Thursday, July 30, 2009

Trip to Valle Crucis






I love to travel an hour or so up the mountain from our home to enjoy the beautiful NC mountains. On Tuedsay I decided to take grandaughters, Rahlee, Chloe, Michaela and son Kelly, for a little day trip. We stopped first at the cabin of my daughter Kristen and her husband Billy who were up from Florida. It is so good to have them owning their own place near us so we can feel close to them all the time.

Next we stopped at Banner Elk to eat our lunch at the McDonalds right on the highway. Banner Elk is famous for its two ski slopes, Beach and Sugar mountain. In the summertime it is full of tourists enjoying the cooler weather in the mountains. We filled our tummies and so.....

....On to Valle Crucis, a tiny town near Boone, NC. It has a very old general store "The Mast Store" that has been turned into a tourist attraction. They have kept it just as it use to be but now sell all kinds of old fashioned items just like the old folks bought at the store over a hundred years ago. I bought a set of retro dish towels for my kitchen and a nostalgic-like sigh to put on our new back porch. I will make a post to show you my purchases later. It even has a working post office that is unchanged from the past. The little girls loved our other stop in VC, at the Candy Barrel where you can go from to barrel with a basket and fill it up with your favorite candy. Of course there is a price to pay at the cash register. Kelly's candy added up to $11.00. I was glad he was paying for his own. I told the girls that they could choose 10 candies each. It is surprising how long it takes kids to make their choices when there is so much to choose from. I just started Weight Watchers, so it was very hard for me to pass up the dark chocolate malt balls. I did settle on one "Ice Cube" and one "Reece's Piece". Need I say that it was not very satisfying, but I stuck to my diet anyway.

We went on to Boone, a nice college town (Appalachian State University) with lots of things going on at any given moment. If you get a chance to visit Boone, be sure you go to the older section where you can visit lots of shops and enjoy the unusual (at least for me) sights of people and aura of an old college town. The Boone Drug Store is a good place to grab an old fashioned hamburger and coke.

On to Blowing Rock and the park that is on the main street across from all the little shops that each sell different items. The girls, Chloe and Rahlee had a fun time doing the kids "zip line" and climbing rock.

We were all finally worn out from all the "fun", so headed home which was about fifty miles away. A summer day well spent in the beautiful NC mountains!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Walk With Gatlin






I got an opportunity to be with Gatlin for about an hour last night so we decided to take a little walk down to the river. We sat on the bench and enjoyed watching another family on a dock fishing. He saw a boat, a tiny frog, a motorcycle and lots of other things that little ones notice with their eager to learn eyes. Gatlin is really smart and is talking very well now. I missed him a lot while I have been gone so it was so good to be able to spend a little time with him.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Being With My Mom


Being here in Florida with my mom for two weeks has been a little bitter-sweet. When a parent begins to fail in health it elicits all sorts of emotional ups and downs. You begin to realize that time is short and every minute spent with them is precious. You are especially cognizant of every physical variation from the norm for them. For my mom, one day will be good and my emotions are high then she might have a little physical problem and down my emotions go. With all of that you are constantly thinking about the little memories of their past and wanting to hold on to time and make it stop. "Just keep her where she is right now and don't let her fail anymore, Dear Lord". Tears come often. But you fight them back and try to put on a happy countenance and have faith that God is in control and knows best. I realize that everyone has to go through this time with their mom and dad and someday my kids will experience this with me, but it is still hard. So, I get up each morning and try to do all the things I can do for her that make her comfortable and happy. I try to bring up little stories of that past that we can laugh about and ask her questions about things so she can enjoy her memories too. I am blessed to have many good memories to enjoy with my mommy, Marian-the best mom that a girl could possibly have.