Once In a Lifetime

Once-in-a-Lifetime-Trip

The insurance man and I decided to take most of the month of April and travel across our country to visit Julie and her family. The first thing we did was to go car shopping for a comfortable car, and we ended up with a 2015 Nissan Murano. It stood us a good stead for the trip.

Just before we left, Dad suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. We were able to hurry around and leave a day early to stop and see him. We were relieved to find him still smiling and in good hands while we would be away.

We had breakfast with Mom and other family at McDonald's before being on our way on our big adventure. We followed Interstate freeways, and went through 10 states on our way to West Virginia.

We took 4 1/2 days to reach our destination, and were determined to be there for granddaughter Amelia's 9th birthday. Our toughest and longest day was when we drove through Kansas City, St Louis and Louisville in one day. But the reward was seeing everyone the next day. Julie and family drove to meet us in the State Capital of West Virginia, which is Charleston. We met up at a restaurant called 'Fat Patty's' for lunch, and it turned out to be a very good and cheap hamburger joint.

Overall we had a great visit and special time together for 8 days. I will take each grandchild and show a few of the best photos.

 

Amelia (Since she was the birthday girl)

We had surprise snow storm on her birthday, which was April 8.

One of our favorite things to do when I visit is to have tea. One afternoon we had  impromptu cups of tea with some homemade sugar cookies Millie had made.

Another day we had a dress up tea party which was lots of fun.

 We celebrated Amelia's birthday one night with Reuben sandwiches for dinner, by her request...

and here is her birthday cake for our new 9 year old.

We love to do things together, so

 we decided to do a sewing project together. We needed her mothers fabric box from the attic, so she climbed up to get it. We picked some pretty blue fabric and then

 worked hard to make a curtain for the kitchen.

Towards the end of the week we took the older kids bowling for Ben's birthday. Millie got to come too, and had a good time improving her skills.

Taking a bowling break...

 

Cecily- Age 7 

Cecily is helping her mom make Ben's birthday dessert.

Cecily's dress up clothes for our fancy tea!

 

Cecily had a pack of cards, and talked Millie into playing with her.

Entertaining the baby!

Papa is GREAT!

Julie bought a kit and Cecily and I spent some time learning how to latch hook. Her picture is of a horse, and Cecily loves horses!

 

Bronwyn- Age 3

 Watching Grammy frost Millie's birthday cake.

 Getting a little Grammy comfort... We went swimming one day and Bronwyn slipped and hit her mouth on the concrete. She had a big fat lip for a day, but no teeth damage thank goodness. 

 Sitting with Dad after her bath,

 and sitting with Papa is always a good place to be.

These two fight and get along famously all at the same time. Right here they are hugging but making scary faces?

 This is Bronwyn at our fancy tea. Pink looks good on this girl!

 

That's enough for one post. Tomorrow we'll show the boys.

 

Blessed Easter

 First the suffering, never to be forgotten.

 

 

And then the eternal blessing of new life.

 

 

Happy and blessed Easter to you!

Celebrating New Birth

 

 

There is nothing quite like baby animals to help us celebrate springtime!

*All photos courtesy of Pinterest

 

 

Happy 40th Julie!!

Yes, it's hard to believe, but Julie turned 40 today! Here she is 40 years ago, such a very sweet bundle of joy and springtime cheer for the insurance man and I.

It was Leap Year 40 years ago as well, and the insurance man was so positive she would not come on Leap Day, as he didn't want her to. So she missed it by 9 1/2 hours, whew. Otherwise she would have only been 10 today.

 



She had fuzzy light golden brown hair and dark blue eyes, which quickly turned hazel. It's so much fun to remember those days that passed so quickly. And now here we are, and 40 years have passed. Thank you Lord, for the gift of Julie.





A Little Enforced Resting

I haven't put a post on this blog in the longest time, but finally feel up to writing again.

On December 18th, I fell on our interior stairs and broke my right ankle. Fortunately, JoAnn was home to help and we got right into an urgent care facility, saw the Doc and had surgery that afternoon. It all happened smoothly that day, for which I am grateful, and I had wonderful care. Another blessing was the fact that there never was much pain. Not even after surgery. One day of pain pills was all it took, and all I ever wanted!

I didn't want to keep the x-rays of the metal that was put in, but the insurance man thought I might want to keep a record of it, so home it came and now it's kind of interesting. I can have the metal out later, but that would be more surgery, and it doesn't seem to be bothering me any. So, a bit more metal...what does it really matter?

I was down for the count, so this is a photo of me at Christmas, at least all dressed and in my right mind, I think. I had a loose splint put on the ankle for 4 weeks, and got around on the knee cart pictured below. Those are really a great little tool, and sure helped navigate the bottom floor of our house.  We lived down there, including sleeping on a bed John brought down and put in the living room. You do what ya gotta do. I also spent a lot of time sleeping in the recliner. Sleep is so restorative.

After that, we put on a pretty blue cast, but still no weight bearing. I resumed my piano teaching with some complications, and the students had fun decorating the cast, and I enjoyed their original artwork.

What an interesting, but to be honest, difficult time it has been. The cast was only on about 2 and 1/2 weeks, and I was so ready for freedom. Then it was supposed to be 2 weeks in a boot with pressure wraps, but the boot made it on my foot less that 1 week, as it really hurt both the ankle and my back to try to walk in it. So, the transition to shoes went fairly smoothly, and now I am up and walking in shoes with the help of a 'trekking pole' still taking it easy, so the swelling doesn't get out of hand.

I felt like I had a turning point Monday, as I felt more like the old days, and did some dishes, rested, cleaned out the frig, rested, cleaned out the pantry (trust me it needed it!), made up some menus and a shopping list, and even went with the insurance man to shop that night. What an accomplishment. It felt so good! I had my first physical therapy yesterday, and that helped too. She told me I was holding my trekking pole in the wrong hand, and voila! I can now walk with no limp and my foot straight. It's straight and steady, but slow for now. One step at a time they say, but patience is always so hard to exercise. My goal is to reach April 29th, and granddaughter Kory's college graduation with a normal walking gait and hopefully pain free. Things are getting better, and I am greatly encouraged, even enough to even write a blog post this morning. Hooray....And a great thanks to the insurance man for his unceasing love and care.