Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Welcome to our Blog! If you scan the posts below you will get a picture of our life for the last 10 months. If you have a blog please let us know by leaving a comment. We leave pictures and short blurbs of what is going on in our lives just to keep our friends and relatives updated. (Think of all the paper we saved by not putting it in your Christmas Card) We will be heading up to the UP the day after Christmas if your up there come see us at Grandma's House.

Happy Birthday Rochet

Rochet turned 21 on the 46th of December. We celebrated by going out to eat at a Japanese Restaurant. We then went to Nana's for Cake and Ice Cream and had Brad's Christmas since he is heading up to the UP tomorrow. Here are Rochet and Nephew Tyler (it is his birthday too) at the restaurant.

Trout Fishing

Last week Brad and I went trout fishing. Here are a couple of shots of that day. For the record, I am the one holding the fish and it was the only fish held that day.

Deer Season

Another successful deer season in Upper Michigan. Here are all the deer harvested as of the fourth day. Two more were taken a few days later.

Fall in North Alabama

This past weekend we stayed at the lake house and took a "Color Tour" of Northeast Alabama. We saw lots of colored leaves and toured in Rochets new car. We of course had cousins and friends along. Here are pictures of the day. (She got a New Pathfinder)

Mother - Daughter Campout

Well, October was Mother-Daughter Camping. Rochet and Addie spent two days at camp Meriwether in central Georgia. Here is a picture of Addie learning how to Straw Weave with her friend Rachel.

Here is a picture of their campsite by the Lake. Notice how low it is due to the drought in Georgia. Weston and Dad are off for a weekend of Camping in the Mountains, I think we will sell the house.... We are never home.

Father Daughter Campout

This past weekend was our annual Girl Scout Father-Daughter campout in the North Georgia Mountains. Addie of course made new friends, here is a picture of her new best friends;

We had a great time and will be back again next year.

Part of my birthday present was a Fishing Trip given to me by RYECO. Steve and I went to the Betsie River near Travers City and fly fished for Chinook Salomon. Here is one I caught at our first stop. I had a great time, Thanks RYECO!



On the way to fishing I stopped in Wallace for a Rye family reunion. Here is a picture of all the first cousins who were there.

This past weekend we had a 50th Birthday Party for some unnamed old person. Here are pictures that may give you a hint who it was. Notice the appropriate gifts (depends) but also note that there are young girls flocking around him. It was a great party at the Lake. A lot of old friends showed up and there is a shot of old geezers below as well.

Hickori

Last week we had a new addition to The Kennesaw Ryes. After making Addie wait for 12 years we finally got a puppy. His name is Hickori-Hoshi (Starlight) Stella Rye and he is a Shetland Sheepdog. Since it is real hard to yell Hickori-Hoshi (Starlight) Stella Rye we will call him Hickory. He has adapted to life at the Rye's real well.

Dad and Weston just returned from a road trip to the UP so Weston could visit Michigan Tech. He is planning on attending college there in the fall of 08. Of course we visited on a day when it was 98 degrees. Wait until he sees the snow in the winter; he will be back on the next bus south.

Camping on Weiss Lake

This weekend the whole family went camping with the Venture Crew on Weiss Lake. Brad posed for this picture along with crew members Joey, Mr. Woodworth, Mr. Cobb, and Robby. We started at the Lake house and canoed a round trip of 20 Miles. We started canoeing Saturday morning and first stopped off at the Marina for lunch. Then we canoed over to a place called Yellow Creek Falls and did some primitive camping. Everyone camped including Mom and Addie. Mom did not canoe but helped carry gear with the car. We picked her up about 1/2 mile from the campsite. Every one has sore arms; the last 5 miles was into a stiff wind.

I even got a picture of Weston socializing with the girls - Elizabeth and Erin.

Lake House

Last week we spent some time at the Lake House. The Searcys and the Spinks joined us at various times over the week. We had good weather and even had some much needed rain.

For those of you who think Brad has become a City Kid here is a picture to dispel that rumor.

Nana and Papa really got into the fishing. Here they are preparing to reel in the big one. Nana caught several fish, a turtle and a clam. The big one got away...

Here is another picture of me with Sam Searcy in our favorite place.

It was a great weekend!

Hawaii Final Day

This entry is being created while sitting at the airport in San Francisco. We are on our way home and are exhausted! We had a great trip. We did not post from our day at the Volcano so here is one more picture from Volcanoes National Park.

Seeing an active volcano and watching it build an island is quite an amazing site. The Kilauea Volcano has been erupting continuously for over 25 year and it just stopped erupting two weeks ago on Fathers Day. There were several small earthquakes that shut off the flow of lava. Pressure is building at Puu Oo Vent so everyone at the Park was very excited as to where the Lava would start flowing again. We were lucky because they had closed most of the Park up until the day before we arrived.

We are heading back to Atlanta and will be home sometime tonight (7/2) around 8:00pm. Come see us and we will show you the thousand other pictures we took on the trip.

Hawaii Day Six

Yesterday we did a lot of traveling in a lot of weather. We left the Kona area in a desert that had not seen rain in months, over a mountain with winds of 50 mph and low 50s to a tropical rain forest with high humidity and constant rain. We saw a lot of natural wonders of the State. Here is a picture of the Wapio Valley.

We also saw a lot of Waterfalls. Most were in Tropical rain forests. Here is the Akaka Falls.

Today we will be spending the day in Volcano National Park. We heard that a road that had been closed recently due to seismic activity has been reopened! Maybe we'll get pictures of active lava flow and steam vents. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Hawaii Day Four

Yesterday we spent some quality time sitting around the Pool and swimming in the Ocean. We met a Sea Turtle with a Cheetos Habit. He would swim up to everyone he saw and pop his head out of the water and beg for Cheetos. I did get a picture;

For Dinner we went to our first Luau. That was something that we were told everyone should do so we did. It was a great experience for everyone (except the pig) and helps you understand that Hawaiians were not always Americans.

Today we will go exploring on the north end of the Island.

Hawaii Day Three

June 27th ....

There was more than one Rye family started on this day and without the first one the second one could not have happened. We want to start by wishing Buck and Dodo a Happy Anniversary today!!

We are celebrating our anniversary by taking it easy and just hanging out on the beach. We are in a small town on the Big Island. We are about 20 miles northwest of Kona. The place is called the Fairmont Orchid Resort. We have an ocean front room with a great view.





Yesterday we took a walk down the beach and saw about 10 big sea turtles. Some were lying on the beach and some were in the water. We really missed our resident Sea Turtle expert Addie. She could have explained what they were doing and why. Addie, here is a picture for you to study and give us a report.

We ended our day by having dinner on the beach while watching the sunset. We were told that if you watch closely that you will see a "flash of green light just as the sun dissappears below the horizon". Everyone was gathering around to see the event and sure enough, the last thing you see as the sun dissappears into the ocean is a 1 second flash of green light. While I was not enough of a believer to get a picture of the green light, here is a picture I took while sitting at our dinner table.

I want to end with a picture of my beautiful bride "in her element". She has been my best friend and traveling campanion for the past 20 years. I Love You, Sweetie! Happy Anniversary, Tim.

Hawaii Day Two

For those who don't know, it is our 20th Wedding Anniversary. We promised each other that we would go to Hawaii on our 20th. Be careful what you promise! It is just Rochet and Tim on this trip. We met a couple yesterday who were on their 50th anniversary promise; we are just rookies.

Yesterday we went to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri Battleship. It is quite a place, and is a thriving military base. It is good to be reminded of the sacrifice our military go through to defend our country. It was quite moving.

We also took a long walk to watch the sunset on Waikiki Beach. That's where it got mushy. See picture... We took this one for Weston who said, "Take it to Hawaii". This is really a beautiful place, but the big city is not what we came here to see. Today we fly to the Big Island for some solitude.

Hawaii Trip

Well, we made it to Hawaii last night. Actually it was 5am eastern time, and we were joking that it was almost time for Brad to go to work and Weston to go to bed. It is cooler and less humid here than we thought. Everything happens outside; yippee! We are spending two nights in Honolulu before heading out to The Big Island tomorrow. We got up early today to head over to Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri. Off to breakfast we go.

RYECO "Day at the Lake"

Last Friday we had a "Day at the Lake" for all RYECO Employees. Everyone managed to make it out and we all had a great time. Here are some pictures from that event.