Jared and Amanda Thomas
Day 1-Robert and I pick up dad and Linda where it is discovered that dads carryon handle won't pull up so he can pull the bag along behind him. Just a minor annoyance. Robert drives us to the airport where we go through security and Linda gets pulled aside and groped, quite thoroughly I might add. Then it was breakfast from McDonalds and wait to board the plane. First stop was Minneapolis where we had a little time to wait but decided not to eat any lunch yet. We did snack on some super-yum chocolate popcorn Linda brought. Next, board the plane for the trip to Detroit. This was an uneventful leg of the trip, we landed in Detroit and found our next concourse which was quite a ways away. The plan was to eat something before boarding again but when we got to the concourse there were no food places. We dug around for snacks and then dad decided to go on a hunt for food. He disappeared for quite a while and I decided he either found some or got lost. Soon the hero was desending the stairs with a bag from Wendy's. We hurridly ate our hamburgers and then boarded the plane and I was just about completely settled and most passengers on when they announced that we would have to de-plane. Apparently on arrival this plane had hit a bird and had a hole in the wing. I looked out my window (I was right in front of the wing) and sure enough, about 5 guys standing around the wing and one of them had his arm in the hole. Not sure how big the bird was and I'm not sure why it would take so long to discover that had happened but, whatever. We got off and waited for a new plane. Meanwhile I sent a text to Gina saying we may be late. Surprisingly enough, they got us a new plane pretty quickly and we loaded up again and got airborne. We landed on time in Scranton. I sent Gina a text that said we were there. Funny thing happened though, she got the first text I sent about 2 hours late so she thought that we were still in Detroit. When she got the 2nd text she had already turned around and headed back home! No big deal, we just had to wait for her for about 3o minutes. She arrived and we loaded the luggage and headed to her house. Side note; she had just moved into her house. Correction, she was just moving into her house. They had beds, kitchen table and chairs, and...well, thats about all. Remodeling took longer than expected so the moving didn't happen when it was supposed to. They ordered pizza for dinner and we visited with them and the kids. Jared and Amanda were there so we got to meet her, then Matt and Ashley(his fiance) showed up so we got to meet her too.
Day 2-Not too much happening. A run to Turkey Hill for a diet coke and then Linda brought some beads to make watch bands so we did that for a while. Later that night the men had to go and pick up their tuxes so Dad, Linda, Gina, Ashley, and I went to go for more beads. We went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse (super yum!) then off to the craft store. About $100 and 1 heart attack for dad later, we stopped at Wal-Mart for dads Diet Pepsi and Popcorn-the super yummy chocolate popcorn that Linda has me addicted to. (This part will be important later.) Then it was back to the house to make our creations. (fun)
Day 4-Today we were going to go to the lake house after Bill got home from work. While waiting we (the 3 of us)commandeered Rachels car and went to Turkey Hill for a diet coke and then went for a little drive to see Carbondale. Conclusion: I don't ever want to live there. Bill never did make it back in time to go to the lake house. Instead we played some cards, created some more jewelry, and I cut some hair. That night we went to Pioneer Days celebration (or something like that, it was kind of a street fair) to watch the girls perform with their baton groups. That was fun for me to get to see. They have been in baton since they were 3 and are pretty darn good. They also twirl fire baton which was really cool. Rachel did catch one of her tosses too close to the end and burned her hand but they did awesome. It was her last performance since she is all grown up now and headed to college. After that we hung around and ate too much and then topped it off with a funnel cake. UUGGHH! Then it was back to the house for cards. Jared and Amanda came over and that was great to get to spend some time with them. Jared has a quick, quiet humor and Amanda is totally adorable.
Rachel is on the left, her friend on the right
Rebekah doing splits in front.
Day 5-THE BIG DAY! I got the privelege of doing the brides hair:) Of course I was super nervous about it too. We headed off to a salon in Clifford where all the bridesmaids were getting their hair and makeup done. I started with Amanda and then moved on to Rachel and Rebekah. It was fun to do some fancy up-dos and I'm pretty sure Amanda liked her hair. After a few hours there, we went to Amanda's moms house to get ready. (It was closer to the Inn where the wedding was taking place.) We had about an hour and a half to wait there after getting dressed. The photographer came and took some pictures while I sat around feeling out of place and weird but I survived. About 3:30 we headed to the Inn. Dad and Linda were there and I was back with my security blankets:) I really hate feeling out of place. The boys looked super handsome in their tuxes and the girls were beautiful. The wedding ceremony was nice, the setting amazing and the weather pretty great. Of course I wasn't standing out in the hot sun in a black tux. Amanda was beautiful!
After the ceremony they did some pictures while the guests went in for
hors d' ourves. Eventually the wedding party was finished and they were announced and joined us. The reception included dinner and dancing (well, no dancing for me...my dance partner was in Idaho) and lots of people to watch. It was a fun night and by the time went home we were all exhausted. It was a long day. Well worth the whole trip though.
Day 6-Dad, Linda, and I really wanted to go to NYC but that didn't work out for us so when we got up sunday we decided to head north to see Palmyra. Linda had never been there so we borrowed Gina's car, sent them off to church and we headed out. Stopping first at Turkey Hill for a Diet Coke, and then McDonalds for breakfast. It is a stinkin long drive to Palmyra, I think about 4 hours. It was beautiful though and we didn't mind. Linda kept trying to take pictures of the scenery as dad sped by. That is typical. She got light poles and guard rails and also managed to get a few pics of actual real scenery. When we got to Palmyra we stopped at the visitors center and then went to the Smith farm and walked through the Sacred Grove...in the POURING rain! By the time we got back to the car we were soaked. Me, not as much as them...I had an umbrella! I did offer to share but they wouldn't stay under it! Not to worry though, because as soon as we were back to the car the rain all but stopped. Go figure:) After that we stopped at the Temple to walk around it and take some pictures. The last time I was in Palmyra was 1994 and the temple wasn't there. It is a beautiful temple. One of our favorite features is the stained glass on the doors and windows that depicts the sacred grove which it overlooks. From there we went to the Cemetery and then the Grandin Publishing Co. That was an interesting tour but waaay too long. We ducked out early. We were starving at this point and still had a long ride home.
self portrait at the sacred grove
Palmyra Temple with my dad, we were soaked from the rain storm.
We stopped at a diner type of restaurant. The first thing I noticed were the flies. The next thing I noticed was that it was this restaurants last day of business. Scarry. Who knows what they were cleaning out of the refridgerator. A very NON -friendly waitress finally brought us some menus and water. She never came back. We finally left. Across the street to good old McDonalds we go for some drinks and french fries to tide us over. Back on the road to find a real place to eat. A few hours later we finally stopped at Appleby's in or near Binghamton. Got our order placed and of course they were out of the shrimp dad wanted. He settled for his second choice. Back on the road and only 1 turn-a-round and another hour or so later we were home. Plans were made for another road trip the next day.
Day 7- Road trip with Gina this time. WAHOO! We started out with a stop at...MCDONALDS! Breakfast of champions, (or fat people:) We headed to Harrisburg to go to Matt and Ashleys, Bass Pro Shop, and Hershey. Nevermind that she blew by a truckstop that I requested for a potty stop. How rude. She did stop at a rest area, finally. Whew.
Once in Harrisburg our first stop was Matts. He just bought a house so we got the tour and it is super awesome. Beautiful neighborhood and really cool old house. It was his first day of classes but he chose to skip it and be our tour guide. First we went to Bass Pro Shop. It was pretty cool I guess, but mostly just like any other outdoor store in my opinion. Next we were off to Hershey to visit the chocolate world. We did a tour there. It was pretty cool but Linda really wanted to see the really real factory. Oh well. The town was cute with its Hershey Kiss light poles. We stopped at Chilis for a late lunch and then from there we went back to Matts so we could see Ashley for a minute. She was just getting off work. She got home and we got to say our goodbyes and hit the long road to home. There was packing to be done for our flight out in the morning.
Matt and Ashleys house...scenery while speeding by...Bass Pro Shop
Somewhere along the way, (can't remember which town) we stopped at a Turkey Hill for drinks and dad filled up the car. We had also had the discussion about how we needed to find a Wal-Mart so I could get more of the chocolate popcorn for the trip home the next day, and Gina could get TP for the house. (a very important purchase I might add) She got off the freeway or highway or whatever it was at Wilkes-Barre so we could make our purchases. We were driving down the road and BAM! Literally! Some lady decided to turn right in front of us and we totally t-boned her. Scarry! Both airbags deployed and thankfully we were all wearing our seatbelts. As a matter of fact, we had just been talking about them and how they were bugging us. During those 2 days of driving Linda asked me about 3 or 4 times if I had my seatbelt on. She kept saying she had a feeling something was going to happen, like a tire was going to blow or something. WOW! Did something ever happen. We were worried about dad since he had had 2 different surgeries in the past couple months and was still sore from them. Gina hurt her hand pretty bad, probably from the airbag. Linda and I were shaken up but not seriously hurt. My diet coke was a casualty that I was wearing all over my backside.
the diet coke tragedy:(
It spilled all in my seat. Not too much of a tragedy except that when I finally got out of the car I looked like I had had an accident. There were quite a few people that stopped to help us, the police were called and were there pretty quickly. It is all kind of a blur, Gina called Bill and then one of the people talked to him for her, we eventually got out of the car after making sure we weren't hurt. We never did see the lady that caused the accident.
dumb ladies car... Gina... her car where it was towed
The police took all our statements, the tow trucks came and went, the ambulance left after Gina refused service, and then the police left. YEP, they just up and left us sitting on the street corner. He did make sure someone was coming for us but then he just drove away and left us in the dark. I felt like I needed a cardboard sign to hold. About 20 minutes later Bill showed up and we ended up going to the hospital in Scranton so Gina could get her hand x-rayed. We were there for a couple hours I think. It turned out not to be broken so that was good. After leaving the hospital we went back to her house and packed for the flight home in the morning. Poor Gina felt so bad and kept apologizing to us. I felt so bad for her that she was feeling bad. Its a vicious cycle of sadness;) By the time I got to bed it was about midnight-30 and I was soooo tired. So tired in fact that I hardly slept at all that night. DANG IT!
To top it all off we never did get our chocolate popcorn and we had to ration the TP!
One of the little boys, but not the littlest one. Linda was trying be sneaky:)
