We made it back!

December 29th. It was super cold (in the 20's) when we arrived in Chicago last Wednesday. We made it to Nathan's graduation, quite a spectacle in a big building. Nate had two hours off after the graduation so we took him, Christine, Christine's mother Carol, and Big J ( a classmate of Nate's) off to dinner. We had just time enough to eat, then we had to get the two Navy men back to their barracks.  

December 30th. On Thursday Nate, Christine, and Carol knocked on our door at noon. We had a surprise for Nate and Christine: the use of our room for the afternoon and evening! We had it all decorated up and had food and drink for the two of them.  The three of us then left the two of them and went shopping for the little things which still were needed for the wedding. When we got back they had ordered pizza, but it got there almost too late as Nate had to get back to the ship.  

December 31st. On Friday morning was the wedding! I was the photographer with Christine's video camera. I filmed all the Navy guys that came and all the goings on, Denise took the camera into the room where Christine was getting her gown on, then I took over again and filmed the whole proceedings. Christine had a beautiful white gown with fur trim. When the ceremony was over, we wished them well and they took off in Carol's car.   Denise and I took off via train for Chicago; this was New Years eve. We had a wonderful meal at a nice hotel, filet and salmon. We then tried to find a warm place to watch the fireworks and had no luck, every place we went was full. We decided then to go back to the train and return to our room. We grabbed the nearest taxi and raced back to the train station. We missed the train by 5 minutes. We decided to go for a fast walk to try to keep warm, it was 10:40 P.M. and below freezing. We walked and walked, then people started showing up, walking in the same direction we were going! We then followed a bunch of people, the flow had became a flood of people all heading toward a bunch of searchlights. We had walked an hour not intending to go anywhere, but found ourselves in the front row, just off the beach on Lake Michigan. They had music and a lot of laser lights. The crowd was amazing, all friendly and happy, but cold! At the stroke of midnight (the crowd chanted off 10,9,8....2,1) they shot off tons of fireworks, some that we thought were coming right out of the sky at us! One couple in front of us offered us champagne! They gave us paper cups and poured us several glasses full! It was cold but delicious! We walked the 45 minutes back to the train, with a wave of happy shouting people! We got back to our room at 3:30 A.M., tired but had fun.  

January 1st At noon on the first day of the millenium, there was a knock on the door, Nate, Christine and Carol were there to get us! We, however, were not out of bed yet! We quickly got out of bed and joined them for brunch. They had already been up to Michigan and walked on the beach. The five of us watched the video we had taken of their wedding, had some wedding cake and then Carol, Denise and I went to the mall; we got back in time to have a quick bite and take Nate back to his "ship". It was quite moving to be sitting there in the parking lot high above the building (which they call their "ship") where they slept and hear Nate tell stories of their life. He was very diplomatic about it and said that they do what they have to in order to get them prepared; but it was very emotional to me, leaning how they mold the minds of our young men and women. Then Nate walked (no, marched) off the his ship and we went off to our TV's and luxuries.  

January 2nd This morning Nate called at 9:30 A.M. and asked if we were ready. We told him to give us an hour. We five then went off to Chicago!! We dropped our rented car and rode with Carol and the newlyweds into the city. Christine wanted to go up the Sears Tower and to Navy Pier. We did both in fine style and then they dropped us at the airport. We said our good-bye's and then Nate had to get back to the ship, his available time was up. He is now cloistered for an unknown time while he goes to his first school. He hopes to be able to call his new wife next weekend, but does not know when, or if, that will be possible.

December 27, 1999

We had a wonderful Christmas, Dad H. came down for Christmas Dinner, Denise put together a wonderful LOBSTER dinner. The three of us ate so much! We had lobster, shrimp, mussels and clams, all kinds of vegetables and all the fixings! Amy and Darren then came down for the afternoon! We went for a walk in the wonderful weather, then Dad went home but Darren and Amy stayed the night. We all went to see the Millenium Man at the theatre, it was a very well done movie, another tear jerker. If you haven't seen Green Mile yet, it is another great movie that I would go see again.

Denise turned in her keys and beeper this morning. She is now going to concentrate on getting her masters degree, playing her violin, and her preparation for the triathalon.

December 23, 1999

I just completed getting our ADSL line working here at work, what a difference! We now get the internet at our fingertips 7days 24 hours a day, and 784 vs 64 speed!

December 21, 1999

What, still 1999? With all of the promotion of the new year, it seems that the actual day will be a non-event in comparison.

We received the two CD's from Charles Loiselle (Denise's brother) filled with pictures, sounds, and portraits of the Loiselle 50th reunion. I cropped some of the photos to get pictures for the Family Data page, check it out!

I now have a reply from one straggler, he wants the weather off this page!

We are still busy with work, I can't believe that Christmas is almost here and that we've received a ton of presents already! Thanks in advance to you all. Has anyone done much purchasing through the net? We have not, and I can't believe that it will be a major part of the whole yet. Dad L. wants a new computer for Christmas though, maybe he will buy it for himself. We tried to set his current computer up with WIN98 last night, it lost the printer port in the process. I will be back down to try to rectify that later.

If I do not get to speak to you before, have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year to all!!

December 14, 1999

I got replys from 6 people, two for icon, three for magnet (above) and one no preference.
We also just just got the e-mail from Brett giving us a new address (see family data) and an e-mail from Christine, she had her ultrasound but she is having her mom hold the results of boy or girl until she can see Nate, then she and Nate will find out together! Wish I could get a print so could show it here.

December 12, 1999

OK, time for a poll, please e-mail me and tell me if you would rather click on the icon to the left (the sun) if you want to see our weather, or rather have the weather pop up (above). Or is this too busy?

I went to the bridge re-opening yesterday (Denise had to work), an old bridge was scheduled for demolition, some guys got together and saved it for the public to use as a bike trail/fishing pier.
3000 of us came out to do a "Hands Across the Bay".
Then Dad and Mom L came up, Denise and her mom went shopping, dad and I went and got a Christmas tree, brought it home and decorated it!! We had fun and surprised the girls when they came home. They stayed the night, Denise made some wonderful pancakes thanks to Dave and Jean (Ployes - Denise could not wait and opened our Christmas gift of the ployes and the jelly and lollypops). We had them with the blackberry jelly and blueberry jam (also from Dave and Jean).After a nice morning they left for home and Denise went shopping for her dress for the wedding.
Amy and Darren will be here on the 26th and 27th!

Don't forget to e-mail me with your vote!!

December 5, 1999

Nate and Christine in Niagra Falls and Audra in VA last August!

December 4, 1999

Wow, has this year gone. I cannot believe we will be here, playing on computers in the year 2000. When I was growing up I did not think I would live till 2000, it was so far off and I would be so old!

Denise had a very succesful week last week. She is excited about the new year! Work is going very well for me, I am working on four database programs and learning more all the time. "Concordance" is great for displaying pictures, "Access" has a good presentation, "Martindale-Hubbard" is good for finding things, and "Foxpro" is a great one for all the things the others cannot do!

We are staying home this weekend, recovering from weeks of traveling. We will be going up to Nathan's graduation and wedding on the 29th through the 2nd though!