Doug's Adventures in the Smoky Mountains with the Navigators

Doug spent two months in Gatlinburg TN this summer working at Dollywood and studying with the Navigators.  He had lots of financial and prayer support from friends and family.  It was an awesome experience and he came home more mature and more considerate of others. Here are some pictures that capture some of his experiences.  To all of you who helped, thank you so much!

Doug doing a skit at Nav night.

The Whole BAMAGroup

Doug' shared a room with three other fellows

Doug and BAMA friends.

Alas, we have no pictures of his Dollywood uniform, a bright green shirt, shorts and hat!

He enjoyed his job of directing parking and being the voice of the tram transporting guests into the park.

New School Year-Doug's last

I thought I had posted this, but it went to draft. Love the pictures so I posted it two years later!

Doug is dancing with the Dazzlers at Spain Park! School starts on Aug 12th here and I have been very, very busy getting ready. Last week was registration and this week we are doing a breakfast for the new teachers. I know that the next nine months will go by way too fast. I'm praying that we'll take the time to enjoy every minute. The picture on the left is from first grade.  Who knew what a handsome fellow he would grow up to be.

We are going to U. of Alabama to tour the campus on Friday, we went to UWF, my old alma mater back in May. It is so exciting to see him begin this journey into what his life will become.

Stormy Weather

We are having severe thunderstorms in AL this afternoon.  The thunder is shaking the house.  It surprises me that this house shakes.  Brick all over, but the frame is still wood and you can definitely tell it when the thunder rolls. 

One of my childhood friends' Mother is not doing well.  She has had a long, good life, but it is probably close to over.  She is such a sweet, caring woman.  We use to go to her house after Jr High School and watch Dark Shadows.  She would give us cookies and let us lay on the floor.  She was my mother's great friend.  I know they will have a delightful reunion in heaven soon. 

Doug has been gone since June 4th.  We've talked on the phone and I've seen some facebook pictures of him hiking, but I sure miss him.  He is having a blast and probably doesn't even want to come home.  His apartment at Bama is ready and he will move in there around Aug 8th.

I wish that somehow Dad's shingles could go away.  He has had them since June 15th 2010.  He takes so much medication that he wouldn't need if the pain would just stop.  The doctors (he has seen five) don't give any hope that it will go away.  Most people have shingles for a few weeks or even a couple of months.  Not my sweet Dad.  It makes me very angry that he has to have so much pain every day from something as stupid as chicken pox virus.

The whole political scene is heating up.  Hard to understand why everything has to be so  complicated. Romney is ahead in the polls now on the GOP side. It will be interesting to see who wins. 

Another Great Heen Adventure!

Bruce, Doug and I went to NYC on Wed. June 11th for five days.  Had a wonderful time and saw everything!  Our hotel was on 40th between 8th and 9th Avenue so we could walk to almost everywhere. Got tickets to "Wicked" and "Lion King", had hot dogs in Central Park, checked out the museums and Rockefeller Center, went to the Empire State Building at night, saw the Boston Red Sox Beat the Yankees in the new Yankee stadium, walked Broadway every night and turned my poor feet into nubs!! Below are some of the highlights.

Stardust Diner.  All of the wait staff are entertainers and delightfully talented.

Lion King Costumes were unbelieveable.

Wicked proved to be the most entertaining show!

They have this thing at Yankee Stadium called in-seat service.  You can sit in your seat and someone takes your order for cokes/beer/popcorn/whatever.  Bruce caught up on his beer quota.

We highly recommend NYC in May!!

Bucket List Update

Bruce and I decided that seeing Jimmy Buffett again was definitely on our bucket list.  I called our Jax friends since we went with them to see him the last time he was in Jax.  I'll never forget when Les said, "we've got tickets and we're going to West Palm Beach!" We immediately knew we wanted to "be there, down by the sea there".  Booked a plane and a hotel room and away we went.  The weather was perfect! Warm, but not too hot, breezy with blue skies.  Went to a great restaurant, Guanabuana's, courtesy of our tour guide who definitely knows her way around.  Sat. we toured the beach and got ready for the tailgating.  Got to the amphitheatre at 4:00, Buffett didn't start til  8:30 so we were feeling great.  So many crazy people! Here are some of the highlights.



Guanabuana's (probably not spelled right)



Tailgating



Huge crazy crowd!



The FLoraBama after 30 years

Bruce and I went with some friends to Orange Beach last weekend and had a blast at the FloraBama. I hadn't been there since the late 70's and it has certainly changed.  I guess being wiped out by a hurricane or two will do that.  We stayed at Perdido Key Resort, had a beautiful view and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

Winter Weather

So cold today.  Last Saturday was beautiful, 60 degrees and sunshine.  Bruce and I went to Flip burger and sat on the patio to look out over the valley that is East Bham.  Wonderful!  Today the high is 38 and rain is coming in tomorrow.  All the folks in the midwest are snowed under! 

Have you noticed that you can go from blog to blog and see all manner of different things.  A lot of family pictures, some very crafty folk, one fellow who like to run and became a vegan.  All around the world going from blog to blog.  People are the same all over, love to hear themselves talk!

Bruce and Doug are going to North Dakota next week, hope to have some great pictures of hockey games and the old Alma Mater.  Bruce is e-mailing back and forth to get his old gang together.  Would love to be a fly on the wall for those stories.  Doug is being a great sport about the trip and is looking forward to lots of good UND hockey.

I'm going to visit San Antonio later this month.  Hoping that the weather there is WARMER! Can't wait to see Terri and Pat.

2011 Already

So hard to believe it is 2011.  Ten years since 9/11/2001, seems like yesterday.  Doug is back at Bama, Dad is home in FWB.  Dad still struggles with the shingles, we keep hoping it will go away completely.

Bruce is working hard at year-end closeout.  Working seven days a week gets to you quickly.

I had a stomach virus right after Christmas that was pretty bad.  Still have lingering effects three weeks later. 

We went to see our GA family and had a great time. All the kids have grown up.

All the rhetoric about the Arizona shootings is so disturbing.  It is a tragedy that crazy people do things like that.  Lives are lost and people are injured.  It is terrible.  Why can't we put blame on the person who did this and not try to make it a media event? Why does every terrible thing have to be policital? Makes me sick! I have two thirty year old friends who have just found out their fathers have lung cancer, (different families).  Should we turn this into some kind of political blame game too?  Terrible things happen, the end.