Tallinn, Estonia

It is 5:53pm (10:53am EST) and we are sitting in the port of Tallinn, Estonia getting ready to depart for our overnight cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia. The internet is free at the port.....

Just a picture for you as we depart.

Family Pics....Catching Up

On the way back from Asheville my parents stopped in Raleigh to spend a day with us. Like a typical NC summer day it was hot, somewhere in the upper 90's. Kyle suggested going to see an IMAX movie to stay cool. We decided to go to lunch downtown Raleigh and then see Shrek 3 in 3D at IMAX.

The night before Kyle was reading a newspaper article online that listed the top restaurants in NC. One in Raleigh was the Roast Grill. The Grill is a tiny hot dog restaurant that has been open since the 40's. I don't think they've changed anything since the 40's either. At the Grill they cook hotdogs on an open fire and slightly burn them, yummy. They serve 3 toppings, chili, mustard, and coleslaw. So we headed to the Roast Grill for lunch.

When we walked in it was small (the size of my closet) and packed with what looked like regulars. Mom and I looked at each other told Kyle our orders and decided to walk outside to wait. A few minutes later Dad and Kyle came out with lunch. The cokes were in the old school glass bottles. The hot dogs were amazing!

Mom and Dad after lunch at the weiners sign...isn't it spelled wiener?

Mom and Dad drinking out of their glass bottle cokes on the porch that we ate lunch on.

My mom really is addicted to coca-cola.

Last weekend my Dad had his second cardiac ablation. AfterI think a 7 hour surgery we finally got to see him at 9pm. Here are some pictures of Dad as soon as he came out of recovery. He doesn't remember me taking them. He is doing very well a week after surgery and as expected is sore and has bruising. Mom....we don't need anymore details.

Sorry the quality of the pics isn't the best. I took all of these with my iPhone.

Dad after surgery, his eyes are almost swollen from being taped shut and filled with goo.

Mom smiling after a long day of patiently waiting and being calm.

Green Thumb....Who Knew.

I took a break from cruise history to do some planting this weekend. I finally got around to putting the bricks around the back garden. Here are some new pictures of the back yard, patio, and garden.

page I submitted for a layout tag


flox in garden, with a bee doing some work


butterfly enjoying the cone flowers

picture of the backyard and patio


Nala smiling in the backyard