Sunday, January 9, 2011

Friday in Washington

It had snowed in Washington before we arrived.  And it snowed again during the night.  In Texas, at least where we live, we don't see much snow and so when you wake up and hear a snow plow it's a pretty cool thing.

1

2

We bundled up and headed out unlike in Texas where everyone would run to the store to stock up on provisions in case we were snowed in or something.

We ate at Red Robin and I must say they have the best strawberry lemonade EVER.

3

The girls having fun...

4

5

After some running around we headed home where M decided to shovel the snow off of Hans and Kelly's driveway.

6

Anna approves

7

Visiting Washington is always fun.  Spending time with family is one of the best things I love about my life.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Thankful Thursday ~ Patrons for Patriots

So I was thinking about how I wanted 2011 to be different.  One of the things I wanted to do was give back more.

I decided to make a small donation once a week and I asked my friends to suggest charities that I could highlight and make a donation to. 

I am apparently blessed with very generous and giving friends who quickly supplied me with enough charities to fill my year. 

My hope is that some of the featured charities will inspire you to make a small donation as well or possibly encourage you to become involved and/or donate to something you are passionate about. 

Perhaps you are thinking that my small donation may not help very much but it certainly helps more than sending no donation at all.  I am sending in $5.  Most of these charities will accept as little as $1 - won't you consider donating a dollar today? 

My wish for all of you is to live this year with an attitude of gratitude.  <3

It is not the attitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. ~~Mother Teresa

Today's Thankful Thursday is featuring Patrons for Patriots.

patrons for patriots

This was recommended from my friend Carol.  She said, "When I was first asked, when this first started back in October, I was hesitant. The rest of the group, which there are 12 of us, is younger than me. But I thought why not me. We all have the same ideas. We all have the same pride for our country. We all want to help others. Age shouldn't be an issue. I was at the first 5 minutes of the first meeting and realized this was exactly where I belonged. The passion to help was amazing. It's such an inspirational group of fine young people! It's all about giving! The last couple of days have really been a whirlwind! Watching people support us by giving so much in a short amount of time! It brought us all to tears! "

The chairperson for this event is Scarlett Maria Meyer and she likes to throw a big birthday party with bands. Basically it is a great way for her friends to get together and raise awareness for local music. She added a major twist this year and wanted to turn her birthday bash into a fundraiser for The Patriot Guard Riders.  This organization is the group of volunteers that escort our fallen soldiers and their families to their resting places. They protect them peacefully from protesters while honoring the families privacy. The funds will be used for flags, scholarships for the children of fallen soldiers and the upkeep of the memorial wall.  So my friend Carol thought what they did was important and wanted to be a part of it. 

What I like about Carol is when I asked her about why she was involved she said that it was in her heart and she absolutely LOVED what she was doing.  She considers it an honor and a privilege to be involved.  The words that impacted me the most was her closing statement, "I am so blessed to be able to say, YES I made a difference!" 

Isn't that something? 

To donate to The Illinois Patriot Guard just click HERE.  It's that simple.  Maybe you can just donate a dollar or maybe $5 like me.  Whatever you can give I'm sure it'll be appreciated. 

 

Friday, December 31, 2010

Metal Sculptures at Meyers Auto Tech

We took the girlies car to Meyers Auto Tech and one of the cool things about them, besides the fact that they took great care of us, was the fact that they had these amazing little sculptures all over the place.  Take a peek and if you happen to stop by to take a look yourself be sure and tell them that Lisa from Adventures of an AFWingMom sent you.  They won't know who I am but it'll make me smile! haha!

14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

 

Pretty cool, huh?!!

Landed in Washington

We landed at the Tri-Cities Airport and the fun of surprising the girlies was underway.  Since the girlies were meeting me at the airport, ~M~ and I had a little bit of time to plan.  What we didn't plan on was the airline losing our luggage.  So we decided that I would stay with the rest of our luggage and ~M~ would go and hide in the rental van. 

The girlies arrive and we are standing at the ticket counter waiting to make a claim for the lost luggage.  I asked girlies to come with me to unload what luggage I did have so we didn't have to lug it around. 

Anna was the only one that wanted to go with me so we started walking towards the rental car area.  I went out the front entrance door instead and Anna said, "Mama, the cars are down there" as she pointed to the door at the far end of the airport.  I just "that's okay" and kept walking.  Then right outside the door I see our rental van and I started walking towards it and I told Anna that we could just use that one.  You would have thought I had started doing cartwheels down the tarmac or something.  She was saying, "Mama - you can't do that! You don't know who's car that is!"  Finally as I opened the back of the van she asked who had parked it there.  ~M~ pops up from the backseat and said, "I did!!"  hahahahaha!!!  Booo-yaaaa!!!  We surprised the rest of the girlies by ~M~ just walking up behind them after Anna and I returned to the ticket counter.

We had to stop by a mechanics place to get the girlies car looked at.  ~M~ called around and we decided to use Meyers Auto Tech and we're really glad we did.  They were so nice and professional and their shop was really neat and clean.  Plus they had these really cool sculptures all around...there's a pictorial blog coming up next. 

Then it was time to eat.  We went to Shang Hai (or possibly Shang Hi....not sure of the spelling) and on the way we passed this cool sign.

15

Once we arrived Anna was amazed at the giant spoon.

16

Here's my dinner....mmmm...yummy!

19

It's picture time!

18

17

Still amazed by the spoon...

IMG_2030

20

A fun time was had by all! 

Sunday, December 26, 2010

College Airplanes

So on our Quick Trip to Washington we flew to the Sea-Tac Airport and spotted the Boise State plane.

washington2 dec2010 004

Once on the plane I glanced through the complimentary Horizon Air Magazine November 2010 issue and on page 3 I found the article, "The Teaming Skies" which talked about the decorated planes.  It seems that about 3 years ago Horizon Air rolled out university themed planes and they created a lot of excitement. 

So be on the lookout - three more planes joined the existing five in November.  I think it's cool but it would be even cooler if they had a UT Texas Longhorn one!