Kings Dominion

Tina, Matt, Ali and I all came home in one piece after our day at the park. It was an exciting and action-packed adventure, we rode every ride we wanted to try out in 5 hours - and squeezed in time for a corn dog for lunch, too!

We also saw DJ Pauly D...or at least a guy that wanted to be him.


This is the first roller coaster we rode; The Intimidator 305. It goes straight up and then straight down. 85 degree slope, 94 mph. I actually blacked out - everything went dark for a few seconds. Needless to say, when the other three went back to do it again, I stayed on the ground and took pictures.



This was my favorite one; The Volcano. I loved when the track is above your head!


At the end of the day, Matt and Tina did they sky coaster/sky diving thing. I think they are insane, but they swear it was awesome. I took this picture in case it was the last picture of either one of them - luckily they both survived!

Oooh Oh Oooohhh, Oooooh Oh Oooooh

The Braves were in town last week, and unfortunately they dropped 2 out of 3 to the Natinals which has them firmly planted in the last spot of the division.

Frank, Matt, and I went to the game on Thursday evening and had partially obstructed view seats in left field. Who knew Nationals park had Obs View?! Anyway, it was a pitchers' duel for the most part. Around the 8th inning, Frank made a comment about how the Nationals pitcher had made eye contact with Destiny and she was walking over to him.

A no-hitter was in progress! So, I did what any rational Braves fan would do in that situation: I started talking about the no-hitter, I was tweeting at Bill Simmons trying to get ESPN to cut in on the game, anything I could think of to spoil the no-no.

It worked!

I'm all for great pitching, and I'd love to see a no hitter in person some day - but not against the Braves!

All in all it was a fun evening, we even got to see Jason Heyward come out of the dugout to pinch hit and drive in a couple runs.

The best part of the evening was a group of 10-12 year old girls about two sections over from us. They were obviously on a field trip of some kind and they were from the south. We know this because A) they were either wearing Braves shirts or pink & green attire B) a few of them had sunglasses on croakies C) they cheered and chanted and tomahawk chopped for the Braves all night! It was wonderful.

Go Braves!

I'm Excited About: Roller Coaster Edition

Next weekend is graduation weekend, and this Saturday I have enough on my to-do list to fill three Saturdays, so Sunday I'm going to ride some roller coasters!

Saturday is going to be a fun but busy day. There is laundry to do, tires to have fixed, a baby shower to attend, and a ladies brunch and clothes swap after that. I'm looking forward to it, but I know I'm going to be plain worn out at the end of the day. Why would I then head off to a theme park for the day?

Because my friend, Ali and I have been talking about going to Kings Dominion for years now and I'm tired of waiting!

They have something like 15 roller coasters, one of which involves water which might be nice around midday. Their water park section isn't open yet, but that is fine with me because I don't do water parks - the idea of sharing water with that many people makes me cringe. I can get over the occasional log flume or river rapid ride, but the areas where you can see all of the people just sitting in the water....ick!

I think the ride that I'm the most excited about is the new coaster, The Intimidator. That's right, it is named after the great #3 and I can't wait! They also have The Hurler, an old wooden coaster that I'm guessing is the same as the one by the same name at Carrowinds.

So, I'll see you on Monday, no doubt tired and sunburned but also very happy!

5 Year Reunion

Two weekends ago I went back to Salem College for my 5 year reunion. It was so great to be back on campus and to see so many friends from my class.

Tomlin, my senior year roommate, and I arrived on Thursday night and crashed at our friend Katie's house. On Friday we went straight to Cook Out for lunch. It was a wonderful as we remembered.


Next stop was Harris Teeter for a cooler, beer, and a bag of ice. They must have been out of Salem College coolers, so we settled for the Wake Forest one and made the necessary modifications.


We sat on the patio and waited for the party to arrive.



Saturday started with a class picture and then a champagne lunch. At the lunch the class of 1950 sang a song that made us all cry and laugh. And we all stood and applauded the member of the class of 1935, and maybe cried again.


Later we went to dinner and then most of the class met up at one of the favorite bars. It was an early night, most of us went home by 12:30am.


We capped of the weekend with brunch at another favorite spot, then all said our goodbyes and headed home.


It was a wonderful, relaxed weekend that left me with a huge smile on my face. I know that it could never be the same, but I swear I'd go back and do it all again in a heartbeat! Now I can't wait for 2015 and our 10 year reunion!

Who Reads This?

I was clicking around on my Google Analytics page today, pretending to know what all of the charts and numbers mean, and I couldn't help but wonder who the names are behind the numbers.

I know who some of you are, but for the most part I have no idea who actually reads this blog. So, who are you?

And are you the person that found my blog by searching for "a picture of an underwhelmed person"?

Loving Well

I just returned from a weekend in Front Royal, VA with my church's women's retreat. We did a Beth Moore study on "Loving Well."

First, Beth Moore is a total trip and I wish she were my aunt or something. She is one of those people that you just want to know! What an infectious passion for scripture and for teaching!

It was great to spend so much quality time with other women in the church, I came away with some new friends and strengthened relationships with old ones.


I highly recommend any studies with Beth Moore, and I also recommend going to the mountains with some awesome girls for a peaceful weekend!

Outside

By special request (mom), here is a photo essay of the outside of our home! It is a busy suburban street, lined with pre-WWII brick duplexes. Everyone's layout is the same, all of the yards are identical, and everyone has little patio in the back.

Ours is the white door on the right. If it were my house, I would paint the door red.

I would also add shutters.

This is the side of the house, it gives you an idea of the size inside.

The back yard (freshly cut, thank you frank!) is a great size! Enough room for two tables (about 20 people), bocce, and a dog all at once. This view is from the driveway.

Our friends, the Alexanders, gave us their grill because they are moving to Kansas (yay! and boo! at the same time)

So there is the external tour of our home. I hope you enjoyed it! Maybe some day there will be flowers and such somewhere around - I'll be sure to let you know if I ever get around to that!