Castles, Idaho Potatoes and Falling Trees!

Before being removed from a friend's blog, I figure that it is about time to add another entry! Here is another attempt to share my thoughts with the blogging community.

After Christmas, Sara and I flew over to visit our wonderful friends in Boise. We began our visit by staying at a Bed and Breakfast Hotel that has many different themed rooms. On our past visit there in September, we chose to come and stay in the Sleeping Beauty Castle room. We had a wonderfully relaxing time, and it was a great way to start our vacation with our friends. It was a two story room with a waterfall shower and a framed castle that you walk into by crossing a moat. We had so much fun at the motel that we decided to go back and stay in another room before we left to come back to Oregon. Our goal is to go and try to stay in a different room each time we go and visit our friends.

After our stay at the "castle", we went to our friends' house. We had a lot of fun resting, playing, laughing and just enjoying being together with them again. It was a really nice time because our past visits have felt like they've gone by so fast. This one felt just right because we had enough time to just hang out and enjoy being together without worrying about having to rush to get back on the plane to Oregon again. We also got to play with their new addition to the family: a cat named Leia Princess Leia (aka Leia).

Amongst trips to Sonic and the movie theater, we had fun playing with the Nintendo Wii. I decided to bring it with me on our trip because Sara had bought me a new Star Wars game that I just had to play with my little Idaho Potato Jedi. It was fun fighting the bad guys together and unlocking characters and lego sets as Jedi Masters! We also had a lot of fun playing the Carnival game and Wii Sports. In fact, I was able to play some fun rounds of golf with my friend Scott. However, I think we'll have to play another round of 9-hole golf again at another time since the fans that were watching were so loud and distracting that they kept us from having the needed quiet and seriousness it takes for a successful game of golf ;-)

Sara and I happened to come back home on a very stormy day in Oregon. Our plane hit a lot of turbulence and the landing was rather interesting. If it were an amusement park ride, it would have been a hoot. Since it was "off the tracks" so to speak it added a dimension of tension and anxiety to our landing. As we approached the Portland airport, our plane was going side-to-side like it was sliding on ice. I was wondering how our pilot was going to safely land us without crashing or losing a wheel in the process. Sara and I were both amazed at how smooth the landing was once the wheels touched the runway. We both felt that the landing was much smoother and softer than most we've been on when there wasn't a storm going on!

When we got home, we both noticed that another tree by our house had fallen down (probably during the day's storm) and there was a lot of bark where I normally park my car. I commented to Sara that it was probably a good thing that I moved my truck into the driveway before we left since it looks like the tree might have fallen where my car was parked. The following day, my neighbor confirmed my suspicions by telling me that if my car hadn't been moved, it would have been crushed by the tree!

It is amazing how well God looks out for us. I don't normally move my car into the driveway before we leave on a trip. I had only done it this time because I had the thought in my mind that the garbage would be coming while we're gone and I should move my car out of the way so the garbage truck could get to our trash can easily. I could have waited for the trash to be picked up after we came back but something in me said to leave it out for when we're gone. I'm going to give the credit to that idea to God. He knew what was going to happen! I can definitely be thankful to Him for looking out for us!

Well "Oregon Raindrop" is ready to publish . . . and hopefully so much time won't go by again until I make another entry!