Catching Up

I looked at the blog this morning and realized how much you must have missed of my month.  We saw Dad onto an airplane in Baltimore shortly after my last post.  We then spent some time with Fidelio and her energetic family.  (BTW, Becket Gamgee is SO cute!)  After that, we went to...

Mother Seton's Shrine

One of the rooms she taught in [Stone House]

The room where she died [white house]

The Basilica

Her Tomb

Mount St. Mary's Lourdes Shrine

Nativity Statue

And we also visited Gettysburg(!)  It was a breathtaking experience.  I couldn't believe how far you could see from Little Round Top and how far away the Seminary tower was (where Buford observed the battle).  It was awesome to follow up our Maine trip with a trip both to Fredericksburg (June) and Gettysburg. 

View from Little Round Top

Gen. Warren's statue at Little Round Top

Monument to the 20th Maine

The "end of the line"

Chamberlain's right flank

The ground on Little Round Top

This is the field where Buford's calvelry held off the Confederate Army until the arrival of the Union infantry

The Seminary tower (right, barely visible over the treetops)

Lee's Headquarters

Seminary Tower

Monument to the Tennessee Volunteers

Notice the Vultures flying over the Wheatfield

Lee's Statue

Little Round Top

Monument to the Irish Brigade

Monument to Fr. Corby, the priest/chaplain for the Irish

The Pennsylvania Monument

We had a great time and now we're enjoying the company of little ones...and going nuts.

"CHOO-CHOO!!!"

Return from Maine and Other News

We had a most wonderful vacation in Maine two weeks ago.  It was as beautiful and peaceful as I expected.  Since we were flying, we took Dad's compact camera and, of course, forgot to bring the SD card with us to get the pictures off.  In that case, I will postpone the narration of our trip for when I have the pics to illustrate it.  :)

I did buy the Helm's Deep LEGO set when I was with Fidelio and it is sitting, almost complete, on our coffee table.  Speaking of Fidelio, I spent a few days with her painting, eating, painting, sleeping, painting, eating, and loafing before the mover truck came with all her furniture.  It was great!  We watched Cinderella Man which I loved (and which I hesitate to recommend due to language) and she took me to the Fredericksburg Battlefield which I had not seen before (and which she and I agree should be called a "battletown").  It looked totally different from what was portrayed in Gods and Generals.  All the bodies of the men (such as those from the Maine regiment) that were buried in haste on the field were disinterred and removed to the National Cemetery and houses were built all the way up to the stone wall!  So, its basically a stone wall, a cemetery, and a few old houses. But, I can say that I've been to another place where Chamberlain was!

The other, and more important, news is that my entrance date has been moved to September 8th.  It was a bit of a shock for us, but the sisters reassured Mom and I that it is actually quite common.  At least the wait is an opportunity to be thankful for the gift of being accepted at all.  And, there will be two months more that Mom doesn't have to be lonely. 

Most of my readers probably already know about Mike, but I'll go ahead and fill you in...  He is a seminarian again!  He was accepted back by our diocese and is in the process of being "adopted" by the Military Archdiocese.  The plan is for him to study at Mundelein Seminary, get commissioned next Summer (or the Summer after that), be ordained in four years, and immediately get stationed with a Navy or Marine unit.  Please pray it all sticks. 

So, if all goes as planned, (with God's Grace) Big Bro will be ordained the same year I will take First Vows!  I choose to be optimistic.  :)

Pictures

Here are the CSTHEA graduation pictures after a lengthy delay and enjoy these pictures from Casa Maria, Rock City, the Seton graduation and the Seton dance!

CSTHEA hat toss

V glad its all done

Friends came to watch!

Becket with one of my Sisters

me with my soon-to-be sister

Uncle M. and Becket

V and Fidelio looking at rocks

Becket's got the "Sleepies"

Me shaking hands with Dr. Clark, President of Seton (with Johnette Benkovic)

Seton hat toss

O Happy Day!

O Happy Parents

Goofing off

My teacher and I (Sshh!  She's undercover...)

Dancing with 'my' Marine  (I LOVE that uniform!!) 

Thanks, Joba!

Dollywood!

First off, let me just give you the answer to last week's TTT: #1

Absolutely, Mrs. Haus Frau, you are more than welcome to come watch LOTR with me!  But, sorry to dissapoint you, my extended edition is the same as your in-laws'.  :)

I haven't gotten any new legos recently, but I did update LEGO as i can.

And - what we've all been waiting for - I do have a fellow postulant!!  Praise be God! 

Big Bro is now deep into four hours or so of Navy OCS.  (Hence the LEGO as i can picture.)  For a last hurrah/goodbye/party/vacation/thingy, we went to Dollywood!  Here's my total of rides:

• Wild Eagle: 4
• Tornado: 2
• Mystey Mine: 1
• Thunderhead: 6

Can you guess which one was my favorite?  :)

Oh!  Funny story: near the end of the Mystery Mine ride, a pigeon made a dare-devil flight right in front of our car and lost by a few feet as it smacked into Big Bro's face.  Thankfully, at the next upsidedown turn, he just flew out of the car.  I wouldn't have believed Big Bro's testimony that a pigeon flew into his head if I hadn't been hit in the face with a plume of whitish feathers and if the people in front of us hadn't asked if we saw a pigeon, too.  Crazy, huh? 

And, our sixth time on the Thunderhead proved a dissapointment as the little 8-year-old sitting beside Dad threw up before (thankfully) the ride started.  It took - no kidding - 15 minutes for the four employees to clean it up.  It was a typical Tennessee greeting card joke: four employees with one to do the work and three to supervise.  When we were finally cleared for take-off, the people stilll in line gave the workers a standing ovation.  It was priceless.

Mom and I went to the zoo on the way back home and I got some cute pics: