From Darling Harbour To Washington Harbor

Whew! For those of you who have been following the snow storm that hit the East Coast - we made it out of town! We left Washington at noon on Saturday - just as the flurries started getting bigger. Here's a full re-cap...

When we last posted, I was running late for the ball (go figure). Actually, I did very well by making up some time and we left the hotel only 10 minutes later than originally scheduled. After catching a cab, we were taken to the brand new DC Convention Center which was hosting 5 of the 9 balls that evening! Four years ago, our ball was at the DC Armory Building and this was much different. First, more security clearance to get through, second, the room was MASSIVE!!! The sign on the wall said Maximum Occupancy 7000! That's a big room! But it was just as glamorous as you would expect. Two large stages on opposite sides of the room - one with a live band and one where the dignitaries would stand.

We first arrived and tried to look for some Colorado folk - and didn't see a soul we recognized! So we went to have our photograph taken - and just as we were standing there smiling for the camera, the band began to play the opening bars of 'Hail to the Chief'. We looked at each other like "It's only 8:00 - surely he's not coming now". So we bolted from the opposite side of the room to where the stage was to see Dick Cheney and Lynn walking on stage. Obviously, we weren't very close to the action - but there were huge screens overhead showing the whole thing. The Vice President thanked us for coming and for our support and then told us, if we didn't mind, he'd like to dance with his date :)

Based on that appearance, we weren't about to miss the President! So we skipped the hor d'ouvers (which meant we only ate cheese and crackers all night), grabbed a beverage and made our way as close to the stage as possible. About an hour later, they introduced the governors and first ladies from the states attending our ball and then the President. What a moment! Again, we were less than 50 feet away from them - and that dress on Laura was gorgeous! I'm honestly not sure I can remember anything he said - we were working on getting a good picture and just mesmerized by the whole moment. They danced, the governors and their wives danced, and then they were gone.

That's when we finally started to run into people. Jimmy spotted US Senator Wayne Allard who laughed and said he couldn't find anyone either! He said "I thought this was supposed to be the Colorado Ball!" - he asked Jimmy what he was doing now since he was off the air and they talked a bit about the ministry in Boulder. We were re-acquainted with his wife, daughter and son-in law and then parted ways. Then, we saw Congressman Bob Beauprez who was responsible for getting us our swearing-in tickets. We thanked Bob and Claudia and met their children. Bob let us know he has just been named to the House Ways and Means Committee, which is a huge honor for a sophomore representative. At the very end of the evening Jimmy ran into Governor Bill Owens, who also asked what Jimmy was doing now. We spoke a bit about Colorado politics and how things look with the Democrats taking over the state house and senate.

And that was it! Quite a lovely evening and another late night! Exhilarated, we went to bed.

We didn't get out of bed until 1:00 the next afternoon - and didn't leave the hotel until 3:00 Friday afternoon. When we did venture outside, we took about a 20 minute walk to Georgetown and had a "late lunch" at a great barbeque restaurant. After walking around all of the fancy little outdoor shops and Washington Harbor, we saw the Phantom of the Opera at a movie theater. After a late trip to Starbucks, we caught a cab back to the hotel.

We woke up very early Saturday morning, and got to the airport in time to fly standby on an earlier flight (we wanted to get out of town before the storm hit), but ended up leaving on our original flight. We arrived back in Denver yesterday afternoon around 5:00pm.

It's been quite a whirlwind tour - and Jimmy's not done yet! He leaves for Lubbock, TX tomorrow morning for a preliminary regional meeting for the upcoming Nation Shakers event which will be held there this March. I'll be at home doing laundry.

I'm a lucky girl and I know it. I'd say our schedules slow down a bit from here on out, but I'd hate to jinx myself. We'll just have to roll with it and see where the rest of 2005 takes us.

I may update this site from time to time - so don't forget to check it out. It's become quite cathartic for me - and even if nobody reads it, I enjoy it. (haha) Also - Jimmy is still blogging at www.jimmylakey.blogspot.com so don't forget to check out his thoughts. They're usually much deeper than mine. :)

Hope you've enjoyed - we miss you all!

Carrie

HOLY CRAP!

WOW! We've had a BIG day!

We arrived at our hotel last night at 1:30 this morning. After getting to bed around 2:00am, we woke up this morning at 7:00am to get across town and pick up our ball tickets. We bought them from someone on Ebay and were excited to pick them up- but when we got there, we opened the envelope to see that we had tickets to the Texas-Wyoming Ball, not the Independance Ball where the state of Colorado is to gather. Just FYI - there are 9 different balls and your ticket is for a specific ball. Several states gather together at the assigned balls, but Texas/Wyoming obviously only has Texas and Wyoming at it! Now - in the Ebay auction, the seller listed these tickets as "Independance" Ball Tickets. When we mentioned the difference, he said he thought they were the same thing. Poor guy didn't seem to know the difference. So - we considered our options and offered a "discounted price" for the tickets, considering we weren't getting what he advertised. He accepted and we took them not knowing what we would do with them.

In the meantime, we took the metro over to the Capitol building for the public Inauguration. We waited in line for over 2 hours (not counting the 45 minutes waiting just to GET OUT of the metro station) and when we were about to cross the street to enter the security tent that only "gold ticket holders" were allowed to enter, the security told us they were shutting down the entry. No more people. Thanks for playing. The end.

So - we didn't get to see the event itself - just were able to listen to the loudspeaker. So we immediately left to go to the hotel that had the will call window for the ball tickets. Somehow or other, Jimmy worked his magic and we walked out of there with Independace Ball tickets (swaped for ours). I'll give you the long story later, but let's just say Jimmy apparently looks like a scapler, while I apparently, do not.

Then, off to the parade which was part of the Ebay package. We had fabulous seats - only 3 rows up in the bleachers and we were less than 50 feet from the President and First Lady as they got out of the limo and started to walk to the viewing room. Talk about wonderful! They looked right at us as the people sitting in front of us yelled "we're from Texas" and we got the Thumbs Up! Laura is stunning and she had great shoes:)

I'm running late for the ball now, so i'll catch up everything else later -

It's been wonderful so far :)

Carrie

From Australia, To Washington!

Just when I began to recover from my overseas jet lag, we've decided to be a part of the festivities at the 2005 Presidential Inauguration!

We received tickets for the swearing in ceremonies from Congressman Bob Beauprez's office, but the ball tickets were much more difficult to come by. After multiple phone calls and emails to people who were desperately looking for their own tickets, we ended up at Ebay. As most of you can guess, Jimmy Lakey would not be denied and became the high bidder on a pair at the last minute. The auction also included tickets to the parade and "freedom concert" - but it's so busy, we'll have to see how many events we're able to attend.

The most frequently asked question so far is "what are you going to wear?" So, not to be a pain – but I thought I’d just get that out on the table. I’ll be wearing a long, strapless, black A-line dress with an “art deco” design on the upper half of the bodice. The design part is kind of random --- with black, white and copper “patches” (not sewn together like a quilt, but in a random pattern) that are on the diagonal across the top of the dress. One copper “swatch” goes from the top left down to the bottom right – ending at my hip. Lord knows we’ll be taking tons of photos, so I’m sure that will help.

Because we were able to attend 4 years ago, Jimmy had a room reservation in DC the day after the election. We’ll be staying at The Beacon Hotel (formerly The Governor’s House) and we’ll be there Wednesday – Thursday – Friday – flying back to Denver Saturday.

Gotta run and pack – but I’ll be sure to wave at George and Laura for each of you.

Carrie

Yes, Yes... We made it Home...

I'm so sorry for how long it's taken for me to conclude this vacation with a post regarding our trip home! I realize by taking so long to blog, some of you may never come back to read "the rest of the story". Perhaps part of me just wasn't willing to admit it was all over :(

We suffered through a very long, very full return flight... from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand... then from Auckland to LA... through customs in the states... and from LA back to Denver. It felt longer this time because we didn't sleep but maybe half an hour on the return trip. It was a full flight and nobody was able to stretch out at all. Every time I felt myself going through the process of getting into a sleep - the plane would bounce or someone would kick me or whatever. There was no room to lean forward and nothing to lean against. Makes for a lot of movie watching, but no sleep.

One of the odd perks of a bad flight home is that Jimmy Lakey now pretty much refuses to ride coach on a long flight ever again. He's been scouring the internet for deals on airline miles and based on his research, we should be getting a few upgrades to first class in the future. If you're planning a big trip, I'm sure he'd let you in on his "secret research". (haha!)

In LA, we moved through a long customs line and then had to get into a different line to re-check our baggage. Strangely, I was somewhat comforted when I heard Clay Aiken playing over the loud speaker. That was confirmation that yes indeed, I was standing in the United States.

After re-checking bags, we grabbed some food, stretched out on the floor where our departing gate was and tried to sleep while half listening to the flight attendants making announcements. After returning to Denver, we heard the pilot say the local time and that it was "29 degrees outside" --- which 29 degrees celsius is not that bad --- after all, the bride and groom were married on a steamy 34 degree day (celsius). What a shock to come back to snow, ice and being able to see your breath outside! We arrived home at 8:00pm, mountain time, which just so happened to be a full 24 hours since our arrival at the Brisbane Airport. Now that's a lot of traveling.

So I promptly took a shower and went to bed at 9:00pm and didn't wake up until 10:00am the next morning! Then, I went into work for a few hours, checked my 790 email messages (not a made-up number - mostly junk but that's how many I had!), sifted through some paperwork and went back home. Friday was a bit of the same. Our sales team did a fabulous job while I was gone, and we're now 103% of goal for the month of January - which makes leaving for 2 weeks a bit forgivable.

Otherwise, I've been taking down Christmas decorations, going through mail and learning to write "2005" on my checks. I haven't even gone to have my pictures developed yet (guess I'm not my mother's child after all!). I'll try to get my head around everything today, in order to work a full 8 hours tomorrow.

Bishop didn't disown us while we were gone - he seems to need sleep as much as we do! He's been laying around a lot, but jumps at the chance to go with us somewhere in the car... guess he still trusts us enough to believe no matter where we go, we'll always come back :)

Hope you all have enjoyed the reading --- I am still going to try to get some pic's up on this site sometime in the near future --- and will likely be "blogging" about any other events going on in the life of the Lakey's. But never fear... I will not be abandoning my regular "holiday card" tradition. I guess this is just another way for me to get all of my thoughts out of my system... and keep in touch with those of you who wish to read Carrie's Comments... without the confetti! :)

Thanks for your responses - Miss You All - check back for photos!

Love, Carrie

Today is Travel Day Part II

When one travels somewhere, there is usually a time when one has to travel back. That's today. We're packed up and ready to drive our car on the left hand side of the road one last time so that the new Bride and Groom can take us to the airport. It's bit sad - and a bit relieving. Sad because it's over, relieving because sleeping in my own bed seems like a very nice evening in and of itself. Yesterday we did our souvenier shopping and a bit of final time at the beach. It was much warmer yesterday - and it seems like we've run the whole spectrum of weather out here. Heat and Humidity, Rain and Humidity, and Cool by the Ocean with Humidity. The view is usually worth surviving the humidity.

Finally, last night we went to a large seafood buffet with the Brad and Hilary (Groom's parents) and Mark and Leigh (Pastor's who married us). Such a great time to catch up and reivew what's been happening to each of us over the past 5 years. And the seafood was fabulous! Jimmy was introduced to "prawn sandwiches" which I think hold a great deal of memories for the natives here (seems like it would be a good meal after surfing all day) and I took advantage of the dessert :) Chocolate mousse seems quite popular here and i've enjoyed as much of it as I could!

Otherwise, our flight leaves at noon today... we fly to Auckland, New Zealand before flying to LA. Technically we arrive in LA at 10:00am Wednesday, which will be 2 hours earlier than we leave today (Wednesday in AU).

It's been wonderful - and I hope I get to share pictures on this site with you all.

Thanks for reading, we'll let you know when we land.

G'day -

Carrie

Nuances, Quirks and Strange Things...

Today was another great day - I keep telling myself I have to leave tomorrow - which isn't true becasue today is Monday and we leave Wednesday - but tomorrow it will make me feel like I have an extra day! Silly, but I'm hoping it works. Surfer's Paradise is very tourist-y, but with all the shopping, it also feels like home.

We mainly walked around today - shopping and eating. I could tell you how big the ocean is, but then you'd feel like you were reading the same blog I put up yesterday. So - in an effort to be original, I thought I'd share some of the "odder" things about life down under.

1. Yes, the water does go down the drain the other direction. I'm not sure why - other than the fact that we're on the other side of the planet. You can't really tell with the toilets, just the sink.

2. Speaking of water, it takes about 2.4 seconds from it to go from "room temperature" to SCALDING!!! I guess the water sitting in the pipes in Colorado is much cooler than those here. I've never had such hot water, so fast in my life. Makes drinking from the tap a bit lukewarm though.

3. The sports thing here is pathetic. No wonder these people think swimming is fabulous. I flip through the channels with the choice of tennis, rugby, soccer, or a 6 hour game of cricket. My small solice is Monday mornings where I get to watch the NFL playoffs (running live on Sunday nights in the States).

4. Speaking of Television, I think shows just kind of run randomly here... like there isn't a schedule that starts at 7:00 on the nose or anything. We've seen stuff start at 20 after the hour - it's wierd.

5. Speaking of Wierd, it's odd to hear music that you've listened to you whole life, playing over here with no pretext for what's said in the lyrics. I'm talking songs like "Life Goes On" by John Mellencamp... hearing people singing "A little ditty, 'bout Jack and Diane... two American kids growing up in the heartland" suddently seems out of place when you realize you're in a foreign country. Same goes for "Bye, Bye Miss American Pie" and "Sweet Home Alabama". And just this weekend, Jimmy heard Waylon Jennings singing a song about driving along I-35 on the way to Fort Worth. I guess I never realized the total influence we have in the world. I also had "Mississippi Mud Pie" for dessert and we saw an episode of "The West Wing" tonight. Just strange.

So while this blog isn't about my walk on the beach or tomorrow's time in the sun, I just thought you'd appreciate some of the sillier items that have been so obviously, important to us during our stay.

Cheers - (they really say that here)

Carrie

Good Morning Sunshine!

I love waking up to a fabulous view - let me tell you how I got here.

We left Sydney yesterday after our traditional morning trip to Starbucks --- ok - not really a tradition if we only did it twice, but I see it as 'every morning I was in Sydney, I went to Starbucks'! :) Flew in to Brisbane again by 1:30 in the afternoon and Jimmy correctly navigated his way back to the city where we were able to meet Rick and Debbie (friends from America, who've lived here nearly 2 years working at the church) for lunch. So great to catch up with them - then, we caught the late service at the church where the Pastor who married us is currently leading. He wasn't there (he's on holiday) - but we were able to watch Aaron and Becky Lucas, two more former youth-group kids of ours (who now have their own baby boy) do a fabulous job leading worship. The last time I saw both of them on stage leading worship was almost 5 years ago --- and i couldn't believe the transformation that has taken place! I was really proud of them - just seeing how far they'd come. They were just so in love with God and really demonstrative about it. I even teared up thinking about the difference these last few years have made in their lives. They're barely over 20 years old, but they seemed so "grown up" from the last time I really saw them on stage.

After church, we made some connections with a few more people... either they're moving to the States or have similar ministries like we have. It was funny - I was talking to some folks, just kinda having a nice conversation when I looked up and there was Jimmy - surrounded by a bunch of guys! It's amazing! He has this ability to attract young guys and it doesn't even matter what country we're in!

After coffee, we drove to the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise for our hotel. We didn't check in 'till about midnight and could see we had a great veiw - even in the dark. But now that it's morning - the view is KILLER! We're on the 30th floor of a huge skyrise, overlooking the whole coastline which is full of similar skyrise hotels. And just to the right of them all - is that crazy ocean again! Except this time, I'm 30 flights up and it's even more massive than I'd orignially believed! We have our own balcony overlooking the whole thing and I'm thinking, we've obviously saved the best for last.

We're gonna explore a bit today - there's lots of "glitz" and "glamour" in this area --- a little like Vegas without the theme-specific hotels, but all of the grandeur of Vegas. We're joining the parents of the groom tonight for their favorite seafood buffet in the area... apparently the prawns are the "biggest you'll ever see". I'm hungry just thinking about it.

That - and I have located another Starbucks. Guess I'll blog again tonight to tell you all about it.

Toodles - :)

Carrie Rose