Home for Christmas!

This is what Laie looked looked like the day before I left for home. The highway was closed and there was no going in or out for anyone! The rain just kept coming and it looked like a possibility that going home would have to be postponed a few days. Luckily the rain stopped and the sunshine came back. We ended up renting a car in order to get to the airport--we lucked out and got a free upgrade to a convertible! It was a great way to spend driving around the island on our last day! Thanks to Rhonda for driving and for people uploading flood pics on facebook, since I didn't take any!

Having Kent come home with me was a blast! We arrived on Saturday the 13th, my brother Andrew's birthday! We got to celebrate with him in that evening, which was great. Before we left Oahu, I picked him up an instruction book on folding dollar bills into Hawaiian-themed shapes. He so far has managed to fold his money into a fish. Our Grandma Hoffmann sends us new $1 bills for our birthdays, so he has at least 17 to practice with!

On Monday, Kent and I went to the historic district of Harpers Ferry. Before the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was the site of an attempted slave uprising led by the white abolitionist John Brown. The National Parks Service has a pretty interesting set up with restored houses and displays on the history of the town. Literally right next to the National Park is a cute street with shops owned by local residents. There are several gifts/souvenir shops, a couple jewelry stores, pottery stores, and more! I used to work at Harpers Ferry Books on this street, where I sold new and used books in the lower level of a converted house. We also walked up to Jefferson Rock overlooking the merging of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.


The weather on Monday was incredible! It stayed up in the 60s most of the day. Kent and I took advantage of the warm weather and went to get a Christmas tree! Having a live Christmas tree is one of my favorite things about the season, and I was glad my family had been too busy with concerts, etc. to have gotten one before we got there. We picked out a pretty good one, in my opinion. It smelled AMAZING. Getting the tree home was pretty easy, but I didn't anticipate how difficult the rest of the process would be! Usually Dad and Andrew take care of cutting the stump and getting it into the base while Mom, the girls and I would make hot chocolate inside. None of us are too fond of the cold. I still didn't do any sawing this time, but I watched (and tried to help where I could) as Kent got the stump cut straight and cut to the right height. It was a lot more involved than I had previously believed. Kent did an awesome job! We got the tree into the house and then spent another half hour getting it to stand straight before we could put on the lights. The work is well worth having a live tree!

Tuesday was my birthday, and it was a great one! Kent took me out to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, which was wonderful! The warm weather left quickly--the forecast was calling for freezing rain during the afternoon so school ended early. Our school district is kind of wimpy when it comes to the weather. But it meant that my siblings came home a couple hours early, so I won't complain! The freezing rain didn't really happen, so my family stuck to tradition and went out to dinner wherever I chose (Casa Gonzales for Mexican, whoohoo!).

On Wednesday Kent and I headed to Shepherdstown, the local college town. It's pretty similar to Harpers Ferry, just without as much historical significance. I still love it though! We walked around and looked around in the different stores and got some delicious pastries at the bakery. This is us at the Rumsey monument and then the interior of one of the stores in Shepherdstown.

After leaving Shepherdstown, we picked up a bunch ingredients for Thai Chicken Wraps, a Carollo family fav. Kent did most of the work, but everyone (that wanted to) was able to help make them. They were super easy to make and made the house smell awesome! They went over pretty well with everyone here.