Here we Come

After the rather cool snow dog pic's, I thought I'd share what Duane and I will be up to in the next couple of days.


We fly out Sunday Morning and sail out on this ship, The Carnival Freedom, Sunday afternoon.

Monday is a port of call in Key West, Florida. If we decide to leave the ship we are planning on just walking the beach. Mostly kicking back and doing nothing. Tuesday is a day at sea and I'm sure we'll find much sun, fun, and food to keep us busy.






Wednesday's port of call is Grand Cayman Island. We are splitting up here for a few hours. Duane is a certified diver and he is VERY excited to do a two tank dive in the ocean. I'm NOT certified and don't want to make him go to "beginner scuba with me" so I'm going to go snorkel and he's going to go scuba. It's a pretty wonderful way to spending the afternoon of New Year's Eve!





Thursday, New Year's Day, we will be in Jamaica! The tree picture is one part of our excursion that day. It's like a ski lift that takes you up "Mystic Mountain" riding above the tree canopy one way and below it the other. It's should be beautiful and relaxing. The second part of the excursion is "Dunn's River Falls". Yup, we will spend part of New Year's Day climbing a waterfall in Jamaica.

Friday will be a day at sea, the ship will dock and we will fly on Saturday. Once we get in (around midnight) we'll drive as far as Tomah...this is where we'll get to see Brandi again. We'll miss her this trip but we won't feel bad because she'll be vacationing with her cousins (Ia, Leo, and Blue). She's pretty excited to spend a week with her playmates and be able to run around outside freely. Sunday means getting home, grocery shopping, and laundry. Monday is back to school. Let's not think about that part yet.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WE'LL SEE YOU WHEN WE GET HOME!!!

Snow Bunny?

Nope, Snow DOG!!!! I promised a couple of pictures of Brandi girl frolicking in the snow so here they are.


Brandi Dog!


"Woof Woof" Translation: I found a big stick!


You want me to move so you can shovel? Yeah, right! Woof!


So I gave up and shoveled around her. This is her "snow bed" that was left over once her paws got cold and she decided she'd had enough.

More Holiday White Stuff!

As I was busy writing that last post, I thought I'd share what the radar over us looked liked. It's supposed to continue snowing today, some more tomorrow, and perhaps again on Tuesday. I really don't have a problem with that...as long as our plane can fly out next weekend for the cruise!

Snow Day!

Ok, so the snow day was yesterday, but I didn't get around to blogging about it until today. Why? Well, I got home from school Thursday excited that it was the only night that week I didn't have to work at Penney's (good job when you're there, just hard to get motivated to get there after a day at school). I watched the weather all night and kept seeing stars in the sky, no clouds in sight.



By the time I went to bed I was fairly confident the meterologists were totally wrong and we would be going to school on Friday (which is good) but that we also wouldn't even be getting a late start (something I always like!). I woke up at one in the morning for some water (it's dry in our house) and there were still stars in the sky. The same view greeted me at about 3:30 when I had to use the restroom. I was bummed. I'd looked forward to sleeping in, especially since I didn't seem to be sleeping well.



At 5:45 in the morning, the phone rang. It was Nancy, our principal. School was canceled. I couldn't believe it, I looked out the window and only saw 4-5 inches but as I let the dog out and talked to Duane (who was getting ready for work) we realized it was still coming down hard and the plows hadn't even been out much yet. WOO HOO!!! I was thinking I'd get SOOOO much done...after I took a nap on the couch (since Brandi wasn't about to let me crash in bed again).



Needless to say, by the time I decided to roll of the couch and stopped watching the movies that entertained me, I'd managed to do very little. What I DID do...went to vehicle registration to get my driver's license name switched, went to social security to do a new card, stopped by the bank and the insurance office for the same purpose, called the student loan office to get the name change info and automatic withdrawl set-up, and talked to my husband several times throughout the day about mortages and such. He must have been bored to call so many times in a day. He did call once with some news about my dad...he'd just heard him on the radio helping a motorist in the ditch when his squad car got schmucked with him in it. (HE's FINE...didn't even go home from work) I guess there is really no need to say that dad's day wasn't as slow as Duane's. Duane insists that drivers in Wisconsin must just be worse since there weren't so many accidents on this side of the border. Hmmm...I didn't see ANY cars in the ditch on my way to work.



Anyway, since I don't have a working camera at the moment, the pictures I've included are pretty snow day pics from around our beautiful (and sometimes humerous) area of the world...and of dad's squad car. Maybe those that will have to drive in the snow will SLOW DOWN and be more responsible to avoid accidents that might not turn out so lucky next time!

Our Holiday

I really don't have much to say right now. Things have been as 'back to normal' as they ever get for us. I've been back to school and getting ready for our Christmas concert this Monday and Duane has been back at work. We are anxiously counting down to the honeymoon and looking forward to the warm weather. Only 7 more days of school until vacation and 2009. How neat is it that we'll be able to spend New Year's Eve on a cruise ship somewhere between Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios!?! So anyway, I thought since I had nothing else to share, I'd share a couple of holiday pictures from the Brownlee household. These are the only ones I got before the battery died...but...oh well. Enjoy this simple little addition to our blog!



This is our tree that Duane put up as a surprise when I was at school. We didn't have one last year so I was really excited. Brandi helped me decorate it...we didn't have much to put on it yet but with the lights it looks pretty. I also think it looks nice with all the gifts for our family underneath (although I had to put Brandi's stuff in her sock instead of wrapped, she likes to sniff around to see what's for her!)



This picture was taken last year at one of the pet supply stores. The profits went to the animal shelter. Brandi was a hit with Santa and even lent her reindeer antlers to a Newfie that was waiting for his picture. How cute! We would have gone again this year, but I didn't hear it advertised...I guess I'll aim to replace batteries in the camera and get pictures of her frolicking in the snow. She's really good at that!



Anyway, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. I'll try and post again soon...as soon as I have something fun to say!

So now...

So now it's over and we're counting down to the next big thing (12 school days left before Christmas and the cruise!!!). I decided I'd share just a couple more of our pictures here but I do have an album of 243 of the best uploaded onto Snapfish...so for those of you who would like to see more, let me know and I'll email you the link!







I think this last one is my favorite. You really should see the ones of the ceremony too, the windows in the back are blues and purples with the cold and dusk and the room itself is glowing pinks and reds...leaving the wedding party in white, black, and fall color browns just illuminated and glowing. Amazing. I can't wait to get our prints next week!

There. I did it. I wrapped up the blogs on the "wedding stuff" that has dominated lately.

I came home from school on Tuesday and found myself locked out of the house. Duane had locked the door so that he would be in the living room when I came in and saw the "surprise" he had done during the course of his day off...he put up our Christmas tree (and even put a Packer tree skirt around it...not bad for a viking fan)! Brandi and I had fun decorating it and hanging stockings. We need to finish cleaning up and decorating this weekend but I got sidetracked after decorating the tree by starting to prepare Christmas presents. The way I see it, we have a nice looking tree that needs gifts under it...and since our shopping is pretty much done, I figured I'd better get going.

As it turns out, the presents that have to be prepared before wrapping are taking a little more time than I thought, so it's not quite done yet...but I'll try and get those pictures up next time. Well, those or any other pictures of things I feel like chatting about. I'll try and write again soon...but forgive me, it's a busy season for a band director and I DO still like to spend my free time with my husband!

So, what's new with all of you???