Are You Ready?! The past few months it seems there has been a lot going on. When I get behind in my blogging it's hard to find the time to "catch up." It feels a little overwhelming to me. But I've been "encouraged" to get caught up, so here is my attempt. I need to give you fare warning though, this post goes on forever!
In August, Grandpa and I took the Washington Grover Boys on a much anticipated train ride on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway. Remember our cold summer here in the Great Northwest? Well this day was no exception. It was freezing! The rail car was open air, but we were prepared. We just bundled up and enjoyed the ride. Hank, especially, thought it was awesome. It's always so fun to watch their excited little faces. It was the best ever.
Directly from the Train ride, Bob and I left for a little family reunion in Rexburg. Andy and his family were flying in to meet us at Robyn and D's for a week of some family fun. Our nephew Ryan and his family came too, for the Labor Day weekend. We were hoping Aaron and Courtney and their family could come, as well as Tim, Maria and the girls. But it didn't work out. We would have loved to have had them with us. We had such a good time.
Before Andy and Britney got to Robyn's we did a few things together. Robyn and I made some fresh Raspberry/Huckleberry freezer jam. I haven't done that in such a long time! I'd forgotten how rewarding canning and jam making can be. Guess I'll have to make the effort next year to do some of my own. It tasted delicious!
Robyn asked her Dad if he'd install some new kitchen countertops for her. Since we drove to Rexburg this time, Pops threw in all his handy dandy countertop making tools and materials to give her a beautiful new countertop. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the finished product....she wanted to wait until her cabinets got redone! It looked really nice when the new sink and countertop were finished.
Once Andy and his family got there the party started. We had so much fun. We enjoyed Grandpa Max's pond....
Reminiscing at BYU Idaho.....
Robyn asked her Dad if he'd install some new kitchen countertops for her. Since we drove to Rexburg this time, Pops threw in all his handy dandy countertop making tools and materials to give her a beautiful new countertop. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the finished product....she wanted to wait until her cabinets got redone! It looked really nice when the new sink and countertop were finished.
I had to take the following pictures of Bob doing the plumbing, because plumbing is his least favorite thing in the whole world to do. When he does plumbing we all know to stand back and stay away! Our kids would never have gotten away with this! Not the grandkids though! They can get away with anything. These pictures just make me laugh. They are priceless. I was proud of him...he just stayed mellow and kept on working!
Once Andy and his family got there the party started. We had so much fun. We enjoyed Grandpa Max's pond....
Reminiscing at BYU Idaho.....
Going to the Rexburg Temple together.....
Sharing a 15 passenger Van to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, wild animals, ice cream and a picnic........
Having cookouts in Robyn's backyard eating hot dogs, foil dinners and especially smores!......
And going to Bear World to see all the things we used to see at Yellowstone!
We all had such a great time together. Such good company, so much fun, so many memories!
Next! The end of September Bob and I flew to Raleigh, North Carolina to meet his brother Roger and his wife Kathy. We plan trips with the two of them often and have a lot of fun together. This trip our destination was North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Bob's sister Carol moved to the Atlanta area and we thought it would be great to get together and visit her, to see her and her husbands new surroundings.
From there we traveled down the outer banks of North Carolina. We've heard so much about the outer banks, we thought it would be a beautiful drive. It was pretty, but because of the high sand dunes on either side of the road you couldn't see the water. So, the outer banks weren't what we were expecting. Getting off the road and staying in the resort towns looked like it would be a lot of fun. The homes were beautiful, so huge! I'm sure during the summer months the area is swarming with people. Luckily, the road wasn't crowded at all for us. Otherwise it would have taken forever to get anywhere because it was just a little two lane highway.
We did stop along the way to see some sights. My favorite were the lighthouses. This one was the "Brodie Island" Light house. They were refurbishing it....
This next one was the "Cape Hatteras" lighthouse. It was my favorite. I think Lighthouses are cool! You could pay to climb up, and we were going to, but then they told us that the viewing tower at the top was closed! What would be the point of climbing to the top and then turning around and climbing right back down!? So, we skipped the stairs. It would have been beautiful to see the view from up there. Maybe next time!
From the end of the Outer Banks we took a open air ferry over to an island called "Ocracoke." Unlike Washington, the ferry was free...FREE! I didn't know anything was free anymore. I didn't get any pictures of the MILLIONS of vacation homes in each of the little resort towns, but I did get these as we were leaving the ferry dock. They were all gorgeous. It would be so fun to come back during the summer and rent one for a reunion sometime. I'm sure they aren't free though!
We loved Ocracoke Island. It was so quaint. So Southern! On this trip we did a lot of things, but didn't get to spend a lot of time doing them. Someday, I'd love to come back to this place and visit again. Next time I'll take pictures too!
To get off of Ocracoke Island you have to take another ferry. This ferry wasn't free, but only $15.00 for a carload. It was a two hour ferry ride too! There was remnants of a tropical storm coming in off the ocean the night we were on this ferry and the water was rough! That night and into the next day the storm really hit! I've never seen rain and wind like that. Makes me really afraid of what an actual hurricane would be like.
Our next stop was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Myrtle Beach reminded me of Las Vegas on the beach, without the Casinos. We had fun at Myrtle Beach! All I could think of while we were there was how much fun it would be to have our family there with us. The kids would have had so much fun. It's on my list of "come back to's!"
The hotels went on forever and the beaches were beautiful. The sand even whiter and softer than Florida.
I fell in love with Charleston. I really must return. We had just an afternoon to spend here and I could have spent days. We took boat out to tour the Fort Sumpter National Monument. That was great if you like forts. Me, I would have rather skipped the Fort and walked around town and seen all the beautiful architecture. By the time we got back from the tour everything was closing. We ate and by then it was getting too dark to see much. I was disappointed. Charleston is my kind of town!
Cotton! I'd never seen cotton fields before. Now I've seen bunches. I made Bob stop and I picked myself some. I kept thinking about the movie "Places in the Heart" with Sally Fields. The plants really are prickly and pokey. No wonder it made their fingers bleed. I can't imagine what it would have been like to pick whole fields of cotton.
Next Stop Atlanta! My brother drove up from Jacksonville with my niece Shelly, her daughter Emma and my niece Lisa's son, Austin...did you get all that!? We met at a place called Stone Mountain. It's an amusement park, historical monument, campground and a lot of other stuff rolled into one. Bob, Roger and Kathy left me with my family while they went to see their sister Carol and her husband. It was so nice of my brother and Shelly to drive up to see me. It was fun spending the day with each other and spending the night together.
Sharing a 15 passenger Van to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, wild animals, ice cream and a picnic........
Having cookouts in Robyn's backyard eating hot dogs, foil dinners and especially smores!......
And going to Bear World to see all the things we used to see at Yellowstone!
We all had such a great time together. Such good company, so much fun, so many memories!
Next! The end of September Bob and I flew to Raleigh, North Carolina to meet his brother Roger and his wife Kathy. We plan trips with the two of them often and have a lot of fun together. This trip our destination was North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Bob's sister Carol moved to the Atlanta area and we thought it would be great to get together and visit her, to see her and her husbands new surroundings.
Our first stop was Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers monument. Not much I have to say about that! Now we've seen it and won't have to again!
From there we traveled down the outer banks of North Carolina. We've heard so much about the outer banks, we thought it would be a beautiful drive. It was pretty, but because of the high sand dunes on either side of the road you couldn't see the water. So, the outer banks weren't what we were expecting. Getting off the road and staying in the resort towns looked like it would be a lot of fun. The homes were beautiful, so huge! I'm sure during the summer months the area is swarming with people. Luckily, the road wasn't crowded at all for us. Otherwise it would have taken forever to get anywhere because it was just a little two lane highway.
We did stop along the way to see some sights. My favorite were the lighthouses. This one was the "Brodie Island" Light house. They were refurbishing it....
This next one was the "Cape Hatteras" lighthouse. It was my favorite. I think Lighthouses are cool! You could pay to climb up, and we were going to, but then they told us that the viewing tower at the top was closed! What would be the point of climbing to the top and then turning around and climbing right back down!? So, we skipped the stairs. It would have been beautiful to see the view from up there. Maybe next time!
From the end of the Outer Banks we took a open air ferry over to an island called "Ocracoke." Unlike Washington, the ferry was free...FREE! I didn't know anything was free anymore. I didn't get any pictures of the MILLIONS of vacation homes in each of the little resort towns, but I did get these as we were leaving the ferry dock. They were all gorgeous. It would be so fun to come back during the summer and rent one for a reunion sometime. I'm sure they aren't free though!
We loved Ocracoke Island. It was so quaint. So Southern! On this trip we did a lot of things, but didn't get to spend a lot of time doing them. Someday, I'd love to come back to this place and visit again. Next time I'll take pictures too!
To get off of Ocracoke Island you have to take another ferry. This ferry wasn't free, but only $15.00 for a carload. It was a two hour ferry ride too! There was remnants of a tropical storm coming in off the ocean the night we were on this ferry and the water was rough! That night and into the next day the storm really hit! I've never seen rain and wind like that. Makes me really afraid of what an actual hurricane would be like.
Our next stop was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Myrtle Beach reminded me of Las Vegas on the beach, without the Casinos. We had fun at Myrtle Beach! All I could think of while we were there was how much fun it would be to have our family there with us. The kids would have had so much fun. It's on my list of "come back to's!"
The hotels went on forever and the beaches were beautiful. The sand even whiter and softer than Florida.
I fell in love with Charleston. I really must return. We had just an afternoon to spend here and I could have spent days. We took boat out to tour the Fort Sumpter National Monument. That was great if you like forts. Me, I would have rather skipped the Fort and walked around town and seen all the beautiful architecture. By the time we got back from the tour everything was closing. We ate and by then it was getting too dark to see much. I was disappointed. Charleston is my kind of town!
I did get to get out of the car and take a little walk along this street overlooking the water to take a quick picture of some of the beautiful original old homes. If we'd gotten to take a carriage ride, I'd have been able to share some wonderful information about them! But, since I didn't get to take a carriage ride, I can't! One of them was all lit up celebrating a Wedding Reception. Guests were arriving in all their beautiful evening gowns and a white gloved butler in a white suit was greeting the guests.
Cotton! I'd never seen cotton fields before. Now I've seen bunches. I made Bob stop and I picked myself some. I kept thinking about the movie "Places in the Heart" with Sally Fields. The plants really are prickly and pokey. No wonder it made their fingers bleed. I can't imagine what it would have been like to pick whole fields of cotton.
Next Stop Atlanta! My brother drove up from Jacksonville with my niece Shelly, her daughter Emma and my niece Lisa's son, Austin...did you get all that!? We met at a place called Stone Mountain. It's an amusement park, historical monument, campground and a lot of other stuff rolled into one. Bob, Roger and Kathy left me with my family while they went to see their sister Carol and her husband. It was so nice of my brother and Shelly to drive up to see me. It was fun spending the day with each other and spending the night together.
We rode the train.....
Saw all the Civil War Hero's chisiled into the mountain...
Rode a tram up to the top......
Where if you look real close, you can see downtown Atlanta in the distance.....
After dark the park puts on a lazer show on the mountain. Here we are just waiting for it to get dark so the show can start........
Rick wanted to go eat that night at a place called Jason's Deli. I must say they had some very large, yummy looking sandwiches! Unfortunately it was after 9 at night and I can't eat that late! So, I had myself some chicken noodle soup. It was a fun place to go.
I can't believe we didn't get any pictures of Bob's sister and her family! What were we thinking!? We spent Conference weekend with them....they have a son Michael and his family close by. They had us over for a scrumptious spaghetti dinner on Sunday. We had a great time visiting Carol and Neil. We caught up on family news and just enjoyed being together.
After the weekend was over we headed for downtown Atlanta and the Coca Cola factory. You gotta "Have a Coke and Smile!"
We saw the room everyone talks about....free samples of all the Coke products from around the world! We tried them all....got a little sugar high, I might add. Don't think I'll need anymore Coke for awhile! When you leave you get to take home your own little souviner bottle of Coke. We sent ours all off to D. He loves Coke! Maybe even as much as my Mom did! Oh wait, she loved Pepsi.
Saw all the Civil War Hero's chisiled into the mountain...
Rode a tram up to the top......
Where if you look real close, you can see downtown Atlanta in the distance.....
After dark the park puts on a lazer show on the mountain. Here we are just waiting for it to get dark so the show can start........
Rick wanted to go eat that night at a place called Jason's Deli. I must say they had some very large, yummy looking sandwiches! Unfortunately it was after 9 at night and I can't eat that late! So, I had myself some chicken noodle soup. It was a fun place to go.
I can't believe we didn't get any pictures of Bob's sister and her family! What were we thinking!? We spent Conference weekend with them....they have a son Michael and his family close by. They had us over for a scrumptious spaghetti dinner on Sunday. We had a great time visiting Carol and Neil. We caught up on family news and just enjoyed being together.
After the weekend was over we headed for downtown Atlanta and the Coca Cola factory. You gotta "Have a Coke and Smile!"
We saw the room everyone talks about....free samples of all the Coke products from around the world! We tried them all....got a little sugar high, I might add. Don't think I'll need anymore Coke for awhile! When you leave you get to take home your own little souviner bottle of Coke. We sent ours all off to D. He loves Coke! Maybe even as much as my Mom did! Oh wait, she loved Pepsi.
You've got to be tired of looking at all of this by now....I'm tired of posting it! I'm not done yet though...still more to go!
Next on the itinerary....Hendersonville, North Carolina. On our way to Asheville. Hendersonville was one of the areas Bob served in on his Mission. I loved this area. We stopped and looked through some Antique shops on main street. It reminded me of our trip to New England. So quaint with that down home feeling. Store fronts decorated for Fall. I loved it.
We were able to find the home with the apartment in it that Bob lived in while he served in Hendersonville. It was fun to watch his eyes light up when he saw it. Then to see that there was a big 'ole church building just down the street, knowing that that meant there wasn't just a little branch anymore, kinda got him all misty eyed!
Asheville was our next stop. With a visit planned to tour the Biltmore House. This place was amazing. It took us four hours to take a self guided tour of the house and it's surrounding grounds. It was huge and absolutely georgous. Definately worth the trip.
It would have been fun to have been there a week or two later. The leaves would have begun to turn and it would have been even more beautiful. Still, they were deep into their Fall Celebrations. I love that about the East Coast.
Final stop, Statesville. This was another town where Bob served on his Mission. We drove around here for awhile and finally found his apartment. Pretty good memory! It's been almost 40 years ago! We crammed much into our 8 day vacation. Lot's of places I'd love to see again. Another beautiful part of this United States of America.
Gisele and Sydney playing peek a boo with each other. So funny!
Big Sister helping little sister....
A basketfull of a few of my favorite things! Off to Sam's (no Costco in Walmart land), to buy Halloween candy.....
Story time at the Library turned into exercise time too. Our Library doesn't have exercise time!.......
This picture didn't turn out good at all, BUT this was halarious! Luke and Baylee were helping me make frosting for our Sugar Cookie decorating event. I'd put all the ingredients into the mixer except for the milk. I'd turned around, just for a second, to get the milk out of the frig. Luke decided to turn the mixer on....to high....and we had a mess! It looked like it snowed in Britney's kitchen! I had a split second to decide if I was going to yell, or laugh. Poor Luke was waiting anxiously to what my reaction would be as well. I decided Grandma's don't yell, they laugh. So, that's what we did. We laughed, took a picture and then cleaned it up!....
Story time with the babies....
Pumpkin Carving for Family Home Evening....outside in our shorts....
Cow train and corn maze.....
Preschool Trick or Treating through Bella Vista's Town Square.....
Dressing up the cutest Strawberry Shortcake and Minnie Mouse in the whole wide world...
And last, but not least, Trunk or Treating with the cutest little Arkansas grandkids ever!
That's it! Over and done. I loved my time in Arkansas. I know I always say it, but I miss my family. Spending time with them all is my favorite thing to do. Next on the list.....Henderson Nevada and Grandbaby number 14....she'll be here before we know it!
Next on the itinerary....Hendersonville, North Carolina. On our way to Asheville. Hendersonville was one of the areas Bob served in on his Mission. I loved this area. We stopped and looked through some Antique shops on main street. It reminded me of our trip to New England. So quaint with that down home feeling. Store fronts decorated for Fall. I loved it.
We were able to find the home with the apartment in it that Bob lived in while he served in Hendersonville. It was fun to watch his eyes light up when he saw it. Then to see that there was a big 'ole church building just down the street, knowing that that meant there wasn't just a little branch anymore, kinda got him all misty eyed!
Asheville was our next stop. With a visit planned to tour the Biltmore House. This place was amazing. It took us four hours to take a self guided tour of the house and it's surrounding grounds. It was huge and absolutely georgous. Definately worth the trip.
It would have been fun to have been there a week or two later. The leaves would have begun to turn and it would have been even more beautiful. Still, they were deep into their Fall Celebrations. I love that about the East Coast.
Final stop, Statesville. This was another town where Bob served on his Mission. We drove around here for awhile and finally found his apartment. Pretty good memory! It's been almost 40 years ago! We crammed much into our 8 day vacation. Lot's of places I'd love to see again. Another beautiful part of this United States of America.
Finally, just got back last week from a couple of weeks in Arkansas. Andy and Britney asked me about a year ago if I'd keep the end of October open to go and watch their girls while they went on a celebration cruise to the carribbean. So, because we have two families who live there I got 2 for the price of one! What a deal! The next pictures are just to share a little bit of all the fun we had while we were together....
Gisele and Sydney playing peek a boo with each other. So funny!
Big Sister helping little sister....
A basketfull of a few of my favorite things! Off to Sam's (no Costco in Walmart land), to buy Halloween candy.....
Story time at the Library turned into exercise time too. Our Library doesn't have exercise time!.......
This picture didn't turn out good at all, BUT this was halarious! Luke and Baylee were helping me make frosting for our Sugar Cookie decorating event. I'd put all the ingredients into the mixer except for the milk. I'd turned around, just for a second, to get the milk out of the frig. Luke decided to turn the mixer on....to high....and we had a mess! It looked like it snowed in Britney's kitchen! I had a split second to decide if I was going to yell, or laugh. Poor Luke was waiting anxiously to what my reaction would be as well. I decided Grandma's don't yell, they laugh. So, that's what we did. We laughed, took a picture and then cleaned it up!....
Story time with the babies....
Pumpkin Carving for Family Home Evening....outside in our shorts....
Cow train and corn maze.....
Preschool Trick or Treating through Bella Vista's Town Square.....
Dressing up the cutest Strawberry Shortcake and Minnie Mouse in the whole wide world...
And last, but not least, Trunk or Treating with the cutest little Arkansas grandkids ever!
That's it! Over and done. I loved my time in Arkansas. I know I always say it, but I miss my family. Spending time with them all is my favorite thing to do. Next on the list.....Henderson Nevada and Grandbaby number 14....she'll be here before we know it!
3 comments:
I am glad you posted all your pictures. It was fun to see all the places you visited. Looks like you had fun in the south. Thanks again for coming and staying with Baylee and Sydney. I think they like you better, because like you said Grandmas laugh and don't yell. I am glad they have a great grandma to make memories with them.
WoW! Good job Mom! You did get all caught up! I LOVE the picture of all the kids in the shopping cart! You should frame it! Cute bag too...is it new!?!?
Love ya!
You get to do lots of traveling! I'm glad you had a good time in the south and with your grandkids. I love you!
Post a Comment