Done with school, snowed in

This week I (Patrick) finished my classes as well as my internship, leaving me free as a bird for two days. I spent the majority of those two days looking forward to being in Washington and was thus crushed when Kim called on Friday to say our Saturday morning flight had been cancelled due to an expected snow storm. Usually I love snow and callously disregard the people who might be inconvenienced by it.

After calling to rebook our flight I spent two hours on the phone with several customer service agents. We were eventually booked on a flight at 1:30 pm Saturday. I asked the agent why a 9 am flight would be cancelled but a 1:30 flight wouldn't when the storm was supposed to get worse throughout the day. We ended up booked on the 1:30 flight feeling certain that flight would be cancelled as well. It was. I then called to rebook again, only to be put on hold for (no exaggeration) 3 hours. We're currently booked on a 1:55 pm flight out of Baltimore that stops at most airports in the continental United States before getting to Pasco sometime just before the next presidential election. I'm not sure how we'll get to Baltimore if the flight should actually take off.

Oh, one bright spot is that the Shins (the family Kim nannies for) gave us a Wii for Christmas so our unexpected snow day can be spent bowling and playing tennis.

Apologies to all Eastern Washington family and hopefully we'll see you soon. Adios!

Nashville Skyline

For Thanksgiving Kim and I went to Nashville to visit the Verner family, recently ranked the #7 family in the country for "Good times with Amy Grant relatives". It was a fantastic trip and a reminder how good it is to be surrounded by good friends. We stayed in Brentwood with Pace and Brandon Verner (great hosts) and their too-cute-to-be-true sons Afton and Sims. Afton is 3 years old and can say his ABC's in a killer country accent. Sims is 5 months old and does a lot of smiling.

We left on Wednesday and drove more than 10 hours to Nashville. Deep in rural Virginia we hit a bizarre traffic jam. Who goes out there? We hit the same thing on the way back, so apparently more people than I would've thought. We got in late, reunited with Hunter and Laura and crashed.

On Thanksgiving day we joined Hunter's extended family at his uncle's cabin. It's a beautiful log cabin sandwiched between a river and small hay fields. Seriously an amazing place. It was like summer camp: we went on a bike ride, played kickball, went on a hike, ate amazing food, and then played around on hay bales.

The next day was a work day. I won't try to explain to you what we did as i could spend pages and I'm not sure I'd really convey what happened. Basically it took 8 dudes 4 hours to get a 350 lb. roof to sit precariously on top of a vertical 18 foot log. For lunch that day several people suggested we have a "meat n' three". As the name suggests, one chooses a meat and three accompanying vegetables. Example: "Hey, I'm getting hungry. Wanna grab a meat n' three?" That night some cousins came over and we had a game night. Kim's sculpterade of a saddle could also have passed for Jabba the Hut. We also attended a performance of "The First Thanksgiving" as interpreted by a 3 and 6 year old which was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

On Saturday we slept in, took a walk around a nearby lake, and spent the afternoon hanging out with the relatives across the street brewing beer in the garage and watching football. That night we went to Jane and Glenn's house for a delicious Verner family dinner. What did they put on their cornbread you may be asking? Butter? Honey? No no. Yogurt and cayenne pepper obviously. Basically a perfect day.

On Sunday we got up and headed home. Unfortunately we ran into traffic again on the way back and spent 12 HOURS in the car. That is basically an intolerable amount of time. But it didn't ruin the amazing Thanksgiving weekend we'd just had.

Thanks Pace, Brandon, Afton, Sims, Hunter, Laura, Stuart, Erin, Katherine, Jane and Glenn! Hopefully we'll see you again soon

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