Hi Family! We went with Josh and Natalie to the beach today! It is two hours from here so we have spent a great deal of time in the car today. However, we all spent enough time on the beach that some of the bodies here are sporting quite a reddish glow! As for myself, I donned some 45 sunblock, borrowed Shanna's hat and sat in a chair trying not to soak up any sun! You would have all loved this beach we were at today. The sand was so fine and there was no sea weed on the beach at all. (When we were at the beach in CA wit1h Tyson and Carrie, I had to pick up a piece of sea weed to see what it felt like and I couldn't get the sticky stuff off of my fingers. It was like a bugger with gelatin in it.) Also, you may have heard of Hurricane Bertha that was in the Atlantic---well, it was down-graded to a tropical storm but the waves were quite large because of the disturbance created by Bertha. So these big waves would come crashing in and Josh and a couple of his friends would go out and try to catch a wave to ride back in, but the riptide was so strong that it would also pull them down south of where we were quite a ways. They were having a great time and I am sure that it looked like a lot of fun to grandpa so out he went two give it a try. Ggrandpa wasn't quite ready for all that rolling and pulling action going on and he couldn't get his feet under him! When he got back in I asked him if saw "the light". He said "no, I saw the gates of hell!" Needless to say, grandpa didn't go bac1k in! Yesterday we went to Josh's graduation. (Duh, of course we did! After all, that's the reason we came to NC!) It was great! He is officially a Green Beret! He took us around the base a little to show us where he did some of his training. It was hard to see much because there was a big drenching rain storm about then that poured down so hard it was difficult to see much! Josh had to go in this one building to sign some papers and when he got back to the car he was soaked. It was nice to see some of the places where he had spent a great deal of his time. Before the graduation ceremony, we had to stand in line outside because they weren't going to open the doors until 30 minutes before. It was so hot! I thought I was going to melt! The heat here is definitely different than in Idaho. Josh and Natalie have been wonderful hosts. Early on Thursday morning, Natalie got a call from home that her father was in the hospital with a brain bleed and on a ventilator. The past few days have been very difficult for her because there is no hope for her dad's recovery. Her mother has made the decision to turn off the machines keeping him alive. Natalie and Josh will leave in the morning to go to West Virginia. They will turn off the machines after Josh and Natalie get there. We will leave about 7:30 in the morning. It takes an hour and a half to drive to Raleigh from here and we have Bpnnie programed to get us there. Our flight leaves at 10:40. We have one lay over and that is in Cinncinnati. We get into SL at 2:40, go get our car and head home.. See ya'all later!