The Windy City

We returned on the 12th from a trip to Chicago. Dave had to go for work to the International Machine & Tool Show (IMTS). It was huge, and there were lots of very cool things there. The coolest thing there I thought, were the machines that cut stone with water. They were cutting out these tiny little motorcycles from a big slab of rock. Very cool.
Chicago is a big ol' city! And yes, it was windy. It rained some while we were there, but not too bad. We ate at a place called the Cheesecake Factory. The food was great and the cheesecake was even better. We did some walking around Michigan Avenue and checked out some stores that I'm sure we will never see in Asheville.
Below is a picture of some of the food we ate the night we went to China Town for dinner. I didn't taste it all (most was pork-related) but the stuff I did try was very good. We tried some steamed bread, which we had never had before and it was quite tasty. We definitely didn't go away hungry. After dinner, we went into a little shop across from the restaurant and I found a very nice wall-hanging for my living room.
Altogether, our trip was a good one, though it wore me out. I slept for 14 hours straight when we got home! I think we'll be home for a while now....until Thanksgiving, when we head for Florida! -Rachael

Baby Oliver

Maggie's baby was due on October 8. She called me at 9am Wednesday morning and said they were on their way to the hospital!! I got a quick shower, jumped in the Jeep, picked up Mom and we zoomed to Greensboro. We got there just after the baby was born!
Maggie was tired, but very happy. The baby came pretty quick and he is healthy and adorable! They named him Oliver Lucian. He was 5lb 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
Isn't he cute?
I got to hold him! He's so tiny.

Our Vacation

We took a vacation to Charleston! It was a nice leisurely week and we enjoyed it. Even though we were threatened with Hurricane Ernesto while there, it ended up missing us and all we got was a little rain and some cool stuff washed up onto the beach. This is me hugging a really old cypress tree at the Audubon Swamp Garden. The tree was huge and very, very tall. The boardwalk goes 1.5 miles around through the swamp. We saw lots of cool things, including one alligator and about a hundred turtles!
Here is Dave inside a cypress tree. The sign said bats like to live in ones like this. It was hollow all the way up! There were no bats in this one though...
Here we are on the beach! Dave is always finding new and interesting ways to take pictures of us!
These are 3 of the shells I found on the beach the morning after Ernesto passed by. I put the water bottle there so you could see the size of the shells. I couldn't believe we found ones this size still intact!