Today is my dad’s birthday. He and I are pretty close. We’ve always had a really good relationship (I *am* daddy’s little girl, after all!), and it’s just gotten better since I’ve gotten older. Now that I live more than an hour away from my parents, we have more phone conversations, and I enjoy every time I talk to him.

Last Saturday, we celebrated my dad’s birthday at my grandparents’ house. We get together for all the family birthdays, and it’s always a great time. This year we were missing Ryan, Oriona and Harry, but my grandma was back from her stay at a local nursing home where she’s recovering from a fall, so it was a nice family day.

I made the birthday cake, as I always do, and to try something different, I went with an orange cake. I made orange-flavored frosting and put orange wedges on the top. It turned out *really* well.

After lunch, my grandparents got to spend a little time together before Joe, Randy and I took my grandma back to the nursing home. We got some pictures of them, and I’m glad we did because they’re some of the sweetest pictures I’ve seen.

So, happy birthday, Dad! Here’s to many, many more!

Last Wednesday, Joe traveled with the 16 WWII veterans from Bartow County to Washington D.C. to see the WWII memorial. Joe worked with another man here to raise the money to send the veterans on the trip. Hearing the stories brought tears to my eyes. I know actually being there would have been so much more powerful.

Nobody slept much the night before we left. I was up a little before 3 a.m. and picked up one of the three veterans I was a guardian for a half hour later. Joe was all smiles and moved like someone not in their 80’s.

We met up with the rest of our group and headed down to Fayetteville, Georgia, home of Honor Flight Fayette, which put the trip together. The bus ride down was dark and mostly silent. Most of these guys didn’t know each other and talk was sparse. That would change.

In Fayetteville, we were treated to a band, breakfast and given T-shirts. Also there were veterans from all over the state who would be a part of this flight along with our contingent of 10 or so veterans. In all we had about 70 people, veterans and guardians, headed to Washington D.C.

We left Fayetteville in style. The local ROTC members stood at attention, their sabres drawn, creating a canopy for the veterans to walk under toward the buses. A police escort and the Patriot Guard (military veterans with an affinity for motorcycles) took us to the airport.

At the airport we got a taste of what was coming. The Patriot Guard went to the gate with us and spent the next 45 minutes talking to the veterans, thanking them and getting to know them. It was wonderful to watch generations of soldiers talk and bond.

A note: The word “thank” in this story is not used like “I thanked the waitress for the coffee.” No, thanking here is done with tears in the eyes, a nod of the head and a pat on the back.

We were at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport when Deanna and her mother stopped by just to meet the veterans and thank them for their service. Deanna is in her second bout with cancer and was on her way from North Carolina to Indiana for a special treatment. She was up early and yet was better dressed than all of us. When I mentioned this, her mom started to repeat it to Deanna, but she piped up and said, “Mom, the cancer didn’t steal my hearing!”

Deanna and the veterans talked about differnet types of battles, and it was hard to tell who was more honored to meet the other one. it was one of the more touching moments. Here’s to wishing her a fast recovery.

When it was time to board, the Patriot Guard formed a procession and shook the hands of every veteran.

The flight to D.C. passed quickly. A local 5th grade class had written personalized letters to each veteran and these notes were passed out just prior to our descent.

From left, that’s Joe, John and Hillard, my three veterans reading their letters.

I wasn’t ready for what came next when we arrived in D.C. The noise coming from the terminal was incredible. Local soldiers waited to push anyone in a wheelchair up the ramp from the plane into the gate. I followed behind John toward the booming cheers and claps.

More than 100 people waited for us. Waving flags, cheering, clapping, shaking hands and crying. I posted a photo earlier of one of the women who was crying. People would stop eating when we walked past and stand until our long procession passed. Others clapped when we went by.

On the buses we made our way to the WWII monument. We ate lunch in a tent set up just for us before meeting up with Sen. Bob Dole. Sen. Dole has made it a point over the years to visit the monument whenever Honor Flight brings a group of veterans.

That’s Sen. Dole and Hillard.

We made our way at last into the monument. Another local soldier came by on his day off when he heard we were coming and spent the afternoon pushing John around in his wheelchair. Other soldiers were there too, helping out wherever they were needed or just shaking hands and chatting.

The monument is an amazing place. One guy in our group ran into someone he had served with but hadn’t seen in 60 years. They recognized each other and caught up on the past six decades. Pretty incredible.

The monument was especially important to Hillard who fought in seven or eight different locations throughout the war. He carried a list of them on card he wore around his neck.

Here’s Hillard pointing to just some of the many places he fought in during the war.

We took more photos and walked around until it was time to board the bus again and head back to the airport.

We returned to Reagan International Airport for a special dinner prepared by the USO. The plane flight back seemed like it was filled with a whole new group of people. The cabin was filled with stories, jokes, laughs and the occasional snorer (me, actually). We landed in Atlanta about 9 p.m. and figured the trip was over.

Instead we once again were overcome by the cheers and clapping coming from the gate. This time, despite the late hour, the number of well-wishers was closer to 200 people. There were Air Tran employees, airport employees, travelers and those just wanting to say thank you.

The woman giving the thumbs-up was one of several people who made it a point to shake the hands of each veteran after they all disembarked from the plane. Our line of veterans stretched down the hall, and Air Tran apologized over the loud speaker, but instead of complaints (with the exception of one guy) it just sent more travelers over to clap and cheer.

We finally boarded our bus and headed home. When we said our last goodbyes before heading home, there was a new connection between everyone that wasn’t there 20 hours earlier.

Two final photos:

At war’s end.

After a long day.

It’s like a whole new world in our storage room.

The before:

And the after:

And all the trash we threw out:

Miraculously, it only took us two Sundays to get our carport cleaned out and our storage room organized (the boxes on the side are all trash). And, before you ask, no, it hadn’t looked like that since we moved in last year. We actually had everything cleaned and organized. Then, Joe’s parents decided to put their house up for sale and started bombarding us with boxes and boxes and more boxes. I think we threw out most of the things they gave us. But, until we had time to go through everything, the boxes sat out in our carport. Yes, we knew we looked like rednecks but we’ve been so busy we haven’t really been home long enough to spend time on it.

It’s so nice to go into my storage room to do laundry and see how neat and orderly everything is. Now, we have to tackle the rest of the house which kind of got torn apart while we took apart and repacked boxes. AT least that won’t be as bad!

On Monday, my cell phone died. When I say died, I mean it pretty much broke in half. I have a Motorola Razr, and now the top half is dangling from the bottom half by a wire.

I still have no idea how that happened. When Joe called me that morning, I noticed a metal piece had come off the left side, but it still worked. Then, he tried calling me and the screen filled with blue lines and went black. After that, the top piece fell apart. It’s just crazy. I’ve never had any problems with this phone before, and I’ve *never* had a phone fall apart on me like this before. It’s a good thing Joe’s due for an upgrade. This is a pretty good reason to get a new phone. Joe says I broke it on purpose. I didn’t, but I’m sure glad it did break! I ended up getting an LG Vu, and I love it.

It’s a touch screen, and it’s awesome. I absolutely love it. I got a pink case for it on ebay yesterday. I can’t wait for that to arrive.

In 1990, all the girls at the New Kids on the Block concert were accompanied by their parents. Last night, all the girls were drunk.

What a difference 20 years makes.

That was pretty much the only difference between my first New Kids concert (which happened to be my first concert) and last night’s concert. Well, that and the fact that the guys are now much hotter.

My sil and I headed over to the Gwinnett Arena after dinner, and we were surprised at how packed it was. We had to park over by the arts center where she got married, which is a nice little walk to the arena. I figured it would be sold out, but I didn’t think we’d have to park *that* far away. It was a nice bit of exercise, though.

After we found our fabulous seats on the club level, we headed back downstairs to get shirts and new buttons, though Rachel wore her 1988 button rather than her new one. I wish I’d been able to find my old buttons!

The show was amazing. It was probably one of the best I’ve been to. The guys are really talented, and it was so much fun to sing along. It’s funny how quickly the words to all those old songs I haven’t heard in 20 years came back to me. It was also great to see that they still used all those awesome dance moves from the 1980s.

They ended the regular set with their new single, Summertime, which is one of my favorite songs, and then did an encore of Step by Step and Hangin’ Tough.

Last night’s concert also brought back a lot of memories. The last time I saw the New Kids, my dad was with me. He took me as a reward for getting straight As. He probably should have thought that through more since I always got straight As, but as much as he mocks it, I know he enjoyed it. In fact, he called me last night on my way to the arena and after I had arrived to ask me to call him during one of the songs so he could hear it. I think he was wishing he was there. At least that’s what I like to think.

So even though I’m hoarse and partially deaf, last night was definitely one of the most fun nights I’ve had in a while. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my sil (and it was her first New Kids concert, which made it even more fun!) and reverting back to my 10-year-old self. Here’s to hoping they stay together for a while and tour again next year.

Joe set a new record Saturday night: he was the first *parrot* to cross the finish line at the Southern Shuffle.

Yes, my husband and my brother wore parrot costumes for the race. Randy found the suits in the back of his Jeep Saturday afternoon and asked Joe if he’d be up for wearing them for fun. How could Joe turn that offer down?

They were a hit! Several girls had their pictures taken with them, and numerous people approached us to ask why in the world they were wearing parrot costumes. Did they lose a dare? No, it was just for fun, the parrots responded.

As the runners took off, Joe passed a bunch of people and said he heard comments like, “Wow, the parrots really *can* run,” and, “I can’t be beat by a parrot!” The guys ended up doing pretty well, and Joe broke a personal record for one of his miles despite being in a hot costume.

While Joe and Randy ran the 3k, my mom; Randy’s girlfriend, Tina; and I did the 1-mile walk. We had a blast.

After the race, we headed to the Haunted Barn. In the more than 10 years that it’s been around, I had never been, despite how close it is to my parents’ house.

It was pretty good. It was more startling than scary, but it was fun. At the end, we had to make our way through a maze in complete darkness to get outside. I thought there would be some light creeping in, but it was pitch black. It was really weird. It took us a while, but we finally got through. I was just glad I had made Joe go first!

Now, Joe wants to find more races that I can walk in. It was a lot of fun and made me feel like I was actually accomplishing something even though I can’t run.

*”Suit up!” is a saying from How I Met Your Mother. If you haven’t watched it, do so. There you have my recommendation for the day.

Today is Joe’s *29th* birthday! I can’t believe next year he’ll be 30 (and I’m right behind him!). I got him a fuel belt he needed for his long runs, a DVD and some awesome “The Office” items. I think he was pretty happy.

Joe accomplished so much in the past year. He got back into running and did his first half marathon.

He went to three baseball stadiums.

And he visited the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which I think was the biggest thing for him.

He’s already got some big goals for his 29th year. Those include running a full marathon (only a month until that!) and running 1,500 miles for the year, which averages out to 4 miles a day. He can definitely do that. I’m so proud of him and everything he’s done and will do.

So happy birthday, honey! I hope this year will be the best one for you yet!