, we went on Wednesday to pick up MARIA who was coming for a nice long weekend!

Before leaving for the airport Rob wanted to give me one of my birthday gifts. He was just SO funny.....he keep asking me, when I was drying my hair & such in the bathroom, "do you want to open one?" I thought WOW great open a gift early. Then he would say, "no wait I didn't even wrap it." Anyway, in the end he put part of the gift onthe table and said I had to guess what it was. This is what was sitting on the table...

But yup I guessed it. That is a basic for a GPS, the fact that it said Garmin on the side gave it away. (Johnny Roossinck alway talked about GPS & Garmin's when we were sailing!)

We left the airport around 9pm and needed some GOOD Baltimore seafood. I had made a list of restaurants that sounded interesting to try. We ended up at Shuckers. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Right on the water in an old part of Baltimore, very interesting little drive to get there. Good thing Maria and I had a great driver!!

Here we are enjoying some of God's WONDERFUL sea creatures!

Oysters!

My Surprise Birthday cake from Rob! So wonderful- a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake Cold Stone style (my favorite!! Here's the best part, Rob let us eat it before dinner!!!Then it was onto the Birthday Surprise Event. Everyone in the vehicle knew what was going on except for me. Well we arrived at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA to see the Jesse Cook was in concert. (I didn't have a clue who that was but I REALLY enjoyed the show!!) THANKS ROB!

Afterwards Rob and I got a chance to meet Jesse Cook! It was a great show and an ending to a wonderful birthday, spent with some of my favorite people!!!

On Friday evening we had the chance to go to Sushi with our Sushi friends, Steve & Erika Ruga. IT was great to have Maria in on the yummys! (Too bad I didn't get a picture of us, but hey here's the food!)

And of course Maria and I did some shopping....mostly just walking around. I took her to couple malls around us. It was wonderful.

I just couldn't believe it when it was her time to go home. After a stop at Rita's on the way to the airport! We dropped her off and it was strange...was she really here, time flies so FAST!

Come again soon Sister, I LOVE YOU!!!