We leave Saturday morning and get there Sunday night... that is a long flight.

At the beginning of the trip we are anxious and excited, but also a little scared. I am most thankful that the airspace in Europe was opened again, but I am not counting my chickens yet because we have to make it to and out of Frankfurt.

Mom getting ready to leave Phoenix for a 26 hour flight.
Mom's blank passport at the beginning of the trip.
Proof I was there too.

Here is a picture of us in Frankfurt, we only got the chairs...


The flight was really long, but three planes later we finally arrived in Abu Dhabi Airport. We made it. I don't have any pictures because we were so tired I am not sure we remembered to take any. The Abu Dhabi Airport is lovely though, I will take a picture when we leave to go to Barcelona. We each watched at least three to four movies before getting to Abu Dhabi, and even though we left Saturday morning, we got to Tricia apartment about 11pm Sunday night and went straight to bed.

Silencing the country

I wanted to wait a few days to make sure I still felt the same way. It has been a couple of weeks since a senator was "silenced" thus "silencing" thousands of people in the nation. It has been a few days since a senator's vote was bought, and there was no public outrage from the other 59 states that will have to pick up the tab and pay for health care for one state. Even worse, no public outrage from the people who put those representatives in office who simply turned a blind eye and allowed it, going along with the "party" line instead of actually reading what they were signing and acknowledging the tit-for-tat that had to occur to get the ONE vote needed to pass without compromise so that it passed by more than one vote. That doesn't seem right to me. Doesn't it seem that there is something wrong with a piece of legislation when one person can hold an entire party hostage to get an "out?" And yet it seems no one cares. The headlines have been barely covering it.... no one seems to realize the underhandedness that is going on. I think a friend at work is right, there need to be term limits on senators and congressman. Our president has a term limit, so should they so instead of taking forever to go no where or worrying so much about being re-elected as opposed to actually doing a good job they can concentrate on making good decisions for our country.

I am really starting to think the government is too big brotherish now. I thought the point of the federal government was national security, primarily from outside entities. When did it become their job to determine every aspect of our lives? I think I have to read more on this whole tea part movement by the libertarians if only to support them so that there can be more diversity in the senate and congress so that "one vote" can't just be bought to get the job done. Maybe if we had three parties in congress and the senate it would actually require negotiation. Don't people realize it isn't about WINNING it is about doing what is right for everyone. Having some people not have to pay, entire states get to opt out, etc... that is not what we meant for congress to do. We meant for congress to come to a compromise where everyone gives in a little.

It is a scary time.

Over a year

LOL, it may have taken awhile but I am finally taking the first step to printing some of my pictures from my trip around the world that occurred over a year ago now. Here is one of my time in France. It really was amazing. I wandered around this day, all on my own. It took me awhile, but I made it to the tower. Then it started raining when I was ready to leave. Let me say, I was soaked pretty quickly. I had so much fun until the rain started. But I did get some good pictures before then.