Happy Birthday Haley!

Today was little Haley's birthday party and it was SOOO wonderful seeing everyone. I can't beLIEVE how much the kids have all grown. The last time I saw Haley, she was just an infant and Kim's 3 have GROWN! Ian is the spittin' image of his Mama...sorry Randy! HA Carol's two are beautiful as are the rest.

Lauren and Alex surprised me the most...Lauren has BRACES and has grown 2 feet and is more beautiful than the last time I saw her and Alex is just too pretty to be a boy....his eyes are so pretty!

Alot of other people took better pictures than I did because I talked alot, so if you took pics...add a comment on the bottom of this entry with your web site so we can all see!

Randy- thanks for telling me that you read my blog...that makes 3 whole people...and I am humbled! hee

For those family who want to see his...go to http://www.jillandrandy.com/

I'll post more soon, I wanted to get these on here and Courtney is pestering me to death to get on the puter, so let me go.

Ashley, as one of my faithful readers...be careful and please don't fall off the boat.

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN EMAILING HER...SHE DOES GET EMAIL ON HER SHIP, EMAIL HER AT Ashley.L.Arnold@uscg.mil (don't forget to put periods between her fist, middle initial and last name). She would welcome any and all email!!!

More soon-

Joan

Ashley Update!

Ash just called, she was at a family party on the ship (I think) and seemed to be having her usual blast! I even talked to one of her buddy's, Patrick.
It seems they are leaving out next Sunday, Aug. 31. She was told she is the "Frisker" for when they do their arresting on the high seas! She said she was VERY good at it! Bah-haaaaaaaa...that's my girl! Her other job is to assist in tieing the helo down when it lands on the boat. I told her to PLEASE be careful because this is hurricane season and I didn't want her blown overboard. She said not to worry because she would be wearing her life vest and helmet. Now THAT was comforting!
She is doing great! She is off work for starting Sunday for 6 days and said she may ride to Myrtle Beach with some of her friends. I told her if she did, to CALL US and we could meet her for a day of something. She also gets off for 6 days when they come back into port and she wants to come home then. This long of a liberty was totally unexpected...she thought she only got liberty either before or after they leave, not both. Isn't the Coast Guard thoughtful!
That's all my news for the day! Courtney has gone to the high school Jamboree football game, Britt is with Peeeeeej and Mike has gone to Guadalajara. I'm home with the boys fixing to go to bed because I gotta work this weekend.
Have fun!
Joan

HELLO???!

Well, after a lengthy talk with Dad, it appears I am the sole reader of my own blog. I thought Dad was reading it and when I asked him something about an earlier post, he said, "Post?" "Don't you mean picture?" He thought this whole time, I was adding pictures to my web ALBUM, Dad, not B-L-O-G. There is a difference. I suspect Darrell in California MAY be reading it, but who knows. Maybe he thinks it's my picture album too.
So, I'll continue to bore myself.
I actually don't have any pics to add to this...with Ashley gone, Britt in college, working and seeing P.J. and Court in school and practicing with the band now, that leaves me and the dogs. AND Mike.
Maybe I'll go to Wal-Mart today. I need a mop bucket and Mike's Grandma Terry wants to go with me. I'll take my camera and sneak a pic of her shopping! YEAH!
Lone Joan (hee)

American Idol 2008 Audition

We're back! OMGEEEEE....what a trip! Courtney and I left Sunday afternoon at around 4pm and got down to Dee and Robins around 9pm and was worn OUT! We had to be up at 3am so we could go get in line at the arena in Jacksonville as early as possible..that was fun! Actually it was! We met alot of really nice people. We had our wrist band and tickets for Wednesday's audition by 8am so we had the rest of the day to...sleep!

So, the next day, Dee and Robin took us to this really neat restaurant in downtown Jacksonville on the river...the James River.

The food was great and it wasn't even hot there! The waiter asked us if we wanted to eat "Al Fresco"...No, I told him, I wanted a cheeseburger! BAH-HAAA...I didn't know that meant eating outside! Why don't they just call it that..."Wanna eat out yonder by the river?" Makes alot more sense to me! Who's Al Fresco anyways?

So, I then took Dee, Robin and Courtney's picture by the river. There was supposedly some dolphins in there, but I think the waiter only said that. Who ever heard of Dolphins in a river. Geeeze.

So, then the next morning, it was back up at 3am to head back to the arena to get back in a LONG line to get back inside. And BOY did it rain...we were absolutely DRENCHED by the time they opened the doors.

So, first we had to dump all our food we brought out into the dumpster. We couldn't take it inside. We had like, Oreo's, cookies and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. GOOD stuff. Then we went inside and found out seats and people started filling up the stands.

The arena never filled up...wasn't even half full, but we sure was a rowdy bunch! They had a guy down on the arena floor getting everyone all roused up and singing and dancing and hollering.

THEN, Ryan Seacrest came out there and they filmed some scenes all round.

Then after about 2 hours of all that, the auditions began. We had gotten our tickets and arm bands early Monday, so Court was one of the first 500 or so to audition out of 6000.

Court did real good. She sang the Bee Gee's "Words" and even tho she wasn't chosen, she was told that she did great, but didn't meet the needs of the show. They had to get in rows of 4 people and step up to the producers table and sing about 30 seconds of a song...one at a time. This is her in the line. There were some REALLY great singers there...REAL good that didn't make it. From what we saw, they were mostly letting thru guys and black females. There were alot of "weirdos" they let thru, like this guy who dressed like James Brown and a girl in full fire-fighter uniform. We were reminded at the beginning of the audition that it was a TV show and they had a certain critera they were needing to fill and that's who would get thru. Vocal abilities had little to do with it. OH well...their loss!

Court was disappointed, but not for long. A LOT of very talented people didn't thru and she saw that and that made her feel better.

Now it's back to reality! She still has alot to look forward to, including being in a band singing her favorite country music and going to Hiawassee, Georgia in October to sing. The band is SOOO excited to have her and they can't wait to have her join them. They're a traditional country music band and they are great. The pianoist is fantastic as is the steel guitarist. I'll tell ya'll alot more about that as I find out.

Well, I'm off to bed and up to work in the morning. OH...today is Ashley's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!! The Officers on the ship woke her up this morning singing to her, then the whole ship sang to her and another boy's whose birthday was also today, Happy Birthday! She celebrated by sanding all day on the ship, then going to Virginia Beach and playing Volleyball. What a life. If you're reading this, Ash, CALL ME!

Joan

Smooth Sailing and Calm Waters, Ashley!

We all went out to the Tadpole for Ashley's going away dinner last night at the Tadpole in Greer! and it was good!

I also wanted to say that my freaking computer's hard drive went out on me yesterday morning at 6:22am' and I ain't been right since. It was 71/2 years old and contained SO much...sniff sniff. Thankfully...THANKFULLY...THANKFULLY...I had all of my pictures off and stored on my web album and everything else can be replaced if needed. Courtney's bio was on it, but that can be rewritten. I'm still kinda twitchy. I went on Dell and ordered a new system. It's great and comes with a 20" flat screen with built in webcam and mic. NOW we're talking!!!

Then, this morning, we had to take Ashley to the airport for her flight to Norfolk to head to her ship in Portsmouth. I hate airports...well...half the time I hate them and the other half, I love them, depending on who's coming or going. Today wasn't NEARLY as awful as when she left for basic training. She has communication now. She took her laptop, but while getting her baggage checked at the x-ray machine, changed her mind. She had SOOOO much stuff crammed in her seabag, suit bag, carry on bag, hat box, orders envelope, purse and her hat she was wearing, she couldn't manage the laptop too. So, we brought it back home and will mail it to her when she wants us to.

There were no tears this time. She was SOOOOOO excited to go! Either we bored her to tears while she was home, or she was truely excited to get there. That's her at 6am this morning headed out the door.

So now, it's back to semi-normal....at least until Sunday when I drive Courtney to Florida to audition for American Idol. Now, That's going to be some trip! I'll keep everyone posted!

I'm on Britt's laptop now and it's hard to type...smaller keyboard.

Well, I'm off to Wal-Mart....bye for now...

OH...update, Ash called from the Taxi in Norfold headed to Portsmouth and she sounded SOOO nervous! I sent her a picture to her cell phone of Boomer holding a note that said, "GOOD LUCK MOMMY". I'll let ya'll know how she does.

Joan

Tuesday........

Not a whole lot going on around here. Last night we were ALL HOME AT THE SAME TIME! So, it was family entertainment night. Britt and Ash was our entertainment. Ashley was showing us how they did their "incentive training" in basic training. Mike was on the floor showing us HIS version of Flutter Kicks. BAH-HAAAA
Well, Britt decided she wanted to try a few push-ups, sit-ups etc....OMG. It was hilarious. Ashley was acting like a drill instructor (or CC as they're called in the Coast Guard) getting down and screaming at Britt..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME...DO YOU CALL THAT A PUSH-UP" and "GET DOWN AND PUSH ME SOME EARTH". Britt was laughing SO HARD, she couldn't move, which made Ashley scream even harder at her. The dogs were going crazy barking at them, then Buddy got so worked up, he had a seizure!
Then, Ashley got her black boots out to polish them. So, we were all entertained with the intricacies of boot polishing. There has GOT to be an easier way! She used cotton balls, Kiwi black polish and a brush. Geeeeze. I think the CC's at basic teach them that way so it takes longer...occupies more of their time. I think they got these spongy things you can buy that instantly polishes a boot in like 2 seconds.

It was midnight before we all went to bed!


So, I'm always adding pics to this blog and this is one I came across this morning of her boats emblem. I thought it was pretty cool!
I was going to take pictures from last night...especially of Mike trying to do flutter kicks, but they forbid me to even touch the camera. Just use your imagination!!!ha
Have a nice day!
Joan

MONDAY, Monday...monday

Today is Monday. Yesterday was Ashley's "Welcome Home/Birthday" party! Woo-Hoo!!

Before her party, she tryed on her uniform or "ODU" for us to see. That's her uniform that she works in everyday. I'm glad the Coast Guard picked Navy blue as their main colors....MUCH easier to acessorise! hee


The party was great...I'm glad P.J. came over
That's Britt's redneck truck out the window!
Mom and Dad came over too... and alot of Mike's family.....
That's Deanna's boyfriend, Travis there with Grandma Terry.and Will.............

it was a great day! I just realized FOR ONCE, I didn't take a picture of Courtney! OMG! Don't tell her...I'd never hear the end of it.
Today will be spent in recovery. More later!!!

Sunday after USCG Graduation...

OK...today is Ashley's "Welcome Home Party/Birthday Party" She doesn't know about the Birthday part! ha It's a surprise!! I hid her cake. Since our stove went out last week, I can't cook anything (you think I'm in a hurry to get it fixed?!), so we're doing pizza, cake and ice cream. Mike was going to do some home-made PEACH and chocolate, but he can't now due to the stove.
So, I didn't mention in the post below, we also went to the Smithsonian Institute while in Washington DC! Now THAT'S a museum. Actually, it several museums on one street downtown there. We only had time to do one, so we chose the Natural Museum of History. We saw everything from Dinosaurs to Bling-Bling (Hope Diamond).

We had a great trip there. We also went to the Vietnam Wall, Korean Wall, Lincoln Memorial and from there we way the National Monument.





This is at the Korean Wall. These are statues in a field...neat.
We left there around 1pm and drove on to Cape May...which is detailed below.

So, as I said earlier, today is the party day. We'll be taking loads of pics of that too!

USCG Graduation - Yankee 179!

We made it back and it was SOOOO beautiful! Ashley has lost weight and acts SO much more mature! She's beautiful and you can tell from the pics...
She was on the drill team...the only female and did great. At one point, she looked up at us and smiled!
She has two ribbons already...one for graduating and one for markmanship or something...she fired her 9mm good. That was her first time ever even touching a gun! My baby can SHOOT!
After the drill team's performance, then the graduation started and it was great too. She rejoined her company then.














That's her "Company Commanders" giving her her "diploma" or whatever it's called. I'm framing it! I was MOST amazed that she stood still for that long...that in itself was incredible! Look at the creases in her blouse! SHE IRONED THAT! OMG! HAAAAAAAA
Well, I'm off to bed. I have a TON of pics from that day at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JoanBuddy/USCGGraduationCapeMayAug12008

I'll write more tomorrow!
Joan