When I read my daughter"s version of "not me Monday" these past few weeks, I told myself that I "would never" write a "not me" Monday post on MY blog! Never! Because I just don't do things like THAT! Well, here is what I did NOT DO this week!

First of all, Shari did NOT call to say they were coming to Michigan this week to celebrate Esme's birthday when we had planned to go to Tennessee in two weeks. I DID NOT take all of the wallpaper off the bathroom walls two days before she called. The bathroom is NOT a total mess along with the rest of the house that I DID NOT let go while stripping wallpaper! Shari is NOT staying another whole week while I am scheduled to go on a sister vacation with my sister three days after she gets here!

I certainly did NOT type the whole bulletin for church with a note to parents about an "important meeting" to discuss policy, procedures, and future activities and told them NOT to miss it ----but forgot to put the date!!  - so that Pastor Bob DID NOT have to make a special announcement about that date left out of the bulletin! I was NOT embarassed a single bit!  Not me!

I did NOT purchase a beautiful piece of luggage for my son-in-law Mark's birthday and then decide that it was too small and had to be returned. I DID NOT buy another piece of luggage before I had taken the other one back. I did NOT forget to take my receipt with me all the way back to the mall when finally deciding to return the first piece of luggage and did NOT only have my gift receipt with me. The manager did NOT tell me that I could only have an in store credit or exchange with a gift receipt! I WOULD NOT HAVE driven all the way back home to get the original receipt and WAS NOT mad all the way home and BACK - NOT ME! I DID NOT call the company to complain about their return policy - NOT ME!!

Later that SAME DAY at four o'clock in the afternoon, just after I had emptied two refrigerator shelves and placed everything on the kitchen table while I gave the refrigerator a much needed cleaning, Terry did NOT call to tell me he had forgotten to take the car that morning and needed it to take his dad out to eat in an hour.  After I had put everything back into the refrigerator, driven in rush hour traffic to trade vehicles with him and gotten back home to remove everything from the refrigerator again, I DID NOT receive another call from him to tell me that I did not leave the keys to the car on the floor of the front seat like I said I would! I did NOT have to repeat the whole process again to drive back to the church in worse rush hour traffic to give him the keys! NOT ME, I WOULDN'T!

Next day, Saturday, after deciding to give some of our windows a much needed cleaning, I DID NOT place a plastic container full of water on a high window sill while washing the track that the window slides on. The "black" water did NOT get knocked off by me and DID NOT splash all over the clean curtains, rug and wood floor in the room Shari and Mark will be staying in for two nights while here.  And I DID NOT wash the curtains in the washing machine even though the tag said, "DRY CLEAN ONLY"! Enough said!  :(   And I did NOT write this post when I am supposed to be cleaning the house, cutting the grass, grocery shopping, and doing laundry!

JULY 4TH - 2009

 

This whole weekend was a beautiful one! We spent much of it working in our yard taking out our very overgrown bushes in front of our house and replacing them with some updated and more colorful ones. Bob helped Terry pull our bushes which completely covered those bottom windows to our family room by cutting them down and then pulling the very deep roots by tying them to a rope and then tying them to our truck and backing the truck up. They worked very hard because those bushes had been there probably about 30 years! 

On the fourth, Terry and I went and bought some new bushes and plants and mulch to replace the old stuff. That was the fun part! I wish we had done it years ago! We had just had our trim painted and a new chimney and porch done while we were on vacation. Now we have to cut down a huge pine tree right in the front of our house. :( I love trees and really don't want to do that.

We spent the rest of our weekend with Shelley, Bob, Matthew, and Nolan. It was fun! Bob was helping Terry part of the time, but we had a few meals together and played with the kids and watched a ball game also.  We had drumsticks after dinner one night. Matthew did really well eating it, but mostly liked the chocolate and peanuts.

Nolan got to taste the vanilla ice cream also. He thought it was wonderful! Who wouldn't after eating that stuff babies usually eat?

We spent some time playing with the kids. I decided to show Matthew the camera on my computer that allows one to take a picture of yourself and there are many options to enhance it. I use the word "enhance" loosely!

Matthew thought this was great fun and begged to keep doing it until I had to finally make us stop!

I love this one. He was laughing so hard when he saw it, he could barely sit up! Don't I have a handsome grandson?

We had lots of fun playing and eating and talking and working. Shel, Bob, Matthew, and Nolan went home to watch some fireworks from their house. Matthew is afraid of the loud noises so they were going to maybe watch from inside their house.

Terry and I decided to take a walk and watch all the fireworks around our house. Most years it sounds and looks like a war zone around here on the fourth. This year it was rather quiet with only a few fireworks. It was a beautiful, cool night and we were so tired after the weekend that we probably went to bed before all of the loud noises. We didn't hear a thing!

We are reminded on this day how good it is to live in this country. Freedom is not something to take for granted - especially in the world we live in! God has blessed us with the privilege of growing up in America. Why? I know that I can't even imagine what other people in less fortunate countries live with every day. I just want to be so thankful for our beautiful and free country! Thank you, Lord!

Vacation 2009 - Knoxville and Cocoa Beach

It Was HOT!!

This is one of our favorite spots in Cocoa Beach - The Cocoa Beach Pier

I know it is hard to believe, but this pier actually has two large restaurants a bit farther back on the pier. One is very casual and one is more high end. We eat there a couple times while in Florida.

This year we were once again back in Cocoa Beach! We own a time share at the Resort on Cocoa Beach and we like it so much that we have gone back every year. Well, that and the fact that Terry gets stuck in tradition and doesn't want to try new things. We do love it there, though. It is just a beautiful resort right on the ocean.

We were on the seventh floor this year and had a beautiful view from our balcony. On one side we could see the ocean and from this view we could see the inter coastal waterway. It was very pretty at night with the sunset and all the lights.

The resort has a beautiful pool that we used quite a bit this year. It was in the 90's all week and very hot on the beach. We also had Esme' with us and it was easier to go in the pool with a baby than the ocean.

This was the view from our balcony on the ocean side. I just love being near the ocean and could easily live right there! I love the soothing sound of the ocean waves and the wonderful breeze. This year there was little wind and hardly any waves and it was HOT!!!

It was very fun having Shari and Esme' with us. Esme' turned 10 months while we were there. She is crawling and loves to put her head down like in this picture. She actually comes to a sitting position this way. She boosts herself up on her hands and feet, then crosses one leg over the other and eases herself into a sitting position. It is too funny!

We got to spend a lot of time just playing with Esme'. We hadn't seen her since Christmas and it is so hard to be so far away. She grows so fast! Grandpa enjoyed playing with her and thinks she is pretty special.

We ended up eating out most nights. There are many great restaurants in the Cocoa Beach area. It is tricky with a baby along, though. Babies don't exactly love being in restaurants. One night is was so beautiful outside and there was a wonderful breeze. We went to a restaurant on the Indian River. This river is where the huge cruise ships dock and use to get out into the ocean. The restaurant is a favorite of ours. This evening we chose to eat outside. There was live entertainment that night and Esme' was mesmerized by it. The guy who sang and played the guitar kept coming over to her and playing just to her. She got a lot of attention that night and didn't seem to mind!

At some of the other places we went, we didn't have as much luck with her!

We especially had fun in the pool on those hot days. Esme' loved it and we spent many hours in the water. We could just walk right in because it was so warm.

Shari brought along this apparatus for Esme' to use in the water, and it was great. She loved it and it was more relaxing for her than being held all the time. She looked so cute in it and lots of people came up to talk to us.

Grandpa entertaining Esme'

We got lots of reading done out on the balcony in the hot afternoons. Esme' had to nap, and Shari had school work to do. She is taking classes online for a degree in Interior Design. She has a two year degree in Graphic Arts, but would now like to get a bachelor's degree. She and Mark would eventually like to start their own business. 

So Shari set up Terry's laptop out on the balcony where she could work and still enjoy the ocean view. Not so bad! She worked almost every afternoon while Esme' slept.

These are pictures of the beautiful beach on the the ocean. The bottom picture is taken from a restaurant on the Cocoa Beach Pier. There is a great view of the beach there and lots of surfers. The surfers were not as prevalent this year because the ocean was so calm. 

Terry and I have been going to Cocoa Beach for at least eight years now. We found our time share one year while in Florida trying to view a Shuttle launch. Every year the shuttle launches either before or after our vacation. It is very frustrating because we would LOVE to see a launch. We can see Cape Canaveral from the beach in front of the resort. This year they finally had a launch scheduled in the middle of the week that we were there. It was set for 5:40 in the morning and we were out on the beach ready...then we found out that it was canceled until later in the week or possible until July. The next week the launch was rescheduled for that week. Again we got up early and were getting dressed when we heard that it had been canceled until July. We were very disappointed since this is to be the last Shuttle launch ever.

The second week in Cocoa Beach, we stay in a friend's condo in Cocoa Beach, but on the intercoastal. The screened porch is about 25 feet from the water. It is different there because we can see Manatee and porpoises play in the water behind the condo. It is almost directly across from Ron Jon's and only about a 10 minute walk from the ocean and Cocoa Beach Pier.

Shari and Esme' spend a couple of days with us there and then we took them to Orlando to catch a flight back to Knoxville.

This picture got out of order. It belongs down away and I will explain it.

Babies are funny. They can have every toy on earth, but what do they like the best? ANYTHING that is not a toy. Esme' liked the kitchen measuring cups so much that I bought her some colorful ones while we were in Cocoa Beach.

After Shari and Esme' went home, Terry and I moved to the condo on the intercoastal. We spent a lot more time on the ocean, though. We walked on the ocean every night and one afternoon drove south of Cocoa Beach for about an hour and walked on a different beach. All of the beaches were different from one another. That beach had piles and piles of larger shells! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed just being by the ocean.

One morning Terry and I went golfing. I should say that Terry went golfing and I just rode in the golf cart! Terry loves to golf and went several times while we were in Florida, but mostly by himself. The whole course was being redone, so it was like you were on a detour the whole time. All of the regular greens were being renovated, so there were alternative greens and holes. It was hard to navigate and figure out where the next hole was. There was a sprinkler system going in certain areas also. Terry was driving the cart and forgot that I wouldn't want to go right through a sprinkler and get wet. Men don't worry about that as much. I guess!  Anyway he went driving along the walkway right through a large sprinkler. I got soaked on one side of my body! I guess it was kind of funny, but it sure wasn't comfortable after that!

On one of our last days in Florida, NASA rescheduled a liftoff of an unmanned rocket to the moon. After missing the shuttle because the liftoff was postponed until July, we were excited to at least watch a large rocket go up. We had seen one last year and it was spectacular! We found a place called Jetty Park which is very close to Cape Canaveral. It has a large wharf that goes out quite away and makes a good viewing spot to take pictures. 

We got there in plenty of time. There were hundreds of people on the wharf ready to take pictures. We kept hearing from people there who were talking to people who were on the internet that it was being delayed 10 minutes and then 10 minutes more, etc. Finally there was a time set for sure. We had been talking to people around us who had come from all over to see this rocket launch. The people beside us had driven all the way from Tampa that day to see it.  

When the time was near, we saw one of the big cruise ships coming our way. It would have to pass right in front of us! Everyone was worried it would completely block our view. But it got by without doing that. When it was time for the rocket to take off, we were all poised with our cameras. Nothing happened. Then Terry said, " I wonder what that tiny light is up there?" It looked like a small plane with one headlight. Then it disappeared and a couple of minutes later we heard the loud booms overhead for quite awhile. We then knew that that tiny light had been the rocket! It was very overcast and we had not seen one thing! Everyone was flabbergasted that it was over and no one had even been able to get one picture!! But there was another cruise ship coming about that time and we got lots of pictures of THAT!

We had a wonderful time this year. We ate out too much, but it was fun! We did a lot and even though we won't get to see the shuttle launch, it was a fun trip. We ended up by driving through Knoxville and spending the night with Mark and Shari and Esme'. We had to return all her things to her that she couldn't take on the plane. So we got to spend more time with them. We made dinner and played games that night and got up and left in the morning. The driving is hard. It is a lot of hours in the car. Terry and I listened to a book on tape this trip, so that helped to pass many hours. So until next year, goodbye Florida!

Esme'

We arrived home from our trip to Tennessee and Florida on Saturday night. We had a great time! We were gone for two and a half weeks and got to spend about a week and a half of that time with our daughter, Shari, and granddaughter, Esme'.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. She is beautiful and so SWEET! I love her sweet smile, her feather soft hair, and the dimples on her chubby hands and feet!

She has such a cute personality. I got to ride in the backseat of our pickup truck with her from Tennessee to Cocoa Beach. I got to play with her and entertain her the whole way and we had fun.

Esme' learned to crawl while we were in Florida. She also turned 10 months. 

This is my favorite picture of her. She loves the music and songs from the movie, Sound of Music. Her favorite song is "Do, a deer, a female deer..." This is the smile she makes when you begin singing that song!

I will write about our trip in my next post when I get all of the pictures ready. But I wanted to post these first because I miss her so much!

Happy Birthday to Shelley!!

Shelley, we love you so much!

We are proud of the woman you have become.

You are relaxed and loving with your children.

You are kind and thoughtful with your husband.

You are forgiving when we are busy and at times neglectful.

You are upbeat even when you are tired.

You have given us two unbelievably sweet grandchildren.

You are so talented and resourceful!

You are creative and use your talents well.

You are nice and loving to everyone.

We know that you love the Lord and want to serve him.

You are such a blessing from the Lord and we are so thankful for you!

We could not have a more deserving daughter of a...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!