The Beginning of our GETAWAY!!!!!!!!!!

OK Mom and Dad have had the “Bee in their Bonnet” this entire year. Something about an anniversary.

I just know that it has disturbed my normal routine! However when they went at Christmas and in January I had a really warm place to go at the Spa and again in April. Then it turned very very hot and I don’t like very very hot, but they went to see Horsey Girl’s Dance Recital me in little Bro Spike were hauled off errrrrrrrrr taken to our favorite Spa and oooooooooooo ahhhhhhhhhh it was AC and wonderful. My girls love me and treat me with tender loving care. I had a bit of a tummy ache and don’t like their food all that much, why can’t they understand I like HAM AND BISCUITS for breakfast! Sigh…… oh well.

Mom and dad did get to see Horsey girl transformed in to a ballerina for the night!



And then……….then……… guess who arrived . heheheheheheh “Annoying” herself.. HEY WAIT JUST A GARSH DARN MINUTE HERE, we have to share quarters??????????




Lil Bro doesn’t care; he’s got all the luxury he can stand!


Oh well, must be important so I’ll let Mom take over:)



Busy weekend to see Caroline perform so beautifully in her recital and visit with Suzy. Loved her Gator! I had the cutest picture of her in it but my card is lost in her house and she hasn’t found it :(

After a rush home Sunday morning, we went to bed to get good and rested! Monday we tried to have all things packed for our big “get away” to NYC! Everything wasn’t packed but it was laying in order and all we had to do was wash some clothes and throw them in, make some mad dashes to places and hurry hurry home to bed early again. WITH………………. A side trip to the dentist because Brownie’s tooth ache that he had the week before didn’t get “better” His face is all swollen!
Alarm was off at 5:15 and we were totally out of here by 6:00

during rush hour of course,
which is some kind of record. Cuz I’m married to some one that I swear goes back to shampoo the rug or paint a closet while I wait in the car :)
Poor Brownie did have a terrible tooth and didn’t sleep well because of it. Our Drive in was quite uneventful. I just wanted SO badly for the meds to start working on an abscessed tooth!
Park and the “Fly Away” on M’boro Road.. GREAT idea. They took us right to the Delta check in. I remembered I HAD to call the car service in NY. Did that …taken care of!
$25 a bag for check in. SO irritating. But Southwest’s fares have gone up so unless you’re not checking bags it’s the same fare. Thru security no problem, found our gate and there we sat for well over an hour.
See how thrilled I am about taking off my shoes :)

Snack food & crossword puzzels!


We were loaded on time but this is a little “sub” Delta plane and they “check” carry on’s at the gate and wee were delayed a little so they could put luggage in every crook and cranny!


The plane trip seemed long. Pretzels and drink. Cloudy most of the way.
Exciting to look down and SEE NEW YORK! We’ve flown over it before going to Boston, but not the same.





JFK is a very old air port. We took a long time to get luggage then went to help desk to call for our car. Turban man picked us up :-) The first glimpse of Manhattan is SO exciting. It is a city of energy!




we didn’t get to hotel until 4:00 PM. We were tired and HUNGRY. Rush hour.
The Hampton Inn Times Square South is where we stayed. Everything is very tight and close together but it was a lovely place and they were very nice.
To say our Hotel room is tiny is an understatement. It’s a large closet with a bathroom!


But you only use it to bathe and sleep so who cares?... This is our view :)

Went off to explore for food!.. If you want Italian you have NO problem. We found a wonderful oneTrattoria Casa Di Isacco and the man who owned it was delightful, his name was Isaac.

He was from Barcelona Spain:) but said he spoke fluent Italian! Food and wine was delicious but it takes too long to eat like that. We wanted to eat and get back and plan our day. If we had wanted just a nice meal it would have been fantastic!
Finally back. No tub so showered and bed! BUT WE ARE IN NYC!

Hawaii Day 10/Volumn 11 Leaving Hawaii and Arriving home

After arriving at the Airport and returning our car we rearranged our carry on bags before going through security.
We had approximately 4 hours to wait. Finding the gate and getting thru security was no problem. While sitting and waiting we had time to go through our pictures and delete the real out of focus ones. We still haven’t gone thru all the little videos yet!
They had a really nice cafeteria and we took turns eating, so we didn’t have to drag bags around. The food was good. The Airport is getting fuller and fuller! Lots of people like to leave at night I guess.
We both changed in to warmer clothing as the Airport was cold and should the plane will be too. Our plane was already sitting there and since most had already checked in, it loaded early.




This plane not as big as the one we came over in. By the time it was loaded it was JAMMED. Grumbling people in front of us is always a drag but no one wants to LEAVE Hawaii!
Poor Brownie is stuck in middle seat. Flew all night and we did not sleep. It was dark in LA when we landed at LAX. We landed at about 6 a.m. Pacific Time.. I think we were on “Island Time”?
We had a 3 hour wait. Ate some gross breakfast thing. Got a couple of magazines but NOW I’m SO sleepy. Got up and freshened up and changed some clothes again. Called or texted girls.
I was so sleepy getting on this very crowded plane. Poor Brownie is still in middle and he was miserable. Rough trip for him. I slept for a couple of hours; I think he just dozed a little.
Arrived on time in Nashville

and I got to wear my artificial Lei for Tina.





Tina and Riley met us! The pointed out we flew with Ted Danson and Mary Steenbergen!









WHO KNEW ! We don’t fly first class~
Our entire luggage arrived! That was kind of a shocker since we had not seen it in 48 hours and you never know!
Got home took shower and slept for 10 hours. Our Furry children did great and the girls at the spa were very kind.
All the grandkids loved their gifts!





Next Day Brownie had to work and found out he is retiring. Sort of a stunner to us but it’s all good. Now we can go to Hawaii again.

Hawaii Day 9/Volumn 10 Leaving Ship/Honolulu

Hawaii Day 9 Volume 10 Oahu & Honolulu

It was a restless night and the seas were a bit rough. Mostly, I think we were just anxious about the coming day.

I awoke before day and could see the city lights of Honolulu. Our bags had been picked up so all we had was our carry on's. We dressed and went down to eat. We feel so sad to have to leave the ship. We disembarked at the same location has we loaded.
No problem getting thru security and everyone was very nice and helpful. But once outside the care of the ship….MASS CONFUSION!! We finally just picked up our bags and started walking.



We were really glad we didn’t have big bags. There seem to be no shuttles, car rentals or cabs in any organized fashion. After, we waited in bit of confusion, we laughed at ourselves because we had been that way most of the week.
We spend about half an hour try to figure out a shuttle, car rental, anything. Finally we just rented a cab to take us to the Airport where we rented a car from Hertz.

We wanted to go to the top of Diamond Head.


We didn’t get to the top, but we parked along the way and saw surfers and lots of people on the beach. All beaches are public in Hawaii and it was hot and it was a Saturday.

I had worn the dress I was giving to Tina, but it wasn’t comfortable getting in and out of the car many times. SO we went looking for a MALL! Oh yeah a Mall in Honolulu, how sweet is that????
We also found a McDonalds to eat at. My stomach had been in knots all morning and I knew we had a very long day ahead.
Then we found MACY’S! We got me a cooler more comfortable outfit.


It was fun seeing what they are selling in Macy’s in Honolulu compared to Murfreesboro.
While he was waiting on me Papa called Caroline, just to tell her where we were. He asked her if she wanted an outfit and of course she said yes! So he bought her a shirt!
We then circled back up around Diamond Head and saw a big fat seal on the beach. He goes there every day the locals told us. No one bothers him. They have little flags around him to keep people away.


We also say surfers and boogie boarders and all sorts of fun people. It was a hot Saturday and they were loving it!.

Hickum AFB. We were going to get to a Post Office but didn’t find it there.






We went in the BX and got a couple of things.




This is the base that Brownie came to when he was on his way to Korea. We also visited some other military bases and sites, including one where the guard didn’t even know what it was!
It was actually a type of weather station. It was for Typhoons and Tsunamis . The guard told us no pictures. (Like we paid attention to that!).
We put places of interest in the GPS and it took us to some craters. Most had SUBDIVISIONS in them! I doubt the people living there even knew.


We then ventured to down town Honolulu, drove past China Town. There was a beautiful castle. I wish we had gone there first instead of driving around so much. Down town Honolulu has a lot of history.

We really didn’t know we were going to have an entire day, we thought we were going to have to worry with luggage etc.
Since it was getting close to evening and we wanted to eat and change clothes etc. We headed for the airport.
This was really a fun day, with nothing special to do but I wish we had known we were going to have it because we would have made better use of our time.

So the beautiful sun set for us for the last time.. And we waited..