A quick trip

August 1st we drove to Warsaw, Indiana to visit Greg and got to see "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" at the Wagon Wheel Theater where he has been the tech director for the summer. Like Fort Atkinson, WI it is a theater in the round. For this production Greg also did the lighting design. Note the special lighting in these three scenes. Great job Greg. Sorry we're missing "To Kill a Mockingbird" this week as Greg has a cameo stage performance as Boo Radley.

On Saturday, August 2nd we drove from Indiana to Milwaukee where we were able to share the last couple of hours of Lisa's birthday with her!! We tried to disguise the fact that we didn't have the right number of candles by putting them all together but Lisa still counted and found us short by two.

On Sunday afternoon August 3rd we were privileged to attend Janelle(Lee's niece) and Donald Brown's wedding at the lakefront in Milwaukee. It was a beautiful wedding and an awesome reception. (pictured are Lee's brother, Ron, Janelle, Donald, and sister-in-law LouAnn).

Hilton Head, South Carolina July 13-19, 2008

Our annual Meyer sibling week happened in Hilton Head, South Carolina this year. It was about a 10 hour drive for us. Ron, John, Al and Bruce were able to try out several beautiful golf courses around the island. The ladies did a bit of shopping, cross-stitching, and sunning. We all enjoyed eating out at some great restaurants and just catching up on each others lives.

Here we are at the Old Oyster Factory Restaurant, Hilton Head Island. Before dinner some of us tried oysters for the first time ever. Not too bad!!


Just the two of us near the Old Oyster Factory.


Ever hear the phrase "too many cooks in the kitchen???" Everybody wants to help. Thought I'd get out of the way!!

One evening we took a three block stroll down to the beach to take in an awesome full moon reflecting off the Atlantic Ocean. It was beautiful. I can almost hear the waves just looking at the photo.
A silhouette in the romantic moonlight.

4th of July in Collierville

Over the July 4th weekend we enjoyed a visit from Lisa, her boyfriend, Zach and one of her roommates, Summer. We watched Collierville fireworks from our driveway, toured Holly Springs, MS with it's antebellum homes, checked out downtown Memphis' Beale Street, played some games, and watched some movies. We treasure every moment!! and we miss you, Lisa!!

Lisa and Zach in front of a crepe myrtle!


Summer, Lisa, and Zach say "Thank you, thank you very much".

Girlfriend Time

In June Lee was able to spend several days in WI to visit family and friends. She traveled north with a friend from Collierville and they had a great week spending time with Dawn and family (formerly from Collierville). They took in a Brewers game, downtown Milwaukee, Dawn's hot tub, and had a lot of laughs. Menopause the Musical was hilarious!!
Lisa made it over to see mom for one night!! It's always awesome to have some mom and daughter time. Other family time included a trip to Sauk City for Lee's Uncle Chuck's funeral. Seeing extended family brought back a lot of great childhood memories. It felt good to reconnect.

Lee, Leta, Lisa and Dawn enjoying the hot tub.

Dawn and Lee by the Art Museum.
Here we are at Menopause the Musical. It was awesome.
Go Brewers!!!
A blanket moment for Dawn and Tim*!!(* that is Tim with one m)Thanks for such a super week of fun and relaxation!!

Cat tale

We have a house guest for the summer! Greg wasn't able to keep his cat, POTO, with him in Indiana at his summer job. POTO is a remarkable foosball player. He really picked up the game without any coaching. He loves to spend time practicing. From downstairs we just hear the balls rolling around.
He has a little trouble getting the ball back up on the table after his opponent scores.

Just today he figured out that the kitchen counters really aren't that high. While you're there POTO could you turn the radio down a bit.
After exploring the internet on my laptop he needs a little nap.
POTO is a very friendly cat. He follows me all over the house. Here he is listening while I play piano. One night as we were getting ready for bed we couldn't find him anywhere. Finally the second time we checked the garage he came to the door. I think he was planning to hotwire the car but he couldn't reach the garage door opener so he gave up. He must have slipped past me earlier when I was bringing things in from the car. POTO loves beanie babies and has been proudly dragging them all over the house. Is it August yet??

Four days of fun and games

On Memorial Day we drove up to Hannibal, MO to pick up our three precious grandchildren, Nate (6), Eli (4), and Ava (almost 3). We had four days together to play games, read stories, visit some fun places, and enjoy a lot of hugs and kisses. At the Memphis Children's Museum the kids got to send boats down a little river; check out the inside story on the human body; pretend to drive a fire truck, police car, motorcycle, hot rod, and airplane; climb in towers; dance disco; grocery shop with shelves at their level; do a stage performance; make and fly paper airplanes; fl and much more. Below Timm and the kids are boarding a Fed Ex plane at the museum.

Guess who's piloting this flight?? There were a lot of buttons that needed pushing but the plane never left the ground. (I never got to do this when I was a kid.)
Look out Top Gun these two look handsome and ready!

Dr. Ava do you think you can save this one?

The museum was great but playing in wet sand was like being at the beach. They were just getting started when I took this picture, there was some very creative river building yet to come.


The water park area was their favorite for the week. We spent part of three afternoons here. Ava is being very brave.
After a long day of play a story or two from Grandpa top off the day.
Ava loved to carry on conversations on her dazzling pink cell phone. I hope Mom & Dad have enough minutes to meet her needs when she has the real thing. Thank you Ben and Kate for letting us enjoy your children for a few days. We loved every minute of it and can't wait to do it again sometime. They are every bit as adorable as they look.

Petit Jean, Arkansas (May 2008)

During Greg's few days home between school and summer job he went with us to Pastor's conference at Petit Jean in Arkansas. Timm attended meetings and Greg and I checked out the hiking trails. The weather was perfect and we saw some of God's beautiful handiwork. Greg couldn't resist climbing up on this tree that crossed our path.

I was grateful that Greg loaned me his walking stick. It really made the trails more navigable.
This was the end of the trail for me in front of a beautiful waterfall.
Shortly after taking this photo Greg climbed around on the rocks to enjoy the mist sitting right next to the waterfall.

Suspicious Looking??

Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel


So we were in line in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel visiting with other people from our tour group. We were waiting to check our bags to head to Egypt. A young lady in military uniform came up to us and looking at me said, "Come with me please." I said, "What???" and she repeated "Come with me please." So Timm and I started to follow her. She said, "No (to Timm) just her."

She took me about 50 feet away from everyone and began to question me: when did you arrive in Israel? how many are in your group? what kind of tour is it? how many single people are in your group? did anyone arrive late for the tour? who arranged the tour? who is the tour leader? did anyone leave early? did anyone visit a private home? did anyone give you anything? do you know the other people in your group?

I'm sure there were other questions that I've forgotten. She took notes on my answers which was a bit distressing to me because her notes were in aramaic so I couldn't tell what she was writing down. After about 10 minutes she thanked me and had me return to the group. Shortly thereafter they started checking us all through.

There were 102 of us on the tour. Our tour guides had warned us before we went to the airport that security would randomly select someone to question as well as the tour leader, then they would compare the answers before permitting us through. I guess I did okay as we made it to Egypt without incident. I'll always wonder why she chose me; do I have that suspicious sneaky look, was it the outfit I was wearing, or just the place we were in line. It was an interesting addendum to our travels.

Trip to ISRAEL & EGYPT

We left home March 5, arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel the 6th. The following is just a glimpse of all the places we went and awesome things we saw. We never felt threatened or in any danger. We did see many armed guards and even had an armed escort in Egypt. Places we went in Israel included: Jaffa(where Jonah set sail for Ninevah), Caesarea(where one of Herod's palaces was & Pilate stayed), Mt. Carmel(where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal),Capernaum(where we saw the ruins of Peter's house that Jesus stayed at and the local synagogue where he spoke),Mt. of the Beatitudes, site of the feeding of the 5000,the Golan Heights(where we saw signs along the road reading danger mine fields - still left from the war with Syria), Nazareth, Megiddo(site of King Solomon's stables & area of Armeggedon), Mt. Tabor(traditional site of the transfiguration), Mt. Gilboa(where Saul & Jonothan died in battle), Mt. of Olives, Pool of Siloam, Shrine of the Book, Qumran(where the Dead Sea scrolls were found), Massada, Ein Gedi(beautiful area surrounded by desert where David hid in the caves to escape Saul), all over Jerusalem(via Dolorosa, wailing wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher), Bethlehem. I'm sure I've left some out. Then we went to Egypt; the pyramids, sphinx, valley of the kings and queens, the Egyptian museum, temples at Karnak, Luxor and Aswan, huge statues of Ramses II etc.... We packed alot into our fourteen days and returned awed and tired on Thursday the 20th at about 2:30am. Our luggage made it everywhere with us from Nashville through 6 flights, an overnight train ride and numerous hotel changes including a 3 day cruise but got hung up at JFK on our way home. We were happy to be reunited with them two days after we got home. If you ever get the chance to make this journey I highly recommend it, especially Israel. It has made the Bible come to life. Enjoy a few photos.

We saw these gravesites along the side of the road in Galilee.
Gives you an idea of what Christ's tomb might have been like.

This is what it's all about, an empty tomb. As Timm preached on Easter
Sunday ESPECIALLY who emptied it.

A hill near the Garden Tomb Park similar to what Golgatha may have looked like.
The most probable site of Calvary has a church built over it with just a hole under
the altar where they say Jesus cross went into the stone. The altar area is decorated beautifully.

Israel

This is the west side of the Sea of Galilee looking south. Can't you
almost see Jesus with a small fire, cooking fish and calling to the disciples.

This is a long distance look at the city of Nazareth. It is a much bigger
city today than in the time of Jesus(estimated to be about 400 then). I hadn't realized what a mountainous area it was in. Guess it makes sense though as they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff when he first proclaimed who he was. We visited a synagogue in Nazareth built on the
foundation of the small synagogue where Jesus read from Isaiah. We also visited the
church of the annunciation that claims to be built over the site where Mary was visited by the angel.

This is looking east over part of Bethlehem. The hills in the
background are representative of where the shepherds were when
they recieved the news of Christ's birth from the angels. In Bethlehem
we visited the church marking the place of Christ's birth. Bethlehem is currently
palestinian controlled and walled off from other areas. We had to change buses and
leave our Israeli guides behind to visit here. Armed Israeli guards walked through the
bus and checked everything carefully.

Here we are near the Garden of Gethsemane with the Old City of
Jerusalem behind us. The Kidron Valley is the green strip in the middle
and the Dome of the Rock (where the Holy of Holies of Herod's Temple
had been) is between us.

Israel

All those little bumps on the hillside are sheep and down near the
right is their shepherd. We saw many flocks on the mountainslopes outside
of Jerusalem. The horizontal lines on the hill are paths made over the years by the sheep.

This is part of the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive groves that
Jesus frequented for solitude and prayed in the night he was arrested.

Our first Sunday morning we visited the Mountain of the Beatitudes
where Christ gave the sermon on the mount. Timm felt awed to preach for
our worship service here. That's the Sea of Galilee in the background.

This is taken from the middle of the Sea of Galilee looking west.
Our boat stopped, turned off the engine and just let us experience
the surroundings; thinking about Jesus walking out here in the middle
of a storm or perhaps the disciples doing some fishing.

Israel

Model of the city of Jerusalem as seen from the Garden of Gethsemane
from Jesus time. It is 1/50 to real scale. This was outside the Shrine of the
Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed.

Recently discovered area of the Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed
the blind man. The steps on the right lead down to where the pool was on
the left. The tunnel at the back leads to steps going up to the temple mount.

That's the Dead Sea in the background and the Moab Mountains (area where Ruth was from)on the other side.

Lee floating in the Dead Sea. Note the thick mud on my feet that went knee
deep walking in. People pay big bucks for skin treatments with this muck.