Wow, it's been a while! Prepare yourself for the longest update ever! No, really! In the past 2.5 weeks I've been with my family and friends, and I've visited 6 different countries. I'm waay behind! So.. here's the update I know you've ALL been waiting for! ;-)
As I mentioned last time, Mom, Dad, Aaron, and I woke up really early on the Monday we were in Rome and went straight to the Vatican City. Apparently the lines start to get really long really early, and it was rumored to be even worse considering we were there the week leading up to Easter. When we got there, we went straight to the area around St. Peter's Basilica and saw the famous window that the Pope always waves from! It wasn't too crowded there, but we decided to beat the rush and headed straight to the entrance of the actual Vatican. We got there about an hour before it opened and stood in line for a while. When the doors finally opened, it didn't take us long to get in. There was beautiful art and decor everywhere! Seriously, every wall you walked down and every room you went in was decorated in beautiful detail. We followed the signs leading to the Sistine Chapel, though. I think Mom said before we went in that it would be smaller than we had imagined.. it wasn't! It was huge! It was a really cool feeling to be standing there and look up and see Michelangelo's paintings all over the ceiling. Aaron had his guide book with him that told us which pictures to look for and what Biblical stories they depicted. It was really neat. I'm definitely glad we went to the Vatican.
From there, we headed to the Colosseum.
More pigeons, more lines.. we were smart, though, and we joined a tour group. Our tour leader didn't speak the best English, but we got to skip all the lines, and we learned all sorts of neat things about the Colosseum. For example, did you know that Rome used to have its very own Red Light District straight across from the Colosseum and there are pictures of penises within the Colosseum that point in which direction the Romans were to go? Also, the Romans kept the lions underground the Colosseum so they wouldn't get any sunlight. They were well fed, but the lack of light made it hard for them to see when they entered into the Colosseum, and thus, they were easier to fight. That sounds like cheating to me, but I wouldn't want to fight a lion! :)
Overall, I think we were all just amazed at the buildings design and functions. How did people plan to build such a place, especially without modern power tools? As Dad said, we owe everything we have today to what the Romans did then. I am very impressed with their engineering and skill! 
Here are Mom and Dad pictured to the left. How cute! :) It was nice having Daddy-o along because he knows lots of interesting things about Rome and the Romans and how they built it all.We ate lunch outside of the Colosseum that day. We had lots of fun feeding the pigeons and just staring in awe at the huge building that was before us. I just can't imagine what it would have been like to be inside the place during its hay day! After lunch we walked around the Colosseum for another view and then did some tourist-y things like shopping. I was happy because I found the perfect bag: one that says "I love Roma!" In case you don't know, Roma was my grandma's name, so it's a little special to me. :)
That night it was time to depart for Valencia. Our hotel had a cab waiting for us, and we headed to Rome's airport. We arrived in plenty of time and got to hang out a bit before boarding that wonderful flight on Ryanair. Our flight actually turned out to be pretty interesting. For one, this very large man decided to sit next to me and cram me up against Aaron, which unfortunately made for no sleep! Second, someone got arrested!! Apparently there was some drunk guy in the middle of the plane, and from the Spanish I could understand that was being spoken by the flight attendants, he was attempting to light a cigarette in the bathroom when he got caught. When we landed in Valencia, they made us all stay on the plane while the police boarded and took him away. As Mom said, too bad we didn't choose to sit in the middle! We would have had good seats!
We hopped on the metro and headed towards the piso. We got to see a bit of the fallas and lights on the above ground portion of the route. Mom and Dad managed to pull their billion pounds of luggage UP the stairs and into the piso, and everyone got to share in the beauty of the place.. or something like that. Mom and Dad took my bed, we moved the spare bed into Em's room so Aaron could sleep on it, we moved the pull out couch in the spare bedroom so Chuck and Sandy could sleep there, and Em and I shared her bed. It was cozy, but it worked out just fine.
The Trammels had not arrived when we got there, so we decided to abandon the piso in search of food. We walked around my neighborhood but only found little cafes open, so we headed downtown for American food. Little did we know there would be a parade going on when we got there! During the fallas, men and women dress up and offer flowers to the Virgin Mary. This takes place around 4-5 times a day, including at 10:30 at night! We got caught in the middle of the parade, but trooped on to the Plaza de la Virgen. However, we were surprised to find that the entire thing was blocked off. There were flowers everywhere, and a statue made of flowers symbolizing the Virgin Mary was built in the center. It was really neat, and the music was fun. Unfortunately, this meant no McDonald's for Dad, but we managed to find a cute little Italian place and ate there while watching one of them many parades.
By the time we got done eating, it was really late, so we decided to find a spot on the bridge near La Plaz
a and wait for the firework show to start at 1AM. Fireworks are a very important aspect of the Fallas festival. They shoot them off constantly - day and night. It sounds like a war zone constantly! We were not disappointed for staying up. The fireworks were amazing! One after another they kept going off and going off. They were beautiful! It makes the 4th of July seem like nothing! There were beautiful colors and unusual shapes. I really enjoyed it all. We were smart and left before it completely ended, though, so we could get on the metro before it became too crowded. When we got back to el piso, the Trammells had arrived, so we all stayed up and talked for a while, but we were pretty tired, so it was off to bed for us.We got some much needed rest on Tuesday. We slept in pretty late! Still, we had lunch and headed to the 2:00 mascletas. The metro was INSANE!!! When the first one arrived, it was already full of people, and there was no way we were getting on it. Still, we inched our way forward on the platform for the second metro, and when it came, Emily managed to squeeze on, and she pulled me on with her hand. Then, Chuck helped Sandy get one, and Dad used his big body to break the sea and push Mom and Aaron on. It was SO chaotic! Seriously, once you were on, you could not move to your left or right, and there were people touching you from every direction. It was crazy and HOT. I was partially sitting in some strange man's lap for most of the stop. It was fun, let me tell ya!
The mascletas that day were pretty intense, although I didn't feel the ground shaking like the other day, but then again, we wer
e farther back, and there were WAY more people present for the event! It was definitely just as loud, though. When it ended, walked towards La Plaza de la Virgen, and surprise! We hit ANOTHER parade! These are what the "falleras" look like. There are thousands of them. Some are old ladies with grey hair, but others are tiny little babies who have to be pushed in strollers. We saw a fallera dress for sale in the window -- 700 euro! I decided Mom and Dad can never say anything about how much my prom dresses cost! :) Some of the dresses even had matching shoes. It was crazy! They were beautiful, though. I have a new life goal: return to Valencia, dress as a falla, and offer flowers to the Virgin during one of the parades! Well, maybe.. :) We decided to watch part of the parade, and then we went to McDonald's for a hearty, American lunch! Surprisingly, the line wasn't too bad, and Mom and Aaron did a great job of scouting at a table for us.
When we were done eating, we didn't have a lot of time to spare, so we headed straight to La Plaza de los Toros (the bull ring!). Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I wanted to go because it's all about the "traditional Spanish culture"! The previous week I had bought the cheapest seats possible, and surprisingly, we had pretty good seats, and they were right by an exit! We settled in, and the fight began. In all, there were 6 fights that day. We watched the matedors kill one bull after another, and we also watched the bulls try to attack the horses, who were well-protected. It was actually really interesting, although I wish we had known a bit more about the rules of it while watching it. There were times it made me a little sad to see the poor little bull sitting there dying and being so tired but trying to fight back, but then I just remembered how good a nice steak tastes, and I got over it. :)
We trekked on throughout the city after dinner to see more fallas and lights. The fallas were SO amazing! Some of them were three stories tall. They depicted all sorts of stories relating to fairy tales and politics. We understood some of them, and others we just stared at. Some were rated G, and some were rated R. And there were lights EVERYWHERE! This light display was my absolute favorite. It lined the entire street. I LOVE Christmas lights; I love to look at them; they just amaze me. The falla lights had the same effect on me. I just stared at them in awe. They were awesome! It was all very impressive. What I liked the most about fallas was that the entire city participated. There was a falla in every corner of the town. We have festivals in the states, but it's hard to generate enthusiasm by everyone. The people of Valencia give this festival their full support, though, and they go all out. I just think it's a really neat bonding experience for the whole city.
On the Wednesday of fallas, Mom, Dad, Aaron, and I headed to the Mediterranean Sea. We walked around, collected seashells, waded in the cold but pretty water, and played in the sand. Of course, Dad videotaped! It was really fun to be on "my" beach WITH them! We hadn't all been on a beach together since our Florida trip back in the day! The water was a bit cold, though, but I'm sure it'll warm up a bit in the next few months! :)
We boarded a bus to the City of Arts and Sciences after our beach time. Again, there was more wandering around, and we saw MORE falleras. They were everywhere! We also took the opportunity to take some fun pictures. Aaron attempted to climb to wall of one of the buildings, and we jumped from the platforms. Tere's
Mom in action on the right. She's probably pretty embarrassed I put that here, but I knew you'd all want to see, and she's looking pretty good, huh? You can definitely tell she still has some of her cheerleader skills in her! :) Unfortunately, I have NO cheerleader skills in me, and my jumps were pretty horrible, especially compared to my coordinated brother. Oh well. It was fun. :)We ate at Burger King afterwards. Before we went in, we noticed a HUGE string of fireworks in the street, but we didn't think much of it until they started going off while we were ordering. It was loud and INSANE! It sounded like a war zone again. It was really awesome, though. Dad and Aaron videotaped it. When it was finished, there was smoke everywhere, and remains of the fireworks were all over the street.
I took the family to a Chinos store after that. Mom and Dad bought a huge suitcase to downsize on their many bags and make room for souvenirs. It was a pretty spiffy piece of luggage: it had a compass on it! It was also HUGE and red, so we named it Clifford.
We met back up with the Trammells after that, and we all headed downtown for dinner. We tried to find a tapas bar for dinner, but it was a bit difficult. We finally settled on "Foster's American Restaurant". That sounds safe, right? Wrong!! It was disgusting. Mom and Sandy's food was cold, Dad didn't get his until really late, and while they offered free refills, they never came to the table to refill it! It was disappointing. I was looking forward to good American food, but it was not to be found at Foster's!
By the time dinner was over, it was almost 10pm, which meant it was time to burn the children's fallas! We found a little one and watched it get set on fire by firework after firework and gasoline being poured on. It was so sad to see someone's effort and hardwork being burned to the ground! One of the little falleras even cried over it!
At 11pm, the big fallas were scheduled to be burn, so we headed towards our favorite falla from the day before. It's one that is sponsored by Coca-Cola, and it was probably one of the biggest and prettiest of all. We got there pretty early, which allowed us to have fairly close seats (or I should say "stands", since we stood the whole time!). Emily, Mom, and I actually ended up being in the front for the actual burning. Still, the burning did not happen at 11pm like scheduled. Instead, we stood and stood and stood. We ended up befriending Americans surrounding us. They were from scattered parts of the South. Dad told jokes and was goofy like always, and we talked to a hairdresser from Tennessee. It was really nice to hear some English amidst all the espano, and it made the time pass by more quickly!
You know how I always find the creepy men here in Spain? Well, this time Mom found herself a boyfriend! Yeah, that's right, the 80 year old man passed me up for my MOM! Apparently he was really touchy with her, and she gave him the death glare until he stopped. He was weird. Still, I think it's funny that Mom's picking up the men. Good thing Dad was a few rows back! :)
Finally, they started pouring gasoline on the Falla, and then they loaded it with firework after firework. At around 1:00AM (2 hours after planned!), they shot off the fireworks, and soon the Falla caught on fire!
Can I just say that IT WAS AWESOME?? It did not take long for the thing to burn to the ground, and its heat was intense. Don't worry; there were firefighters spraying the buildings to keep them from catching on fire. I have never seen anything like it, and I probably won't again until Emily and I have our falla reunion, which WE WILL! :) To sum it up, the fallas can be described in 3 holidays: the 4th of July because there were constant fireworks, Halloween because of the fallera costumes, and Christmas because of all of the lights. Yeah, it was an amazing experience, and I am sooo glad my family was here during it! :)We made it back to the piso that night, and I fell asleep right away. When I woke up, it was time to get on the metro and head to the airport. Dublin was the last leg of our family vacation. I slept most of the way, and when I woke up I was back in the land of the rolling hills!
Our cab driver from the airport to the hotel gave us some info about Dublin, and as soon as we dropped off our bags, we headed towards the widest street in Europe, which is really not very wide at all! We ate dinner at an Italian place, did some souvenir shopping (I love Carol's!!), dropped the stuff off at the hotel, and then went to a pub to watch Irish dance. It, too, was really fun to see! The people looked so happy up there dancing and singing. It was fun times!
We caught an early train to Waterford on that Friday morning. We took a tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory, which turned out to be really impressive! We got to watch them blow the glass, carve out all the little details, etc. It was really interesting. Waterford is apparently really famous; they make trophies for events such as Wimbledon and the Super Bowl. The picture on the left is of Dad holding a replica of the football trophy. Someone ins the crowd said, "He looks like a football player!" Yup, he is. See, Mom got her cheerleading picture in, and Dad got his football one. :)We spent a lot of time in the gift shop after that. We all got neat things relating to Ireland, and they even ship it to the U.S. for you! Very nice. :)
When we got back to Dublin that night, we did more exploring, and we went to a mall of sorts. The next day, Saturday, was our last day together, so we got on the "hop on, hop off" tour bus that takes you to all the major sites of Dublin. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church, Trinity College, etc, and of course, we stopped in at the Guinness Factory for a tour! It was a self-guided tour. I'm not sure it was the most interesting thing in the world, but Aaron enjoyed it, especially when he got his free pint of Guinness at the end! I gotta admit, even though I don't really like beer, that was probably the best I've ever tasted. Yay, Ireland!We tried to go to a restaurant mentioned on the tour for dinner, but it was full. Still, we were able to see a bit of their traditional music, but it wasn't the greatest, so we headed downtown and ate pizza. Then, we saw the famous Temple Bar. We decided to walk back in the direction of our hotel and go to the pub from Thursday night for more music and dance. Saturday night was no disappointment! The band was really good, and they played a song that Aaron said some guy from Oklahoma wrote or something. Aaron and I made friends with people from all over Australia and Europe.
We didn't get much sleep Saturday night because we had to leave for the airport around 4AM. I got my boarding pass, ate some breakfast, and fell asleep in a chair. :) Mom woke me up when it was time for me to board my plane. I gotta admit that this round of good-byes was a bit harder than in Fayetville. Still, I'll be seeing them again in a short while, and that is comforting! I made it to Barcelona safely, although for once, Ryanair was late. I took an hour and a half bus ride from the airport into the center of Barcelona. On this bus ride, the guy in front of me was constantly biting the breast of his girlfriend. How fun for me to watch. Right. I was happy to get off the bus and get on the metro. Apparently the lovely Ashley Barnes spotted me as soon as I erupted from the underground. There were my three friends waiting for me! Yay, reunion!!
We made it to the Ideal Youth Hostel, where found it to be less than ideal. I was supposed to be in the room with the three of them, but the Ideal staff didn't put me in their room! Instead, I was with this old lady and her daughter who smelled like wet dog and nasty food mixed together. Thankfully, Emily let me sleep in her bed with her that night, so I never had to endure a night alone with those people. :)
Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia. It's a really neat cathedral that displays Biblical stories on its walls. It was crowded, so we didn't go in, and instead, we headed to Park Güell, which was designed by the famous architect Gaudi. On the way, we RANDOMLY saw people from MSU that we knew who are studying
in London this semester. We had no idea that they would be there; we just saw them walking down the street. Talk about a small world!! The park was really neat, and we found a perfect view of the city. We were even able to see the Olympic Torch from it! I also chased pigeons but did not catch one. How unfortunate.We headed to the beach afterwards. Oooh, the Mediterranean.. gotta love it! We had to pee really bad, though, and we could not find a public restroom, so what do 4 very desperate girls do? They go inside the hospital and pee! So, yeah, we went to the hospital in Barcelona.. but only for restroom purposes! :)
Emily had coupons for us at Pans and Co. so we ate there for dinner. Mmm, sandwiches! :) We also did a bit of souvenir shopping that night before returning to the very UNideal Youth Hostel. I wonder what the other girl thought when she woke up and found Emily and I curled up in the bed together! Oh well!
The hostel didn't let us leave our luggage there on Monday, which was stupid! We ate at McDonald's for lunch and wasted a bunch of time by playing MASH. In case you were never a junior high girl, MASH is a game you play where you right down all these boys names, what kind of job you want, etc, and you count it out to see who you are going to marry, how many kids you'll have, etc. Yeah, it's REALLY immature and childish, but it was soooo fun! We limited ourselves to Scholars House boys or creepy men we've men on the trip thus far, and we came up with all sorts of crazy, ridiculous answers. I think one of us may become a professional beggar and someone is going to have 99 kids.. fun times! :) I love my friends! We managed to get on a bus to go to Valencia, though, and that night Ashley and Rachel also got to experience the wonders of the piso. They also had their first potato omelets, which I am sure they LOVED. ;)
On Tuesday we woke up and did what any girl from cold Missouri would do... go to the beach!
Please excuse how white we are. We worked on that for a few hours while just laying on the beach, having a bit of Jesus time, and rocking out on the ipods. How enjoyable and wonderful. We lounged around the piso for a while after that before walking to the supermarket. Ash and Rach got to see how we shop for food over here and how we get to carry it for 1.5 km after buying it. We had a big dinner to celebrate our wonderful friends: fajitas!! Mmm!!! We made Ashley eat FOUR. She probably hated us for it, but deep down, I know she really liked it. She is a fat Ash, after all.
It was getting late, but we decided to take the night bus to the downtown area so they could see the pretty parts of Valencia. We tried to drink some sangria, but the club we went into was really strange and not enjoyable, so we left and got back on the bus to the piso. We attempted to not fall asleep, but that didn't work the best. :)
On Wednesday we slept in, had lots of fun, let Ashley and Rach pick out something from the piso to take home, and jumped on a bus to Madrid. It was a fun little ride. Lots of funny things were said. Poor Rach was sick, but she put up with us anyway.
When we got to Madrid, we were starving, and we only had one restaurant in mind: Pizza Hut! Surprisingly, there was one right by our hostel, and we ate there for fairly cheap. Mmm, Pizza Hut! We even found sangria at a little bar after that. It was gooooood! :)
On Thursday Emily took us around Madrid.
One of the first places we went to was Spain's Royal Family's palace. It was kinda neat. The cathedral on the grounds was also pretty. We did more souvenir shopping (surprise!!), went to Puerta del Sol, and took a paddle boat ride through the park. It was fun times! And, of course, we rounded out the evening with some American food.. Burger King! :) We even managed to get some ice cream down after that. All in all, I am really glad that Em and I are in Valencia on the BEACH instead of Madrid! I'm also really glad our friends came to visit us. We had a really fun little week together, and I am glad that Ashley and Rachel came, even though it was stressful at times for them. We now have some amazing pictures, a million little jokes, and wonderful memories. Thanks, friends!! You're amazing! :)We spent the night at the airport on Thursday night because the girls flew out around 7am, and Emily and I flew out at 6:30 to Brussels, Belgium. We took a bus from the airport to our hostel, but again, I slept the entire way. We had stayed up almost all night in the airport, so we were exhausted. Thus, we decided to eat at Pizza Hut again and get on a "hop on, hop off" tour of Belgium. I can sum up Belgium for you in four words: cold, wet, pissing boy. You may have guessed the first two, but PISSING BOY?? Yeah, that's right! Pissing boy! I guess his real name is "Manekin Pis" or something, but I affectionately call him pissing boy.
Yup, that's him. This tiny little statue of a little boy peeing. Apparently the locals love to make him costumes to commemorate events, but he was naked when we saw him. He is a huge tourist attraction, whic
h is a little pathetic! Really, though, there wasn't much more to Belgium. We did see the Grand Palace, though, which was pretty, but nothing to really write home about. Of course, no trip to Belgium would be complete without waffles and chocolate. We had both! Some of the stores even gave out free samples of chocolate -- woohoo! :) The waffles were warm and delicious, which was perfect considering what a cold, dreary day it was!We went to bed pretty early on Friday night. For one, I was getting kind of sick. I think I had a fever at some point, and I was very congested. It was better when I woke up on Saturday, though, which was good because we were headed to Amsterdam! We boarded a train around 10:00AM and settled in for a trip to Holland. I slept most of the way again, but when I woke up we were in Dutch land!
I thought our hostel in Belgium was the best one yet because it was clean and nice, but that was until I went to Shelter City Christian Youth Hostel. We picked it because it said Christian hostel, and we thought that'd be a nice thing to have in the middle of Amsterdam. Still, we weren't sure what to expect. However, we were pleasantly surprised and blown away. The hostel is basically a ministry set up to inform its residents about the love of Jesus. All of the workers are volunteers who get free room and board but nothing else. Everyone was so friendly and inviting. It was AMAZING!!! I could definitely see myself working in a place like that some day. They are providing an amazing ministry in a city that really needs it. I loved every second of it! It was nice to just fellowship.
We hit the canals first on Saturday, and then we went to the Anne Frank House. There was a bit of a line, but it was so worth it. We were able to explore the Annex where she wrote her diary from, see artifacts that were saved from it, and learn more about all of their lives. It was such a moving experience. When Anne's dad, Otto, founded the museum, he didn't just want to focus on his little girl's life; he wanted to focus on ending intolerance and hatred, and you can definitely tell that that is a main goal of the museum! At the end of the tour, there is a video portion where you hear about current events relating to freedom and hatred, and you can vote on your beliefs. It was interesting to see different responses. I think the visit to the Anne Frank House may have been one of my favorite things so far. It was just MOVING and INSPIRING. I'm sure it meant a little more to me than most people considering I'm an English major, but wow.. simply inspiring! If I ever teach Anne Frank to a class one day, I can't wait to relate me own stories of the experience.
And yes, they have wooden shoes! I think these may have belonged to Big Foot. :
We took a boat tour on the canals that night. It wasn't the greatest tour ever, but we got to see some pretty parts of Amsterdam, and it was neat to be on the water. Apparently when houses were being built on the dam, residents were taxed by how wide they were, so they made all of their houses very narrow and deep. It's funny looking! Amsterdam was splendid, though. It was gorgeous.
You know, I think most people think of drugs and prostitution when they think of Amsterdam. It's true; these do exist, but they're really only in certain parts. The Red Light District was a little crazy with prostitutes standing almost naked in windows inviting you in, but it's all what you make of it, and if you can get past that and the marijuana, you will see a beautiful, welcoming city.
We hung out at the hostel's cafe that night, and checked out on Sunday morning. Still, we did some more exploring. We tried to see the Van Gogh museum, but we heard there was a long line, so we went to the tulip museum, which was a joke, but we got to see pretty flowers! On the train ride, we got to see rows and fields of tulips. It looked like a rainbow on the ground. It was beautiful!! I love Amsterdam!We went back to the hostel that afternoon, and one of the volunteers from Germany took us to a Protestant church with him. They were celebrating Easter a week late at this church, and the experience was perfect. It was just what we needed and had been missing. Being surrounded by other Christians who speak many different languages and come fro many different countries is just amazing. Seriously, think about it. Everyone in that room was SO different, yet we were all brought together by the blood of Jesus Christ. Can you say amazing? The service was uplifting. We sang songs I was familiar with (David Crowder!!) and had communion. It was an absolute perfect end to a wonderful 2.5 weeks. Isn't it funny that we went to Amsterdam thinking we'd be surrounded by constant drug use and prostitution, but God brought us to this amazing little family of believers and let us worship with them? I love God surprises. He is so good to me.
We said good-bye to Amsterdam on Sunday night, and we headed back to Brussels. We spent one last night in the hostel. Our 8 bunkmates were all drunk and felt like getting very friendly with each other. I opted to ignore them and talk to my mommy and daddy instead. :)We woke up early this morning, did last minute shopping, caught a bus to the airport, and boarded our Ryanair flight. Remember back when all of this study abroad stuff was starting that we considered going to Belgium? I am so glad we didn't. Now that I've been there, I know that we belong in Spain. We are exactly where God wants us, and it's all working out perfectly. We are SOOO blessed to be here, to see these things, and have these experiences! God is good, my friends. God is GREAT! I am so thankful I could see my family; they rejuvenated me like no other, and my seeing two of my favorite friends was also pretty spectacular. I am blessed. :)
Now that we are back in Valencia, we have to start classes again tomorrow. Not fun! Still, there are only three days 'til the weekend! ;) We have a friend from MSU who is studying abroad in London staying with us this week. We're hanging around Valencia for the weekend, but next weekend we're heading to Paris! Hopefully the weekend after that we'll be in Switzerland and Germany, but that still needs to be planned. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we're going to have a lot of fun and make beautiful memories.
Anyway, it's almost midnight here in Valencia, so I should be going. Dinner is calling! If you read this to the end, wow. :) Congratulations. I promise I'll be a little more regular now that things have calmed down. Love you all! Thanks for caring!! :) See you in a few weeks!
(I did not check any of this, so if there are a million spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes, FORGIVE ME!)
...and the moments pass slow.
