Well, here's to Texas #2. So much has happened since I posted that first installment of the trip to Texas, so no sooner do I finish this up, I must start working on an overview of a two week drive with my family to attend my "little" brother Josh's wedding to Ionia Williams, a beautiful, tenderhearted Eskimo girl he met up in AK. I guess I can never get ahead, can I???? :)
Anyway, we had such fun after we got to the ALERT base in Big Sandy. We didn't do much on Saturday after we arrived. I think Ruth and I were so incredibly tired after the early morning and various moments of stress. :) We had supper in the ALERT dining hall, met Phillip's good friend and fellow A&P student, Lorin Kaney, and then hit the sack pretty early.
Sunday morning we went to church in the ALERT bus in a steady downpour. While we were waiting for the us, Ruth and I spent some time playing the piano in the living area downstairs.
Phillip, Lorin and several of the ALERT guys were in their dress whites to do the color guard at the beginning of the church service, as it was the Sunday before our July 4th celebration. We didn't get any really good pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination at how good the guys looked all dressed up. :) The afternoon was nice and lazy. The three of us dug out the Axis and Allies strategy game and Phillip spent the first hour trying to explain to us how it works!!!!


I eventually did get it figured out and we really had alot of fun. But before we were able to actually finish the game, we decided to spend the evening visiting. We stopped by Cpt. Ludvigson's home and had a very enjoyable evening getting to know each other, and playing some ridiculous, and fun!, game with plastic cups. It's impossible to explain unless you can actually see it happen. I should get the video from Ruth... We laughed plenty anyway!!!
Monday was a lovely day and Lorin kindly agreed to take us up in one of the small airplanes to give us an ariel view of the ALERT campus. It was sooooooooo much fun. I LOVE FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The hangar full of planes
The plane we took up (sorry Phillip, but I still can't remember the model #!!)
Lorin getting the plane ready.
We're up!!!!!!!!!!!
The ALERT base from the air

Here's a few more random shots of the time we spent there

After our flight we took off for Oklahoma, where we were hoing to spend the afternoon with my dear friend Crystal Bales. If you can navigate the horribly marked roads...
And avoid tire problems... part of the way into OK, we stopped at a gas station and someone mentioned that we had a bubble on our rear tire we might want to check up on. Considering the fact that Phillip had a HUGE load on the back of his pickup, we took one look at that fist-sized bubble on the inside of the tire and breathed a prayer of deep gratitude that the tire hadn't blown out on the highway somewhere. Back through the city to the nearest tire shop, and then we alternately walked the streets and sat in the tire shop for three hours before they got te wo back tires changed. This is one of my favorite pictures- it sure looks like we enjoy spending time together, eh?
We did get to Crystal's in time for dinner, though we didn't get to visit as long as we had hoped. It was grand to see her and meet her little son, Seth Josiah, for the first time. He's a cutie!!!
Seth and Gampa playing peek-abo at the dinner table!!!
Camped out at a state park that night- Ruth and I in a tiny tent, and Phillip sleeping out under the stars. Then we ate a ummy breakfast of leftover french fries, onion rings and steak fried together and served with eggs and cheese. Here's a few pics Ruth took during breakfast.
And then we were off for Kansas to spend a few days helping Terrell and Melody Hendrich and family with wheat harvest. It was the first time I met them, but they are Phillip's "TX family" and sooooo dear. I miss them tremendously!!!!! But before we made it to Kansas... can you ever have enough tire trouble for one trip?
But we made it nonetheless. Here are some pics from the wonderful four days we spent in Kansas.

Mr Hendrich
Mrs Hendrich

Little Kailyn and Jared


Jordan

Christal and Saralyn

Saralyn

Brooke

And dear Cherith

The girls are in gymnastics so we got to watch them practice in the yard, and then give their yearly performance.
A few misc pics of the rest of the way home, and I will call this lengthy post complete- FINALLY!!!!!!
The geograpical center of the United States:
We spent Saturday night and Sunday morning with the Kane family in Council Bluffs, Iowa
And then we spent Sunday with my family again before getting home to Karlstad and back into "normal life". What is normal anyway???? I hope you enjoyed this pictoral walk through those wonderful two weeks. I certainly enjoyed putting it together!!! God bless you all!!!
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