More family - this time my girls !

Cristy and Nathaniel Moreira are on a plane back to Virginia - why? Because their week of vacation is up and it is time for them to go home. But while they where here - we did our best to convince them that this side of the Mississippi is better. (Even cheaper to)

Anyway - we had a great week. First night - Monday - Mandy, George, Georgey, Grayam, Cristy and Nathaniel took me to Tomato Street. A very fun Italian restaurant. The reason was a silly one - my birthday. I was telling everyone this year that I was 73 years old. (only off by 20 years) This way I could get comments like -WOW you look good!! - instead of the other comments I usually get. It was fun but I didn't get any pictures. I like my birthday for one reason now - I get to talk to everyone of my kids.

Next was Tuesday night. Mandy threw a baby shower for Cristy. I volunteered my house and it was a very nice evening.
Mandy did a great job in planning a really fun night. Dinner, a couple games and old friends plus Cristy got some really nice things for baby Fred. Don't worry that is not his name but until they pick a name - I'm calling him Fred.
We did get the chance to take a picture of the two sisters and their boys. Guess this is Fred 1 and Fred 2. There must have been 5 people taking pictures of the two of them - I felt sorry for them but then again I was one of the 5 saying - "Smile again" It was a fun night- thanks Mandy.

Then I took Thursday off of work. I am glad that I get one personal day a year. Starting out at 9:30 a.m. Cristy and I picked up Mandy and we all went SHOPPING!! It was great!! I had grabbed my camera but somehow it never got into the car - sorry. We went all the way up to Northtown Mall. There we made one little sales lady very happy. The store -Motherhood - and I think Cristy tried on everything they had. Cristy before she entered the store had one maternity top - when she left - she had a maternity wardrobe. It was fun - only kind of fun that girls can relate too - voting on good outfits and bad. The hardest thing was whittling down the yes pile to fit the budget.

Saturday was nice too. After a little Saturday laundry and shopping - Matt, Cristy, Nathaniel and I went to go see if we could find an Eagle. We did!!
Not bad for a little camera - Nathaniel would have gotten a better picture but his battery went dead. We hiked a small trail and saw 4 or 5 eagles. Most of them would sit for a bit and then take flight over the lake. Never saw one actually go fishing but that's OK. I think this one Eagle just had a big ego - he just sat at the top of this one tree that was kinda close - just so that we could all take pictures of him.
We walked around the resort and Nathaniel treated us to a hot Chocolate. Thanks Nathaniel. This picture is Matthew practicing smiling. Not bad!! Cristy balanced the camera on a park bench - good job!!

After the hike we went home and had dinner with Mom and Dad. It was nice and once again I didn't get a picture - Oh, well.

This morning they left at 8:45a.m. A sad good-by but hopefully not too long before I get to see them again - after all - I do have to go see 'Little Fred' when he comes into the world.

I've been out of town

Before I tell you of my tales of travel - I first must give a big THANK-YOU to Mandy and George for staying in town. I know that my parents don't need constant care (yet) but every now and then they do need extra help and just knowing that family was near by to give that help - if needed- was a big help to me. I was able to enjoy the time I had with my far away family - knowing that all will be well at home. Thank you Mandy and George - blessings to you!!!So first Matt, Darren and I went to Mississippi. Our first day there we went to find an alligator - never found one but we did see a snake.

We also went to see Millsaps College. This is the famous M shaped bench. Nice campus!!That night we went downtown and enjoyed their light display. They had rides for the kids and we went on a train ride around the block - Jack loved - I mean LOVED that ride.
The next day we drove a little way and saw some sights of the civil war. Being on the west coast -we don't really have any "history" sights to see. This was very interesting. Here we are over looking the Mississippi river - I think.
This is a battle ship from the Civil war that sank in the Mississippi - they raised it in 1964 and it is on display here. They fixed part of it up so that you could see how it was suppose to look and then left the decay parts so that we could see that too. This ship was suppose to be unsinkable. I think I have hear that before.

Then on Christmas eve - we had our big meal. Yum - Nikki did a great job. We ate and played games.The girls put on a show for us. Sisters - sisters....... you have to watch "White Christmas" - which we did. :)Then came Christmas day. Time to open presents. It is so much fun to watch kids on Christmas morning. Matt and I gave Jack a tent. This is a tunnel that you crawl through to get from one tent to the other - but Sadie and Jack found a different way to play with it. More fun!!!

The next day we packed up Damon's van and drove to Ohio. I must say that the kids rode better than I did. Ten hour drive - we only stopped twice and I think at hour 8 - I hit my limit. Those last two hours lasted forever. The kids were great! Lets hear it for portable DVD players. But we made it to Grants and after Darren was done holding Hallie - I got to hold grandchild number 6. She is very cute!!! The next day was Sunday and the day of Hallie's blessing.Here she is in her blessing dress that her other Grandma made. Sooooo pretty!!Here she is with the men in her circle. Matt thinks he is smiling - I think he needs lessons :)What a good looking family. I must say it was a great Sunday.

The next day we went to see Cincinnati.
This is Grant's office building. I believe it is the top floor - nine windows in - that is his window.
The rest of the week was family time.
I got in as much Grandma time as I could.
The girls loved coloring with Papa. Jack picked up a few new words this week and one of them was Papa. Matt couldn't quit smiling over that.
Jack got the movie "Kung Fu Panda" and we watch it every day - 3 times a day. Darren loved it as much as Jack. This is Jack watch his favorite movie. He is memorized -

It was a great two weeks. One of the best parts was every night everyone would go to bed - except the three brothers and their Mom and we played Monopoly deal - till 1:15 am. Damon still cheats - wins - more games than the rest of us. I must say I got in a couple of wins.
It was great to be with my boys again. To get to know my grandchildren better. To have some time with my daughters-in-law and get to know them better. I must say that they are better cooks than I. It was a great couple of weeks. I love family time.