Williamsburg - Part 1

Hi everyone. I thought I'd share the Williamsburg pictures in parts. We're going to call this segment "The Travail of Travel".

These three pictures show what the boys did for the trip to and from Williamsburg. They spent most of the trip under a blanket watching DVDs. The sun was so bright that it made the screen hard to see - thus the blanket. They watched Indiana Jones movies most of the time. They argued about where to place the DVD player a lot of the time.

Chris spent some of the trip asleep. I think at that point he had gotten tired of fighting Isaac for the DVD player. He was probably a little hot from being under the blanket too! We discovered that Chris drools when he sleeps. (Just kidding!)

The last of the three pictures shows what the boys did for most of the trip - fight. Actually, this is a "staged" picture. I asked them to fight for me so I could get a picture. The real "fighting" was more like verbal bickering. Anyone who has more than one kid can probably explain it better than I. Spending 5 days together can do it to the best of friends. Luckily, they still are the best of friends.

As for the adults in the car, we are now GPS experts. GPS is the best thing ever invented for people who are map-challenged (like myself). That little voice knows everything. The GPS highpoint of the trip was when we got off the road to eat lunch and it detected us going in the wrong direction. "GiGi" said, "Please make the next legal U-turn". The GPS low point was when GiGi took us through downtown Baltimore rather than using the bypass. We're still not sure why she turned on us like that.

The trip down took 7 hours and the return trip took about 9 1/2. GiGi did not take into account the traffic around Washington and Harrisburg on a Friday afternoon during a thunderstorm. She also obviously didn't know about the road construction in Conyngham and route 93. All in all though, I think we'll keep her.

They say that getting there is half the fun. I'd say BEING there is about 85% of the fun and pulling in the front of your house is 10% of the fun. That leaves about 5% for the actual travel. Watching Chris drool took up most of that!



Again, just kidding about the drool!



Thanks for checking in.
Diann

We're Back

Hi everyone. We've all arrived at home safely. Things are getting back to normal. I've climbed Mt. Washmore and now we have clean clothes to wear this week, there's fresh food in the fridge, and Pepper (the dog) is home from the kennel. Life is returning to normal.

We just returned from CVS where we got all of our pictures made into CDs and prints. I have a lot to show you, but I think I'll concentrate on Ecuador in this post. I don't want to overwhelm anyone!

This is the group from our church that went to Ecuador. From the left, Mr. Plyler, Jim Paisley, Linda Paisley, Don Plyler, Roy, Dave Parmenteri, and Brother and Sister Chavez (the missionaries to the churches in Ecuador).

They all stayed healthy and did a lot of good work in the past 2 weeks. Roy said it was very hot (no surprise there).

This is the site where they worked for the first week. They poured the whole floor and worked on erecting walls while they were there. This will be a church in Manta, Ecuador.

This is the school that they worked on in 2004. This is a school associated with a church in Santo Domingo. They worked on walls here.

This is the view from Brother and Sister Chavez's apartment in Manta. Roy and the crew ate lunch there every day. They ended up buying them a new clothes dryer. Their dryer was broken. They purchased it and installed it as a suprise to them. Sister Chavez cried!

This, is where my poor husband roughed it while working in Ecuador. This is the hotel where they stayed. I was feeling sorry for the poor man thinking he was pouring concrete all day in the 100+ degree heat and then sleeping on a grass mat or something at night. Obviously, I was wrong.

Of course, I'm joking (just a little). They deserved a pool after working in that heat all day.

I'll give you more details as they become available from my jet-lagged husband.

Thanks for checking in!

Ecuador Widow

Most of you reading this blog know that my dear husband is in Ecuador for two weeks on a mission trip. Since I just got out of school last week, it was a chance for me to get caught up on stuff around the house. But, of course, it also means that I'm on my own. It is making for some interesting times around here.

First off, 3 hours after my husband left for his flight, his brother called (12:45 AM). His brother does not speak English (or at least he pretends he doesn't when he's on the phone with me). No matter how many times I told him, "Roy is in Ecuador", he still didn't get it. He continued to talk and eventually hang up. Two minutes later he called back and we did the whole thing again. Two days later, his sisters called from Mexico. I was ready for that call. Did you know you could get on the internet and type in English sentences and they would translate them into Spanish? That is soooo cool. I was ready with my script. I read my 4 lines explaining that Roy was in Ecuador and that he wouldn't be home until June 27. Silly me, I thought they would listen, say "gracias" and hang up. Nope. They talked and talked, and giggled and giggled. They put my father-in-law on the phone as well. He talked and talked. I didn't understand a word of it. I talked and talked. They didn't understand a word of it. Eventually they said "bye" and hung up. Do you know the fear you have when you walk into an Italian restaurant and they are all speaking Italian and you're sure they're talking about you? I get that feeling quite often.

Today I was determined to get "Roy stuff" done around the house. The pool needed water, which means I had to run a hose in through my house, down the basement stairs and hook it up to the filtered water. Sounds easy. Not so easy. I dragged and lugged and finally got the hose down there and then couldn't get it to attach to the faucet thingy. So, I lugged and dragged and took the hose out of the hose. I was sweaty and winded and really really frustrated. My dad showed up and said he'd hook it up. So, I lugged and dragged and took the hose down to the basement again. He hooked it without any problem (making me feel like a stupid female). After the pool was topped off I lugged and dragged and got the hose outside again. Then it was time to mow. I put Isaac on the riding mower and decided to do the trimming. Mower wouldn't start. I primed it and pulled on that starter chord about 20 times. Nothing. I was sweaty and winded and really really frustrated. I decided to use the weed wacker. I primed and pulled on that starter chord about 15 times. Nothing. I was really sweaty and really winded and really really frustrated. So, my pool is topped off and a large portion of the yard is mowed (thanks Dad, thanks Isaac).

Roy called and said things are going well. He sounds very tired and homesick. They are taking good care of the team though. I feel a little guilty complaining about mowing and hose-lugging when he's working in 100+ degree heat all day long.

Isaac and I will be leaving for Virginia on Monday. We're going with Grammy and one of Isaac's friends. I'm a little nervous about entertaining two young boys in historic Williamsburg Virginia. I suspect we'll be spending lots of time in the pool and the action track. It will be fun to get away. We're looking forward to it. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to share. Hopefully, Roy is doing the same in Ecuador.

I'll fill you in when we get back.

Diann

First Things First

Ok. I've been convinced that I need to have my own blog. I can't imagine other people actually wanting to read about my life. It's rather ordinary. If nothing else, it will be a great way to chronicle the Vera family's happenings.

First, the basics. I'm a "forty-something" (does that mean middle-aged?) woman with a son, step-son, and a husband of 11 years. My husband, Roy, is from Mexico. That makes life very interesting sometimes. More on that later. His son, Alex, is 17 and lives with his mom. Isaac is 9. Here are my guys:

They definitely keep me laughing a lot of the time.

My pumpkin head, Roy.

Now that you have met the cast of characters, you'll have to tune in regularly for the rest of the story. Believe me, we have lots of stories.