FRIENDS

We were gifted this summer with a visit from two Florida friends.  The first, Maureen, is a long time co-worker and friend of Johns and a new friend of mine.  She was wrapping up a 7 week tour of the east and mid west, visiting friends and family along the way.  We just happened to be along her route as she headed south so she stopped to spend a few days with us.  What a wonderful blessing for us to get to spend time with this incredibly loving, wise and passionate woman.

Secondly, friends from Solivita, new friends that we have gotten to know since we have been enjoying winters in Florida, were visiting the Carolinas and took time on their way home to stop and see us.  They are a very special couple and we are very blessed by their friendship!!  How wonderful it is to have these incredibly loving and supportive friends in our lives!!

The GIRLS are in town!!!

When Celia and Lily come to town for a week of fun and adventures with Nana and Papa, we do EVERYTHING.... and here are the highlights from our week.

One of MY goals for the week was to update the pictures of the girls on the family wall.  I enjoyed capturing their smiles and they probably have no idea how much joy these pictures bring to me!!!

Monday...Greenville Children's Museum, they love this place and ask for it every time they are in town.  The "crunches" are always their favorite.

Tuesday...swimming with Jack and Sam but sadly we didn't get any photos. But we went shopping that morning and this is one of the items that Lily picked out!

Wednesday... Otter Creek, or as Lily called it Beaver Park. By request, on Wednesday night we went to Sonic for dinner in the GTO....the girls love the attention that we get in that car.

Thursday...Pump it Up followed by Gravitopia.  Lost of high climbing and high flying.....and Celia took on some really BIG boys playing dodge-ball.

Friday...arts and crafts at the house, then jewelry making with Ms. Karla who was great with the girls.  They each made a necklace and matching earrings and I was so proud of their choices!!

On Saturday it was time to return them to their parents so we met Chip and Elissa in Statesville at Uncle Bubba's house.  We took advantage of the horse back riding opportunities and made one of Lily's dreams come true.  Many thanks to my sweet brother for making this a possibility.  We just love our week with the girls and are already planning for next year!!

Fifteen years and counting!!

 As of June 25th John and I have been married for 15 years, "and they said it wouldn't last".  Someone recently said that to us and we both chuckled because we knew better!!  It has been a wonderful 15, filled with relocations (3 moves) and job changes (7 for John and 6 for me) and deaths and weddings and babies and divorces and vacations and retirement.  There have been many more good times than bad, more laughter than tears and I would not want to go through the challenges of life with anyone other than John by my side.  Anyway, to celebrate this event we decided to go away for the weekend and we chose Chattanooga, Tennessee.  We hoped for cooler weather and found it in the way of liquid sunshine, so we enjoyed the sights underground at Ruby Falls....

enjoyed some incredible Bluegrass music...

and took a boat tour of Chattanooga.

It is always fun to get out of town with the one you love!!!

Just a Fun Family post

Krista

Elissa and Chip

Jenna

Me and the girls

Jack and Sam

Lily and Celia

Cousin sillies

Ice Cream Sundaes

Chip, Lily, Elissa, Jenna, Sam, Jack,

Sadie (Pope dog) Celia, Krista, Jonn

One lucky Nana and Papa

It is worth celebrating!!!

John celebrated a BIG birthday this year and in-spite of the fact that his idea of a birthday celebration is a birthday pie and a lovely dinner we celebrated in a BIG way!! Many thanks to everyone who responded to my invitation to "shower " him with cards.  He received almost 60 cards with lots of love, hugs, advice and entertaining messages. 

The family gathering began on Friday afternoon with the arrival of Chip, Elissa, Celia and Lily.  I have never seen the shocked look on his face when I walked into the office with our granddaughters. A family dinner followed as Krista, Jonn, Jenna, Jack and Sam join us.  Birthday pie, ice cream sundaes and good times!

The next day he knew that the girls and their families would be having lunch with us but was not expecting my brothers, wives and step-children, my nephew and his fiance and a dear family friend. The house was filled with good food, laughter and lots of love!

 

 The girls surprised him with a scroll listing seventy endearing qualities of 

The John we know in 70 Facts.  What an absolute hoot!!

Whenever I get the kids together I take a group photo to remember the day, the year, the event!  The grandchildren are growing so fast and time is flying......perhaps these photos will help us to remember how important we are to one another!!

Happy, Happy Birthday Papa!!

Krista turns 40!!!

Turning 40 is a big deal and Krista decided to turn that big deal into a party.  All of the family made it to the event along with about 50 of her closest friends.  Friends traveled in from Ohio, Illinois and DC...and her friend Amanda  put together a wonderful event.  I am not doing justice to the party with the pictures below but these are a few of my favorites.  It is always wonderful when your children are all together!

Krista requested that her dad and I write her "obituary" for her birthday!  Not your typical birthday gift but you have to know Krista.  We complied but I happily surprised her by turning it into a book with lots and lots of pictures and letters from her sisters, friends and nieces.  She was determined that she didn't want me to read any of my contribution for fear of tears, but I pushed through and read the funny parts (and Meagan reluctantly  joined me in the fun).  There were tears but only happy ones!!

What a wonderful day!!!

 

The boys are back

When we returned to the Carolinas our work was waiting for us.  Jack and Sam were on Spring Break and stayed with us the first two days of their week.  Dying Easter Eggs was first on the list because Easter was right around the corner.

And for the first time we tried our hands at making flubber.  Easy recipe, the boys loved it of course.  I love the craft projects with the kids. The boys chose blue as their color of choice and their hands were blue for the rest of the day.