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Vacation

I Love A Vacation IV

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We left Douglasville on Friday morning, headed up to north Georgia to visit FabGrandpa’s Mom and Dad. On the way, we saw this:

In case you can’t see what it, it says, “Caution! Live Venomous Cargo”. No way could you ever get me in that van. I would be so creeped out, wondering if the “venomous cargo” was going to escape whatever cage it was in.

So, we made it up to the mountains with no bites. We had a nice visit with Nana and Poppa. We had planned to take them out to eat, but they had planned to take us. So we all went out to the chinese place in town. It was good, as usual.

Poppa resting in his recliner.

I took Nana one of the tote bags I had made for her birthday. We took some measurements of her walker so I could modify the bag so it will attach to the front of it. She was very pleased with this.

Nana

I added three straps that fasten with 3″ velcro to one side of the bag:

Straps added to the modified tote bag.

I only mailed it to her yesterday, so I will have to wait until she gets it to see if it works like we wanted it to.

Nana makes wire wrapped jewelry, but because she no longer is able to go to the craft shows, she has no outlet to sell what she makes. She gave me a bag full of things she made to bring home with me. I am going to be making a page for her in my shop here at FabGrandma in the next few days. Look for her shop page soon!

Nana's jewelry.

Poppa does some silversmithing, too. He has one set of a pendant and earrings that are sterling silver with amethyst stones. He’d like to get $300 for the set, if anyone wants it, let me know. I’ll be putting it for sale on Nana’s page, too.

Poppa's sterling silver pendant and earrings set.

My favorite thing that Poppa makes are these so cute birthstone ring charms. They are made with synthetic birthstones, and are intended to wear on a necklace. I have one for each of my children and grandchildren’s birth months. Every time I wear my necklace with them on it, everyone who sees them wants to know where I got them. Well, my father-in-law made them for me. Now, as soon as I get that page made, you can get yours:

Birthstone ring charms.

We only got to spend one night with the folks. We enjoyed their company, and made plans to go back for 2 or 3 days when we come back next winter. We drove back down to Douglasville, where we spent one last night at the Holiday Inn.  Becky came over after she got off work, and we all went to the movies and saw ‘Alice In Wonderland’. I loved the movie, but I love anything with Johnny Depp.

After the movie, I met another old friend, Sue. She picked me up outside the movies, and while FabGrandpa and Becky went back to the motel for a visit, Sue and I went out for a drink:

Me and Sue at Topps Bar and Grill

Two is my limit, especially when it is tequila shots! Yes, I have to have mine with salt and a slice of lime. Our visit was way too short–I haven’t seen Sue in more than 18 years, but again, it was like we had just seen each other last week. I hope next time we go to town I can have a longer visit. She was a girl scout leader when I was the service unit director for girl scouts in my county. We talked about having a girl scout reunion, and inviting all the girls who were in our troops back then. Wouldn’t that be fun??

So, now we are back home, getting ready to head west next week. We’ll be taking I-40 from Memphis to Flagstaff, and spending 4 or 5 days in Flagstaff before heading up the plateau to go to work. I am really looking forward to the trip. It’s already getting hot here in Alabama.

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I Love A Vacation IV

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Seth and Big Sarah on the patio at Granny's house.

After dinner at my  mother’s house on Wednesday, we all sat outside on the patio and watched the children run and play. All of these photos were taken by my daughter. What I love about them is that they were all taken when the children were busy, so they did not know they were being photographed. They were just plain being themselves–and those moments are priceless.

Little Sarah at Granny Stroud's house.

The older kids were tossing a frisbee back and forth, and little Owen was running his little legs off trying to get it before Bunni the dog did. He only got his hands on the frisbee a couple of times, but he had the most fun you could ever see just running. He laughed so much!  I really enjoyed watching the action.

Owen sitting for just a second.

Thursday I got up and took Sarah down to the lobby for breakfast with her Dad and brothers, but I met a long time friend, Elaine, across the street at Cracker Barrell. Elaine and I have known each other since we were Fab Teenagers, and that was a long long time ago. We met when we both worked at Southern Bell as long distance operators. They were still using those cord boards back then ! We had great fun together, both on and off the job, and stayed best of friends for several years after we both left Southern Bell (I went back to work there a few years later).

Running fast!

But life intervened, and Elaine married, had babies, and went to college at night, and we lost touch with each other. Imagine my surprise when in 2003, I received an email from her! She had one of those paid subscriptions to Classmates.com and had found me through my profile there. Since then we

Playing frisbee with Bunni

have tried to see each other every time I go “home” to Georgia. We laughed for an hour there at the Cracker

Barrell, and after breakfast, she went back to the motel with me to meet Seth, the adult version. She had spent a lot of time with him when he was a baby, and hadn’t seen him in about 33 years. I was sorry to have to say goodbye to her, but she was on a work day and had to get back to work.

We all gathered up Little Sarah’s belongings, because it was time for her to leave us and go to her other grandmother’s house. As we went out to Seth’s truck to load her things, the desk clerk said to me, “Mam, do you have a red purse?” and I did. She said I had left it in the lobby and since she had recognized it, she picked it up and held it behind the counter until she saw me! I felt a little foolish, but I know, it happens.

Michael sitting on the bench.

We hung around outside by Seth’s truck, saying our goodbyes, and getting those last hugs in with Little Sarah. Soon they drove away, and FabGrandpa and I went up to our room to rest a minute, then decided we needed to go to Wal-Mart. We went downstairs and out to our truck, where we found on

e of Little Sarah’s bags sitting on the sidewalk. I called Seth to let him know, and told him I would give it to the desk clerk for him to come back to get it. I guess it runs in the family!

Siblings sharing a coke.

That night, after Little Sarah had been delivered to her other grandparents, Seth and the rest met us at Cracker Barrell for dinner, along with my sister Linda and her husband. We had a nice time together, and afterwards, Linda and Alan came up to our room to look at our family portraits.  And, because Sarah had left and the bed was unoccupied,. Becky came to spend the night with us.

Ready! Set! Go!

Friday morning, it was time for us to say goodbye to everyone and be on our way–to Cleveland, Georgia to visit FabGrandpa’s parents.

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I Love A Vacation III

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Tuesday FabGrandpa and went shopping again, while my son and his children went to visit other family members. I had a prescription I had to get filled, and a couple of things that I bought on Saturday to return. We took off after breakfast, and got it all done by lunch time, so I went to visit my mother while he took a nap.

My sister, my Mother, and me. This was taken in December, she doesn't like to have her picture taken.

My cousin, Mary came to meet us for dinner. She is such a fun person–I haven’t seen in way too long. She came back to the motel with us and stayed a while so she could the rest of the crew.I really thought I took some pictures while she was there but I couldn’t find them. Dang it!

On Wednesday, we had an appointment in the afternoon for family portraits to be done. The last time we had professional portrait done, my son was about 12 years old, and it was one of those Easter Bunny photos at the mall:

Easter 1984

So, it really was about time!  And of course, it is always a good thing to have a hairstylist in the family at a time like this. We all went to Becky’s shop a couple of hours before the photo appointment so she could make sure everyone looked their best:

FabGrandpa getting his hair done.
Emily's turn in the chair.

The results were better than I had expected. I know I already showed you the fabulous photo of the grandchildren, but I love it so much I am showing it again:

All of the FabGrandchildren

The whole family, minus Becca, Ken, and Rafe.
My son, Seth, and his family.
My daughter, Emily and her family.
Poppa and the girls.
Me and FabGrandpa.

All that posing made us really hungry, and that was a good thing, because my mother had cooked dinner for us. We all headed over there for meatloaf, squash casserole, homemade mac and cheese (which I couldn’t eat but it looked really good!), green beans, and sweet potato casserole. She really made a good spread for us. My sister and her husband were there, too. What a day!

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I Love A Vacation!

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Our vacation started out with a drive to Birmingham to the VA Eye Clinic for FabGrandpa’s one week post-op check up. Everything looked fine–the doctor said to just keep using the eye drops until they were gone. After the check-up, we headed on over to Georgia.

We checked in at the Holiday Inn, our home away from home for the next week. Got settled in, then I went to pick up our granddaughter. We had a giggley spend the night party that night, with her telling us about her friends, her school, things she likes to do, and things she likes to eat. I think we got to sleep finally at around mid-night.

Sarah playing on the Webkinz website on Fabgrandpa’s computer.

The next day, we got up early and met Aunt Emily and cousin Spencer for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel across the street from the motel:

Sarah and Spencer coloring at Cracker Barrel

After breakfast, we had a day of shopping at the mall. Because we don’t see her very often, we tend to spoil Sarah rotten when we do. We got her some new jeans, 3 new shirts, a new purse, and a new hoodie. Then we went to Aunt Becky’s beauty shop where we all got haircuts.

Sarah getting her hair shampooed by Becky

The afternoon was spent at Monkey Joe’s, an indoor playground in town. There are lots of things to jump on, lots of room to run and work off some energy.

Monkey Joe's

The kids needed to be active, and the adults needed to rest. I was already exhausted by walking all over the mall.

Dinner that night was at Longhorn Steaks. Mmmm. FabGrandpa, Sarah,  and I were joined by Emily and her husband, Tommy, Spencer, and Becky. Just about the time desert was served, my son, Seth, called and said he was almost to the motel. So, we all hurried up so we could get back over there.

That’s my son, Seth–he is in the Air Force and lives in Maryland. The last time we saw them, we were working in Gettysburg, about 100 miles from where he lives. Owen was only two months old then.

He is now a rambunctious two year old. He is so sweet and cuddly, so much fun to be with.

Michael is now a teenager, (YIKES! I have a teenaged grandson? how the heck did that happen?)

We stayed up again, until past midnight, talking and catching up and just being with our kids. We slept late on Sunday, then the kids took the grandkids to the aquarium in Atlanta, while FabGrandpa and I went to meet Becky’s future in-laws.

I did not take pictures of Rafe’s parents, but I can tell you we had a pleasant visit. We met them at O’Charley’s for lunch, then headed over to Rafe’s house, where Becky will be living after they get married next year. His parents are very nice people, we liked them very much. And the house has a nice guest room, where FabGrandpa and I can stay when we are in town. I teased Rafe that it was big enough for a “mother-in-law” suite–it really is, but I don’t really expect to live with them.

We went back to the motel, where we met up with Seth, and his family. Then we all went over to my Mom’s for a short visit. I was ready to drop when we got back to the motel, so I went to bed “sort of” early, about 10 p.m. to get rested up for the next day.

…to be continued…

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