Thanksgiving Point Fun

We had some fun times with the Rhoton family at Thanksgiving Point last week! I had a little fun playing with the pictures. Don't the kids look menacing here? This is in the bear cave in the Children's Discovery Gardens.


Cute picture of the baby Peej, looking like she might need to make a pit stop.










Then there's Blayne who is scaling rocks. Blayne is an adventurous young man. Poor Lindsay, Oh the worries she'll worry :-).








Next, we headed into the main gardens which wouldn't be complete without our beloved water fights in the Secret Garden. Joey loves spraying other people.







Kristyn is so good to my little Angel! My babies spend a lot of time with the Rhoton family while I work and go to college. I am so thankful that they care so much for Joey and Angel. They are an amazing family!

4th of July

This year we skipped the parade and the traffic. I felt a little guilty in the morning for skipping the parade but no one wanted to wake up. Patrick and I have been looking at houses recently and found two that we just loved. As we were driving around today though, we decided and put in an offer on a dream home, and it was accepted Yay! We came home and played outside at the park and then in the backyard in the kiddie pool. It ended up being a very nice, exciting but relaxing day. That evening we went outside and lit our own fireworks (and again skipped the festivities). I have to say though, I really enjoyed doing our own fireworks. The kids got so excited, they smiled and clapped way more then they did last year at Thanksgiving Point. Our cute neighbors came out and we lit a few more fireworks and sparklers. It was good times. We may have started a new tradition.

Boston

We arrived in Boston last night and spent the evening downtown. It all started with public transportation.... We went to buy our ticket for the week before heading downtown and this guys who had followed us in the building started asking for money. We all said no. One of our group members was given a ticket that worked for a few days and gave this to him, thinking it would rid us of him. Our group continued getting passes for the week and he hung around. When we got on the train, he did to (Did I mention he was wearing sunglasses the whole time, at night?). He seemed to stalk one girl in our group, asking questions and making comments. Then he followed us to where we got off. We also noticed him signaling another passenger, who looked shady. This was our first experience... it made us a little nervous to walk alone in the park that we have to go through to get to our hotel, but it's been all good since.

Good Times

The kids and I had a fabulous weekend. Friday we went to the movies with Natalie and saw the Witch Mountain Movie (Take no offense, but Dwayne Johnson is a hottie).

Saturday we had a great time hanging out with Jody and Sean. We went to Bridal Veil Falls. Madison fell in the water. Her dad, Sean decided to get himself wet to make her feel better, Brrrrrr!

Sunday we spent most of the afternoon at Clint's working on the Seussical program. In evening the kids went to Grandma's and ended up staying two days. They got spoiled and enjoyed playing with their cousins.

My Papa

Today my Papa died.

He was 87 years old, born on April 11th, the same date as my brother Chris. He was a special man, so dear to me that my son bears his name. He worked hard and gained respect of people all over the world. He lived the last 12 years without the love of his life, my grandmother, Ruth.

Some of my fondest childhood memories were of my time with my Papa. I could always be myself around him. He adored my ridiculous childhood performances in his living room. For years, he allowed me to climb him for what we called "up and overs". With him I caught mice, rabbits (to pet and release, of course) and explored many interesting places.

When I was very young my mother and I lived with my grandparents. My Papa adored me so much , he told my mom, that I kept him out of the bars at night.

I am so thankful for my mother and Aunt Tricia who went through so much to help my Papa. I am so glad that my children and I were able to spend time with him at Christmas.

Thank you Mom and Tricia, for making it possible for us to share in some of his last days. I have missed Papa for many years. Love is never easy, but definitely worth it.