I have five very wonderful and very precious grandchildren. Five! I’m in love with them all. Today, since it’s her 4th birthday, I thought I’d share a bit of why our little Maddie has such a special place in my heart.
1. She and I are share “birth order”. We’re both the third daughter and after a lovely reign of being everyone’s baby, we were usurped by a baby brother. Not that we don’t love that baby brudder, mind you, but still. It is what it is.
2. We almost share the same birthday. Today Maddie turns 4. Tomorrow I turn the “new 40″.
3. In a family of dark haired beauties –

she’s a little blue eyed blonde! And that, my dear friends, comes directly from her daddy’s side of the family. And we take full responsibility for that!

Happy Birthday, precious little one!

How quickly you have become

the little imp that melts our heart!
We wuv you.

One thing our kids have learned over the years (especially since we’ve been “on the road”) is to have a list of chores for their Dad when we come to visit. It really makes him crazy if there’s no room to paint or faucet to install or stairs to build. He’s helped Toby build a deck and basement shelves, helped Josiah install windows and outfitted the baby’s closet with shelves, and if you’ve hung around this little blog you know he did a little kitchen thing last year at Lara’s! Well, we spent a nice long weekend in Waco with Lara last weekend and let me tell you, there were tools involved! There’s always a long to-do list when you live in a house built in 1919 so it was just a matter of picking the right job to fit the budget and the time-frame. This time repairing the fence seemed to be the chore that fit the bill. And since there are three dogs that live at Lara’s and three at the house next door, a fence repair DEFINITELY seemed like the way to go.
Of course, I don’t have a true “before” picture, but here is one in the early stages of the re-build -

And here are the boards that we were removing….

And here is the fist section completed.

The neighbor (with the OTHER three dogs) was so pleased with the results that he said he’d pay for all the material if Gary could replace the rest of the fence along that side. OK, that was a no-brainer!
The next day, the rest of the fence came down -

and by the end of the day Friday – Voila!

Pretty sweet, eh?
But the weekend wasn’t all work. The three of us played at the Waco Food and Wine Festival along the riverfront downtown on Saturday and it was a perfect day for the event! Bright sunshine, not too hot, gentle breeze……

We each had our little plate and wine glass – and had a grand time sampling food from many local restaurants and wine from local wineries and shops. Lots and lots of choices – but I was especially happy to see an iced tea choice at one of the booths!


Since it was a fund raiser for the Waco Humane Society, there were lots of adoptable puppy dogs hanging around too.
We joined some of Lara’s friends toward the end at one of the “reserved” tables -

and then later we all went to a local eatery for dinner (please don’t ask me why we needed dinner after grazing all afternoon…….). It was really fun to hang out with all the youngun’s. And I don’t think we embarrassed Lara too much.

Well, I don’t think so, anyway!

So it was a great weekend all around. Gary had fun doing his “thing”, Lara and I helped him when we could (mostly in debris removal), we had some good play time with Lara’s friends and we even got in a couple of HGTV shows (for those of us TV deprived folks!). We’ll be back toward the end of the month….I wonder what will be at the top of the list then?

Really. Has it been a week since I’ve updated this little journal of mine? Not quite, you say? Hmmmm…. It seems that sitting in three days of board meetings is much more mentally draining than you might think! The last week was largely spent either in meetings, thinking about meetings, eating with fellow board members where we TRIED not to talk about the meetings, or falling exhausted into bed amazed at how tired you can get sitting in a nice comfortable chair for hours on end. (Ok, so there might have been a trip to the DQ in there somewhere. Maybe.)

But I must tell you – it was a GOOD meeting. I really feel that the current board is exceptional in their dedication to the ministry, their willingness to serve, and their clarity of thought. And the office staff (who does a great job of actually implementing the decisions made by the Board) is also exceptional. We might not all agree on all the finer points of how things should work, but we are all on the same page when it comes to the integrity of the ministry and the desire to do it all to the glory of God.

I am honored to serve with these folks!

But since this post is about randomness -
How about those new tires?
Old Tires -

New Tires -

Thankfully those OLD tires never looked like this one -

Phew – I think we were closer than we realized!
Here’s the house looking a little toothless -


And here’s a shot from our tire day that I’m sharing just because it reminded me of the movie “Cars”.

(We’re being random, right?)
After the new tires came the alignment.
Do you know that in order to align the front tires of an RV it has to be driven over a pit on two little tiny platforms?

Ok, so they aren’t actually “tiny”, but even the experienced mechanic took it pretty slow. Gulp.

Wanna see the underside of our house?

See those pretty new tires? (Any questions about what anything IS under there should be directed to Gary!)
We had one more maintenance stop to make before we reached Texas, and that was at the ArTex Truck Center in Texarkana,AR (which is right next door to Texarkana, TX – go figure.) They checked a couple of items for us, and Gary watched while they did some maintenance (so next time HE can do it).  I really felt like Lizzie (the house) was out playing with the big kids.

All in all I think we’re about done with our heavy-duty maintenance schedule for a while. But, the ol’ girl is 8 years old, has traveled 60,000+ miles, and has been used full-time for seven of those years so we are beginning to see some good old fashioned wear and tear. But we still love her!

Ok – one more bit of random goodness -

Little Weston at 10 weeks! Be still my heart!

And in real time…..
This afternoon we head to Waco to spend a long weekend with Lara and the folks/critters at the Parrott Ave Zoo!
See ya next week!

So, Vermont.

I could have easily done multiple posts about our time in Vermont, but my life is promising to get pretty busy again starting Friday, so I’m putting together a Reader’s Digest Version.

The Preface
We had a quick afternoon at the cabin before we drove to Lancaster, PA to meet our new grandson, Weston.  My nephew and his family were just settling in at the cabin for the week, and we were delighted to be able to join them (along with my sister and hubby) for a quick lunch after church.

Not seen in the picture is Mike’s wife (she’s behind the camera) who is expecting twins any time now. I think they did their first vacation at the Cabin (since the kids) just in time!

Chapter One – The Projects
No Cabin visit for us would be complete with Gary tackling a variety of projects. Let’s face it, I’m content to sit in front of the fire with my coffee until 10AM, do up the breakfast dishes, make a sandwich for lunch, read a couple of chapters of my book, take a nap, put together a salad for dinner, pull out the book again and then call it a night. On a sunny day, you might find me wandering down by the pond or suggesting a ride into town for ice cream. Gary, on the other hand, starts every day with a list. This year he was concentrating on doing some ground work for the shed rebuild next summer.

Since he was replacing some supports, he decided to do some improvement to our outdoor shower.

First of all, let me say that I LOVE this outdoor shower. I marvel at the miracle of a hot shower at the cabin every time I use it! And now, we can use it without getting our feet muddy coming and going!

He did a little additional shed organization/cleaning -

and worked on replacing some rotting supports on the cabin and porch.


So, it’s safe to say that Gary was having a great time at the cabin. And he even got to pull out a giant rock or two!
(lucky for you, I can’t find that video!).

Chapter Two – The Friends!
We delighted that friends joined us for the last part of our Cabin time.

Gord and Mar had driven all the way from Western Michigan, so we had a great time showing off the beauty of both Vermont and New Hampshire. From the Trappe Family Lodge (think “Sound of Music”)

to the Dwinell Homestead in East Calais

to covered bridges

to scenic waterfalls

to the top of Mount Washington -

to evenings enjoyed by the fire playing cards, it was a GREAT way to wrap up our time at the cabin!

Chapter Three – The Beauty of it All!

Conclusion – A Wonderful Time Was Had by All!

It was a pretty perfect couple of weeks at the Cabin.  I’ve skipped over the chapter about  my quilting day with my buddy Lynne, and the mini family reunion with my brother and his family, my sister & hubby, and my niece and her kids, or the lovely afternoon shared with the ladies’ fellowship from my sister’s church.  All 30+ of them!
Needless to say, there are lot more pictures that pertain to our time at the Cabin and our drives through the countryside. If you’d like, please check them out for the “rest of the story”.

Cabin Projects
Fun with Gord and Mar
Vermont Sky
Mount Washington
ALL the Cabin – Sept. 2011 pictures!

Thanks for hanging in for this (not so very) condensed version of our time at the Cabin! I know it’s been fun for me just to review what a special time those two weeks were!

OK. I decided to start “eating that elephant” with our recent visit with the Ohio Conrads. We hadn’t seen these guys since late March, so we knew we would be in for a wonderful time of getting reacquainted with our cuter than cute grandkids and catching up with our son and his beautiful wife. I know we shouldn’t be surprised that these kids are growing up fast, but really – WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN???!!!!
Here’s Ellie -

She’s the oldest, in third grade and will be 9 in February. NINE. She is so very smart and creative and shoulders the responsibility of being the oldest with grace (at least most of the time!). She loves doing crafts and is even asking for a sewing machine for Christmas. Yes, a girl after my own heart!
This is Hayley -

She’s in first grade and will be 7 in November. She is our “just want to have fun” girl – she’s brave and adventurous and loves to play teacher. Oh, and just about any game that you’ll agree to play with her!

And then there’s Maddie

She’s still home during the day and is LOVING the extra time with Mommy! She’s quite the outgoing young lady and ALWAYS knows what to do when she hears a camera turn on! Although she’s three years younger than Hayley (she’ll be 4 in November), she is always trying to do whatever the big girls are doing. And oh, my – what a charmer!
And finally – there’s Noah!

He turned one earlier this month, and is just beginning to toddle around the house. His sisters adore him, and it was so much fun to get to know him a little better. He’s too young to remember us, but we surely will remember him!
We weren’t there for very long, but we managed to fill our time with lots of fun!
Hayley and Maddie and I had a good time at the local playground -

and while the big girls were at school one day, the rest of us went to the zoo!




Like I said, she knows what to do when she sees a camera !
And as a whole family we did some geocaching.


Tammy was the Rock Star of geocaching, finding all but two of the caches. Here she is going the extra mile .

Everyone seemed to have a good time – and the hunt even ended up in their neighborhood! A very fun afternoon!

Before we left we buckled the girls into the front seat and drove them to Walmart -

And once Daddy came to get them home, we gave Noah a shot at the driver’s seat -

“Can I drive it home, Papa?”

Yes, it was a great little family visit with a great (not so little any more!) family!

(ah, the joys of trying to get a family picture!)

There are more pictures of our time in Marysville HERE if you feel up to the cuteness!

See you soon for another bite of that elephant!