A Visit to Seattle

It has been a while since I last posted on this website. Since I last wrote here, I have become a year older!! What did I do on my birthday? Well, I didn't go anywhere, I only sat at the airport on Standby for 4 hours. But, the day was special anyway, as I made my first memory working as a flight attendant, and people around me made it special. About four days later. . . .
. . . .I got to go visit my sister in Seattle (her husband heard I was coming, and skipped town. . .just kidding!! He was in Montana with some friends of his). Although we didn't have great weather, we did have one day that we were able to go outside and spend some time. These pictures were taken at the Sculpture park in downtown, Seattle.
Where's the sisters? We're hiding in this picture!
This is the picture that I've got a tumor growing out of my head. . .a quite impressive one, if I do say so myself!
This meadow is something they re-created from previous times right in the middle of the park so people would know what flowers/plants grew before the city got there. It was unique!
This is the sculpture that everyone likes to play in! This one hangs from the ceiling and swings. I'm sure it would be quite comfortable to sleep in there sometime. I felt like I was in a space ship or something!

What My Parents Do

So, as I was sitting in the airport on standby today, my parents got to go to Switzerland and see our beautiful mountains there. Yeah, I don't ALWAYS get to be the exotic traveler! Well, this is only two and a half hours away from where we live in Germany, so its not that much of an effort for them. I borrowed this from my Uncle and Aunt's blogspot. They went here with a workteam that had come to help out at the school for a couple weeks. This was a travel day after a bunch of work.

My Cousin's Wedding

As I mentioned before, the same weekend I was in Germany for Luke's graduation, another special cousin was getting married in Alberta, with a lot of the rest of the family. These are pictures from that event taken by my sister, Sharla. The happy couple, Josh and Jena. Jena is the daughter of my mom's sister, Sherrie, who is also the twin of Sandee (the graduate's mom). The Poff family--Landon, Josh, Jena, Sherrie, and Don. Wish I could have been there, too!
My cousins, Kenton and Nicola (brother and sister-in-law) sitting with my grandma.
My wonderful Grandma and my sister, Sharla.
My sister and her husband, Ben. They live in Seattle. I hope to visit them near the end of July, if all goes well. I haven't seen them for a while and its about time!!

Graduation at Black Forest Academy

The proud aunt (my mom) and the proud parents (Sandee and Tim Shuman, my aunt and uncle) of the graduate.
A bunch of good friends that graduated with Luke. One of these guys started in grade 1 with him! That's a long time for a group of missionary kids.
I also got to share the joy of being with some of the girls I taught and helped take care of while I was on staff. Both of these girls were from the dorm I substituted in when the RA's had their days off. It was so fun to be there to share this moment with them.
And, of course, I got to be with my own parents (also the proud aunt and uncle of the graduate), so that was a lot of fun. By the way, people were asking me if I worked to get there for this trip. I did not. I merely got on a plane and rode there to be there for the event, after miraculously getting a period of a week off right around the day of graduation! That's almost unheard of for a beginner!
And here's the fam (minus Luke's brother, Tyler, who had escaped the party by this time). We took this for the benefit of the rest of the family, who were gathered in Alberta, Canada, to celebrate the wedding of my other cousin. This was shown during the reception as the excuse to why we weren't there to celebrate with them.

Graduation (cont'd)

My trip to Germany at the beginning of June included a wonderful celebration of my cousin's graduation from BFA. I was so excited to be there for him, as well as for a lot of his classmates, whom I used to teach Sign Language to when they were in Junior High. This is his friend, Adam, as they were waiting in line to go to the stage.

I know this picture is side ways, but I can't figure out how to turn it, and its too funny not to share! This is the life. Hanging out, waiting for life to happen. Good stuff!

A Working Trip to Sydney, Australia

I had a wonderful opportunity to fly to Sydney, Australia about a month after I started flying. These pictures are from that trip. What a wonderful experience!

I bought a "day-tripper" on my second day there, which was a ferry, bus, and train ticket for the whole day and I could go anywhere. I rode the bus to Chinatown to do some souvenier shopping, and then I rode ferries for the rest of the day. These next pictures I took at the ferry. The Sydney Opera house. This is the view taking off from the ferry dock right in Sydney. My hotel was the third building back on the left hand side. Pretty close, huh?
A beautiful view of the main bridge in Sydney, and the opera house near sunset.
The same view a little furthe with a HUGE harvest moon rising. Yes, that's the moon, not the sun!
Another bridge across the harbour. Closer to sunset.

A Day in San Francisco

And, of course, the golden gate bridge, which I have yet to see up close. Did you know that it can get quite chilly in San Francisco during the summer, even with it being summer? The wind off the bay really makes a difference. Thus, the polarfleece, and the jacket.




This one was taken at Pier 39, which was FREEZING by the time we got out to this point. Not the best of pictures, but its the memory that counts, right?!!

San Francisco (cont'd)

These posts are going to be out of order for a bit until I can get organized but at least there something different than before. My friend, Anna, a nurse that works in the hospital in Glasgow, came to San Francisco to visit some friends, and myself. We had a wonderful day together, and made some fun memories. I now know the city I live in (or near) better!


This picture is at the gate heading into Chinatown here in San Fran.
Anna's friends and myself hanging out in Union Square. We ate lunch at the top of the building in the background. . .
. . .where there was a cheesecake factory, and some delicious food! A wonderful time, but I got a sunburn during lunch, which wasn't too nice to deal with when I went to work the next morning!
The view of Union Square from the top of the roof. Nice, huh? I was told to come down here at Christmas time because they decorate it really nice. I'll have to keep that in mind when the time comes.
And, of course, a trolley ride! It was very fun, but very touristy. I'm glad we got to pose for this picture after everyone else got off. (Since posting this picture, I have been corrected that I rode a cable car, not a trolley. Sorry!)

My First Flight--to Frankfurt, Germany

On my very first trip out of training, I got to fly to Germany, where my parents were able to join me in the hotel for an overnight. It was a miracle, to say the least. These are some pictures from that very wonderful visit with them. And some pictures they took because they're my parents and they're proud of me.
Here we are in the hotel room just before we left for the airport. What a fun visit.
We had to use the scenery we had in the room. You like the plant?
This was my very first crew that I flew with. They were all very excited for me and for my parents. They were sooooo helpful and made sure everything was just so. What a great first experience.
At the airport--one last hug from a proud mom. So fun to be able to do this.
The final shot--if you ever wondered what I look like when I'm working, this is it. Pulling along suitcases and walking through airports with the rest of my crew.

Training Friends

This picture was taken during training of myself and my two good friends, Dede on the left (roommate during training) and Wendy on the right (roommate now).