Extended Family

Family and fun times..While visiting our daughter in Charlestown, WV back in 2008 our good friends, Cindy & Doug, who live in Maryland, came to WV to visit us...When we are together there is so much good fun...The funny part is that many years ago I lost contact with Cindy, who use to be my sister-n-law when I was married to my first husband...Then when my youngest daughter, Misti, got married the first time, Doug and her came to the wedding and we started talking and catching up on some news...After that wedding, we have kept in touch ever since...Doug is a blast...He is nice, funny, happy and full of crap...So much so that he reminds me a lot of Richard and that would explain why they get along so well...2 peas in a pod...LOL...I know we are very grateful for our friendship with them and we always look forward to any time we can see them and spend time with them...

The picture to the right is of my ex brother in law, Eddie with his fiancee, Bonnie...After many many years I got to see him again..It was so great to hug someone you have always loved and liked, divorced or not...Eddie & Bonnie live in Van Nuys, California...We don't keep in touch hardly at all but when we do, it's a blessing...Also there is good news, Eddie & Bonnie are getting married in Nov. 2010...We wish them the very best and many happy years...

In this same family of ex's is a niece and nephew...One of the niece's is Cindy's daughter, Kelli...One of the nephew's is Cindy's son, Louis...Kelli and her family live in the panhandle of Florida and Louis and his wife live near Augusta, Georgia...Kelli & her hubby, Kevin, have 3 kids, 2 girls and 1 boy and a dog, Hershey...There is Bayne, Shyler & Kevin, Jr....Louie & his wife, Melissa, have 0 kids but they do count their 2 dogs as kids...LOL...We get to see Kelli & her family whenever we are in the panhandle of Florida...The photo to the right was when they came down to Disney in Florida in 2009...We were waiting to go in to a show...I found a more recent photo from December 2009 which shows how much more they have grown...Bayne now wears contacts and is more confident in herself which is awesome...Shyler will get there in a few years but she is very sensitive...Kevin, Jr. is total boy...All the kids are doing great in school and we love to see them...We miss them when we can't come to the panhandle of Florida...

We don't get much of a chance to see Louie & his wife because there are no campgrounds close enough to their home that we can stop at on our way north to Virginia...It's a shame cause I sure do miss seeing them...This was a very nice picture taken Christmas 2009...We were able to stop at their house once several years ago and that was marvelous...We sat down and had supper and then played a game...Time has flown by because I can not remember what year it was that we visited them...

This is a great photo of a very close brother and sister...This was Louie's wedding day...We missed being there and seeing Louie & Melissa getting married...It is such a great feeling to see a brother & sister that are close...The photo was taken in mid 2007...












So these are the people in our lives that mean a lot to us...We love them dearly...Family means a great deal to me even if you divorced from their family...You can still remain family if all concerned want to keep in touch no matter what...I love them all...xxxooo

Mardi Gras at Sunset King 2.16.10

Fat Tuesday…..Mardi Gras….What a good time….


Festivities began at 3pm with anyone who wanted to participate in the parade starting at the campground’s church parking lot…The owners showed up with their golf cart while other decorated golf carts and other participants arrived…Everyone who showed up were some how dressed for the occasion…Even a few dogs were dressed in their finest Mardi Gras outfit…At 3pm, the line was formed and the music started playing and the processional began…The campground isn’t that big but all the walkers would not want to walk about 10 or 12 roads worth of pavement so the revelers were going to walk every other road until they reached the clubhouse parking lot…

Brianna was all set for the parade…She had beads on, her tamborine ready to play and her feathered mask on…Her bag was ready for anything that was being tossed at her…She collected beaded necklaces, candy and coins…She was making out like a bandit…What fun she had and all the folks here at the park were tossing her this things cause she was the youngest child in the park and they all love her…

She even chased after our friends, Lois and Janet, who were walking in the parade with the Sunset King Line Dancers…

Brianna is waiting for the Mardi Gras parade to come by our place so she can collect more beads and candy…After she put what was tossed to her in to her bag, she ran after the line dancers, again, to be with Lois and Janet…We just let her go…The man across the street heading our way is Lois’ husband, Doug…Lois and Doug are good friends of ours…

Once the parade was over, I asked Richard to go to the clubhouse while I got things packed in a little bag…Richard headed to the clubhouse while I got together tissues, wet wipes, drinks and anything else that I could think of that we might need…The one thing I didn’t take with me was my jacket…The clubhouse was decorated for Mardi Gras…

The food tables were starting to get packed with food and sweets…In one of the colored cupcakes was a little plastic baby...Whoever got that cupcake received a little prize...The main dished that were brought by couples were New Orleans style jambalaya or something close to it..We grabbed a table for 8 and whoever wanted to sit with us, could…Some other friends of ours chose another table but when Doug and Lois came in, they sat with us along with Rex and Pauline, Jerry and Elaine, along with Lillian and her son…Our table was packed with 11 people...There were people dressed up with painted tees and beads on or people with just beads on...Some ladies even wore mardi gras earrings...

Happy Valentine’s Day 2.14.10

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day…Our day started off with Poppy receiving his Valentine Day card from Brianna that she made herself using the computer and the website, NickJr.com…Brianna handed me a computer generated Valentine’s card too…Brianna also wrote our names and her name on both of the cards…

Poppy created a Valentine card for her from the both of us…

At the clubhouse tonight is the campground’s Valentine’s Party from 6pm – 9pm…Brianna was getting dressed up in her hearts stretch pants and her I love Fairies tee…She wanted to wear makeup to so we put on eyeshadow, lip stick and blush…Plus she wore a gold heart necklace to finish off her ensemble…

The owners of Sunset King Lake Resort provides the finger foods and drink which is a punch…Brianna got to “sample” some of the appetizers like the pepperoni, little cheese cubes and crackers…One of the owners, Kim, provided Brianna with all the freebies before anyone else was served…Lucky her..When it was our table’s turn to go get some food, Brianna picked out some more pepperoni and crackers and a pretty pink cupcake…

During the evening, Brianna was playing games with this little boy, age about 8, and they played some games…They got a tin of dominoes and was building the longest train or the highest tower…The tower got really high before falling…

  The Party was getting started with our entertainer, Jim Hubbard, from Crestview, FL about 25 miles west of DeFuniak Springs…Jim was getting the music going with a song that the Sunset King Line Dancers could do a line dance too…One of the guy resident painted all the line dancers tees…Go Ladies!!! 

 

There were a lot of songs that were played that Brianna asked me to dance with her…We had a blast…We did a few fast songs and some slow songs…Brianna liked to spin and slide between my legs and for some of the slow songs, she wanted to be held from time to time to dance…

This is person shown with Brianna is one of her favorite person’s here at the campground…Her name is Janet and Brianna has known her for a while now…Brianna has known Janet in 2007-2008 season and then when we were up in Hillsville, Va. working for Lake Ridge RV Resort and now back here at Sunset King…Janet’s husband, Jim, is one of her favorite guy’s here at the campground…They have a dog name Freshon that Bri loves to play with…

The evening ended at 9pm with the music stopping and all the couples leaving for home…Brianna helped watch a few couples play cards and then she went to the owner, Kim, and showed her how she is learning how to write…Then we got our stuff together and went home…After about 10 minutes, Brianna passed out…

and for ending this blog, What do you think of this pose?  Will she be a model when she grows up???  Who knows…

Up North for the Weekend 1.21-25.2010

A fast trip up to Martinsburg, WV came along in short time due to the need of daycare.. Airline tickets were being looked at and bought for a 4 day trip…Leaving on Thursday the 21st and returning on Monday the 25th…All I needed was a one-way to Dulles in Washington DC  and 2 one-ways back to Valparaiso-Ft. Walton, Fl…I left for Dulles from Valparaiso, Fl at Gate A2…I had a quick layover in Charlotte, NC so it gave me a chance to grab a bite to eat before catching my next plane to Dulles International Airport… Arriving on Thursday night gave me 3 full days to visit with our daughter, Brandi and our 3 granddaughters, Kayla – Brianna – Lizzi…After Brandi picked me up at Dulles, we took the Dulles Expressway to her home but the first stop was at Kings Pizzaria for pizza, 2 subs (one was mine)  and wings…We got to her house and dinner was served…All 3 girls wanted pizza and a wing or 2…Kayla was very serious about eating her wings…She actually cleaned off her wing bones just like her Poppy…Poppy would be very proud of her…Can you tell that these were chicken wings…

Friday the 22nd, Brandi, Brianna and I headed to a mall in Hagerstown…Along the way I got to see some snow that was still along the sides of the highway and in the mall parking lot…Our first stop along the way was getting the car’s oil changed…We were also looking for a Ross’…We stopped by the China Buffet in Martinsburg and had our dinner…It was a good day and Brianna was pretty good…Lizzi was in daycare and Kayla was in school…

After dinner, it was time to do nail painting…The grandkids wanted me to paint their nails and paint my nails so we all could match…Then they wanted to dress up in their princess dresses and act like little princesses…It was pretend and pose night…Kayla, Brianna and Elizabeth wanted to do some pretty poses…

What fun we had…

 Can you tell which fingers belong to which girl?  At least one thing I noticed after I took these photos is that they all have Brandi’s fingers…

Saturday the 23rd was going to be a visiting day…Our son, Josh, his fiance, Sandy,  and her daughter, Mary, were coming to Brandi’s to visit…Josh and his new family arrived about 1 or 2pm and we talked and hugged…It was great to see them… After a while, Brandi turned on her XBox and put in DDR (Dance Dance Revolution)…The mat was hooked up and then she showed us how it worked…It looked easy but it really wasn’t…Brandi showed us a few workouts on it…Brianna and Lizzi wanted to participate in the DDR and have some fun…I decided to try it to a slow song…Let me tell you, it is not easy…First of all, depending on the song, the background layout is sometimes too dark to see the arrows to know which way to step on the mat…It was very interesting to do…Brandi then challenged her brother to do it…He kept saying NO WAY!!  Then all of a sudden, all of us see him get up and get on the mat to pick out his song…Josh did pretty good…Brandi grabbed the camera and took his picture…The only one who didn’t do the DDR was Sandy… Even Mary tried it and had fun…Lizzi and Brianna were trying to do the DDR but their little legs could not reach the arrows but once in a while they would actually step on one of the arrows and and make some points…It was very interesting to watch and very funny…Kayla came out of her room and her mommy, Brandi, got her to show us how well she could do the DDR…Oh my goodness, can that girl work that mat…Brianna had a great time working on the mat and trying to hit all the arrows…Little did she know that she was missing most of the arrows for the song playing but what fun just to watch her…Elizabeth was having fun trying to get to all the arrows on the mat and trying to match the music…Kayla was very  good and had fun with it…

I think Josh was having fun working the mat…He would never admit it, tho!  *laugh*

There was lots of playing around, giggling, horse play and just plan fun…Josh and Sandy brought their mutt, Hershey…The last time I saw their dog Hershey wasn’t that big yet…Hershey is like a miniature pony…Brandi tried to sit Lizzi on top of Hershey as if she was riding a small pony but Lizzi didn’t want any part of it…For dinner I made my sloppy joes…This is Josh’s favorite and he wanted to see how I made it…Dinner went smoothly and a few hours later, Josh, Sandy and Mary had to head home…It was such a fun day and I loved spending the time with my family…

Here are our 3 princesses…Elizabeth don’t have a pretty little dress that she could put on and Kayla found her Cinderella dress that she wore at Disney this past April 2009 and Brianna found a pretty little pink dress that flowed when she was spinning around…All the girls had a blast just posing and sitting pretty but then they started to get silly and wanted to do gymnastic type stuff…They were very silly…

Kayla loves to pose…She wanted to do this pose for the camera…I love it…

Brandi received a red/black couch from her dad and stepmom which looks better in her living room…She looks very comfortable relaxing on this sofa…

Brianna and my plane ride back to Florida was very eventful..Brandi dropped us off at Dulles International Airport about 8am…I proceeded to get our tickets, the ticket agent told me that our flight was cancelled…I was in disbelief cause I didn’t get any phone call or an email…She told me that we could get a flight out around 4pm…I told the agent that I had a 4 yr. old with me and that was way too late to get out…The agent looked more and then said that there was a flight out at 11am but at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC…I had to call Brandi at work, after she just got to her desk, and asked her to come pick us up and take us to Reagan…She got us at 9:05am and it was going to take an hour to get to Reagan…We arrived at 10am and had about 35 minutes to get through security and down to our gate…At 10:20am I was still standing in the line to go through security…Another line opened up and I asked the security lady if I could go ahead of the others cause my flight was at 11am..We got to our flight about 20 minutes before take off…Whew!  How close but the day wasn’t over…Our layover was in Atlanta and as we landed on the tarmac and headed to our gate, we had to stop before our gate cause there was another plane at our gate…We sat for 20 minutes and now I had 15 minutes to get off of the plane and Brianna & I had to find out where our next gate was…We were going to be late and I had hoped we weren’t going to miss our plane…Luckily as we got to our gate there were lots of people waiting…I asked the attendant about the flight and we were fortunate enough for our plane to be maintenanced…Whew, once again…We were very lucky to be at our gate, waiting for the plane to be ready in order for us to arrive in Valparaiso, Fl by 2pm just as planned…What a day…But Brianna was very good…The one thing I didn’t tell ya was that Sunday night and Monday morning Brianna and I were sick all night…Poor Bri was sick Monday morning as we headed to the airport…I was so afraid that we both weren’t going to do well on the plane rides but we did…Was I ever glad to see Richard and be home…Thanks to whoever for letting us arrive safely home…