More Treasure

The next morning, Jan took us to one of her favorite places, as evidenced by the way she just lit up while we were there, the barn. We met Elmo. The word for Elmo is chill. He's a sweet and mellow horse. He had to have surgery for a hurt leg this week, which we hope heals easily.


Morgan was there training a horse. She was busy so we didn't get to chat, but Jan showed us some videos of Zoey later. We also got to meet some of Jan's students.

There were some happy people at the barn. Maybe horse is synonymous with Happy.


You can see that Olivia is catching the Happy bug...


Later, we were all happy when we were able to talk Meme, Poppy and Mitchell into stopping by for a meal at Cracker Barrel.

Treasure 1

This Spring Break held many treasures for me. We took off in the camper bound for two very different locations: Sanibel Island and Blue Springs.

The first day's travel was full of surprises. TWO flat tires, three if you count the spare that was flat when we put it on the camper. Poor Brad had to change the tires 4 times, I think. Luckily the flats happened on the way out instead of on the way home. The first flat was on 301 near MacClenny. We ended up at the WalMart where we confirmed that we are not as redneck as we thought.

The second flat was just a few minutes before the exit off I-4 that would take us to Jan and Pete's house. By then Brad had gotten really good at changing the tire. I think it only took about ten minutes to get the spare on.

Jan and Pete invited all the Tampa relatives to greet us: Terry, Tony and his friend Cat, Lisa, Cody, Mamma and Al were all at the house when we finally pulled in. What a treat to see everybody! Cody's finger was, well, kinda scary with that pin sticking out of it. Yikes! He just grinned. Compare that to Olivia's scraped knee which is causing her to limp and wear a very large bandage.

One of my favorite moments was on the house tours: First the big house, then the little house built just for Glenda by Peter. Glenda was our tour guide. When we got to her house, she said that it was "almost" finished. This made Peter raise his eye brows. I don't think the little house is on Peter's list anymore. There are just two shelves to find on which two dolls will rest. Oh, I forgot about the third house: the one with wheels. When you count our camper, we could have set up a refugee camp with all the beds available.

I wish I had gotten the camera out! That evening was my first treasure... more tomorrow.

Our day of thanks was relaxing. Brad and Audrey provided an excellent feast. There was football and a warm fire. Our hearts were as full as our bellies. Happy Thanksgiving!

Who are these people??

I guess the politicians were taking a break on Halloween when they stopped by for some candy.

Trick or Treat!

Disney Day

We snuck in a day at the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Charlie's 15th birthday. The birthday boy went from never riding any rides to riding everything in one day! He went on Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. We all had a blast- Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Top Ten Reasons We Loved Henry

10. He let Olivia carry him around on her hip like a baby.




9. He inspired songs. Well, one song anyway. Thanks, JM.





8. Every morning he spent some time with Brad to start his day off right.



7. He was patient with kids and adults who “over-loved” him. He was never hissy- he just waited patiently for a chance to escape, and then he’d rub your leg on his way to someplace else.



6. He just loved attention from people.




5. He was a good brother to Grace.




4. He would happily sleep in your lap for an hour prompting the excuse, “I can’t right now because Henry is sleeping on me.”




3. He was waiting for us at the door every day when we got home from school/work.




2. Kisses. He gave sweet, sweet kisses.



1. He loved us.

Long over due Post

Yes, it is summer and therefore you should see multiple updates to this blog. Don't you know that teachers spend all summer drinking cocktails by the pool? I've broken away from the pool party for just a brief moment to update you on some of the happenings around here lately.

We spent a week in Virginia and Wash DC. You see the picture of Charlie and Olivia with George and Martha Washington. Notice Olivia's face. There was a lot of that during the week. Not that I blame her- history isn't exactly fascinating to almost twelve year old girls. Charlie was slightly more interested occasionally, but I had a great time. We saw Montecello, Mt Vernon, the Capital, various sites around DC, the Holocaust museum, and a lot of the Metro.

The highlight of the trip was seeing Brad's cousin Robby and his wife, Deb. They are expecting a baby very soon. Thanks to Robby for the awesome tour of the capital that he arranged. Dinner was great and we cannot wait to do it again.

I'd promise to update more about our trip or summer or Mitchell's graduation, but the pool is calling...