To the Bluff

What the heck is "The Bluff" you ask?  I did too!!!  :)  Mike's sister, Debbie, and her husband Greg own a cabin on this mountain that I now can't remember the name of, but Bluff is in the name.  The weekend of June 16 they invited us to spend the weekend with them.  We went fishing, toured their acreage, rode their "mule." First one for me--I thought it was a golf cart.  We had a cookout and roasted marshmallows over the campfire.  It was great fun and we had such a wonderful time visiting.  Love you guys lots!!

Missing you Grandma!

When my Grandma Parker passed away, my mom packed up the remaining items that were not wanted by my Uncle Bill and his wife.  My Uncle Bill (my mom's youngest brother) helped my Grandmother financially for many years.  As a result, he and his wife had first choice of the items my Grandmother had when she passed away.  My mom had carefully helped my Grandma pack these items away several years before.  Mom often wrote notes that went with each item.  The notes had quotes or stories from my Grandma, explaining where Grandma obtained the item or who gave it to her, etc.  This made looking at her things and deciding what we would like to keep in her memory, very special!!

Mom invited my cousins, my Uncles and Aunts to come to her house to take what they wanted of these items.  Things they remembered Grandma using and things that made them think of her.  After picking the items, we had a cookout and played corn hole and had some great visiting time.  Several of us went swimming with the kiddos and we had such a great time!!  I Love My Family!!

Florida for Spring Break!

Going home.  I always hate the driving part of a trip, but especially the going home part.  We are currently on I 95 and on our way home from Clearwater Florida.  Several years ago, my parents started living in Clearwater during the winter months.  They have lived in the same community for these past few years and have gained lots of good friends that have also been living in Clearwater, during the winter months, for several years.  For Spring Break this year, they invited us to come down and visit.  Without much convincing, we decided it would be a nice time and a good opportunity to go to Sea World and Busch Gardens since we did not have the opportunity to go either place while doing the Disney thing last spring.  We left Friday, March 30, after work and are returning today—April 7. 

On Saturday, we arrived too late to do anything, but on Sunday we hit the beach.  We intended to go to Indian Rocks beach, but it was very crowded and no parking available.  We stumbled across Sand Key Park.  This was a nice beach.  You had to pay to park, but $5 for all day and there were bathrooms and plenty of parking.  My parents went with us.  We all had a great time!!

On Monday we headed to Sea World.  This was so great!  We pet sting rays, were splashed by dolphins, saw Shamu and Baby Shamu, rode some pretty cool rides and closed the place down.  Mike and I had gone there for our Honeymoon, but the kids had never been there.  They took their little cameras that are the disposable kind.  Totally burned up all 27 pictures at Sea World J.  We also saw the Clyde and Seamore (Sea Lion and Otter) show.  Mike and Ryan rode the Journey to Atlantis.  The kids and I hung out in Shamu’s Happy Harbor (riding rides) while Mike rode the Kraken roller coaster and the Manta roller coaster.  He realized he is not as young as he once was.  The roller coasters took more of a toll on him than he thought they would J.  We explored the Shark Encounter and the Wild Arctic helicopter simulator ride.  Emily got a little freaked out by that one.  We completed our day by having a pizza/pasta dinner at the Terrace Garden Buffet and hitting the gift shop.  I think the gift shop was the highlight of the kids day.  ;) 

 Tuesday we traveled to a neighboring town called Dunedin Florida.  Dunedin houses the spring training field for the Toronto Blue Jays.  We have a friend who plays shortstop for the Blue Jays.  His name is Brian Bocock.  Sadly, two days before the game, he was sent into surgery and we were not able to see him after all.  The game was still fun.  The Blue Jays played the Detroit Tigers and beat the pants off of them.  We are not really fans of either team so it did not matter who won.  The highlight of the game was this awesome concession guy.  He was one of the guys who sells beer in the stands.  He totally made the game.  He had this deep, booming voice—and no microphone that we could see.  He kept the crowd cheering and laughing.  He must be a DJ on the side or something.

 Wednesday was another beach day.  This time we hit Clearwater Beach.  Clearwater is beautiful, with pretty white sand, but it was VERY crowded!!  I did not feel comfortable letting the kids go out into the water while I sat on the sand.  Too many people, but I think there were a lot of families there that were on Spring Break too.

Thursday we went to Busch Gardens.  We have been to the Busch Gardens in Williamsburg several times, but this was our first time in Tampa.  We had a great time!  There were so many cool rides we wanted to ride that we ended up not having time to see the one show we thought would be fun to see.  Busch Gardens closes very early so we were pretty pressed for time to do all we wanted.  We spent some time in the Sesame Street kids section.  This was good for Lydia and Emily, but Ryan was too tall to ride some of these rides.  Plus, he was not interested in some of them.  We did all ride the Air Grover roller coaster and went through the treetop treehouse maze.  We walked up to the  . . . . roller coaster (I can't remember the name of it) and got soaked from the water it threw up.  This was great considering it was about 95 degrees all day and very few water fountains around to fill up our water bottles as we drank them.  We rode the train around the Serengeti and then Mike and Ryan rode a roller coaster while Lydia and Emily spent a little time in another section set for younger children.  We rode the Congo River Rapids (like White Water Canyon in Kings Dominion) and got soaked!  Well, I did mostly.  We rode the sky ride (which Emily LOVED) back to the front of the park and hit the gift shop there.  Another awesome day!!

Friday was our last day.  My mom knew we liked Chuck E. Cheese’s and would go to them when we were in towns that had them.  She found a great coupon for pizza and tokens and we went there for lunch.  After that, I wanted to go to the beach again, but Mike and the kids wanted to swim so they stayed at Mom and Dad’s and swam in the pool that is part of their community.  Mom and I went to Indian Rock Beach.  Most definitely the best of all three beaches.  This is the one that mom and dad typically go to when they go to the beach.  It was such a nice, relaxing afternoon and the kids got to do what they wanted to do as well. 

During some of our down time, we toured the neighborhood where my parents live and met some of their friends.  We learned how to play shuffleboard (VERY popular in this community!!), we saw where the block parties and Bingo tournaments are held and learned our way around Clearwater pretty well.  It is so beautiful!! 

After saying our good byes and thank yous to my parents this morning, we climbed in our van for our 14 hour trip home.  Uggghhh!!!  It was a fantastic week!!  We may have to hit my parents up for this to be an annual Spring Break trip.  So fun!!!

Grandma Leftwich

Ruby Katherine Dooley Leftwich was my Grandmother.  She passed away in March.  She battled Alzheimer’s for many years.  As sad as it is to lose someone you are close to, when you have seen them suffer for so many years, it is almost a relief to see them “go home.”  I have now lost all of my Grandparents. 

I had the great honor of being able to speak at Grandma’s funeral. 

My Grandma, Ruby Katherine Dooley Leftwich was always happiest when she was feeding someone.  Everytime there was a family gathering or we would visit, there was always a spread of so many wonderful things!  She was always famous for her Preacher Cookies and chocolate pie, that Brett always had to de-foam.  But also, she made the most amazing pancakes!  Even though, when spending the night at Grandma and Granddaddy's house, their aroma would wake my brother and me up very early in the morning, it was worth it!  My Uncle Freddie would always tell Grandma she needed to open a pancake house!  I think she would have had a very lucrative business.  I have tried very hard to duplicate her pancakes.  As close as I get, they are just not the same.

Even though she would always receive praise for her culinary expertise, she was always so modest about it.  When I was in middle school, I made an oven rack puller for her.  It was made of wood and I had very lovingly stenciled "Greatest Cook" on the handle.  It always sat above her stove and when I would arrive, at her house, the stenciled letters would always be facing the wall instead of out where everyone could read them.  I would always turn it to face out.  She would always say, "It's not true." I would simply tell her "yes it is" and I would turn it back over when she was not looking.

Being the 3rd of Ruby's 7 Grandchildren, I was quite impressionable when we would visit my Dad's parents home.  Once, when I was very young, I can remember being quite impressed with my Grandma's no fear ability when her Grandchildren were in possible danger.  Two of my cousins, my younger brother and I were all headed out to play on the swingset that sat in the side yard at Ruby and Carlton's house.  As we happily skipped out to the swingset, we all jumped over the long piece of black plastic, or so we thought.  The next thing we knew, Grandma had come out with a shovel and was killing what was actually a snake that we had jumped over.  She did not want anything to happen to her Grandchildren.  

I always thought of my Grandma and Granddaddy Leftwich as wealthy.  Every time I had a birthday, they would send me a $5 bill in my birthday card.  Often, they would send a $1 bill for me to give to my brother, which I never liked to have to do.

My childhood memories of Grandma Leftwich are so clear in my head, but sadly my relationship with Grandma has been non-existent in my adult years.  The disease she suffered, for so many years, robbed all of us of having a relationship with her.  Because of her Alzheimer's/Dementia she has never known my husband, she has never known my children and she has not known me in quite a few years. My daughter, Emily, is named for Ruby.  Emily's middle name is Katherine.  She is so proud that she is named for my Grandma Leftwich, but sadly she does not know how special that really is.

Several years ago I made a calendar with pictures of my Dad and Mom, my brother, my Grandparents, my cousins and my Aunts and Uncles.  I gave it to Grandma for Christmas.  In it, I also had my cousins, my Dad, my brother and my Aunts and Uncles , share memories of their childhood and visiting families, etc. I put these quotes in the calendar.  Some of my cousins shared specific memories of Grandma Leftwich and I would like to take this opportunity to share these memories with you.

My cousins Shawn and Michelle and I wrote about the snake story.  Apparently we were all quite impressed.  

My cousin Michelle wrote, "Grandma and Grandpa's yard was great for running and chasing each other with that hill on the side of the house."

My cousin Brett wrote, "When Grandma would make biscuits she would let me open the can of biscuits (when they were not made from scratch) and put them on the pan.  I loved the sound the can of biscuits made."

My brother Paul wrote, "I remember being exceptionally tired and wanting to stay in bed, but the wonderful scent of pancakes coming up the stairs would always keep me from falling back to sleep.  I remember smelling Granddaddy's coffee when I made my way downstairs and how much Grandma seemed to love watching us enjoy them."

My cousin Kristi wrote, "I remember whenever we would go to Grandma's house to visit, before we left Grandma would take yummy things from the freezer and garden to our car so we could have them at home.  For some reason, she never wanted Granddaddy to know."

I miss my Grandma Leftwich very much, but have missed her for a long time.  I am glad she is in a place now where her mind is with her and she isn't confused or scared anymore.  A place where she will know everyone and be able to do things for herself.  A place where she will be reunited with my Aunt Judy and my Granddaddy.  I found a beautiful poem that made me think of my Grandma Leftwich and how I feel about the life she has lead over the past several years

ALZHEIMER'S

By:  Richard Underwood

You didn't die just recently,

You died some time ago.

Although your body stayed a while, 

And really didn't know.

For you had got Alzheimer's, 

You failed to comprehend.

Your body went on living.

But your mind had reached its end.

So we've already said, "Goodbye",

To the person that we knew.

The person that we truly loved, 

The person that was, "You."

And so we meet again today, 

To toast your bodies end.

For it was true and faithful, 

Until right at the end.

And so, when we remember, 

We'll think of all the rest.

We'll concentrate on earlier,

And remember all the best.

For in the real scheme of things, 

Your illness wasn't long.

Compared to all the happiness, 

You brought your whole life long.

We think of you as yesterday,

When you were fit and well.

And when we're asked about you,

It's those things that we'll tell.

And so we meet in 'membrance,

Of a mind so fit and true.

We're here to pay our last respects

To say that, "We love you." 

Grandma, I miss you a lot.  I know you finally know who I am again.  Save me a seat until I get there!  Love you!!

Penny's 2nd Birthday

Penny turned 2 yesterday!  Can't believe it!!  She had her birthday party this past Saturday.

She's loving her new baby and stroller!!

Movie Night

L to R:  Ryan, Henry, Emily, Frances, and Lydia.  Benjamin in the back.

This past Friday Rabia introduced us to such a great time!  The JMU movie theater was showing Monsters Inc and we joined her and her children to see the movie on the big screen.  Best thing . . . it cost each of us $1.00 and Rabia's friend let us have her free pass.  I only paid $3 to get the four of us into the movie.  We could have stayed to see Toy Story after Monsters Inc. for the same price, but it started too late.  We were able to bring our own snacks, but bought a popcorn for 50 cents as well.  What a cheap date!!  $3.50 for a movie and snacks!!  AWESOME!!!

Circus time with the Settles!

L to R-Emily, Mason, Lydia, Lucas, Ryan

The Circus with the Settles is always a fun time!!  We have been the past few years, but missed last year.  The kids love getting together and they have so much fun!!  Becky, Mason and Lucas's mom and my friend, tends to enjoy the circus a little more than the children I believe :).  It gives us a good excuse to get together.  Sadly, this time we had to cut our trip short because of a projected snow fall that was due to come.  It came, but not as early as we thought and we would have been fine waiting until the next morning to drive home.  Of course.

Checking things out . . . LtoR-Mason, Emily, Lydia, Lucas, Ryan

8 motorcycles in the steel ball!  Ryan's favorite part!!

Love when they do this!