Enjoying a good old fashioned Ice Cream Cone!

While we were at Disney a couple weeks ago, we went to Chevy's for dinner. They have the best chips and salsa of anywhere. I could make a meal from that and a large coke. Tanek enjoyed the chips and he really enjoyed the ice cream cone at the end of his meal.

Gotta love those sweet big eyes

I am ready to go back for more chips, salsa and ice cream.

Time to Wrap up our Trip!

The last day we were in Maryland we went to the school to take some pictures for our Christmas card. Heather is such a good photographer. It was a rainy day and in a matter of about a 10 minute window she was able to get enough good shots to make my Christmas card. These are some pictures that I took (and did not use on my card). The leaves were still pretty and made a very pretty background.

Bailey and Brody doing what they like to do.

Such beautiful dogs.

Tanek is ready for his picture to be taken

Miss Emily and her beautiful hair

Hannah and Emily

Nana and her girls

I love these girls

Mrs. Delynne, a good friend of our family

Family Hugs

It's time to start saying good-by before we start our 1000 hour drive home. Tanek said it took 1000 hours and their were times that it seemed so.

A football from Uncle Richard for Tanek. Emily showing him what to do with it.

This will do nicely

I'm going to miss you Uncle Richard. I love you!

And then the long drive started. With, "are we there yet?", "I just want to be home", and "how much longer?" It did seem like it took 1000 hours, but we finally made it safe and sound after a very fun visit. And even before we finished our looooong drive home, Tanek was wondering when he would get to go back for another visit.

My Beautiful First Grand-Child!!!

It is hard to believe that my first grand-child Kirsten is almost all grown up. She is now 16, and a very smart and talented girl. When I visit them, it is hard to get much time with her as she is very busy. She is a straight A student, busy with working at the barn and riding horses (her first love), writing a novel and just in general being a very busy teen. She is the one that first made me a Nana, and I might add it is my favorite position I have ever held. Being a mom was great and I love being "mom", but being "Nana" is even better and she first bestowed that name on me. When my son and daughter in law moved to Maryland taking my first grand-child who was 4 years old at that time I thought the world would come to an end. It didn't, but it certainly changed.
Kirky as her friends and family like to call her is a very special girl. She is so smart that she is way over my head when she talks about certain things. I do love to sit in her room with her and talk to her though. She has so much wisdom for a 16 year old girl. She is "very", did I say "VERY" headstrong. She is very much like her Aunt Stephanie. Which is a good thing. People do not influence them easily. They know what they want and are willing to work to get it. I love that about both of them. They are not quitters. They are tough even though very sensitive.

I am very proud of both of them. When you are their friend you have a friend you can trust with anything. The fact that they are so strong willed is a good quality.....most of the time. It can make you crazy as Kirky's parents know, but we are very proud of this girl. These few pictures I got of her while I was up there were the only ones I got. She was gone a good deal of time that we were up there. She even went on a Mission trip to DC with her Junior class while we were there. She is very very busy.

Heather was fixing her hair one morning . This was a good time for me to capture some pictures of her because she couldn't get away.

All three of my grand-daughters have very long beautiful hair. They are all so pretty.

Its been a long time since they moved away and some how I survived the separation. But I do love when I can be around these girls. Each one is so unique and has so much to offer. What special grand-daughters I have.

Maryland Trip- Day 3 & 4

It has taken me so long to finish this trip but I am now posting day 3 4. On Tuesday we went to the girls school for grand-parent day. Every year in November they have grand-parents day and you get to go to their school an observe what they are doing. They have chapel in the morning and each class shows some of the things they are learning. They do a lot of memorization. It is amazing to hear these kids reciting long verses or even books of scripture, poems or any number of things. They are taught such respect that when the headmaster walks up to the front they immediately get quiet without him saying a word. When an adult walks into the room they stand up. It is a classical education school and it is amazing. These kids learn so much and are so smart. I wish we had a school like that in this area. My grand-daughter Hannah does not like to have her picture taken and she is at the age I was trying very hard not to embarrass her, so I just had to capture a few shots when she wasn't looking.


Hannah is a very sweet and compassionate girl with very tender feelings. She is friendly to everyone at school and tries hard to make sure no one feels left out. She is a very special girl. She loves nature, birds and animals. She would much rather be outside in the woods than in class, but of course she must go to class too!. She has so many of the same interests that I do and we have a very special bond.

My youngest grand-daughter Emily is a trip. There is NO telling what she might come up with. If you are not careful she will try to teach the class. She comes up with some of the funniest things and you just have to smile at her. She is the performer in the family. She loves all the attention she can get and will perform for you. She will sing, dance or recite for you. She is very precious.

This is her teacher. I love this teacher. Hannah had her in pre-school and for kindergarten. She is great. She is fun and loves the kids. She makes her class very interesting and Emily is enjoying her class very much.

Tanek enjoyed visiting Emily's class because he is in kindergarten too! He is home schooled and it was fun for him to see how other schools work. He even answered a couple questions (that he wasn't asked) but just got into it. He and Emily are just 2 1/2 months apart in age. He is the youngest. He loved visiting "his cousins" as he loves to call them. He was happy sitting with his Aunt Heather.

He is enjoying being in school with Emily. Don't you love those beautiful braids Emily has?

Here is our sweet Emily

This is the kindergarten class in chapel.

Tanek is waiting for chapel to start with Aunt Heather and Uncle Richard and mommy.

Hannah was handing out programs when we walked in. She did NOT want me to take her picture but I did anyway. She did give me a big smile anyway. After chapel the school had a very nice reception for the parents and grand-parents. In the afternoon we went to the upper school to observe Kirsten's class. I did NOT take pictures of her. I knew better than to press my luck on that one. Kirsten is in the 11th grade and I cannot even relate to the classes she is in. She has classes that I never took and they are way over my head. She is way to smart for me. She is a very talented writer and is working on a novel. She is a good artist also. One day we will be reading books that she has published. I have no doubt about that. Her biggest love is horses and if she could she would live at the barn. Each one of my grand-daughters are so different, but so special. They all have very individual personalities and a couple of them are very headstrong. I guess they get that from their mom. :)

We also got to observe Hannah's ballet class. Hannah is a very graceful dancer. She is long and lean and very pretty to watch. However.....she did not like me taking pictures of her. But some times she just has to put up with her nana.

This is Hannah's domain. She loves the woods and so does Emily. They have a fort down here that they build individual rooms. They have trees to climb and there is a little stream. This is where I think Hannah likes to be the best. It really was pretty this time of year with all the leaves in color.

You can tell the difference in a Florida boy and a Maryland girl. We Floridians were cold and they were enjoying a "warm" day.

Hannah showing us around "her woods".

She even has a fish tank down there. All the comforts of home.

All the joys of nature.

Maryland Trip....Day 2

I have got behind on my blogging trying to get ready for Thanksgiving and putting up Christmas decorations. On Sunday afternoon of our trip we went to this bouncy place for Emily's birthday.
It was so much fun. There were big bouncy slides and bouncers. Everyone had a great time.
Richard is pushing Heather against the bouncy slide and bouncing her back and forth.

It's amazing how fast these slides are.

Tanek had a ball

Emily had a good time too!

And I had a great time. I loved it. It is fun to act like a kid again. Playing with your grand-children is a perfect reason to be a kid again.

Climbing up some of the slides was a little challenging....for me. But the grands had no trouble getting up them.

Bouncing is so much fun

Emily was really getting into it

Hannah is a natural

Wish we had one of these in Keystone

Cousins having a great time together. Tanek loved being with his cousins.

Emily and Heather

Hannah

Tanek

Uncle Richard

Sunday evening some friends came over to celebrate Emily's birthday

Can't believe my sweet little Emily is 6 years old already. Time goes by way too fast.

Emily blowing out her candles on her yummy birthday cake.

Emily recited a couple poems for us. On of the poems she even used a Brittish accent which was really cute.

We had such a nice visit and so much fun. I hate that we live so far away and can't see them often enough. I really miss my grand-daughters and would love to see them way more often. Tanek loved being with his Uncle Richard, Aunt Heather and his cousins.