Delicioso!

We had a nice surprise today when Alyssa found out that she didn't have to work due to the inclement weather this morning. Now looking at the weather, I bet the water park is open at Dorney and she could have worked....it's beautiful out!! We went out and did some grocery shopping, clothes shopping and ate at a fantastic new little Mexican restaurant.

After we were seated they brought us a plate of homemade tortilla chips with delicious homemade salsa. Their menu is quite extensive, from appetizers to salads and soups to multiple entrees. We chose from the lunch selections on the back of the menu. We were both very impressed with our entrees. I would highly recommend the place to anyone.

As an added bonus, just as we were finishing, in walked Alyssa's old Spanish teacher from high school! We had a nice conversation...it was neat having the chance for Alyssa to catch up with her!

Chimichanga

Mexican Trio

Ha Ha Helium

Tidbits

Our newly paved driveway (if you look at the previous post with the pics of Adam on the driveway, you'll notice the huge difference!!)

Alyssa had just given the cats fresh water; don't they look like they are in line!?!? (Somehow Frodo always butts in line first...LOL!)

He's Off to Camp

Heading to the car

Walking down the driveway

Forgot something

Must we?!?!

OK, let's get it over with

Packed & ready to go

And

he's

OFF!!

AWESOME

Nicole C. Mullen is sooooo awesome! She brought many of us to tears with her music! I had to fight back the urge to buy one of her music CD's. I decided I might be able to find it cheaper on line.

OCM Boy

I'll be attempting to upload a few videos from the Women of Faith Conference we attended this past weekend. If you don't watch any others, you should check this one out. One of the performers, Nicole C. Mullen, who is fantastic by the way, has a group of kids that dance with her. Their group is called Team NCM. One of the kids in the group is her nephew and they told us that when he was four years old he was the child who sang the Oscar Mayer weiner jingle. They called him up on stage and he sang it for us....you judge the rest...LOL!!

WOF 3

Natalie Grant and her twin little girls with their little pink ear muffs to protect their ears from the loud music

More of the same (enlarge the pic to see the little ones)

Me and Alyssa

Marilyn Meberg

Alyssa & Holly

WOF 2

Neat pic of the Izod Center with the clouds in background

Holly & Alyssa

Ditto

Us minus me on Friday evening

Us plus me with some eyes closed...LOL!!

Nicole Johnson

Natalie Grant

Patsy Clairmont

Anita Renfroe

Sandi Patty

Nicole C. Mullen

What Else?!?!?!

What else can we expect from our weekend at Women of Faith?!!?


#1- There was a little incident last evening with a blocked toilet in a certain someone's room. There was an attempt made at unblocking it, but in the process, the toilet overflowed. As a result, their room had to be changed. This is the hotel, remember, that is regularly like $200 per night, that they gave us for $45/night....and now we've broken one toilet and created a flood!!

#2- You know how we went to Charlie Brown's last night for late night appetizers??? Well, one woman chose to have this tuna appetizer that was served rare. (Yes, I know that's how you are supposed to eat tuna...) Well, not sure if it was from that or not, but she began vomiting about 1 a.m. this morning and once the vomiting stopped after several hours, the diarrhea began. She didn't make it to any of the sessions today, and we stopped on our way home this evening (at 10:30 p.m....thank goodness we found the Walgreens and they are open 24 hours...LOL!!) to get her Immodium. We're all hoping that she is better by morning so she can join us for at least part of the conference.

#3- Getting back to that Walgreens' run late this evening.....I asked one of the security guards at the Izod Center as we were leaving if he knew where there was a drug store we could get medications (figured I didn't need to go into detail...LOL!!). Well, wouldn't you know it, the Walgreens was down the street from the Charlie Brown's we ate at last night and tonight! So with me serving as navigator for Nancy (and believe me, she needs one...LOL!!), we drove what seemed like forever past the restaurant. We eventually came to a back up of cars, noticing a road sign in the middle of the street, which as we got closer, said NO TURNS, PROCEED TO THE CHECKPOINT!! Here we were in the middle of a DUI checkpoint! Well, that wouldn't be such a big deal, except we had EIGHT people in a seven passenger minivan!! Well, you should have heard eight women talking at once, trying to figure out what the heck to do!! Our eighth person, fortunately, was petite, so she squatted in between the two captain's chairs in the middle row, as if there was a seat there! We nervously approached the police officer with his flashlight.....he looked inside, handed us a placard and explained that they were doing a DUI enforcement! I guess he took one look at us and figured there was no way we were drunk!! It was then that Nancy proceeded to ask him if he knew where the Walgreens was?!?!!?!? He affirmed we were headed in the right direction and allowed us to move ahead. Now, guess, which way we had to come home??? Right thru the DUI check point, but from the opposite direction!! We waved to the officer and showed him our placard...he said we only get one per night, and could move on!!

#4- Hmmm...what's next?!?!?!

Late Night With Charlie

After we checked into the hotel, we headed over to Charlie Brown's...about 10 pm! We all had appetizers and I got to try my first mojito...it was Thursday night $2 mojito night. I had a pomegranate one....very refreshing!! Alyssa had a virgin pina colada...at least we think it was virgin!! Holly got the salad bar, but the waiter was kind enough to let her know that it was closing soon, so she went up and got all the salad she wanted. We had to tease her that she looked like quite the wootz!!

WOF 1

We're at a beautiful Marriott Residence Inn in NJ. We are here for the Women of Faith Conference this weekend. I had reserved two suites and one studio, both of which are VERY expensive! Like $200 per night expensive!! I got a call from the general manager earlier this week asking if we might consider changing rooms and not having the suites. I told her as long as we had somewhere to lay our heads, we really didn't care where we were! Apparently, there is a family staying here whose house was hit by lightning and they haven't found alternate housing, thus are still here and using the suites. As it turns out, we ended up with two rooms with a king size bed and two studios that also have a king size bed. All of the rooms have a comfy sofa bed (as comfy as you can get on a sofa bed...LOL!!) The manager gave us each room for $45 per night for our inconvenience!! You can't beat that with a stick!!!! So instead of $200 per night, they are a quarter of that price! These rooms are gorgeous...it's a new hotel, the kitchen has a dishwasher, electric stove, refrigerator....and little rubber ducky to take a bath with!!

Squirrel Bait

Not sure if I have to give this squirrel an alias or not...he lives with Martha and Fernando.....

Fluffiness

MG

Here's proof for Adam that I took my new creation to the office. I have gotten quite a few positive comments on it, too! I do need to make a correction for Adam....he did not solder it, as I previously mentioned. It was welded! Oops...sorry!

Highway Robbery

Both kids need uniforms for their summer jobs. As you know, Alyssa is working at Dorney Park. Adam has a job at Camp Minsi for five of their eight weeks of Boy Scout summer camp. He is working in the dining hall. Dorney supplies the uniforms and the cost of them comes out of Alyssa's first two paychecks. Adam had to purchase two pair of shorts at the scout store and will need to get two t-shirts at Camp Minsi when he gets there for his staff training week, which begins this coming Sunday.

Alyssa's shorts cost her $10 (and shirt is $12.50), while each pair of Adam's shorts cost a mere $39.99! That is outrageous!! They did give him $10 off each pair, since he is going to be working at camp, but even $30 per pair is crazy! And it's not like he'll even wear them again after camp is over, as they are kinda dorky for teenagers. Alyssa ends up with a whole outfit for about the same price as just his shorts! Ridiculous!!

Part of the problem may be that his shorts are made in the USA...not sure where Alyssa's come from.

'Til Adam would pay for both pairs of shorts and t-shirts, he wouldn't have a pay check the first week, so guess his uniforms come out of OUR paycheck! I hope their profit on these shorts go towards something for the kids!

We Have A Job!

Alyssa's applied for a number of jobs since she got home from school last month, but no one contacted her for an interview. Knowing quite a few kids from church who have worked at Dorney, she felt fairly confident that if she applied there, she would not only be called for an interview, but also be hired. She had her interview a week ago, and had her training session today. She begins tomorrow! She'll be working in the Merchandising Dep't, which means she'll mainly work in gift shops. She asked for that as opposed to being a ride attendant, as she doesn't do well in the heat, and tends to get headaches from being out in the heat too long.

Awesome!

Adam soldered this together today. I believe he meant for it to be for Kurt (he loves british sports cars, especially MG's), but I teasingly thanked Adam for making it for me (my initials), and was it ok if I took it to work to put on my desk. Adam went along with me, but til it was all said and done, I believe Adam did give it to me, because he decided to make something different for Kurt. Didn't he do a neat job?

Skies

I took these pics on my way home from work today, just prior to the thunderstorms, which cooled things down...finally!!

( Proof that I take my pics while driving and live to tell about it...LOL!!)