Monday, May 31, 2010

More pics from yesterday




The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington

Sunday morning we all (MOST of the group) loaded up on the big bus at 8 in the morning and headed to the Grand Coulee Dam. It was a 3 hour bus ride :( but we had a couple of rest stops and we both brought our laptops so that passed the time. This was also a chance for us to catch up on the movies we rented. We watched a Nicholas Cage movie that was terrible then we watched "Valentine's Day" which was AMAZING! If you haven't seen it you should! It has a ton of stars in it and the way it is tied together it was awesome!

So we got to the dam and ate lunch at this restaurant by the dam. I had a turkey club and Rk had a Philly. We get got to go our tour. We got to see EVERYTHING. The powerhouses and all. It is so amazing how this all works. Unbelievable really! We had to wear hardhats and safety glasses, lol. We had to walk through these tunnel things and to me it was CREEPY! They were clean and well-kept but I don't do well in those situations. Packed full elevator--no problem...dark small tunnel---count me out! Rk thought it was just too funny. Terd.

On the way home we stopped in Spokane, WA and ate at the Steam Plant Grill. This is an old steam plant that they turned into a restaurant. It was amazing and the food was pretty good too! The last few pictures are the inside of that.

I'm not going to try to explain what each of the photos are because truthfully I don't know for sure what they all are. If you are in the utility industry and reading this you will probably already know what the parts are! Hope you enjoy our day :)



































Saturday, May 29, 2010

Just an update

Sorry I haven't blogged in a couple of days. I have been somewhat busy believe it or not. Thursday I had Joseph and it wasn't such a good day for him. Let's just say that I was glad to see that day end. Yesterday I went with Joseph, Tai (his sister) and Emily the nanny and we went to this lake that is nearby and went fishing. It was fun! We all had a good day so that helped! Last night I met a bunch more of Roberts classmates and I think that we are suppose to go to dinner with them tonight. Rk had class this morning and golfing this afternoon so that'll be a nice break for him :) Just thought I'd give you an update. I hadn't blogged in a couple of days. Hope all of you are doing well. We will be anxious to be back home and see everyone. That's all for now ;)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Oh what a day...





Let me introduce you to this little man....Joseph--better knows as Jo Jo.
His mother is in the conference with Robert and had a nanny crisis. SO, guess who I spent the day with...yes- Jo Jo. I was a little bit worried because he has some behavior problems and his mom warned me of this before I headed off for a day with him.
So we set off for a day full of fun at the pool, arcade, mall and golf course. Robert got done at 5 and didn't go on the tour with the rest of the group. Jo Jo's mom said that she would like to go on the tour so Robert and I took him golfing. We had a blast. So here are a few pics from our day to sum it all up


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Dinner, movies, Starbucks, & soreness

Today when Robert woke up he walked over to Starbucks which is in the mall next door. How sweet :) He brought me my favorite thing before he left for the day. What a sweetheart.

Last night instead of going to dinner with the UIEC dinner with the group, Rk decided to stay here with me and WE went to dinner :) I was so happy. I'n not lonely yet, but the extra time I got with him was greatly appreciated. We drove around the downtown area and looked around. We ate at a place called the Red Bento. It was an asian place and I had actually sampled the California Roll (sushi) for lunch. It was delish so we decided to go back for dinner. It was tasty. I was just glad to have him there. I think he had about enough after a day of accounting and finance from the lecture. :)

After dinner we went to Walmart to get a cord to connect the laptop to the tv so we could watch a movie. Yes, the do offer movies on the hotel tv but they are...wait for it.....$15 bucks! How about no thank you. We stopped at Hastings and got Valentine's Day (which I will be watching today--chick flick-Rk isn't big on those) and some other movie with Nicholas Cage and Eva Mendez (rk's pick). We realized when we got back that we had got the wrong cord so I will go back today to get the right one. :) We were both tired so we just laid down and naturally fell asleep quick.


As for my Zumba class yesterday...it kicked my butt and I am FEELING it today. I could tell as soon as I woke up that pain was on its way. I guess that's a good thing but I'm thinking the Rec Center might have to wait until tomorrow because I might fall over if I try to do anything ;)

So, now Rk has left for the day :( and I am watching the Today show--which I LOVE and don't get to watch during the school year--so I'm really enjoying that every day. I'm planning out my day and think it will consist of wally world (taking back the cord), possibly going to Macy's to see if I can find a carry on bag, maybe getting my nails filled, head to Mexico (tanning place), and probably grab me a new magazine and read it in the courtyard. Rough day huh. I'm telling ya, Moscow life isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Not having to be anywhere, do anything, or have ANY obligations is something I could REALLY get used to. However, I am looking forward to getting home so I can watch the 2 cutest boys in the world, Riley and Jackson. I heart those little guys. Oh yeah, That reminds me. I need to post my pics from RJ's 1st bday party Saturday! They had a WONDERFUL cookout for him and we really enjoyed that day. It was a nice thing to go to before we left for Idaho. I'll get to that soon!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Welcome! To our new home!

So here is where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks. Not so bad, huh? The bed is pretty comfy and the air works good (these two things are VERY important!!!) Hope you enjoy our little tour!





Monday, May 24, 2010

Mall...with a halo above it...

This mall is connected with our hotel parking lot It's a nice place to walk around....not exactly the BIGGEST mall, but still a mall! There's more stuff inside, but this is the main part!




Day 1...Landing & Exploring Spokane, WA













We left at 4:40 Sunday morning and headed to the airport. Bags packed and ready to go--we were very tired from the few hours we had to sleep the night before. We arrived at the airport and checked our luggage (mine was 17 pounds over so we had to do a mad rearranging before they would take my bag--come on now, 3 weeks! I had to pack a lot!!) We finally got on our plane and headed to Denver. There we had a 45 minute layover which gave us just enough to grab a cup of McDonald's coffee (for you Jeanie) and rest for a split sec. We boarded our second flight and headed to Spokane, Washington. We sat by a kid who had just graduated from college and was a MECHANICAL ENGINEER! How weird right? He was going to visit some friends but had got a job working for GE working on jet engines. Robert had a nice little convo with him.

When we arrive in Spokane we got our luggage and headed to our rental car. We teased because it reminded us of the car on Just Married with Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. I like the little thing thought! Easy to zip around in. We were hungry so we ventured out to see Spokane. This town was SO NEAT! There is a river that runs through the very middle of the town and there are falls right smack in the middle of it! SO NEAT! We parked and got out and walked across the bridge and the falls were beautiful. There was a hydro power plant from 1922 (?? not sure on the date) and that interested Robert, of course :) More pictures of this to come.

We walked all around and saw all the little shops and restaurants. We decided to grab some lunch at a place called Anthony's Seafood. It was a really neat place that was right at the bottom of the falls so when you looked out the windows it felt like you were right there! So neat! Rk had fish and chips and I had a shrimp cobb salad. Both were very yummy and we really enjoyed it!

After eating we headed out for Moscow. The drive was beautiful but we had never seen land like this! Rolling hills covered in crops and the GREENEST grass that I have ever ever seen. I can't even explain it. The sky was a blue like we don't see in MO. I tried to take some pics of it but they didn't turn out as well since we were in the car. I'll post later. We seemed like we were going to the middle of NOWHERE and when we arrived in Moscow we realized that is right where we were IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Not going to lie, we were a little discouraged to think that we were going to have to spend 3 weeks here but after a nap we had a more "positive" outlook on the situation. It won't be bad at all.

Rk had a meeting at 5 which lasted 'til 8:30ish so I headed out to explore the town. I found that there is a MALL that pretty much connects to the hotel parking lot. Needlesstosay that was where I went first. There are quite a few neat stores so I roamed around and met 2 sweet girls at Zales Jewelry where I got my wedding ring cleaned. They were super nice and gave me some good info on the town.

I forgot one major thing when I packed....MY STRAIGHTENER! That is crucial when ya have naturally curly hair so off I went to Regis to get a new one. No worries I found one and all is well. I guess I could have done with out but I thought what the heck!

I then went to Walmart to get some necessities like shampoo that we didn't want to bother packing.

I came back to the room and showered and watched the Tribute to Brooks and Dunn and waited for Rk to get back. He got back around 8:30 and was pretty excited about this conference he is attending. He didn't think that it's going to be that bad but he was by far the youngest attendant. LOL! Anyways, enough for now...I'll post pics as soon as my Iphoto unfreezes!