Travels

Take One--Grapes and Lil look fabulous, but where's Ellie's face?

And here is the reason I wear us out traveling to and from Knoxville.  It's a grueling trip for the girls, but it's worth it.  Stopping over in Blacksburg certainly helps break it up and make it more manageable, but it's still long and tough. 

Take Two--Grapes and Ellie look great, but Lil..

Seeing this man and being with him makes it all worthwhile.  :o)

We began making the trip in 2009 right after we lost Grammy.  GF had asked if I would take him to ride roller coasters, and, as I'm always game for roller coasters, I was more than happy to take him.  Lil and I met Liss in the 'burg and traveled across to K'ville as soon as school was out.

The next year it was a trip to the aquarium with a teeny Beanie.  Last year, we took a trip to the zoo.  This year, we visited two museums and a splash pad.  But, it doesn't matter where we go, as long as we are spending time with GF. :o)

It was odd staying in Aunt Susan's house with all of her things.  I kept thinking she should be coming through the door at any moment.  As soon as we opened the door and it smelled like her house I was wracked with memories.  It was tough. 

GF is grieving and trying to pretend he's not.  Losing a child--no matter how old--is awful.  I certainly understand that.  He lost his daughter only three years after losing his wife, and that is so hard.  It was worth it to make the trek so we could see him and visit with him.  I think one of the hardest things in the world has to be getting older and seeing all your friends and family start to pass away.  And, to be an extrovert but to live alone...I can't imagine. 

We had a lovely visit and I have many photos to post.  I'm going to be posting a three part series on the daylily festival over on FYB (there are over 96 photos so I had to split them up!), and sharing the photos of the girls and our adventures here.  We packed a lot into our short visit and I'm still trying to catch up. 

There's nothing quite like returning from vacation and facing all the laundry and cleaning that inevitable must be done.  Blah.  We'll settle back into our summer routine tomorrow so I'm spending one more day trying to recover.  ;o) 

I'll be off to visit with Sisters Jeane and Berenice in a moment--they leave for Philly in the morning--as Sr. Jeane has a few last minute items to get to me.  She's such a dear.  They both are and I'm going to miss them terribly.  But, how blessed were we to have them in our lives for as long as we did? :o)

One last bit of news, we spent the better part of an hour sitting in the two little coat closets under the stairs.  A tornado had been spotted to the west of us, heading our way.  B got an emergency alert squawk on his phone (telling me it was pretty dang serious!) and we split up, each of us taking a kiddo in the closet with us.  I had Beanie who contentedly played Monkey Lunchbox on the iPad while I texted Jori (who kept me calm and sane--thank you, darlin'!), while B and Lil watched funny YouTube videos.  I confess to being more than a bit relieved when the warning was called off.  I was a bit anxious there for a few minutes.  We were all up until after 10 and Bean slept in until 9 this morning when I awoke her.  I'm still tired today.  I've seen nothing about damage from the storms, but I'm sure it's ugly.  I'll be sure to post as I see it.

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Sparklies:

1.  The Sisters. Oh I'm going to miss them.
2.  Being safe in the storms that have blown through the past two nights.  Because of Irene blowing through last year, we had no trees come down or anything else.  The rest of the state hasn't been as lucky.
3.  At home pedis.  Lil and I had fun playing with our feet and piggies today. :o)
4.  Power and a/c in this intense heat.  Yuck. 
5.  My GF and our visit with him.

No milestones.