October Vacation Day 2 - Low Boil, S'mores, and Reading with Grammy

Mila's close call put a damper on things for a while. The guys walked under the deck looking for more unsafe boards. (We found out later that the homeowner was planning to replace the deck - they knew it was unsafe but had not told us. The planks and boards were stacked up in the yard, though. Clear evidence that they knew and were negligent in failing to disclose it.)

Andrew and Jessica cooked a low country boil for supper - sausage, corn on the cob, shrimp, potatoes, etc. all cooked in one pot and then dumped out as finger food on a big table. Yummy!

Needless to say, some of us, me included, did not want to walk on that deck and ate indoors!

Curt, Titan, Cambria, and Mila wait for the family to gather so that supper can start.

The apple pies had been baked and were ready for dessert.

Julie, Mila, and Kate played while we cleaned up the kitchen and Andrew and Curt built a fire outside for s'mores.

I love this picture of Jessica and her dad.

The fire pit was at the base of the driveway and quite steep. Curt stands ready to catch Cole's girls if they got started going too fast and could not stop. (It may not look like it in this photo, but that driveway is STEEP.)

Many of us had brought our camp chairs so we had enough seating. (Julie, Kate, and Cole.)

Turns out that Aunt Jessica is a very good story teller, and she kept all of our attention as the fire burned down a bit and the rest of the family joined us. (Ian and Titan.)

S'mores time! Titan, Andrew, Julie, Mila, Cole, Kate, Cambria, Lukas, Vanessa.

Soon all the littles got the hang of toasting marshmallows.

When we were done with our campfire, everyone got into their pajamas and Jessica asked me to read to the kids. They all had a Halloween story of some kind for me to read aloud. (Titan, Ian, Mila, Julie, Susan, Emily.)

Lukas didn't hang around (see him on the floor?), but everyone else did!

It took a while, but I read every child's book to the crew.

After that, the kids went to bed and the adults watched Monday Night Football together. It was quite a day!

October Vacation Day 2 - Mila's Disaster

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..."

Those were the only words I could say in my prayers Monday night. Never have I had that happen, where my mind cannot think of anything else to say. Or maybe it is just that I was so shaken and grateful, that that is all I could utter. Regardless, Mila had a very close call and could have died that afternoon.

She did nothing wrong. She was in a safe place on the deck. The only problem was, the deck itself was not safe. And poor little Mila stepped on a board which broke under her thirty pounds, causing her to fall partially through the deck and up to her crotch.

I was in the kitchen when we heard her crying. All the adults went running, but no one realized just how dire her situation was until they rounded the corner of the deck and saw her partially fallen through the deck.

Dear Lord, thank you for saving her. It's about a fifteen foot drop down to the concrete driveway below. Had she slipped through all the way, I think we would have lost her.

This photo of the hole where she went through and the drop below gives me chills.

Dear Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

October Vacation Day 2 - Apples!

Monday morning Andrew and Jessica cooked breakfast for the family.

Andrew makes the absolute BEST eggs I have ever eaten.

These cuties did a nice job waiting patiently for their food.

Kate, Mila, Julie, Cambria, Lukas, Ian, and Titan.

Jessica went over the house rules with them (no going outside without an adult, no climbing on the deck fence) and then breakfast was served. There were eight adults and eight children under four years of age, but even with the 1:1 ratio I still felt outnumbered at times!

Everyone pitched in to help dish up the kids' plates.

Jessica, Curt, Cole, Craig, Kate, Mila.

Then we all had to hustle and get dressed for the fun day ahead of us.

Our first activity of the day was a trip to Grandad's Apples.

Talk about a trip down memory lane for me! I was delighted to go with our family to an apple orchard, buy some apples, cider, and donuts, and just enjoy the sights and smells of being in an orchard again.

The orchard had a wonderful play area for the children (and adults) to have fun in.

Vanessa, Curt, Cole, and Kate.

Brothers sharing warm apple cider donuts. (That's Titan in between them.)

Kate nibbles her donut by the hay stack while Emily takes a picture and Cole looks on.

The stack of round bales were fun to climb on.

Ian is king of the hill! (That's Mila in the pink bow.)

Climbing to the top. Ian and Mila.

 Titan.

 Kate and Mila up top, and Titan, Lukas, Ian, Julie, and Cambria below.

The parents taking advantage of the photo opportunity. (Andrew, Curt, Jessica, Emily, Vanessa, Craig, and Cole.) And I take advantage of the photo opportunity that that provides the grandparents!

There was also a rubber drainage pipe suspended from posts for people to ride.

Cambria with her daddy "surfing" behind her.

Andrew and Titan.

Titan.

There was a fun spider web made of ropes and netting for the children to bounce around in.

Julie, Mila, and Cambria.

Looks like Ian found the perfect place to take a nap!

There was even a corn hole set up for visitors. Kate played with her daddy.

After spending time in the play area, we walked through the orchard to where the animals were pastured.

I had a huge wave of nostalgia when I saw that they raised Mutsus. We did, too, and it was a favorite in our family. (The Mutsus were sold out, but Craig walked down the row, hoping to find one on the ground for me. What a nice thing to do!)

My Pony Pal Kate visited with the donkey. I was right there behind her!

We bought feed for the goats and sent it up a paper cup delivery system to be dumped out at the top of the tower. The goats had had so much already that they didn't even try ours.

And then it was time to make our purchases and go home for lunch and naps.

Julie, Lukas, Ian, Cambria, Titan, Mila, and Kate sit on a bench and eat apples.

The kids helped me make apple pies for dinner.

 Cambria, Julie, Titan, Mila, Ian, me, Kate.

We set up an assembly line of peeling and stirring which worked well. 

Take a close look at Titan's mouth. See the apple slices he is munching? As Jessica snapped the photo, he put his hand into one of the pies and snatched a bunch of apples slices, cramming them into his mouth for a snack! Too funny!

The pies were definitely a collaborative effort and we were all pleased with the result.

Making pies with my grandchildren was a highlight of the trip for me.

October Vacation Day 1 - Traveling and Arrival

Car Jenga. It's for real.

A couple of days before we left for our trip to North Carolina and Florida, I began gathering things that we needed to take and carrying them out to the garage where I lined them up between our cars to await packing.

I am glad I did - we had a LOT of things to go with us! The car was stuffed with no extra room for anything.

It took Craig about a half an hour to tuck it all away, and then we did a last house check, took a selfie, and hopped into the car for the drive to Hendersonville, North Carolina where we were meeting Jessica, Andrew, Curt, Vanessa, Cole, and Emily and their children for four days together in the mountains.  Never having done anything like this before, we were super excited.

Our drive was uneventful although the scenery was beautiful and the company the best, but the nine hour drive was long and I was a bit green around the gills a few times high up in the mountains.

We did some room swapping after arriving; accommodating each family's needs took some juggling but we got it sorted out, ate a yummy dinner prepared by Vanessa and Curt (including a Keto casserole for Craig - Vanessa always makes sure he has something!) and then watched some football and tumbled into bed.

The following morning, Julie and Mila popped into our room to visit... 

... followed by Cambria.

The girls admired the pony Cambria had given me, and then we all headed out for breakfast and the activities of our first day together!

My Pony Pals

We just spent some time in the mountains of North Carolina with three of our kids and their families. There were eight adults and eight children. (The children ranged in age from three months to four years old; despite the 1:1 ratio, at times it felt as though there were more children than that!)

Craig and I were the last to arrive at the cabin, and as I set my suitcase down, Cambria came charging over. "Grammy! Grammy! I have a horse for you!" And she handed me a small plastic horse.

The cabin we were renting had a playroom, and the horse was among the toys. Knowing my love of horses, Cambria had snagged it and had been impatiently waiting for me to arrive so that she could give it to me.

She asked that I keep it in my room on the dresser next to my bed.

The next morning, I was joined by two more pony pals, all of whom admired the pony Cambria had discovered among the toys.

Julie, Cambria (holding the pony), me, Mila.

 Kate joined us a few minutes later and also wanted to hold "Grammy's pony" as it became known.

That pony proved very popular; fortunately we found more in the playroom so that everyone could have one to play with.

 Kate and Mila even brought theirs to breakfast.

 Honestly, I did nothing (overtly, haha) to encourage these pony pals in their horseyness!

But I am glad to see it!

We left the horses behind for the next cabin occupants. But those little horses kept my pony pals happy and occupied throughout our visit.

They kept Grammy happy, too.

Home!

We are home from our trip to North Carolina and Florida, and do I have a boatload of blog entries to share! Give me another day to recover and I will start writing and posting them!