My Fiesta Dinnerware Collection

I adore dishes, always have. I started using/collecting Fiesta Dinnerware in the late fall of 2000 while we were stationed in Virginia. I was drawn to it's bright colors and the fact that new colors were always being introduced while others were being retired. I really liked that I could buy one entire place setting at a time and not have it cost me an arm and a leg (back then it was a whopping $20 per place setting). I could build up my collection (so to speak) over time. So when a new color came out, I'd go and buy a 5 piece place setting in that color.

I have my Spode Christmas Tree dishes and I love them dearly, and there's my Noritake Greenbrier pattern for formal dining occasions. But my Fiesta-ware is my every day stuff. I can't tell you how fun it is to mix and match and make the dinner table a happy place to be!

So there I was...at Herberger's department store yesterday in search for a Dutch Oven and I stumble across the Fiesta Dinnerware display. I was hoping that they would have the newest color available and they did! I came home with a 5 piece place setting of Heather for the low price of $24.99 (plus tax). It's a lovely shade of purple! And as you all know, Purple IS the new Black:) I also found a dutch oven (at a price that I was willing to pay) I bought my items, came home and did the happy dance in my kitchen. There's nothing that brings a bigger smile to my face then to open the cupboards up and see a rainbow, it's as if nature is smiling at me.
The colors that I own (some are retired*)

1. Chartreuse*
2. Peach*
3. Sea Mist*
4. Rose*
5. Gray*
6. Juniper*
7. Turquoise
8. Fiesta Yellow*
9. Shamrock
10. Tangerine
11. Persimmon
12. Cobalt
13. Periwinkle*
14. Plum
15. White
16. Black
17. Scarlet
18. Cinnabar
19. Sunflower
20. Peacock
21. Heather

Oh yeah it's safe to say that I have quite the collection of dinnerware going on. But me being who I am, I love to entertain and have all of my guests dining on dinnerware and not paper plates. So now we can entertain and have all of my husbands extended family over!

Oh Happy Day!

So I actually slept in until 6 am today, didn't open my eyes until the alarm went off, WOW! I can not tell you the last time that I slept like that! I feel fully rested, WOW!

As you all know I am involved with many different spouses groups here at Ellsworth AFB, SD. I'm so honored to be the person that is going to stand up in front of the OSC group at our next month's meeting and give the thought of the day. How seriously exciting! Our theme is Bingo at Tiffany's and it's going to be a blast! Now for me to look through my closet so I can dress up in theme.

Yesterday I threw myself into a big re-organization project. I have 2 storage areas in my kitchen and I gutted them both! Pulled everything out, washed down the shelves and then put things back. Now of course I didn't put them back into the same places, where's the fun in that? If everything looks the same as when you began no one would know that you did anything. All of my cake pans, cheesecake pans, flouted pans, cookie sheets and pie plates are now located in the same area. My baking goods are now easier to reach and I don't have to cringe and expect something to fall on my head now when I pull them out, LOL!

Today I will venture into my Scrapbook Nook and it's auxiliary areas (those being Hannah's closet, the linen closet and our master bedroom closet and yes even Andrew's closet hold some of my stash) and rearrange things yet again. I received oodles of books and I have no place for them. One day I will have a bigger scrapbook nook, one where I do not have to share the space with the furnace and water heater, LOL!

Sheesh, the wind, sure is howling today! I can hear it whistling through the windows, and it sounds rather creepy. It's nippy outside, so for me, there's no better time than now to get that scrapbook nook in prime organizational order! Besides I'm hosting a crop here in my home on September 21st...I want to be able to show off the nook and not have it look like it's been hit by a tornado :)

I love my QuicKutz!

I really have to say that I just love my new QuicKutz tool! I bought the one from QVC (the purple one) oh my word it is sooooo smooth to operate! I don't have to squeeeeeeeeeeze it like I do my blue one. I put that many e's in there to let you know that I have to squeeze very hard on it. I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands a few years back (yes, lucky me) and it is hard to use the tool. Then I bought the Komfy Kutz pad and it was better, still had to squeeze hard but my hand didn't ache as much afterwards. Yesterday the UPS man did his drive by drop off and there it was a box from QVC...4 days earlier than I was expecting it! I gave a squeal of delight and as I leapt for joy I promptly ran inside with my new found box of happiness! I love these dies! The rub-on's are going to be so much fun to work with too! Now I have a 2nd QuicKutz binder for my dies...it's purple just like the hand tool! And I have a new font too! WooHoo! Hooo Hooo Hooo! I have that Vonage tune stuck in my head!
While I was in Boston for CKU-Master I went on a shuttle to an awesome scrapbooking store called "Scrapbook Cupboard". The owner has a wonderful display of QuicKutz dies in her store...the most I've seen in ANY scrapbook store! I was delighted to find several that I was looking for...the Funky Chicken has been high on my list and now I have it! The little Turkey, oh my gosh it's adorable! I bought 1 impression die, it's the jumbled alphabet, in the words of my daughter Hannah "It's super cute!!!!". Yes I bought more but why list them all ya know, LOL! I'm going to have the time of my life playing with these new dies!

Getting on with life at home...

So here I am, back in South Dakota, getting back to life here at home. Can you believe it, I've been gone for most of the month. I've got new neighbors 2 doors down and some more around the loop (I live on a horse shoe kind of street) yet to meet. I need to make some brownies and walk over later on today with my welcome card and introduce myself.

I talked at length with my dear friend Theresa yesterday and I got the scoop on her 3 day walk for Breast Cancer. It was rough going the first day but with lots of encouragement from her husband and friends she was able to go on. I can not begin to tell you all how very proud I am of her and what she has accomplished. Theresa more than met her fund raising goal plus she lost 20 pounds in the process of her 6 months of training for this walk for Breast Cancer event. She is a true inspiration!

The OSC (Officer Spouses Club) activities event went well. I sent my friend Georgia off with a couple of scrapbooks (1 for our club events and one showing my work) along with a picture of myself and a schpiel about the scrapbooking group. I've heard from several people that it was a laugh riot and that when Georgia read it (my schpiel) that everyone who knows me said "yup, that sounds like Sandie". I'm glad that it went well..and we have lots of new members join OSC, 22 new members in fact! All of the activities went well and I look forward to actually being there in person at our next OSC function in September.

The kids are in school and so far they are both enjoying it. Our daughter is now in middle school and our son in high school...where did the time go? I swear that Andrew grew another inch while I was away at CKU, that boy of mine sure is TALL! Hannah's hair grew longer, I can tell because her bangs are hanging into her eyes.

My biggest surprise coming home was to discover that my husband had steam cleaned the carpet throughout the house! Oh yeah I am quite impressed! Everything was clean and tidy and in it's place. Now why can't they do this when I am home?

I've got some serious rearranging to do in my scrapbook nook. From my tons of goodies from CKU-M, lots of hard cover books to find a place for, then there's the 4 albums that they gave us and then there's the stuff I bought, LOL!I told my daughter Hannah that I need a bigger "Nook" because I'm running out of room and she laughed and told me that I could take Andrew's room...she's such a character! I still have to find a place for all of my new dauber acrylic paints from Ranger (these are soon to hit the market) and the 10 new colors of distress ink pads by Tim Holtz, yikes!

My CKU Experience part 3

The Rolodex make and takes- oh my word what a 3 ring circus that was! Some tables were awesome others just left me shaking my head and muttering the phrase (well that was a waste of time and cardstock). But no matter how you slice it there was not enough time allotted to each station. I got very tired of the man on the PA system telling us all to sit down or that 3 minute count down, UGH!...meanwhile there's one woman dogging me from station to station right behind me. I can't begin to tell you how irritating that was!
The Rolodex swap was a total different story. I had a great experience swapping and I hope others feel the same way. I met many wonderful ladies from all over the US and abroad. The only sad part was that not everyone put their name or e-mail information on the back. When I post these to my web shots I want to be able to give credit where credit is due ya know. I love them all and I hope that they like mine as well.
Toys...oh my gosh the best part of this CKU was being able to play with scrapbooking toys. The Cricut was a toy that I told myself that I did not "need". Okay, so after playing with it a couple of times I have seriously changed my mind on this one (figures huh?). I love the ease of working with it, yup I'm putting this on my 2006 Christmas Wish-list! The Xyron design runner...another neat toy! I loved playing with this! Yup yet another thing that I need to have in my scrapbook nook. Hey...anyone see my missing winning lottery ticket? I know that I left it around here somewhere, LOL!! The third awesome toy was the Kodak picture printer...I loved how you could do all of the editing on the little pop up screen. Now this is one toy that I can't justify buying since I own a Cannon photo printer that does the same thing but without the little pop up window.
I wish that there were more sponsors showing new stuff at the make and takes versus making the little Rolodex cards or the 6x6 pages. I love seeing what's new, what's HOT and what's coming out soon!

MY CKU-Masters Experience part 2

Okay, talk about running out of room to write, LOL! So here goes the rest of it (I hope).

My Saturday Class Not Just Stamping sponsored by Cactus Pink to sum it up in a nut shell...total waste of time! This is a beginner stamping class. Nothing new was taught to us and the projects were Lame. The layouts were so basic I cringed looking at them. I felt that this was insulting to our intelligence and a huge disappointment. I expected more from something that was supposed to be a masters level class. The "give out" was an unmounted sheet of juvenile images, not what I or anyone else around me would ever use. This class was a total waste of my time. There were some that actually walked out of the class. I just packed my stuff back up and sat there quietly, I didn't want to be obvious in my dislike of the class by walking out since I was sitting in the front row. The substitute teacher for the class talked more about her bakery shop then she did about the projects.
My next class It's our House taught by Jennifer Childs...another waste of time. I like Jennifer she's bubbly and funny, but it's obvious that she wanted to lets us all know that she did not design this class project (I heard her say it at least 10 times throughout the class). I felt that the class project bordered on insulting, with the use of adhering of paper to the front and back of every mini page, in my opinion that's just cheap! The kits were missing pieces and it was not well organized. Jennifer made it me feel as if we were all in some sort of a race against one another to get this project cranked out in record time. It made me feel as if she was in a hurry to be some place else. I ended up putting it in my crop bag to finish later. I refuse to feel rushed and frustrated with such a simple project, there's just no reason for it. Again this is not what I would have considered to be a MASTERS Level class. My frustration stemmed from my kit being incomplete, with missing items it makes it very hard to keep up with a class...even one that was as simple as this.
I think that the folks who organize these events need to reevaluate what kinds of classes are being taught at the various levels of CKU events. I've had enough of the "mini books" and would like to get back to doing 12x12 pages... as would many others that I had spoke with during this event. Something else that has bothered me is the list of items to bring to the classes. Can someone please tell me what use is it to bring the items listed if you don't use them? That's a huge pet peeve of mine. I actually went out and bought things just so I could have them for the various classes only to get to class and never even pull them out of my crop bag. To me that's just a waste of money. I would never expect my students to purchase items for a class knowing that they are spending their hard earned money on tools, stamp pads or other items that we will not be using to complete the class project. Like I said earlier...I would not be getting people to take my classes any more if I did this sort of thing.
The hand outs and give aways from CKU Masters...for the most part these were actually pretty good. Now the magazines being the current issues I thought that this was rather lame since most of us subscribe to all of them. But hey, I do plan on giving them away as door prizes at the crop I am hosting in a few weeks...many of the members of my Scrapbooking group will be eager to get a free magazine to be sure! Here's something funny...there was this one package of papers...oh my gosh they had to be the ugliest scrapbooking papers I have ever seen in my life, and they were dated from 3 years ago...I felt as if we were handed cast offs that wouldn't sell. I am going to use them...once I cut them up for note paper, LOL!
The CKU Store-I bought quite a few items there, I liked how they had scrapbooking materials available for purchase that are not yet on the market, that part was cool. But the other part I saw that was not so cool was that they jacked up the prices. Stamp pads were more there than at the scrapbooking stores, adhesives...wow were they ever expensive! Good thing that I brought plenty with me. I have never seen a Hermafix retail for $17...that was outrageous!

But over all I did have an enjoyable time. I have to let the bad feeling that I had over some of the classes go away, it does no good to dwell on it, it's over and done with. Will I go to another CKU event? I'm not sure. maybe things will change with the new management of CK magazine. I enjoyed meeting so many wonderful ladies! There was Arnette who I shared a taxi with, Terri and Sarah (sorry I can't remember your last names) I met them on the Shuttle to the Scrapbook Cupboard along with Peggy Thatcher and Lisa Graves...I was around them all of the time. These are terrific ladies that I hope to stay in touch with.

For me this was one expensive trip. I need to write up my expense report but right as it stands...now I have to say that it's over $2000...hotel, airfare, the CKU registration fee and my dining costs. I have to add up my receipts for the "other" items that I had bought and then post a total...I'm sure that it's going to be up there!

My CKU-M Experience

I've been following the thread over on the CK message board the one titled CKU disappointment. It's been a very interesting read to say the least. I do feel that these women have made some very valid points and I respect them. Let me fill you in on my experience.

I arrived on Wednesday. It took me 3 flights to get to Boston (note to self, don't book with Expedia again unless you want to take the scenic route, LOL). I met a trio ladies (sorry I forgot your names) on the water taxi that were also attending CKU-Masters. It's always fun to meet someone on person that you see posting all of the time on a message board (CKU Boston yahoo group). To be able to put a name with a face...priceless! The first night I went on the shuttle to Scrapbook cupboard...what a great store! The owner and staff were wonderful and treated us all to deli sandwiches, pizza and soft drinks. The selection of items in the store was not a let down by any means! Lets just say that I spent plenty of moola. I met some wonderful ladies on that shuttle bus, one in particular, Peggy Thatcher is a gem! We discovered that we had several classes together and we hung out other through out our time spent at CKU.


Thursday- make and take day. I have to say that I liked it being an organized theme (being pages for an album et all) but would have liked it to have been 12x12 pages or maybe even 8x8 so I don't have to crop the heck out of a picture, 6x6 is just too darn small. But hey, I can make these same things in a larger format later on if I desire.
Becky Higgins class- A Snapshot of Me was a great theme but was way to short. It bothered me when she spoke and said that she is not a masters level teacher and would never be asked to teach at one. To hear her put herself down like that, it tugged on my heart. She is a humble and likable person and gave attention to everyone, we all especially loved how she took pictures of ourselves with our own cameras...WOW! My picture looks great and this is an experience that I will cherish. Becky has a such warm and bubbly personality. Her class should have been allotted more time. But in a nutshell I enjoyed every minute of it!
The mini class with Bazzill Basics Paper...fun fun fun!I think that any class sponsored by Bazzill is going to be fun! Eva Flake and Amy Totty are amazing women! They made my CKU-M experience a total blast! My last CKU experience and Bazzill sponsored class was a blast and this was the same! Mr Bazzill has some awesome folks representing his company!

Friday- Lets start with my first Class Pocket Full of Memories taught by Lisa Bearnson. I have to say that I do consider myself an advanced scrapbooker. I teach classes, make scrapbooks for others (and they pay me money to do it) and organize a couple of scrapbooking groups here at the Air Force base where I currently reside. In my opinion, this class was too fast paced. Lisa seemed rushed and was barking out directions like a Marine Drill Sergeant (Trust me I know Marine's, my Dad is an Old Marine)...unfortunately for some of us half of the time she had to correct herself because she told us the wrong size dimensions to cut our paper. The kits did not have all of the elements and was missing papers as well. It will be a great 2 page spread once I complete it at home. But if I were to give a class the way she did...I would no longer have any students. It miffed me that she had only the 1 TA and she would walk about carrying the layouts for us to see. The other things that really bothered me was the fact that she had a 15 minute slide show presentation of her family...nice but it's taking up precious class time and 2nd she ended class 20 minutes early so she could sign autographs and have pictures taken. I'm sorry but when a class is supposed to be 1½ hours long I expect it to be 1½ hours long, not 55 minutes. 3rd, it was Lisa constantly telling us "You're all Master level students" like we had to be reminded, come on! Now maybe if she was a master level teacher and she didn't take up our time with other things like her family video, had the right items in our page kits, told us the right dimensions to cut our papers and didn't stop 20 minutes early to sign autographs and have her picture taken with folks we might have been able to get though most of this project. I think a class that has 60 students is too large a group. The lighting was terrible, I could not see the layout on the screen nor could anyone else at my table. I just packed up my kit and told myself I will just do this later at my own speed. And that right there says something...speed, this was all about speed. I'd like to let the new owners of CK magazine and events know that speed does not constitute quality. This is a lovely 2 page layout that needs TIME to complete it. The class size should have been limited to 30 people, extended to the FULL hour and a half time frame and the kits double checked to make sure that all of the elements were in it. Much time was wasted because the TA was running back and forth bringing kits elements to nearly everyone in the class. I'm sure that Lisa is a very nice person, I'm not trying to say that she isn't. What I am saying is that she was not the right person to teach this class

My second class Envelope Books was much more relaxing. This was sponsored by Around the Block. Jennifer and Sarah rocked! They had a fantastic TA that really helped out and all 3 were so upbeat, they made the class FUN! I was actually able to complete my most of my project (I just need to adhere my pictures and journal). I loved using their products and will be looking to purchase their entire Christmas line later on (I have to pay off the credit card first though, LOL). They took time with each and every one of us and it was great! IN my book, THIS is what the CKU-Masters experience is about!

Third Class- Design-Color-Type sponsored by Bazzill Basics Paper taught by Eva Flake and Amy Totty. Oh my gosh these 2 ladies have to be THE funniest people I have ever met! Effervescent is the word that I would use to describe them:-) Great class! I learned so much in this class, and if they had not given out the Bazzill CD I would have bought it as soon as I got home (yes it is that good). Again, this is what a Masters class is about...enjoying everything and not feeling that it's some sort of race. The give awys here were FANTASTIC! I took a couple of Bazzill sponsered classes at my last CKU and they were just as awesome as this one!

My fourth class Memory Glass Memoirs with Tim Holtz...LOVED IT!!! This man is so talented! He had awesome TA's, awesome techniques to show and teach us. He personally came and checked out how each person in the class was doing on their projects, I was able to complete 2 projects in his class...and I love them! The give aways in his class were amazing! Each and every student in his class got a give away, and these were not cheesy in any way! We all walked away with terrific products and very satisfied! I'd take any class given by Tim, his techniques and top notch and most of all he's a patient teacher.

Last Day of CKU

Today is the last day of CKU and I have to say it's been a pretty productive day. When I get back home I'll go into a detailed account of each class I took, projects we made and so forth. I've made some wonderful new friends while here...ones that I plan on keeping in touch with!

Thunderstorms

So here we are having thunderstorms today. It's hot and muggy, I hope that it'll be different weather when I get to Boston tomorrow.

Counted Cross Stitching

Why I stopped doing counted cross stitching I will never really know. I think that it had something to do with me feeling very overwhelmed with things after our move from VA to SD and then my husband being deployed back in 2000. But I'm back! I'm so excited to have needle work projects "in the works" and others nearly finished. I can hardly wait to start on the Thistle project for my mother-in-law (she's Scottish). With the help of my best-est pal Susan, I was able to find a needlework store (obviously it's not local, but it is Mom and Pop owned) that had all of the supplies that I needed to make this project. It got here pretty darn quick too! I adore those hand dyed threads, they are so wonderful to work with and they add such an elegant touch to anything I stitch. Cross stitching was my first true passion when it came to crafting. I still love to stitch and have picked it back up and am stitching with a vengeance! I'm bringing several different projects with me on my trip...there's no such things as being bored for me!

I'll be gone from the 23rd-27th

I'm leaving tomorrow...WOW! I'm looking forward to meeting up with so many amazing people from the CKU-Boston yahoo group. I'm packed and ready to go!

I ran around and did my errands in town, and now I'm ready to go to Boston. I just know that I'm going to have the time of my life :)

Packing for CKU-Masters Boston

Okay, I've packed and repacked for this trip. I've got it so that everything fits "just right" in my suitcase. But wait...I don't really want that do I? They way I have it now means that I wouldn't have room any purchases. So I'm off to get the next size up in our luggage set. It's not as if I expect to buy a ton of stuff, but if this is anything like the last CKU event I attended, the merchandise that you come back with just from the give aways and the classes... well I expect that I will need the larger suitcase :)
Swimwear...I'm bringing my suit. I figure that if the Sea Port Hotel has a swimming pool and/or a Jacuzzi that I might as well take advantage of them. I know that it sounds silly, but I look forward to unwinding after a day of hard core scrapbooking.
Good walking shoes...I'm going to be bringing a pair with me too! I bought a pair of walking shoes for our vacation and they are wonderful. I plan on wearing them here too. From what I remember from my last CKU experience, I did a great deal of walking to and from my classes. They (my classes) seemed to be spread out all over the place.
I can hardly wait to start my adventure! I leave tomorrow from Rapid City, SD and will end up in Boston a few hours later. How seriously exciting!

QVC

I know that others besides myself caught the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Event on QVC last night. Now who will confess about making a purchase? I watched and saw some terrific things being demo'd not all of them were in quantities that I would have purchased them in. Those Chipboard words were adorable but I don't know that I would want all of those that were a set. But wasn't the price a fantastic deal? I kick myself for not getting that...I could have shared that set with my scrapbooking friends.
So what DID I buy? Oh my gosh I hemmed and hawed on the new QuicKutz set up. I have had carpal tunnel surgery on both of my hands and using the QuicKutz tool has been a bit of a challenge for me. I bought that padded thing for the handle a couple of months ago... Komfy Kutz. It seems to help but I think that it would work better on a longer handled tool. I'm excited to be getting one now and in purple no less!
So to answer the question what did I buy? I bought the new QuicKutz set up. I adore that blossom set up. I can't get over the price...oh my gosh it is such a huge savings versus buying it at retail price. It's being more than a $100 savings is what convinced me to get it! So about a week after I return from Boston I should be getting my new toys.

South Dakota Central States Fair

My daughter Hannah and I entered items in the South Dakota Central States Fair. I'm currently in the process of uploading photo's to my webshots page. All in all I'm fairly happy with how things turned out.

My Scrapbook layouts...10 First Place Ribbons and 2 Second Place Ribbons

My Stamped cards didn't do as well...4 First Place Ribbons, 14 Second Place Ribbons and 5 Third Place ribbons

This was my first year for the photography division...I earned a First Place and a Third Place for my 2 different pictures of flowers. I took those pictures while we were in England.

Now for my daughter Hannah, she really did well! She not only got a First Place award for her picture of a rose with 2 buds but she also earned the Best in Class award for that same picture...WOW!

Here today gone tomorrow...

...Well actually I'm leaving on Wednesday and I'll be back on Sunday. So where am I off to this time? Boston for CKU-Masters! I'm so excited about this trip I can hardly wait to go! I've been so busy with getting things ready for the Fair, getting our laundry washed and put away from the 18 day vacation we had and just the regular house stuff that I've just not got time to turn my attentions towards getting stuff packed for CKU-M. I've got to get some pictures printed up for my classes, scrap bag packed, suit case packed, carry on bag packed, I need to make sure that I have no lotions or any thing that might be deemed as a liquid with me in my carry on bag or handbag. Heck do I even want to be bringing a purse with me? I better think about this for a moment.
I have a hair appointment this morning, need to be pretty for CKU-Masters and those cameras ya know ;-) (wink wink). Heck I meant to get a hair appointment in before we left for vacation but never made the time for it. So here I am squeezing it in at the last minute. I also need to get some stuff done up for the OSC event that I will be missing this week. Lots to get done and not a lot of time to get it all done (story of my life).
When I get time I will give you all the grueling details of our vacation. It was 18 days and 4 different countries...trust me it wasn't as glamorous as you might think.

Jet Lag

I'm suffering from some serious Jet Lag today. Traveling the way we did, it's no wonder that I haven't fallen over from exhaustion earlier. I can recover from 1 or 2 hours time difference in a day, but this 8 and 9 hour time change thing is wiping me out! I have at least a dozen things that I need to get done but yet I'm really in desperate need of a nap. Maybe I can whiz through things later and will see them more clearly after I get some more sleep. Lets hope so.

I'm Home!

I'm home, I'm home, I'm home! thank the Lord I am back home!

Being overseas while crazy people are planning unthinkable things is rather unnerving. The news broke out about those lunatics the morning we were finally able to get out of England. The situation at the time made me think that we were very lucky to be flying military and not civilian. But that was while we were in England, once we got to Germany that was a different story altogether. I'm busy getting my entry items together, last minute journaling done and pictures printed up. I'll write more but I've got a lot to get done today...besides the 12 loads of laundry that need to get washed.
I will be adding pictures to my web shots soon of the different places we went to. We went to 4 different countries in all, but there's a story that goes along with it...not all of it good I'm afraid. I'll give the brutal details soon I promise.

Mildenhall England

So here we are...in Mildenhall,Suffolk England. What a lovely part of the country it is too! Everything is lush and green. Actually we've been all over the place. First we were in Rota, Spain (a Navy base,it's by the coast). Then we flew over to England via commercial since there were no flights out of NAS Rota. We're seen castles, a great many charming villages and yesterday we went to a church that is over 1000 years old.

The weather has been great! The hottest day was when we went to Warwick Castle. We also went to Anne Hathaway's home (wife of William Shakepear).What a beautiful cottage, wonderful flower gardens and the thatched roof made it that much more charming. I could go on and on but I need to wrap this up for now. We are all healthy and doing well. We are actually looking forward to coming home...just not the 3 day drive from DoverAFB, Delaware to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota.

Guess where we're going?

So here we are, been bumped from a few flights to Germany. Nothing ever seems to have more than 4 seats :-( So when this trip to Spain was looking rather promising, we decided to check out where in Spain it was going...down by the Mediterranean. Now who on earth would not love to swim in the Mediterranean? So from there we may be able to get a flight to Germany and then to England. So we could very well spend a couple of days in each place...who knows, LOL! It's pretty exciting to say the least. I'm going to have some awesome pictures to share with you all...and some fantastic opportunities to make some out of this world layouts to say the least!

So I may still get to call my best friend Susan who lives in Germany. Depending upon how long my layovers are I might even get to see her (not sure of that yet).

Stay tuned...more on Space A travel and our family adventure into going anywhere airlines!

Day #4 of our vacation

We made it to Dover, Delaware. Lots of rain and thunder storms on the last 2 days of our drive to the East Coast. We made it here yesterday early in the evening (around 7-ish)

Okay so we left the hotel at 1:15 am got on base and was at the terminal...there we not enough open seats so we were obviously not on that flight (we had plans on bringing the kids with us, so those 2 available seats had to go to someone else). Who would have thought that so many people would be at the terminal THAT early? So we're moving up on the waiting list that is for certain. There are a couple of flights this afternoon that we'll try for and some tomorrow as well. Every day is an adventure to say the least!

Holy Mackerel it's HOT here! HOT and HUMID! We had hot in SD but no humidity. Man on man did I forget how miserable this humidity makes us feel, yuck! I could not live on the East Coast without A/C that is for certain!

So we're waiting on more flights to open up and hopefully we'll be able to grab a seat on one. Now here's something...our hotel is across the street from an AC Moore...oh no! I just might have to check that out since flights aren't until later on this afternoon.

I have brought along Wilson the Travel Pig. He's my travel companion. We go all over the world together. He's been to places such as Florida, Jamaica, Mexico, 2 different Hawaiian islands, all over California, Massachusetts and more. He's been quite active in his travels to say the least so when this opportunity for travel came up, well of course Wilson is coming with us!