and the adventure continues!

I headed out of LAX late Saturday evening, after a wonderful last day in Cali...

I finished packing everything (peanut butter, chocolate, and all!) in the morning, then Casey and I went to the Dodger game (vs. SF Giants) and we won 12-1! sorry, Brandon! It was an awesome game; Kemp and Loney hit back-to-back home runs, Belliard hit a grand slam, and we got to see Brad Penny (former Dodger who we didn't think was all that good) not pitch very well. :) Randy Johnson (not the one from Simi) also came in to pitch. I don't know why, but I really like him!



*sidenote* I think that I might just like Randy Johnson because when I was in 4th grade, at the Father-Daughter dance at Hollow Hills, I won three packs of '89 and '90 baseball cards, and one of them was of Randy Johnson pitching. I really liked the picture of him; his arms were completely stretched out as he was rotating through his pitch... And other than the Sammy Sosa rookie card, that's the only other card that I can actually remember from the hundreds that I had. Hence, why I like him. *end sidenote*



The game was followed by dinner with Aunt Jacque, KK, Mom, Kell, Dillon (and Casey & I) at the Cheesecake Factory. Mmm... nothing like a piece of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake before an 11-hour flight. Then, Mom, AJ, KK, and Kell took me to the airport and (after a few problems - what else is new?) I boarded the plane! I must say though, we were quite a spectacle going through the terminal; me with 3 huge bags of luggage, my carry-on bag, my laptop bag, and my purse; and my four weirdos behind me: waving, hollering, jumping on each other's backs to wave, making faces ... I'm even surprised they didn't detain us :)



Made it through security in about 30 minutes; everyone says you have to be there several hours early, but it has never taken me more than 45 min. to get through and be sitting there waiting and waiting :) knock on wood. Anyway, so I waited with a lot of other people for our flight to London. The couple sitting next to me only spoke Italian, so they were confused by the boarding procedure. I'm sure it was kind of comical to see me using my hands to motion that their row had been called and they could go board the plane. Once I boarded, I got to sit next to an older man who was also Italian. He made many motions as well, which I took to mean that he didn't speak English either. Our flight, therefore, was a little sparce on conversation, but excellent for sleeping! We had the seat in between us open, and I asked (by gesturing) if it would be okay if I put my feet on the middle seat. He nodded yes, so I was able to cuddle up and conk out for the rest of the flight (with the help of NyQuil).

And then, all of a sudden, I woke up and we were getting ready to land! I did have a six hour lay-over in the Heathrow airport, and since I didn't venture into the city, I made myself comfy at one of the eateries and ordered some chips. that's right... french fries! The prices were kind of outrageous, and I really didn't want to convert too much money into pounds, hence the french fry dinner. I lounged about, walked up and down a few times to check out the duty-free shops, and watched a lot of the planes take off, land, and taxi around. Then, I just cuddled up again in a really comfortable lounge chair and got some more shut-eye.

That time, I only slept for a half-hour or so... the airport isn't the most conducive place to sleep! I grabbed a Starbucks (and they took my Starbucks card; I was excited) and then sat to wait and see which terminal my plane would take off from. I did enjoy, during my short stay, the round covers on the ceiling that hid the ugly wiring and piping. It definitely made the place look more modern, in addition to serving a good purpose. The Air Traffic Control tower was also really neat. I've seen my fair share of towers, but this one just looked really cool. It was extremely narrow in the body, and the control room itself was longer and more narrow than any I've seen. My picture of it doesn't do it justice; I didn't have a chance to get the angle when we landed, which is when I thought it looked so neat.

It was also awesome to see some of the London countryside as we flew beneath the cloud cover and into the actual city. I REALLY REALLY want to extend my lay-over there on my return flight so I can explore a little bit... I'd love to see some of the countryside outside London, and maybe take a few days to visit France too!

I met some awesome people while waiting for the flight to Entebbe: twelve Americans from Washington, D.C. who were coming to 'the bush' to build a new church, three British plastic surgeons who were coming to train Ugandan surgeons how work on children with elefantiasis and clubbed feet, and three Americans who were coming on a medical missions trip to go up to Northern UG and disperse some medications and teach them how to prevent different infections. A very neat group of people!!

I didn't really sleep that much on this 10-hour flight, mostly because I had slept so much before - oops! I did get to watch three movies and some tv shows, though! I also was able to see the most amazing sunrise out of my window.

I probably took 20 pictures that showed the progression of the sun rising over the horizon in the sky; it was absolutely amazing! I just kept thinking, "Thanks, Lord. What a cool gift to get on my return here!" I chose this one just because of the sun's reflections, but the others were so vivid and colorful... so breath-taking. Such an awesome (literally) earth that we live in, to have so much beauty surrounding us!!!

Ok, well, that's about it! I made it back here and started teaching the next day! It's been a long week, and I am very excited for the weekend. But we're all back in the swing of things here!