Well, here I am back at work. Yay. Am still having trouble remembering what day it is. We had a very nice time in North Carolina this weekend. Was fun to spend time with family and friends, see a beautiful part of the country, and help celebrate Brian and Nassim's special day.
Getting there was a chore. I used frequent flier miles for my ticket, and I had originally booked the direct Northwest flight from Minneapolis to Raleigh/Durham, but in April they bumped me to stop in Detroit. Who knows why. How dare I actually use my miles. Well, I knew right away I was in for a day. When I got to the gate at the Minneapolis airport, they say they are waiting for the plane to arrive from the airport, as there were some mechanical problems. After awhile of that, they decided they were going to use another plane, so that showed up, etc... and by the time we actually took off the flight was 40 minutes late or so. Then, when we got to Detroit, there were storms passing over the airport, so we had to circle for awhile till we got to land, and by that time I had missed my connecting flight to NC. Fortunately there was another flight, but had to sit and wait for three hours.
Bill and Mom and come up to pick up Mike and Joni who were also arriving. They made it on time, but then stayed to wait for me. They went over to a nice new mall and hung out. I finally got there and we headed out to Beaufort. Distance-wise it's not terribly far, but there are no freeways that go out there, so you go through towns, have to stop at traffic lights, etc... We didn't get to the bed and breakfast till 10:30 or so. The others were there just chatting on the porch. They had had supper already.
The bed and breakfast was a great place for all of us to stay. It used to be a county house for poor people, and apparently was in bad shape, but the owners have done a wonderful job fixing it up. The rooms were so nice and comfortable.
Saturday then, the wedding as at 10:30, on the lawn behind the B and B. It was starting to get a mite warm. It was a short but enjoyable ceremony. They did this Persian custom of putting a veil over their heads and grating sugar on it, to symolize sweetness in the relationship. After that was picture taking time, then we all piled into cars and headed over to the boat where we took a reception cruise. That was most enjoyable. There was a nice breeze on the water that felt great in the heat. Had a nice time making our way through the waters around Beaufort, went by the town, etc... enjoyed good food. It was fun getting to know Nassim's family. They are all very nice. Nassim's mom even gave me a haircut.
When we got back, I took about a two hour nap. I was fairly tired. Others did the same, and when we got up we went to downtown Beaufort to look around for awhile. I saw a keyboard-type toy that lays flat on the floor, has big keys, makes a variety of sounds, that I ended getting for the kids.
Then for the evening we just hung out on the porch and had supper and played games. I played three games of chess, won one and lost two, both because I made horrible blunders and overlooked moves that did me in.
On Sunday, we got packed up, etc... watched some of Wimbledon. Roger Federer won handily. We left the B and B around 11:30 am, went to check on the photos, went to Macdonalds where it took awhile to get the food, then drove back to Fayetteville. Another long drive back because there are no direct fast freeways.
Sunday evening we spent hanging around Brian and Nassim's apartment. Went swimming and then went to eat at Olive Garden.
Monday morning Brian took some of us onto Ft. Bragg and showed us around. Besides the Special Forces operations, it is home to the 82nd Airborne Division.
Then, Mike and Joni's flight out was early afternoon so we took them up there, then headed over to that same mall for a bit, then Brian and Nassim dropped me off at the airport for my 5:30 flight. Which ended up leaving closer to 6. At least it was a direct flight back to MSP.
Rhonda picked me up and voila, I was home again. John and Hanna (and Ellie) were excited to see me. Rhonda said John was affected a bit by my being away. He wasn't quite his usual self, perhaps didn't know how to express himself over my being gone.
But they had fun. They went to the lake, which John just loves. He was in the water two hours Rhonda said. They also some fireworks. I asked John about it, and he said "pop pop pop!" Then he said "sometimes, make scared..." Some of the louder ones scared him and he wanted to go in the house.
So, a very nice time. Now have to get back in the swing of things at work.
Getting there was a chore. I used frequent flier miles for my ticket, and I had originally booked the direct Northwest flight from Minneapolis to Raleigh/Durham, but in April they bumped me to stop in Detroit. Who knows why. How dare I actually use my miles. Well, I knew right away I was in for a day. When I got to the gate at the Minneapolis airport, they say they are waiting for the plane to arrive from the airport, as there were some mechanical problems. After awhile of that, they decided they were going to use another plane, so that showed up, etc... and by the time we actually took off the flight was 40 minutes late or so. Then, when we got to Detroit, there were storms passing over the airport, so we had to circle for awhile till we got to land, and by that time I had missed my connecting flight to NC. Fortunately there was another flight, but had to sit and wait for three hours.
Bill and Mom and come up to pick up Mike and Joni who were also arriving. They made it on time, but then stayed to wait for me. They went over to a nice new mall and hung out. I finally got there and we headed out to Beaufort. Distance-wise it's not terribly far, but there are no freeways that go out there, so you go through towns, have to stop at traffic lights, etc... We didn't get to the bed and breakfast till 10:30 or so. The others were there just chatting on the porch. They had had supper already.
The bed and breakfast was a great place for all of us to stay. It used to be a county house for poor people, and apparently was in bad shape, but the owners have done a wonderful job fixing it up. The rooms were so nice and comfortable.
Saturday then, the wedding as at 10:30, on the lawn behind the B and B. It was starting to get a mite warm. It was a short but enjoyable ceremony. They did this Persian custom of putting a veil over their heads and grating sugar on it, to symolize sweetness in the relationship. After that was picture taking time, then we all piled into cars and headed over to the boat where we took a reception cruise. That was most enjoyable. There was a nice breeze on the water that felt great in the heat. Had a nice time making our way through the waters around Beaufort, went by the town, etc... enjoyed good food. It was fun getting to know Nassim's family. They are all very nice. Nassim's mom even gave me a haircut.
When we got back, I took about a two hour nap. I was fairly tired. Others did the same, and when we got up we went to downtown Beaufort to look around for awhile. I saw a keyboard-type toy that lays flat on the floor, has big keys, makes a variety of sounds, that I ended getting for the kids.
Then for the evening we just hung out on the porch and had supper and played games. I played three games of chess, won one and lost two, both because I made horrible blunders and overlooked moves that did me in.
On Sunday, we got packed up, etc... watched some of Wimbledon. Roger Federer won handily. We left the B and B around 11:30 am, went to check on the photos, went to Macdonalds where it took awhile to get the food, then drove back to Fayetteville. Another long drive back because there are no direct fast freeways.
Sunday evening we spent hanging around Brian and Nassim's apartment. Went swimming and then went to eat at Olive Garden.
Monday morning Brian took some of us onto Ft. Bragg and showed us around. Besides the Special Forces operations, it is home to the 82nd Airborne Division.
Then, Mike and Joni's flight out was early afternoon so we took them up there, then headed over to that same mall for a bit, then Brian and Nassim dropped me off at the airport for my 5:30 flight. Which ended up leaving closer to 6. At least it was a direct flight back to MSP.
Rhonda picked me up and voila, I was home again. John and Hanna (and Ellie) were excited to see me. Rhonda said John was affected a bit by my being away. He wasn't quite his usual self, perhaps didn't know how to express himself over my being gone.
But they had fun. They went to the lake, which John just loves. He was in the water two hours Rhonda said. They also some fireworks. I asked John about it, and he said "pop pop pop!" Then he said "sometimes, make scared..." Some of the louder ones scared him and he wanted to go in the house.
So, a very nice time. Now have to get back in the swing of things at work.
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