in laws

Thursday Beck and Joan came into town and they left this morning. Although it was an extended weekend, the time went way too quickly. Friday they were able to see the church, and then come up and see my school. I gave them a quick tour and then we headed off to supper.

The real fun began on Saturday. They were oh-so-kind to let me sleep off the week a little in the morning, and I was so surprised when I got up at 10 and they had taken my grocery list and gone shopping for me! How wonderful! I was so happy. We had a quick lunch and then decided on the day's agenda. Joan really is fascinated with the history of Kentucky. We've been settled out here for A LONG time so there is much to be studied and found. Dad recommended visiting Locust Grove, the home of George Roger's Clark [WHO? most of you are asking...well, I didn't realize that most of the world doesn't even know who he is, as I have known since I was about, ohhh, 2. Do a little research of your own, but, yes, he is the older brother of William Clark -- of "Lewis and Clark"]. Anyway, so we went to Locust Grove where he spent his last years and it was actually pretty interesting.

Saluting...as I was taught:

I took quite a few pictures [mainly for Dad], here are a few of them...I'll spare you ALL of them, as you all probably aren't interested in the zoomed in pictures of the hand carved crown molding etc...

I have to explain this one... This is the story dad always would tell. A lot of people don't know this "fun fact," so I laughed out loud when I saw it in the museum. Dad...I believed you all along, but here is proof that you really DO know what you're talking about [most of the time :)]

I don't do very well with the "let's-not-smile-in-this-one" pictures...but we wanted to be historical:Now to the house:

The "parlor"

I loved the wall paper in the ball room.
They actually found pieces of this on the original wall and found the company that made is and still had it in their "files," and they were able to completely recreate the original!

The coolest part? A wedding was going to happen that evening :)Sunday we went to the early service and put a roast in the crock pot and had no idea what was about to happen. After lunch we were cleaning up and we started to notice the wind picking up. And then picking up a little more. And then...a lot. And then...the power went out. Well, since they endured the ice storm last winter back home and spent 8 days without power, Beck and Joan weren't even phased. We sat down and played cards for awhile. Eventually, about 4 or so hours later, the lights kicked back on. We didn't know how long it was going to last, so we quickly made pancakes and finished our cardgame. We then decided to run down the street to a local "Homemade Ice Cream and PIe" shop that Beck had been dying to visit...however, by the time we made it to the main drag, we realized this wasn't just a little windstorm The traffic lights were all out, there were trees down everywhere...no one knows how to do a four way stop in the city...and so we quickly made a loop and came back to the apartment. Since we had power we flipped on the news and WOAH! Apparently IKE blew through! I can't believe how powerful this hurricane was to go through the entire country like it did. They were saying we had a category 1 hurricane wind storm! There is WIDE SPREAD damage and POWER OUTAGES everywhere in the city. Hence this blog in the middle of the dayl: NO SCHOOL. Yesterday or Today. Yet, we are a few of the lucky ones that still have our power. However, I can hear the generators running all around me and the city is crazy! Our friends across town came and did laundry and ate some of our food last night because they're saying the city could be without for up to 10-14 more days. These are some pictures of the damage:

So yesterday, since Brent was already scheduled to have the day off because he's working soccer games on Saturday, we decided to head to Bowling Green to the National Corvette Museum. Beck used to have a 1962 corvette, and really wanted to go see the plant. At the plant they give tours and you can see them put together a Corvette from start to finish. It was pretty incredible [we couldn't take pictures on the tour]. Afterwards we went to the museum, which was pretty cool and had a ton of cars!

They even had a huge "video game" where you could "play pit crew." Brent grabbed the fire extinguisher, Beck screwed in lug nuts and I filled the gas! Brent even got to sit in a brand new Corvette, and Beck found the exact model of his from 1962!

Last night we got home, had some supper, checked the news, saw I had no school today, had our friends come do laundry, and hung out for a nice last evening together. This morning they took off, and Brent and I were reminded once again how much we miss home as we watched home drive away.

Thanks for everything Beck and Joan-- We had so much fun and enjoyed our time with you so incredibly much. Come back soon!