Catching up

Hello again, bloggy friends! It's been awhile! Now that it's Thursday, I'm finally getting around to telling you a little about our weekend. The biggest highlight was a visit from our friend, Dave, who is on a TDY (Temporary Duty) for training about 3 hours from here. Yes, this is the same friend who, just a few short months ago, left this area for a new assignment in Alaska! It has been a little hard seeing him again without his family (sniff, sniff), but we are oh, so thankful that he's here with us nonetheless. He will probably be coming to stay with us for many of the weekends over the next month. Yay!!

The other important advancement this weekend was the purchase of a new dryer. Last Thursday night, Adam and I decided we would try to fix our old dryer! Ha! We are so funny. We took the thing almost completely apart, and were so pleased with ourselves several hours later when we finally got it put back together. We found that the heating element thingy in the back of the dryer was missing a screw and had slipped out of place, so we were hoping that by putting it back where it should be, our problems might be at least partially solved. (You would not believe the amount of lint that can collect in every crevice of a 7-year-old dryer. Let's just say that we have not been dog owners for over 5 years, and we found a bunch of dog hair!)

So anyway, after it's all cleaned out and put back together, we finally got it all hooked back up, turned it on, and it started up! We were thrilled...success at last! (And we didn't even want to do bodily harm to each other by the end of the project. For us, that can be an accomplishment in itself!) So anyway, we stopped it and thought about trying it out with a load of clothes in it to see if they would get nice and warm and dry...however, when we tried to turn it back on, nothing happened! We had this very same problem a year or two back (dryer not starting) and it cost us $80 to fix it, which we were not about to sink into a cheap, ancient dryer again.

Soooo, Saturday afternoon, Adam embarked on a quest to find a new dryer. To make a long story short, he found the perfect dryer for me at a deeply discounted price at the BX. It had been separated from its box somewhere along the line, and had some "imperfections" on the outside. So my wheelin'-and-dealin' hubby talked the manager into giving us $50 off initially, and then 25% off that! (I would SO not have done that...but this is why my husband talks to car salesmen instead of me.) So it was a great deal, and it's a really nice dryer. It even has a low heat cycle, something our old one was lacking. Very, very thankful!

The handyman hard at work

Look what my knight in shining armor brought home!

And what woman in her right mind posts TWO pictures of a new dryer on her blog? One who is deeply in love.

Dave brought with him some hat pins for Drake's collection. (Alaska and Green Bay.) Drake was completely stoked!! Dave even brought Levi his very first hat pin, too! So we really need to find a hat for Levi to start putting his pins on. (Our favorite Alaskans are huge Packers fans, and actually made a pilgrimage to Green Bay, WI on their way up to Alaska. We love you guys!)

New Orleans!

This will be quick today. My sister, Crystal, and brother-in-law, Jeff, arrived yesterday and will be here for five days! Yesterday morning, we left here about 3:30am and drove to New Orleans to pick them up at the airport there - about a 4-1/2 hour drive. We got to see a bit of New Orleans with them before heading home, mainly the French Quarter. It was really interesting! We saw Preservation Hall, Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, and (Louis) Armstrong Park, among other things. The kids did very well, considering it was muggy and sweltering hot, and they were extremely bored! Levi rode in his Ergo baby carrier (which we've had about a year and love - highly recommended) and gave no complaints the whole time. Drake walked some, and was carried some, and he did super-well too. We were so blessed!

Crystal, Drake, me, Levi, and Jeff at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport just after their arrival!

Levi, me, Drake, Crystal, and Jeff in front of the Andrew Jackson Memorial in Jackson Square

Jeff and Crystal at Preservation Hall! It was cool to visit this famous jazz landmark. We were surprised by its humble presentation. The streets in the French Quarter are narrow, and the businesses and dwellings are very small, full of old-fashioned details and charm.

Adam and Drake outside Armstrong Park, checking out the little bananas growing on the banana trees. The leaves were huge and felt sort of like laminated paper!

Drake collects hat pins, and here he's showing off his latest pin from New Orleans! It's the black one in the center (think Saints logo). We were looking at all of his pins yesterday, and he has eight: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (Wash. D.C.), Niagara Falls, Hershey's Chocolate World, Amish Village, Disneyworld - Magic Kingdom, Disneyworld - Animal Kingdom, Air Force, and now New Orleans. He's pretty proud of his collection!

Aunt Crystal with her nephews.

We're having a great time with Crystal and Jeff. More to come!