Bon Voyage Rachel!

That is Rachel and I at 4:30 am before heading to the airport! I look tired, but you can tell she is super excited! Libby on the other hand rolled out of bed, crashed into Rachel, hugged and said "have fun, love you" and was back to being sound asleep in a jiffy!

Well, my darling sister Rachel left for Thailand monday morning. She is going there for a month with a friend (but through an organization) to volunteer and sight-see. Everyone from the western part of North America was meeting in LA to catch a flight to Singapore together. The only problem was we couldn't get Rachel an early enough flight to LA to have time to catch her next flight to Singapore, so she and her friend had to fly out a day early and spend the night in LA... alone! Already as she was leaving she was forgetting things, and just being her usual scatter-brained self, but she called when she got to LA and everything was fine except for some liquids that were in the wrong bag and got confiscated. (Of course she blamed my mother!) But need not worry, she found new UV hairspray at Victoria's Secret when she went shopping on her day in LA. (I'm jealous! I love LA). So Tuesday morning she met up with the group, I think she said there were 58 or so heading to Thailand (A few different group things once they got there). The only text I got from her was something along the lines of "Yes LA was good, now we are just waiting at the airport. Our terminal isn't all that great, but I finally found a store and bought Cosmo Girl... but I accidentally bought it in Spanish and the lady wouldn't let me return it!" ... I swear only Rachel could buy magazines in the wrong language. Anyway, they were supposed to fly direct to Singapore (13 hours and spend the night), and then to Bangkok which was a couple more and then drive to their village. It turned out that they had to refuel somewhere, and so now the flight was going to be 11 hours to Tokyo, refuel for an hour, and then 7 more to Singapore... spend the night, a few to Bangkok and then drive to the village! So the original 13 hours was now almost 19! I guess she might have time to learn how to read her spanish magazine now! We got texts along the way... most of them "Our plane is so nice, it is two floors and really colourful! It makes me happy!" and stuff... I don't think she loved it as much after 19 hours! Anyway, she finally texted us this morning, before they took away their phones saying she arrived their safely, the place is beautiful and there are really cute puppies. Only Rachel would mention puppies in a beautiful place like Thailand. Regardless, I am really happy for her venturing off to a place like this and helping out. Her and my Mom were so excited to buy toys, and soaps and gifts for the people in Thailand... she filled an entire suitcase of stuff for people there. I know this is going to be a great experience for her, especially since she is going into Nursing in the fall. And she has never travelled as much, because I always went for dance and what not... so this is going to be a blast for her!

Anyway, here are some pics of the beloved sister and I. We have way too many pics, so I just snatched a few! Enjoy!