Grove Park Inn

Some pics we took when we went to the Grove Park Inn to see the gingerbread houses.

Carlsons St. Louis Report

Thanksgiving with the Carlsons

How Dave Rakes the Leaves...

Visit to Maggie's, November

Avon Walk(ed) for Breast Cancer!

Well, the only camera I took was my phone...was trying to limit the weight I carried. Here are the pics I took...and maybe Dave can get his pics on here later.
OK...going in order from top left: Pic 1 is the view from our room at the Westin (Aunt Sandy went with me!). We were on the 14th floor.
Pic 2: Saturday morning...roughly 4:30am...took a pic of myself in the mirror all dressed to walk
Pic 3: Big canvas pillar at the starting point. Each section was for a different walk (Los Angeles, Boston, New York, etc...) Each section was signed all over by the walkers for that city!
Pic 4: My signature on the Charlotte section!!
Pic 5: Finished the first mile! Woohoo! I walked 21 miles on Saturday!
Pic 6: Cow guy...he was a hoot! One of many interesting characters that showed up along the route to cheer us on. We never walked a mile without encouragment from people like him!
Pic 7: Lunch on Sunday. I was actually nearer to the front of the "pack" on Sunday, so I got to watch a lot of people trickle in for their lunch. That was at 7.6 miles.
Pic 8: Thought this was clever...It says "Ricky Boobie Racing". This was at one of the rest stops.
Pic 9: Here I am at mile 12 of day two- one mile from the finish line!!! Somehow I managed a sort-of smile through the pain (my feet were hurting pretty bad at this point from being walked on and from the 10 blisters I was feeling.) Even so, knowing I was on the last mile somehow made me walk a little faster. We started at 7:30 on Sunday and I crossed the finish line a little before 1:00pm. Dave, Mom & Dale and Aunt Sandy were all there to meet me! I decided not to stay for closing ceremony, since it wasn't until 3:00, so we set off for home. We stopped at a Ham's somewhere along the way for some dinner. It was very good! My hips and knees were objecting to any form of movement for the rest of the night! At home I got a hot shower, doctored my feet and put them up for a while before bed. Dave was very helpful and supportive all evening! I slept great! This morning my knees and hips feel better. My blisters don't hurt too much anymore...my muscles are pretty sore, but I'm feeling good! I walked 34 miles in two days!!! WOOHOO!!

A Good Day

Well, I walked 21 miles today. I got to see some of Charlotte city and some of the surrounding neighborhoods. We walked by some HUGE and very nice houses. People were very encouraging! They waved, honked their horns...people in the neighborhoods came outside to greet us as we passed. Some even had little tables set up with snacks for us. Whole families stood outside offering food and encouragement. At one house there were four small children handing out Dixie cups of grape kool-aid! It was quite a pick-me-up for a tired walker!
There were also "cheering stations" along the way where people gathered to cheer us on. Quite a few of them were dressed in costumes or other silly outfits. The people running the rest stops dressed up too- each had a theme! Some that I remember are: Hawaiian, Hippies, Cowboys, The Eighties (including "Richard Simmons"!)...it gave us something to look forward to as we trekked on.
Now, the full length for today was 26 miles, but my feet would not carry me past 21. I feel good about it. I did end up with a couple small blisters, but I will doctor those so I can walk some more tomorrow. Tomorrow is 13 miles...and I am assured by the "seasoned" walkers that tomorrow will seem quick and easy compared to today! I hope they're right!

Classy Cheeseburgers

Here we are watching the Discovery Channel. There's a show on called "Most Unique McDonalds". Imagine our surprise when up pops a picture of Biltmore Village in Asheville!! They called that McDonald's the "classiest McDonald's in the world". Come visit us- we'll take you there! Ha ha ha

A Birthday Surprise!

Me and Dave rode up to Michigan last weekend with Mom and Dale to be a part of surprising Grandma Florence for her 80th birthday! The drive wasn't too bad. This is the cake they got for her.

Here is Mom with all her siblings! They were all trying to remember the last time they had been all together, and I think they came up with close to 30 years! Front Row: Carl, Cheryl, Diane and Ray Back Row: Linda and Valerie.

Grandma Florence was shocked to see everyone there! She kept saying how surprised she was! Yay!

We stopped by to see her apartment as we left. It's a cute little place! Here is me, Grandma and Mom.

Cousin Kolbie

A couple weeks ago, Greg & Kristen came for a visit to NC so everyone could meet their newest addition, Kolbie. She's a cutie! (And I'm a bad photographer) She was around 2 months old.

Here are Uncle Greg and Mackenzie playing. Mackenzie is two now! She's a lot of fun...and she loved Dave's mac & cheese!

They brought their Wii with them and we all took turns playing. Here are Greg, Gramma, Ben and Kristen trying some carnival games.

Three Generations

Here I am with Grandma Florence and Mom. Three generations!

A New Nephew!

This is little Wyatt Oscar Walkup- the newest addition to my sister Maggie's family. He was born August 11 at 1:43am(!) and measured 19.5 inches and 7lb 9oz at birth.

Here is me, "Aunt Rachael", holding little Wyatt. He is just about 8 hours old there.

The happy family.... Wyatt, Bob, Maggie and Oliver.

Spic'N'Span and Up For Sale

Our house is now officially for sale! We did some major cleaning last Thursday and took some pretty pictures for our listing...and maybe to prove that it actually was that clean at least once! Now to KEEP it that way....

Thinking Pink

Hooray!! Today I have officially reached HALF of my fund-raising goal for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer I'm doing in October!! I need $1800 altogether, and as of today, donations have reached $901!!! Thanks so much everyone!!!

Pink-ish

Dave brought me flowers again yesterday! They are these beautiful lillies...white and pink-ish. They have a very strong smell...good thing they smell good! These are the only 2 that are open right now, but there are several more that should be opening up over the next few days. I like the way the petals twist around...makes me think of a starfish.

Gaffney for the Fourth

It had been tradition for Harrimans to gather in Gaffney for July 4th. We missed a couple years of that, but this year it happened again and it was great! Good company, good weather and GOOD food!! It was nice to have a few days to relax and visit with people we don't get to see often.

The girls took on the task of tie-dying some shirts (and socks!) while the guys were working on the deck. We mixed the colors, rubber-banded and decorated. I must say, we're a pretty creative bunch! After all the shirts were dyed, we wrapped them in saran wrap and let them sit for a few hours to let the dye get good and set. Then we washed and dried them. They all turned out SO PRETTY!! (Or manly, as the case may be...tee hee)

Fourth of July Weekend

Here are the guys working on the porch. Matt and Uncle Gary had already been working on it for a few days, and the rest of the guys helped out once they got there. Dave enjoyed helping with it too. They worked until well after dark on Thursday night- it's shaping up to be a beautiful deck!

And here is the reason for the new deck! Uncle Gary and April decided to put in a pool. It's a nice one! It's 28 feet across (I think...) and it was about 4.5 feet deep around the edges to almost feet deep in the middle. We all enjoyed it during those hot SC summer days!

More pics from Florida...

Dave's Boat Ride

Dave, Lisa, Dad (Carlson) and Jordan went out for a 3 hour ride on a boat in the gulf one day while we were in FL. Here are some of the pics he took.

St. George Island Vacation

This is the St.George Island Lighthouse. This morning we walked down past it and back for some exercise. The weather has been pretty nice and not TOO hot. We've been in the pool a few times, down to the beach (just across the street), and into the town of Apalachicola for dinner and shopping.
This is the house we've been staying in. It's a nice one! We are staying on the bottom floor, which is still a story above the ground. It's for sale!!
A St.George Island sunset. Isn't it beautiful? We get to see 3 or 4 more of these before we come home.

Not Your Average Cupcakes...

I went to Sarah's yesterday, and she had some frosting left over from her cake class on Monday, so we made up a batch of cupcakes and decorated them all fancy...well....we decorated them anyway. We each made a clown....I did Spiderman, a cat, a garden, some spaghetti and meatballs, a carrot and a couple aliens. Sarah did a lion, a piggy, a puppy and a froggy. They turned out really well I thought, and we had a lot of fun doing them.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, we rounded up Mom, Dale, Sarah, Greg and Delilah and headed into Asheville for the Mother's Day Greek Luncheon put on by the Greek Orthodox Church. You can see a picture there of the new sanctuary they've built. We went inside and it was gorgeous! The brick building behind is where we went to eat. The food was superb as usual! We also enjoyed the Greek dancing- they did a little more performing than last year. It was beautiful weather too, so what a fun day!

Cookout

Our friends Larry and Christy invited us to their cookout on Saturday. It was a great day at lake Julian. Lots of sailboats out on the lake. Looks like fun. They must have been having races. They had buoys set up and kept blowing horns. This one guy kept tipping his over. I think it was mostly for fun. It was gusty. Larry threw some turkey burgers and dogs on the grill. We also had chips, beans, and salad. It was good. We rented a paddle boat and took a lap around the lake. We kind of put ourselves right in the middle of the action at one time, as you can see in that picture of the sailboat headed right for us. We went to their condo and had some cake afterwards. Which they might have sold today. You can stay with us until you find your new home. Maybe Randy can make it next time.