(Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center) Last week the trees were glowing with color, but then over the weekend it got down to the mid 30s with wind, and the leaves lost their brilliance, and most of them lost their hold on the trees. Now the ground is covered with the red leaves. Another thing that's really funny, and has become a part of our lives it seems (except when we were in Dickinson!) is the acorns. In California I kept going on about how big they were, and here they're about the size of a piece of hominy, but there are [View Full Entry]

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(Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center) We arrived at Shocco Springs Friday afternoon to find fall colors just in their peak! At Carson Springs they had lost their brilliance, but here they’re still bright. AND we don’t have to rake leaves!! We’re parked in spots with trees surrounding us, and we’re on level ground~~two things you don’t often find at camps! There are six couples, and for the very first time, we’re meeting up with couples we’ve worked with on other projects….Mo and Leona from our September project in Michigan; Earl and [View Full Entry]

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Well its November 3rd and yes I voted absentee ballot because I have gone to Alabama for a week. I will be heading back to Connecticut on Friday so I can pack for this trip. Very exciting! Last night I rewatched a video of Jordan parachuting in Ma. during his last visit. My mother was wincing during the show and kept saying "I told him not to do that." lol I talked to Jordan on Sunday and he is Syched. I will add later. John (currently in Alabama) [View Full Entry]

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So, my parents had their 30th anniversary celebration in Gulf Shores, Alabama. This at first sight doesn't seem like your typical vacation spot, but man was it a pleasant surprise! The beaches were clean, quiet even if the water wasn't the best. It was so peaceful there, a great place to take your family. They have excellent seafood from what we hear at "The Oyster House" but our experience there was mediocre, That's not to say the trip wasn't really fun and enjoyable. In addition to the 30th celebration my little niece Morgan had her first birthday. She was tired and [View Full Entry]

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It's been another adventurous week for our family, and we've added several more events to our list of good memories that we are accumulating during our travels. Here are some highlights of our past week: As mentioned previously, we spent last weekend in Charleston, SC. We cannot begin to express our appreciation for the wonderful group of Christians at the North Charleston church of Christ. The preacher, Don Blackwell, and his family, are a great asset to the congregation there. We stayed in the home of one of the elders - Richard and Marci Hopkins. They opened their home to u [View Full Entry]

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What a great end to the trip. we stayed with Auntie Anne and my Mum is there visiting for a month. Also my wee brother Colm & sister Anne and Anne's friend Caoimhe are in Alabama for 3 weeks. Mum & Auntie Anne are in Mobile & thats where we stayed, Colm & Anne were in Birmingham, Alabama but came down to Mobile for the time we were there. We had a great time. Lots of eating & drinking & shopping. we all went to this outlet mall - the riviera centre down near the Gilf shores, lets just say the [View Full Entry]

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As much fun as the annual National Shrimp Festival is, the run-up to the event is great for another type of entertainment: people- and process-watching. With the festival still a future event, preparation in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach goes at a steady but manageable pace. Vendor tents begin to appear one by one along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Signs go up. Souvenirs are unpacked. And businesses get a little extra sprucing up. But when the festival is just a week away, well, things go into overdrive. The tents that were steadily going up before begin to spring forth like mushrooms [View Full Entry]

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If you have had the misfortune to hear the craptastic pop song "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, you will know what I am going on about, if you haven't then consider yourself lucky. I've written to my local radio station, Channel 4 FM, who are normally pretty good, asking them to remove this rubbish but apparently it is the station's most requested song, and has been for some time. This is why I find this song more offensive than usual. 1 - It rips off a riff of “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Werewolves of London” which is just lazy/annoying. If [View Full Entry]

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Little River Canyon My brothers and I decided to drive up to Little River Canyon in Northeast Alabama, near Lookout Mountain, to go hiking and camping. We had looked at a few different places in that area of the state, but Anna suggested going there, b/c she had always thought it was pretty and knew I'd like it. We filled up our gas tanks the night before, fearing the gas scare on the day of our departure, which helped us get out of town quickly. Insead of driving up to Fort Payne and bypassing all the scenary, we took the Collinsville [View Full Entry]

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We finally got out of Florida today just as the first band of Ike hit the Panhandle. We were in Florida for 2 1/2 days geocaching! Hey, we have the time and we aren't ones to resist caching. Got an email today that our cruise itinerary has changed in that they have taken away the stop in Petropavlovsk, Russia. Dang it! I really wanted to go to Russia! I'm hoping that they will find another place to go along the route so that we won't be missing a stop somewhere. Angkor Wat sounds good to us! Tomorrow should find us in [View Full Entry]

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