Andrew's Fifth Birthday...

Quote for the Day:

“I sustain myself with the love of family.”
― Maya Angelou

We were in Georgia for the last 10 days, visiting with our son and daughter-in-law, Paul & Trinity, and grandson, Andrew.  While there, Erin, Dale, and Sera came in from Tennessee for Andrew's 5th birthday party over Memorial Day weekend.  

Andrew is into dinosaurs...he can identify about 100 different kinds (I didn't even know there were that many LOL)...so everything was dinosaur-themed!  

...and who doesn't like Legos???

The kids had a "dinosaur egg hunt"...

 (my granddaughter, Sera, left, and Trinity's niece, Amelia, right)

...who knew that those plastic Easter eggs would come in handy twice in one year???  LOL

  

Tonya, Trinity's sister, did face-painting again this year.  This time it was dinosaurs...

There was  a swing set to play on...

 (Tobey, [Trinity's brother], Sera & Amelia)

 ...and a small pool for cooling off in the heat of the day...

Between Paul's 2 dogs, Erin's dog, and our Ginger, there were 4 dogs in attendance, too.  Andrew's little 10 month old cousin, Kaylee, (Amelia's younger sister) got "puppy kisses" from Ginger!  :)

Trinity and her mom, Terry, provided us with made-to-order quesadillas!   Here they are, hard at work!  MMMMM...delish!! 

Erin...hamming for the camera...because she's usually the one taking the pictures!  :)

Cousins...

 (Andrew and Kaylee, Tonya's daughter)

 (Sera and Andrew)

Birthday Boy with Daddy...

 

After the party, we had some family photos taken...

 (L to R:  Trinity, Paul, Andrew III, me, Andy, Erin, Sera, and Dale)

There's always plenty of laughter when the family gets together!!!

What's a tired, hot, Birthday Boy supposed to do when he's all worn out???  Lay in front of the fan...

...or on top of a very patient Daisy (Erin's dog)...

Let's finish this day with a cousin's sleep-over and watch "The Land Before Time" movie...

...because Grandma & Grandpa are EXHAUSTED!!!

I have a lot more to share with you from our trip, but I'll put them in future posts so you don't get overloaded with pictures!  :)

Loretta

Home Again...

Quote for the Day:

“Vacation is what you take when you can't take 

what you've been taking any longer.”

~author unknown

We're baaaaack....

Yep...Andy & I arrived home at 2 AM this morning from a brief vacation to Florida and Georgia.   WARMTH...YAY!   It was such a nice break from the bitter winter we've been having here in West Virginia.


My eldest sister has a condo in Florida and every January, four of the six of us siblings get together there for a much-needed respite from the northern winters.  This is the fifth year we've done this so far.  I plan on many, many more to come!  :)


This was an interesting trip as several "unusual" things happened during it.  First off, Andy usually doesn't accompany me on these trips because this is the busy time for his work and he usually can't get the time off of work.  But since he turns the "Big 6-0" this year, I just flat -out told him he was going...as part of my birthday present to him.  I didn't have to twist his arm very far before he gave in!  LOL


Secondly, we were planning on only taking carry-on luggage to save on checked-baggage fees.  However, on the first leg of the trip they announced at the gate that the plane was going to be VERY full and they were asking for 10 volunteers to check their bags for free.  We agreed to do this.  However, when we picked up our luggage in Florida at the baggage claim, we found that one of the bags had a huge gash cut through the fabric of one of the outside pockets.  There was nothing missing, but the framed drawing of the New York City skyline that I had packed inside the suitcase to give to my sister was broken...glass EVERYWHERE inside the suitcase.  We notified Delta and they gave us a voucher for $50 towards our next ticket purchase.  The gash can't be fixed, but we will probably put a piece of duck tape on the inside of the pocket and continue using the suitcase as long as possible or until we find a suitable replacement at Goodwill!  


Thirdly, I had a scare at the Goodwill in Valdosta, GA, when I realized that I didn't have my purse with me.  We had been sitting on a sofa waiting for Andy to finish his looking around when we got up to go to the check out to pay for what we were buying.  As I approached the cashier I realized that I didn't have my purse. Paul took off in a sprint to get back to the sofa we had been sitting on where he found my purse...untouched!  Thank God!  Luckily, we had only been away from it for about a minute and the store wasn't too busy at that particular time, but it took quite some time for the adrenaline rush I experienced to calm down.  Then after I paid for our purchases I put my wallet on the counter and closed up my purse.  Luck was on my side again because I noticed that it wasn't in my purse before I actually walked away from it, although the cashier was very nice and would have gotten my attention immediately, I'm sure, had I actually walked away from it on the counter.


And lastly...we had a 2 hour lay-over in Atlanta on the return trip.  When we got to Atlanta, we found out that there was going to be an hour delay because they were waiting for our crew to arrive.  The plane was there (and had gone through the safety checks, they said) but our crew was not.  The hour delay turned into 1 1/2 hour delay.  We finally were allowed to board the plane.  However, there was a problem with some internal lighting near the bathrooms, so we had to wait on board while a mechanic came and fixed it.  That took about 15-20 minutes.  We FINALLY arrived in Pittsburgh at midnight...2 1/2 hours later than originally scheduled.  From the airport we had to catch a shuttle to our car.  We live 90 miles from the airport, so we pulled into our driveway at 2:00 AM!!!  


WHEW!


BUT...we had a great trip overall and especially a wonderful but short visit with Paul, Trinity, and Andrew III...our son, daughter-in-law and grandson!


While we were in Georgia we got to go see their "new" house!  The closing was pushed back a couple of times, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that the closing scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00 PM does actually take place so that they can get moved in this weekend!  :)


It is a darling little house with a BIG yard!  Just perfect for a young family!  I'm so happy for them and I'm looking forward to staying with them this year when we go there for Andrew III's third birthday!  :)


This is a video of Andrew III "stomping" the bubbles in the plastic drop cloth at the new house!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSkW2Ao5xuw

Now for some vacation pictures!

Andrew III "helping" Grandpa fix the dryer...

Checking to make sure Grandpa is doing it right...

Organizing the toolbox for Grandpa...

  

Lunch at Starfish Restaurant on Cortez Island, FL...VERY windy! But the food is soooooooo good that I will battle the coolness and wind!  :)  MMMMM...fresh seafood! 

left to right...Sharon (sister), Denny (married to Bev), Bev (sister), 

Mary Ellen (sister), me, and Andy

 Look at the seat backs that we saw at a restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!  Only a quilter would take pictures of this...LOL...

As you can tell, we had a wonderful trip!  We didn't want to come home!  But it is good to get back to your own comfortable bed and have a good night's sleep!   :)  Can't wait till next January when we do it all again!  :)

This is what we came home to...

it has been snowing continuously ALL day!  :( 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Please leave a comment to let me know you were here!  :)

Loretta