Shenendoah Valley & Dining Room Tables

Ray and I had a full and exciting Saturday this past weekend!

On Wednesday we made a trip to IKEA (possibly one of my all time favorite stores!) in search of some items for our house...specifically a dining room table. After an hour of walking the showroom floor (if you've never been...this was a pretty quick walk through...it can take hours sometimes). Anyways, we found the tables and I found the table...however, Ray was quick to point out the price, so I sadly went out to look for a different one. But wouldn't you know that God was on my side that night?! While talking to one of the ladies who worked there (she was patiently walking with me as I was trying to make my decision) she pointed out that one of their tables was on sale Saturday through Tuesday...the table she pointed out was the one I really wanted! It was going to be $200 off if we came back on Saturday. So, that's what we did...

Saturday morning we left the house at 7:30am (very rare that either of us are even out of bed before 10am on a Saturday) and we took off for IKEA (by way of Chick-fil-a first)...we got our table and our chairs (that was a whole other ordeal...why must they give you so many options!? Don't they know I'm indecisive?)...

BUT, we weren't homeward bound yet. We decided to meet up with a friend and head out to the Shenedoah Valley and spend some time driving Skyline Drive. It was so beautiful! A great fall day in the mountains!

That evening, we returned home with our boxes for our table and chairs and began putting them together...

Here are some pictures from our day....enjoy!

Great Grandma Wonder Passes Away at 106

My Great Grandmother, just shy of her 107th Birthday, went home to be with the Lord last week...She will be greatly missed!


Edith M. Wonder, age 106, of Port Orange, formerly of Daytona Beach, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, October 22, 2008. A funeral mass in her honor will be held Tuesday, October 28, 2008,10:00 AM at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church, 4675 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Port Orange, with Fr. Raymond O'Leary officiating. Interment will follow at Daytona Memorial Park. Visitation will be held Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, 5-7PM at the Baggett and Summers chapel of the Lohman Funeral Homes, 736 S. Beach St., Daytona Beach. Mrs. Wonder was born in Pennsylvania where she was a dedicated teacher until her retirement. After moving back to Florida, she volunteered as a tutor at Our Lady of Lourdes. A devoted wife, mother and grandmother, she will best be remembered for her love of helping others. Edith was proud of her time in the Spanish Club, her dedication of entertaining at local nursing homes, and with her church involvement. Her beloved husband of 53 years, Craig E. Wonder (1982); a son, Craig R. Wonder (1991); three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild, preceded her in death. She will be greatly missed by her three children: Marvin E. (June)Wonder, Joyce (Xavier) Senatro, and Joline (Francis) Antoine; 14 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; 15 great-great-grandchildren; and a sister, Anna Brown, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers please make donations to Hospice of Volusia Flagler. Condolences may be shared with the family online at www.lohmanfuneralhomes.com. Arrangements are under the careful direction of LohmanFuneral Home Daytona.

Dad Comes to Visit...

Last weekend Dad came up to DC for a quick visit...I don't know about him, but I was sure worn out. We did crammed as much as we could into his two day visit...

Friday we went into DC (via Metro), walked around the National Mall, stopped in front of the Capital, went to the Botanical Gardens, and spent a few hours in the Air & Space Museum.

Saturday we got up earlier and headed back into DC, met up with our great friend Andy, and made a visit to the Washington Monument, where we picked up our reserved tickets to take our tour to the top of the city! After that we visited the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, President Lincoln and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.

WOW! It was a lot...Here are some pictures from his trip...

Dad in front of the Capital...

Me...

A small scale Space Shuttle at the Air & Space Museum

Dad, Ray & Andy at the base of the Washington Monument.
A view of the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument

Dad, Me & Ray inside the Washington Monument

A view of the White House from the top of the Washington Monument...

A view of the Captial...

The Jefferson Memorial...

And the WWII Memorial...

After the tour of the Washington Monument, we made our way to the Korean War Veterans Memorial...

Dad & I in front of President Lincoln...

This is on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Ray & I on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument behind us...

And our final stop on dad's two day tour of DC was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial...

Visit from Christie & John

You can probably gather from all the recent posts, that we've been super busy lately!

Last weekend our friends, Christie & John, dropped in and stayed with us for a day on their way back to Florida. It was awesome to see them and catch up with them. We love when we have visitors!

Here's some pictures...

Christie & John...Look at all our pizza! Yummy!

Ray & I

Alexandria City Hall, Old Town

John, Christie, Me, Ray @ City Hall

Ray & John walking ahead as we watch the storm approach...

We got caught in a downpour, so Christie & I found this little covered garage and we waited for the guys to go get the car and come pick us up...

The Dairy Godmother is a place that sells homade frozen custard...it's simply the best in all of Alexandria! And it sure beats ice cream...we come here at least once a week...

The four of us at The Dairy Godmother...

Capital Tour

The next day, we had the opportunity to take a tour of the Capital...it was really awesome and I'd do it again!

We started our tour at one of the Seante buildings, which is a few blocks away from the capital itself. We were taken underground, where we walked around some underground tunnels and then got to get on the Metro type deal which took us underneath the Capital and that's how we entered it. (Left to Right...Amanda, Clay, Jasenn, Me, Kerry)

On the metro, underneath the capital (Left to Right-Chelsea, Kerry, Amanda, Me)

So, we were all given these security passes which stuck to our shirts...this is what let the security guards now that we were ok to go into the capital. Well, within the first 10 minutes of being in the capital, poor Jasenn lost his pass. We turned around and it was stuck to the tile inside the capital. To make it even better...the girl giving the tour just finished saying that they had just refurbished the floors - which are the original flooring in the capital. So, Jasenn tries to pull his pass off of the tile and it doesn't come off. The white spot on the tile...yep, that's part of his pass. Poor Jasenn!

We are standing at the very center of the District of Columbia.

The Capital Dome...that's George Washington in the center...

Another shot of the capital dome...

After our capital tour, we went to Union Station to eat lunch...(Me, Amanda, Chelsea)

(Clay, Kerry, Jasenn)

Happy Birthday Chelsea

On July 6th, I went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate Chelsea's birthday...

We went to an awesome place in Chinatown called Matchbox...

From Left to Right...Amanda, Kerry, Chelsea, Lori, Summer

More Pictures from the 4th of July

Here are some more pictures from our awesome day in the city of the 4th of July...

Our view of the Washington Monument from where we sat for 8 hours prior to the start of the fireworks...

Summer & Kerry...rain and shine we waited...

This is what one of the roads looked like during the day...masses of people continued to flood into the city from the metro stations...it was truly crazy to see how many people kept coming and coming...

Another picture of the masses of people...

I was given a nice backpack from one of my students last year, although it looks quite pink, it's actually peach (I say that in Ray's defense...) Ray was being awesome and offered to carry the backpack for me as we began what became a 1.5 mile walk to a Metro Station.

There were so many people leaving the city after the fireworks that night, that everyone just walked in the middle of the road...there was no way the police were going to keep everyone on the sidewalks...