Week 2

Week 2 of posting, we're on a roll. We don't have any pictures to post this week, but some things of note have happened. Israel's been hard at work on a new client this past week while I finished my Abydos Writing Institute this past Thursday. I had to send one of my pieces off to get published, yikes! Friday morning, Samara (the other Activity Day leader) and I took seven girls to a free play of Alice in Wonderland downtown at the Miller Outdoor Theater.

Early Saturday morning landed Israel and I in the ER. I woke up with intense pain under my ribs. After trying to read to distract my mind from the pain, I started moaning and groaning. It started affecting my breathing. Israel, not so sure what to do, asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. The $100 copay slowed down my desire to go, but it got to the point that money didn't matter. I also was afraid it might just be "gas" and thought this will be the most expensive gas on record. By the time I got to the hospital, the pain was getting better and by the time the doctor was in my room, I didn't feel all that bad. I explained that it was probably just gas, laughing from embarrassment. He didn't like that I was trying to diagnose my ailment and sent me to get an ultrasound and bloodwork. The ultrasound tech was only supposed to check out the upper right quadrant, but his instrument "slid" and we got a sneak peak at the baby. It was exciting to see the legs and arms and something that resembled a baby instead of a pulsating blob. We, however, didn't get to find out the gender. We'll have to wait until this coming Friday for that. Well, the real diagnosis is that I have gallstones. They would probably do surgery if I wasn't prego, but it will have to wait until after the baby comes. The doctor told me to expect it to get worse the more pregnant I am and put me on a very low fat diet. I guess all those years of not watching my diet have caught up to me. Lots of fruits, vegetables, crackers, beans, and rice are on the menu for quite sometime. Goodbye butter, pizza, sour cream, cheese, ice cream, meat, cream cheese, etc. It was quite sad to go to the grocery store yesterday. I walked down the aisles with Israel, "Can't eat that. Can't eat that. Can't eat that." Anyone have good recipes?

Vicksburg

She said: On Saturday, we went to the Vicksburg Military National Park. Here's what we learned. Vicksburg was a very key battle because it meant control of the Mississippi River. It was one of the two last Confederate holds on the river. After several attempts to take over the city and battles, General Grant positioned his troops in a strategic position. The Vicksburg siege lasted for several weeks until finally the Confederate troops surrendered.


We saw a "living history" demonstration of firing a cannon. Cover those ears!


A classic "Israel's arm" shot. You can see one of the monuments and a cannon behind us. Why don't we just ask someone to take the picture for us?


Illinois knows how to pay tribute to their soldiers. Each state has the responsibility of erecting their own monuments in the park.


Notice the contraption in Israel's hand. You can rent a GPS that has little videos pop up as you travel around the park. Pretty cool stuff, I think I've even put a GPS on the Christmas list.

Israel can't just stand there to take a picture. It does keep me entertained though. We didn't get out at every monument, but if there was a firing soldier or anything else Israel deemed "cool," we'd hike to it.

A tunnel built under a hill, so the soldiers didn't have to be exposed to get to the other side.

The Texas Monument.

Bed and Breakfast

What is he looking at?


In the ballroom/dining room. We ate a scrumptous "Southern" breakfast.


In the hallway. Check out the maternity shirt; my first day wearing one. I've decided after how huge it made me look, I'll continue looking chunky in my regular shirts for a few more weeks.


Our room had the cutest sitting area with a bay window and archway.


The Bonnie Blue Room
Our room's decor was done all in blue.


The Baer House Inn
The house was built in 1870 in the Victorian East Lake style. We were treated to the house's history at breakfast. The house had a ton of charm.

Fine Dining?

She said: This picture sums up our experiences with the restaurant industry. Every place we went besides the Bed and Breakfast messed something up. It provided for some good laughs though, at least one of us laughed.

He said: After an arduous journey and Sarah's trembling legs could go no further, we finally stumbled upon what one would think was an oasis...Borellos, one would be wrong.

Upon entering this establishment we had the highest of hopes (as it was one of two places which did not appear to have bar in the title). The entrance seemed normal enough, a bar and two options we were give. Would we like to be seated down stairs or up? After a questioning glance was exchanged, the boss responded with a tentative upstairs. This fateful decision turned out to be the beginnings of our interesting dining experience.

Climbing the creaky wooden stairs our eyes fell upon outdated wood paneling that had been far out of style - 20 years ago. Had that been the only problem, there would have been no tale of woe. The next thing I beheld was the nasty colored green carpet, the type of green that one would see on a garishly colored Christmas sweater that some long lost relative refuses to faze from their holiday attire. But wait, it appears that dear little Hansel walked this way; we see quite the impressive trail, or shall we say path strewn upon the floor. Not to be out done, it appears Gretel was snacking at the table which we were seated, as this too had crumbs aplenty.

As we were trying to take this all in, our server giggled "this is my first night", this could not bode well.....

After eventually getting settled and taking our order, we got our appetizer - fried pickles. The pickles were decent, and we ate most of them. When our teeny bopper server returned she decided to be very aggressive and take both the plate and the ramkin that held the tartar sauce. This task proved to be much too daunting. As can be seen I was the victim of this debacle.

After further consideration, the smell of the napkins I was brought to clean my shirt and shorts appears to have been that of napkins that are constantly rinsed off with water and never actually washed. I knew there was something strange with the smell of the napkins cleaning off the tartar sauce. It was odd to me that my shirt smelled much worse post cleaning. This picture was taken near the end of the meal... NO, she did not clean up the spill the entire time we were there. We were able to fully enjoy the ambiance the entire time.

To complete the lovely night our server failed to adjust the Boss's order (which we had changed to two sides, instead of the comparable meal that was more expensive). There was no renumeration for the incident and $40 dollars later and a stinky walk home, I'd decided that we may not frequent this fine establishment again.....

One Year and Posting!

She said: Today is our one year anniversary!

He said: After a memorable excursion, it was decided it was high time to share the adventures of the Arciniegas.

She said: Israel planned a weekend getaway to Vicksburg, Mississippi. How sweet of him to pick a historical spot. We left Friday, drove for eight hours, stayed in an adorable bed and breakfast, and came home late Saturday/early Sunday.