"I went Skydiving, I went...?"

Hello everyone... well well well.. if you haven't heard already, let me tell you. Abby and I did the un-thinkable on Friday. We went skydiving! That's right people, Abby and I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 14,000 feet. The reason for our madness, well it's a long story. When Abby and I first started dating, we did the.. you know, likes and dislikes game to find out more about one another. We discussed how both of us wanted to try skydiving, at least once in our lifetime. That same year, for my birthday, Abby surprised me with a voucher for 1 tandem skydive adventure to be used anywhere in the country. I was so thrilled. She mentioned at the time that she was unsure about whether or not she would go, but I knew I had time to convince her. At that time I weighed a little over 240 lbs. (I was chunky) I called up one skydiving place and they told me that their weight limit was 240 lbs. Let's just say I wasn't about to test fate while testing the weight limits. I decided to wait and go some other time. Well, about a year and a half later, I'm still chunky but only 216 lbs of chunk and knew I could now use my voucher with confidence. This voucher had a 2 year expiration date, so the time was approaching. I looked up the places to cash in said voucher and sure enough there was a sweet skydiving facility about 30 miles south of Houston called Skydive Spaceland. I called them and made the appointment. We were originally scheduling to go last Wednesday, but it was to windy in the Houston area. We decided to push the testing fate back to Friday.
Friday is upon us and I had to wake Abby up early to get there by 11am, our scheduled jump time. We arrive and fill out lots and lots of paperwork that continuously said how we can't sue for damages, i.e. DEATH or SERIOUS BODILY HARM! Abby and I were not amused, but knew we had to sign and sign and sign away. After finishing all the paperwork we watched a 30 minute video about how we were putting our lives at risk and how we can't sue skydive spaceland. So not only did we have to read pages and pages of information about this, this guy also spent a good 10 minutes of the 30 minute skydiving instructional video explaining possible death. SWEET! We finished up the video to learn that our jump time was being pushed back due to high gusting winds. A little knowledge for all you skydiving novices. Certain facilities will only allow jumps if the wind gusts are below 30 m.p.h. Certain skydivers will only jump if the wind gusts are below a certain level. Some require below 25 mph, others 30 mph and some brave 35mph gust. We later learned it all has to do with the landing part of the jump and how experienced your instructor is at landing with such gusts. So, when there is a measured gust of wind greater than 30mph, you have to wait 30 minutes from that point without having another gust of wind greater than 30mph. Make sense? These 30 minute increments were testing on the psyche! We waited a few rounds of 30 before we had confirmed lift off. Not only was this our first time, but we also had the enjoyment of having to deal with gusty winds. A sure fire way to increase our already apprehensive minds.
Finally we get the call. Will all skydivers jumping at said time please report to so and so area. This is it... Time to get ready to jump. We suited up, took some pictures, filmed some scenes, listened to all the tandem skydivers tease Abby about how her suit was unsafe, and after some last minute pep talks we were off to the plane. Said Video (scenes) will be up as soon as we figure out how to burn what's on our dvd onto the computer.
The plane is taxing as 4 tandem groups, and 3 videographers pile into this tiny plane. Abby and her partner are in first, I'm in second. We sit side by side as the other groups join us. We are jammed into this small plane. Nuts on butts is a fair term for most of the groups! The bay door closes and we are off. We take off on the runway heading up to 14,000 feet. We joke some more on the way up, trying to shake off the nerves. We film some more video, take more pictures, the time is near.... Our instructors begin to attach us to themselves joking that they hope they have done a good job. "Not funny dude!" We run through our responsibilities one last time. Abby tells her instructor, "I'm not jumping out of the plane, you are going to have to push me!!!" "No problem," her instructor tells her with a laugh.
"60" the pilot yells out. 60 seconds until we reach 14,000 feet. 60, 59, 58, 57 my mind starts to count. The bay door opens and we all get this rush of cold air upon us. Man it was cold!!! The first couple of groups begin to jump. "I love you Abby," I yell. "I love you too," Abby says. We grab hands and give each other one last kiss! Our instructors tell us to grab hold of our harnesses as they proceed to push us closer to the door. Abby goes slightly ahead of me. I watch her get closer and closer to the bay door. There she is standing at the edge! Her instructor begins to yell, 1, 2, and 3...... "GO ABBY!!!!" I yell and she "gets pushed" out of the plane! She begins to fall and fall and fall as I creep up to the bay door. It's my turn! The wind is howling around us, which makes it hard to hear. 1, 2, and 3.......
I jump and begin to flip all over the place. I don't know where I am. Am I up, am I facing down, "where am I!" I am soon tapped on the shoulders by my instructor which signals that it is okay for me to let go from my harness and assume the "flying position." Hands out to the side in a 90 degree angle. Also at this time I am suppose to push my pelvis downward kicking my legs back. I didn't remember to do that. I was also suppose to check my altimeter. didn't do that either. Are you kidding me with all this crap! I just jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet and i'm looking straight down at the EARTH... I begin to realize that I was falling at around 120mph. The wind was flying up my nose, (you can only imagine what kind of cold air was going up this huge nose) I had to concentrate on breathing, and I was freezing! It was honestly very hard to breath. I continue to yell in excitement. The camera guy is flying down with us trying to capture my fall. He approaches me and I give him a high five! I try to pull a superman pose, but quickly go back to the "falling position" in fear of sending us in a tumble. What a rush! I finally remember to check my altimeter (which I was suppose to check every 10 seconds or so). I think I remember for the first time about 30 seconds into my free fall. 9000 feet, 8000 feet, 7000 feet... At this point I am suppose to fixate on the altimeter because time to pull the chute is 6000 feet! Thank God I remembered this much! At 6000 feet I am suppose to wave off the camera guy to signal my need to pull the chute! Oops I forgot... Right arm back, "where is the knob, where is the knob..." I found it. PULL, PULL... It is a lot harder to pull then I thought. At this point I thought to myself, "surely my instructor is helping me out." (come to find out by the video that he DIDN'T help me pull the cord. He was saluting for the camera! Sorry joker) 5000 feet! I GOT IT... I quickly felt the cord release and away the chute goes! "PLEASE OPEN," I thought to myself... This is it.. Live or Die! At that point I felt us quickly slow down. I look up, and what did I see....? The most beautiful picture in the world. One beautiful fully extended parachute! PRAISE GOD! As Jonesy once said, "I defeated Death!" haha... Almost 1 full minute of free falling has come to an END!
I went from falling at 120+ mph (I give it a plus because I was the last to jump out of the plane, but the first to land. I was moving!)
Once the chute opened, it was a completely different feel. You could hear, it was peacefully calm, it was warm... What a difference! My instructor and I just chatted about skydiving and life. It was awesome. After about 5 minutes of descending, trying to steer the parachute (harder than it looks), and enjoying the peace and quiet, it was time to prepare to land. We went through a quick recap and then it was game time. Here we go... approaching approaching approaching... We push down on the parachute to slow us all the way down, planning on landing on our feet.... well we didn't slow down and we didn't land on our feet.. CRASH.. right on my coccyx! I mean we ate it hard! We come sliding in landing right on top of an ant hill. Thank God I did what I was suppose to (keep my legs and feet straight out in a pike position) or else I would have broken my legs. The people who were helping with the landings (because it was so windy) quickly began gaining control of our parachute and then all I hear is, "GET UP GET UP, You are sitting on an ant hill." haha.. Some lady started slapping my butt! YEAH BABY! ;) We quickly got on our feet and rejoice with glee! My feet and coccyx hurt, but I was so pumped from the entire jump that I didn't care! I made it.... I quickly run through a post jump interview with my videographer while trying to locate Abby! "Here she comes," I thought to myself. She too made it... A successful jump! What do I see with Abby's landing, you might ask? Well, she and her partner landed safely on their feet as if they were landing on a pillow! What happened to me was this. You remember way back in my story where I talked about the gusts of wind? Well, let's just say I hit one of those gusts which held us up and then "dropped us!" Or at least that's what the other people said. They told me it rarely happens! Well thank God it happened to me! What and experience!
I ran over to Abby and gave her a huge hug and kiss... We starting reliving our experiences with one another... "We did it!" haha... Skydiving! What an experience. I hope I was able to recreate just a hint of what we experienced. I definitely recommend trying it. Everyone asks this question... Will you do it again? We tell everyone that we would definitely do it again. Not so much on a whim to go skydiving, like "hey Abby you want to go skydiving today?" I don't think so... But, if a group of people wanted to go, we would go! Not sure how many times I want to test Fate! Although our instructors each had over 4000 jumps to their names! They go up, on average, 3-5 times during the week and 5-10 times during the weekend days. That is insane!
Well, I hope you all enjoyed a recap of our skydiving experience. Be on the lookout for pictures and hopefully a link to view the video of our jump. We hope you are all doing great. We sure are.. We are loving Houston and loving Texas Children's. Next week Abby heads home for an engagement party and I fly to Vegas with Corey and Van. We should both have wonderful trips! We love and miss you all....
Michael and Abby "the bad ass" Lee
until our next amazing adventure.....

Sorry...

Howdy ya'll.... we have arrived in houston. let's be honest, we have been here for about 3 weeks now.  I have been extremely slack on my duties to update this post. Honestly, I thought that no one really read it anymore, but I was proven wrong.  thanks Jenny!  I hope everyone is doing great.  We sure are!  We had a wonderful trip to Houston.  We ended our assignment in LA and immediately went on a cruise!  We found that we were going to be homeless because our assignment start date in Houston was going to be 2 1/2 weeks from our end date in LA.  Unfortunately we were only allowed 2 days of lodging in our LA apartment before we were kicked out!  The good thing is that we found a cruise deal.  I think I talked about this in my last post.  A recap:  We went on a 7 night cruise to Mexico for roughly just under 400 a person!  It left from Long Beach, CA which is about 15 minutes south of LA.  DONE DEAL!  We had a wonderful trip!  We ate a ton, play lots of 3 card poker (and actually paid for one of our trips with our winnings), lounged around the pool, and explored some new areas of Mexico!  Cruises are awesome....

After the cruise was my big 1/2 marathon!  I finished with a time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 13 seconds!  I know that time is not record breaking, but for someone who hates to run, I was pleased I finished!  We stayed in Newport Beach, CA for about 3 days leading up to and after the 1/2 marathon.  Newport beach, Huntington beach (site of 1/2 marathon) and Long beach are all very close together. You basically drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and go from one beach town to the next.  The most incredible little cities I have ever been to.  We hope to one day head back there for an extended stay.  Very rich towns though. I think I saw more Bentley's in my 3 day stay in Newport Beach then I have ever seen in my entire life.  Unreal money out there!  Had a great time... 

We left that CA area reluctantly heading towards Houston.  Our drive from LA to Houston consisted of 1 road... Interstate 10 was going to be our friend for the next 1600+ miles.  We made a quick stop right outside of Phoenix to visit this restaurant my boy Snacks told me about.  You all need to google this restaurant, or better yet go on youtube and watch a special some food channel did on it.  Type in the words, "Heart attack grille."  You will be amazed.  I was a wimp and went for the double cheeseburger.  I couldn't even finish it. It wasn't because of the size (although it was huge).  It was more of the grease!  The first few bites were the best bites I have ever had when it comes to eating a burger!  INCREDIBLE!!!!  The longer it took to eat, the greasier the burger and sloppier the bun got.  haha.. You took a bite of this burger and you can feel the grease squirt into your mouth!  I guess I just knew how much junk I was putting into my body, and I started grossing myself out.  If I weren't just in a mind set of trying to train for a 1/2 marathon and trying to be all healthy (well as healthy as you can be without eating vegetables) I probably would have been more apt to finish it.  Oh well, an experience non the less.  

We continued our venture down I-10 stopping a couple of times before reaching San Antonio.  At this point we still had no place to live.  We knew we had an apartment to move into on Saturday, but it was now tuesday and we had to make a decision to park it for a few days.  San Antonio was right along I-10 and we heard nothing but great things about that city.  Well let me tell you that all we have heard was correct.. An amazing and very fun city, well at least the Riverwalk and Alamo portion of town.  We stayed just a couple of blocks away from the Riverwalk for a few nights.  We had a great time eating in the great restaurants along the river and even ventured out dancing one night.  We had a blast.  Then it was on to Houston.  

2 1/2 hours later we arrived in Houston, thankfully not hitting traffic as we searched for our apartment. We have heard that Houston traffic is bad, but heck nothing will ever be worse than LA.  We open the door of our apartment in the Rincon Apartment complex to find a dirty and very small apartment.  Abby had a quick little melt down, but quickly bounced back to realize that we have no choice but to pile in this little place for the next bit of our travels.  It is about 650 sq ft.  Not bad for 1 person, but when you count the both of us, it gets cramped.  Thank God we love being around each other, or this would not be so fun!  The area of town is great.  We live in "Midtown."  From what the locals tell us, this area is very trendy and fun with a younger crowd.  SWEET!  We do love it here and have ventured out only a few times so far.  Restaurants everywhere!  Supposedly Houston has the most restaurants per square mile (or something like that) then any other city in the US.  What i'm trying to say is this: there are restaurants everywhere!  I hope to frequent all of them!  :)   We have already found an amazing Italian restaurant, Tex-Mex restaurant, and a Pei Wei.  All ideal for survival...  haha.. 

We made it to the hospital which is about 4.5 miles away.  So far so good!  We love it there. A completely different form of nursing then we are use to.  Let me try to explains.  Our recent assignments have been with very sick kids.  We had the extra worry about them not making it through the night.  Here, the worry is more of task oriented.  We have 6 kids which is 2 more than we have ever taken, but they are not very sick kids.  Our patient population is like this.  A healthy kid steps on a nail and needs medication through an IV.  They have to come into the hospital to receive such medication.  There you have it. A brief and simple explanation.  A different busy, a different mind set.  We love it! haha.. We are working on different floors for the first time in our travel career, but they are run by the same nurse manager.  They have been amazing with working with our schedule and they have been very open and friendly!  We are known as the "married couple!"  :)  

Let's see.. what fun things have we done in Houston so far.  Well, the Houston Zoo is about the only thing.  We plan on going to the HOUSTON RODEO sometime this.  We are going to head down to Rice University.  That campus is supposedly beautiful.  There is a lot to do around here, so hopefully I will have some fun posts for you to read.  We have off until saturday, then work saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday nights.  I then head to Las Vegas with my 2 best friends, and Abby heads home for an engagement party for her best friend.  Then it is back to work to pay off my loses in Vegas.  Well, let's hope not!  Thanks for reading and once again I'm sorry for not keeping up with this over the past month.  Now that I have been reminded that people actually read it and care about what we are doing, I will keep it up!  We love and miss you all.  thanks so much for keeping in touch with us.  You have no idea how much we appreciate it.  When you are away from everyone you love, it gets really important to hear from your friends and family on a regular basis.  Have a great week and we will chat soon!  

In His peace,

Love to you all...

Michael and Abby Lee

p.s. We are going skydiving this friday (had to change it because of the wind).  Just don't tell our parents!  They know we are going, but don't want to know when so they don't have to worry!  Aren't they great!?

Howdy Ya'll...

No that is not my attempt to sound southern, it is my attempt to sound TEXAN!!! That's right people, Abby and I are headed to HOUSTON TEXAS... We received the good news earlier this week and are currently working on getting a contract written. The reason for the contract delay is due to vacation time we are requesting. You see, when we sign contracts with hospitals we can enter time off for upcoming events. We are heading to Disney world with Abby's family sometime in the spring, so are trying to get the dates so that we will be assured that time off. The life of a travel nurse... Makes it nice! Speaking of vacation.... Abby and I booked at 7 night cruise to Mexico. We are heading out next Saturday (the 24th of Jan) for a nice getaway! We found a steal deal for this cruise through Norwegian! WE are very excited. We are being kicked out of our apartment on the 26Th of Jan and have to find a place to live until Feb 1st (the 1/2 marathon). We were thinking about heading to Las Vegas, but this cruise deal we found would be the cheapest! So, off we go! Just trying to do our part in helping to stimulate the economy! :) The rough part of this trip is going to be this.... I still have to run 13.1 miles on Feb 1st. We get off the cruise on Jan 31st.... What does that mean? Well, if you have ever been on a cruise before, you know how much food you can consume! I need to try and limit the binging. haha.. that's a joke, but i figure i can run a few times to help keep in shape! Yep, I am still on schedule to run my first 1/2 marathon. Abby, unfortunately, is going to have to back out of this race due to hip issues. Hoping she rests up to try again! Don't worry, she will be there supporting me and taking lots of pictures of me being out run by 80 year old men... Thank God for picture cropping! :) After the 1/2, we will try to find somewhere to watch the Superbowl.. Although, what a disappointment for both the Giants and Panthers! I truly was depressed after last weekend. Then on the 2nd we will begin our venture to Houston. We figure it will take us about 1100 miles. We hope to stop off in Phoenix to see old friends, then slowly make our way to our new home. Well, we are at work and I am needed by one of my patients. I do hope all is great with you. Please keep in touch. We love and miss you all...
In His peace,
Michael and Abby Lee....

Sorry for the Delay...

Hello everyone.. Happy Christmas Eve to all... Abby and I are currently at work. Work is good. Not much new. We are constantly reminded of the fact that we are not yet ready for kids. We have 3 to 4 screaming kids every night we work, so that causes us to keep putting off our desire to have kids. Sorry to disappoint all family who are hoping for some little Hinchy's running around this world. Although that day will be a very special and amazing day! Come on Boy!!! :) It has been about a month since I last put up a post. We have done a lot since then. The main focus of mine over the past month has been Fantasy football. I am happy to report that all my hard work at studying and preparing for the weeks paid off. I won my fantasy league! A nice payday! However, I broke our computer this Sunday. Dang Diet Dr. Pepper! Come to find out, computers don't enjoy that tasty beverage as much as I. We ended up purchasing a MacBook on Monday. We love it. Not real sure how to use it, but we love it. Mac's are incredible. We are looking forward to learning all the neat features and putting the computer good use. We continue to prepare for our half marathon. We had to sign up for the surf city 1/2 marathon on Feb 1st because the 1/2 in Carlsbad on the 26th of Jan was sold out. Never realized that 1/2 marathons were so popular. I recently ran 7 miles on a 8:47 min pace. Not to bad for your boy! We head down to Santa Monica for our long runs. They have paths all along the beach that seem endless. When I ran the 7 miles, I ran from Santa Monica down into Venice Beach, then back. Venice Beach was really neat. Lots and Lots of freaks down there, but very lively! We hope to head down there to enjoy all the shops and to people watch (a favorite of ours). The weather remains unstable. We continue to have 60 degree weather, but lately we have been dealing with rain. Hopefully this will blow over soon, as LA just doesn't function well with rain. We continue to shop and eat at our local hot spot, The Groove. When we were there last we met this guy (guy in the middle) http://www.criticsrant.com/Images/criticsrant_com/TV_How%20I%20Met%20Your%20Mother/himym_logo.jpg Funny story. We were walking into the movie theatre and I spotted him waiting outside. I stopped Abby and we secretly watched him for a bit. I noticed that he had money hanging out of his pocket. Well what better way to strike up conversation than "sir you have money falling out of your pocket." A classic Ice breaker. He was quick to walk over to us as he pushed the money back in his pocket. He was confused at first, so we had to repeat ourselves. "You had money falling out of your pocket." He thanked us as Abby throws out, "we love your show." Nice Abby.. He thanked us as we strike up conversation about how my friends at home love his show. "I wish I had a piece of paper so that I can get your autograph for all my friends back home." What a smooth line by yours truly! He laughed and apologized, then sign his autograph in the air and said, "there you go," with a smile. Wow, what a great conversation and moment in our lives. Most of you probably don't know who this guy is, but he is a star on one of the greatest TV shows out right now. "How I met your mother." Check it out sometime, you won't be disappointed. Comes on CBS. Not sure when, but google it. Abby thinks it is on Mondays at 8:30pm. We recently went and saw "Twilight" and "Seven pounds." Both great movies. We also have been blessed by the opening of ESPN Zone near the Staples Center (which is about a 5 minute walk from our apt). I have frequented this restaurant, enjoying many sporting events while enjoying great food and a new found beverage, Fat Tire. Abby and I plan on heading down there this Sunday around 10am to catch the Panthers game. Speaking of the panthers, HOW ABOUT THOSE GMEN!!! Big win, HUGE! It was an intense evening as Abby sat there with her Julius Peppers jersey on as I sat there with all my Giants gear on! We kissed and made up after the game, so alls well now. We are anxiously awaiting Christmas so that we can open up all the presents we have been blessed to receive. We will miss our family this Christmas, but having each other will make it a little easier. Our contract is up on Jan 24th, and we are currently looking for our next assignment. We really have no clue where we will be heading, but some of the possibilities are Las Vegas, Little Rock Arkansas, Boston, Seattle, Idaho, and a couple of other locations. We will know more after the holiday season. I hope we haven't lost our readers with this delay. We hope to start back up with weekly blogs and pictures. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
In His peace,
Love to all,
Michael and Abby Lee...

Pounding the pavement...

Hey Hey Hey... How are you all doing out there? Hopefully well. How is the weather? LA weather is great. It has been in the 70's lately, with lows at night dipping into the upper 50's. Beautiful weather... Since I last wrote to you, we really haven't done much. Shocking I know... LA is just not conducive to random fun trips as it takes an entire day to make a short trip to the mall, or target, or the gas station, or to get lunch.. Dang traffic... haha.. It is really unbelievable! Not going to get on that soap box.. Moving right along.......... I am still on pace with my training for the 1/2 marathon we are running at the end of Jan. I ran 5 miles on Saturday at a pace of 8:50 a mile. Now before you hate on my pace, just remember that I'm still a little chubby. The great news is that my body seems to be holding up. I usually have a lot of pain in my knees and right hip.. None to report at this time.. keep those fingers crossed. How is Abby's training you might ask! Well, I'm pleading the fifth. Ask her. :) Okay Okay, enough about running and traffic.. What else is going on with us. Abby had a good birthday. Yep, that's right, her birthday was on the 21st. If you forgot to call her, shame on you! We didn't do much on her birthday because we worked the night before and the night after. We did celebrate with the people at work the night before. There was a potluck dinner that night with lots of goodies! We were a little down with our co-workers at first, but we have slowly come to be one of them and they are great! We have been working a lot lately. Trying to pick up overtime to make up for a slow transition from Phoenix to LA. At one point I worked 5 out of 7 days and Abby worked 4 out of 5 days. Working that much really wears on your body. We are both really excited about our vacation this weekend. Looking forward to seeing our families. Well, not much else going on. Sorry for the lack of substance, but will try to have more next time. We really are planning on travelling and seeing the sights, we are just really focused on getting back on our feet financially, then it's off to play!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Abby and I will be spending thanksgiving in our apartment. Abby is going to attempt to bake her first turkey! Should be an adventure, but one that we will cherish and enjoy for some time.
Hope to hear from you soon...
In His peace,
Michael and Abby Lee...
p.s. How about those GIANTS?!!!!!

Fire Fire Fire...

Hello all.... How goes it? Abby and I are hanging in there. We are at work right now. Good times! Tonight is shift 4 in 6 days. I'm very tired to say the least. Abby has been sick the past couple of days, so she has missed a shift trying to recover. We think she is finally getting better, so keep your fingers crossed as it is very lonely and boring when the other is sick. We depend on each others company so much, that it is not fun when the other is down and out. Come on Abby, you can do it!!! :) As most of you have probably heard by now, LA is surrounded by wildfires. The smell of the air surrounding us is very strong. We are about 20 miles south and 20 miles north of where the fires are. Those santa anna winds sure do create a stir. I just hope Oprah's puppies are safe.. Take shelter little yappers..
What have we been up to you might ask?!!! Well, lets see. I surprised Abby with a little romantic dinner action on Tuesday night. We went to this place called Yamashiro's in North Hollywood. http://www.yamashirorestaurant.com/ You have to travel up near the Hollywood sign to get there. It was amazing. The view was awesome and the food was too. We enjoyed a couple of cold beverages, then went to the second part of her surprise. We saw "Wicked" at the Pantage theatre on Hollywood Blvd. I'm not the biggest play fan, but this play was awesome. Go see it if playing in a theatre near you. http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ It was really fun because we got dressed up and just enjoyed a romantic night out together. Always fun to do. Afterwards we just headed back to our apartment and crashed. that night Abby became sick, and so the past few days have been uneventful. We are both training for a 1/2 marathon at the end of January. Abby has been slowed due to being sick. My last 2 runs have eclipsed 3 miles each. I'm proud of myself, but a big 4 miler looms near. If you don't know me, lets just say that I'm not the most accomplished runner. "Let's be honest (a favorite saying by my beautiful wife)" i hate running, but figure this would be a good way to get back in shape. The average man would probably just be like, hey lets train for a 5K. Naaaa, i skip that silly crap and head straight to the 1/2 marathon! High aspirations by yours truly! Wish me luck.
Enough of the good news... I have been asking everyone to keep my Grandpa in their prayers, and I thank you all for doing so. I just received notice that he has been placed on Hospice a couple of days ago. We are waiting for THE phone call, and then we will probably be heading to upstate NY for a few days to be with my family. Very sad times in my family, but he will be 94 at the end of this month, so he has lived a very amazing, full filled, and wonderful life. He sure will be missed by all whom have had the opportunity to meet him. By far the greatest man I have ever known! Keep praying for easy and pain free travels to a better life! Also, please pray for my grandma and family as we go through this time. Also, please be praying for my oldest sister as she too is sick.. thanks for the prayers.. sorry for having so many!
I am picking up an overtime shift tomorrow (Sunday) night, then will have a few days off. A much needed break. Oh don't worry, i will be staying awake after tonight's shift to pull for the Giants against the Ravens.. One of the few perks of the West coast.. Football comes on at 10am. CA actually has been very accommodating to a Giants fan. In NC the Giants games are ALWAYS blacked out due to Panthers or Redskin games. It's nice having 2 really crappy teams (raiders/chargers) out here. CA football fans want to watch good football I guess.... ;) haha.. at least that's what i think...
Hope everyone is doing great.... Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Till next time....
In His peace,
Michael and Abby Lee....
p.s. thanks for the many prayers!
p.s.s we are going to try and make 1 of 2 or both movie premies this week. "Bolt" and "Australia" are both having movie premiers right down the road from us. We hope to be in attendance. Not in the audience, but in the audience to watch the stars arrive. I sure do hope Oprah's dogs make it...

Stars sighting...

It's official... Abby and I have officially spotted our first stars in Hollywood. The first star we spotted was Travis Stork (well, he's not really a star, but he's been on TV a bunch). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Lane_Stork We sat next to him outside a coffee shop while we were waiting on go on The Price is Right. The next star we spotted was later that night. We were finishing up dinner at Maggiano's in Hollywood and as we started to walk out Abigail Breslin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Breslin She was a cute little girl who seemed so excited to be at Maggiano's. She must have seen us and been just beside herself... after all, we are stars now! haha.. Then after dinner we headed to a local star hot spot called The Grove. http://www.thegrovela.com/ We were just walking around enjoying the shops and people watching after dinner when we spotted Tom Bergeron. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0074477/ He was eating dinner at a restaurant in the Grove shopping area. So, as you can see the stars are out. I know that all but 1 are b-list stars, but stars nonetheless. Sorry no pictures or autographs at this time.



So, the PRICE IS RIGHT!!! Now that was a blast. We spent all day there, but unfortunately we weren't picked to be participants. We did however get VIP seating during the early show which was aired today, Friday the 7th. We stayed up this morning to watch and see if we could spot ourselves and sure enough we were able to. Pretty neat I tell ya. The process of getting on the Price is Right is very lengthy. You have to arrive early that day to get a "order of arrival" pass to assure your spot in the audience. If you are lucky enough to get there early enough to get an order of arrival pass whose numbers are called, then you get in line to fill out a few forms and receive your name badge. Then you get in another line to get interviewed. What happens is this: They line you up in groups of 10-15 people and these 2 people chat with you about who you are, where you are from, what you like to do for fun, etc.... It takes only a few minutes and from this interview they choose the lucky participants to appear on that episode. I guess Abby and I weren't interesting or spunky enough to get picked. We used our travelling pediatric nursing line and talked about saving lives, but I guess that is boring to them. We will come up with something good next time to attract their attention. After the interview you go through a metal detector and then wait in another line. So, you arrive no later than 8 or so in the morning and then you are waiting in line until around 12:45 when they decide to let you into the studio. A long day, but well worth it. Once inside you are placed in areas to make sure the entire audience is filled. The studio is very small. I believe someone said it seats just over 300 people. The stage is also very small, which makes for a nice viewing of the show. They have loud music playing and everyone is very excited and having a great time. Then you are greeted by the announcer who gets you even more excited. Remember, at this point you still think you have a good chance of being called. Then the show starts... The announcer starts calling the first 4 people down... You get even more excited... Then Drew Carey comes out and the place goes nuts.. You can't really hear how loud that place is when Drew Carey is speaking, but believe me it is extremely loud. Let the games begin. To be honest, when the show is just about over and you realized that you are not going to be a contestant, you develop this hurt inside you. You become bitter and you just want to leave. Don't get me wrong, watching the show is a blast, but your expectations are shattered. Better luck next time! We then decided to stay for the second taping of the day to try our luck again. Still no luck. We will get those people who pick the contestants if it's the last thing we do!!! haha.. That's pretty much about it.



On Wednesday we ventured just outside of Los Angeles to beautiful Santa Monica. We first went and walked around on the Santa Monica Pier, then ventured up to this place called the Promenade. There we found a strip of shops, restaurants and more people watching. It was a nice night away from LA. We hope to venture there again. Check out these websites for pictures as Abby and I didn't do a great job in taking pictures ourselves. We will do better next time. http://www.santamonicapier.org/ Also check out: http://thirdstreetpromenade.org/visitors/index.html



there you have it.. Abby and I had 6 days off and took full advantage. We also began our training for this Half Marathon... http://www.carlsbadmarathon.com/site5.aspx That's right people, we are going to run this joker. I tried once before and never made it, but I'm going to make this one. We printed out a running schedule on runnersworld.com and hope to dominate this race, that's if running doesn't dominate us. Week 1 down, now starting week 2 of 14. haha.. Good luck with that is right. We just need something to look forward to when working out, so hopefully this will be the motivation we need. We will keep you posted on our conditioning.



Well, that's about it. Back to work! We finally received a paycheck, so we are very excited. I am going to pick up a couple of Overtime shifts the next few weeks to help bolster the bank account. It is just about Christmas time and between my family and Abby's family we have an extensive list of nieces and nephews to look out for. Remember that it is Abby's Birthday coming up on the 21st of this month.. Send her something nice! I am going to surprise, her with something she will love, this coming Tuesday. A little early, but it will be our only chance to do what I have planned. Stayed tuned. We love and miss you all. Hope to hear from you all very very soon! till then...

In His peace,

Michael and Abby Lee...