Labor Day!

Well its a holiday over here in good ol' USA. I can't really remember if it was in england since i traveled this day a year ago to start my second year. Infact at this time a year ago i would be sleeping so i could get up in 4 hours to go to my first planning day of the year... *sigh* how life moves on!

I spent the day with my mommy which was nice, we went to the mall and i got some new clothes because its also the last day of tax free so everything was tax free and on sale which was niiice. We also rented a movie and got some nice american chinese food. yum. then we watched an american Chopper marathon... I love that show, still don't know why i really am not into motorcycles.

Yesterday i spent the day with my brother Christopher and his wife Kristy i introduced them to curry when we went to avery nice resturant called yes Tandoori, my brother of course ragging on me the whole way going "oh katie your so picky that of course if you like it ill like it. " He also picked somthing really hot even when i said go mild first then work your way up. He felt it two hours later. It was very funny. Then after we went tolunch we went shopping then drove an hour to a speciality bakery for pie. Yes my brother during a national fuel shortage and when the gas prices were almost as high as england (when england's gas is at a normal price) yes he drives 50 miles to buy pie! After the pie buying we rented A lot Like Love and watched to so all in all a pretty good couple of days.

This trip has been a pretty emotional one, with all the random things happening all over the world tensions are a little high in the family, and of course im completely surrounded by family obligations. But also watching whats happening in New Orleans, its horrible to see whats happening and also everyone trying to blame somthing for the fact it happened and also the lack of help for the people that have lost compeletly everything. People are reacting but help doesn't seem to come quick enough.

While this is all going on my cousin Micheal (he's the second oldest in the family) is Lt. in a MASH unit out in Iraq. My aunt sent us a picture of him out there where he's staying. Its not nice. But then again war is not nice. He was in the first Iraq war when he was 18 and now this is his second time out there in this War. His wife left him after the last time in Iraq. I knew this but when i got home i also found out he didn't qualify to be in the middle of the action because of this previous time there but he still volunteered for it. I have a VERY close family but i only have very few distinct memories of Micheal, he babysat me as a child with his older sister Michelle. But left when he was 18 and i was only probably 7 or 8. So all i remember was a very tan, blonde, man who seemed larger than life to me. After being over seas he moved to Virginia (his sister's husband also was stationed there)and started school, his sister had the first great grandchild in the family and my parents and Caitlin my best friend at the time went down to visit them. This is my only real memory of him other than flashes of smiles and a very soft spoken voice when i a very small child. He told me stories of when he was stationed in Europe, and this was actully my first seed of an idea, yeah i can start seeing the world. My strongest memory was him laughing about the fact that he spent his first thanksgiving away from home in france when he was 18. Now looking back my first thanksgiving away from home was when i was 18 and i also was in france.

Man somthing about being home i seriously get really nostalgic especially this trip, aw well i better head off to bed. Good night all!