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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The Kramers Meet The Hunters!

We had fun while Lucy and her family were here...it was a short visit, they arrived on sunday afternoon, and stayed until tuesday morning. They are now in Gatlinburg TN and are staying there a week, and then off to NYC for a few days before heading back to the Netherlands. I've never had to travel with more than 2 kids, so my hat goes off to her, keeping it all together!

Sunday afternoon we went out to the lake where our friend Zack lives. He has a little lake cottage (tiny, 2 bedrooms, but perfect for a single guy!) and we swam, kayaked, and the guys all took their turns at wake boarding with Zach's ski boat.

We grilled burgers and had a picnic outside complete with ants..auugh! Then we came back to the house, and celebrated Lucy's son Pim's 16th birthday with a good old American chocolate cake!

The kids were so tired that they slept in the next morning until nearly 11am! We wanted to go back to the lake in the evening, so we decided to stay around Columbia during the day. Lucy's husband Rene plays guitar, and wanted to check out some local music shops, so while they did that (Jeff and Pim went too, so it was all the boys in one car, and all the girls in the other!) Lucy and the girls and I went to Joann's for fabric and quilting supplies. Then we all went to that great american institution called TACO BELL! :cD Jeff wanted Pim and the girls to try his favorite. It was a big hit, and fun to see them try everything.

After that...the mall! The kids loved it, the parents tolerated it...but for them, the clothes are so inexpensive here, it was fun for them to shop for some things the kids needed and wanted before school starts for them in September. Natasja found a pair of levi's for $29.99 that would have been about $120.00 equivalent in Holland. Bargain :c)

After the shopping, back to the lake we went for more boating and swimming and wake boarding. We grilled salmon this time and had a wonderful evening of visiting and talking.

In the middle of everything I had a BAD computer crash :c( I knew it had been coming...I'd reformatted, recovered, defragged, condensed files, purged...and still for no reason the computer would just blip off in the middle of whatever you were doing, and beep this terrible repetitive beep!

It's more than a simple job....and so last night I went to Best Buy and bought a new puter with a really nice flat screen monitor because I deserve it! It was a package deal, computer, monitor, and a photo printer that I didn't need..but who knows...maybe now that I have it I will use it? It was cheaper together as a package than it would have been separately without the photo printer.

Jason wants a computer to mess with. So I might send him the broken one and he can figure out if it needs a new motherboard or whatever. He loves to tinker...and I love this new monitor so much! Now I just have to HOPE that I can set the old computer back up and get some more stuff off it. The pictures that Lucy took while here are on the OTHER computer :c( So I have no pics to send with this. My camera never made it out of it's case because I was busy cooking and leaving the picture taking up to Lucy! I'll get some from her when she is able to upload them onto her computer.

Oh...after Lucy left....I came back up here and saw she had left HER camera! There was no way to contact her while on her drive, I didn't have a number for their cell phone (and it is a netherlands one?) so I called the cabin rental place they had used my phone to call earlier in the day to make sure everything was ready. Thank heavens for vonage and being able to get online and see the outgoing calls! I called the number back, explained the situation, and they gave me the address to send their camera to, and I ran it right off to UPS. It should be there tomorrow....another bad situation solved! She called me last night while I was at the computer store, to tell me they had already had an adventure with a BEAR at the cabin..I'll let her tell you the rest!

Bonnie

9 comments:

  1. Supreme post, Bonnie, thank you for telling us all about Lucy's visit!

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  2. Lots of memories-- lots of fun. It's fun to see things through other people eyes. I'm so guilty of complaining and not realizing how neat the place we live in really is....

    Melanie

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  3. sounds like its been a very busy few days for you all...

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  4. It sounds like you had a great time iwth your family style visit!

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  5. Sounds like a lot of fun. SHe seems to be having a great trip across the whole country!!

    We had to get a whole new computer a few months ago and one thing I got was the 19" flat monitor and it is soooo wonderful!!

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  6. Oh it sounds like they had a great time visiting - isn't it a wonder that in there vacation they have probably seen more of the US than I have! And I can't believe the jeans price over there! I"ll never complain again about my girls wanting jeans that are $40!

    Sorry to hear about the computer crash - BUT - the new one sounds soooo wonderful!

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  7. You made some good memories during this visit. I love visiting friends! I know the crash was bad, but do we ever get something we need before we're forced to do so? Glad you found a new one you like!

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  8. Ohhh Bonnie, it sounds like you had the very best time. I look forward to seeing some pictures when you have some. I'm glad you were able to solve your computer dilemma, how did we ever live without them?
    *hugs*
    Tazzie
    :-)

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  9. Wow, you've been busy!

    Thanks for catching us up on all the news, sounds like you had a wonderful visit and a lot going on!

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