Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my mother's 71st birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

This is my mother and me about two months ago. Sorry it's so blurry. Doesn't she look great!

My mother has been a role model to me my whole life. She has always been a wife and mother that I have looked up to and wanted to be like. She doesn't give herself enough credit for her importance in these roles. When I was in high school she would encourage me to go to college and have a career so that I wouldn't end up as just a housewife like her. And I did just that. I went to college and had a 25 year career. What she didn't realize was that my desire always was to be a good wife and mother and "just a housewife" like she was.

It seems that being a good wife and mother is not appreciated for how difficult and important a job it is. And I want to emphasize "good". Any female can be a wife and mother, but to actually be good at it is a whole different story. It's a job that requires more skill than any executive. You need to be an organizer, manager, multi-tasker, cheauffer, boss, nurse, cook, housekeeper, hostess, and the list can go on. Oh - and all of this with a smile on your face, and no sick days. I don't know of any executive that has all of these skills in a work place and would do all that for the wages it pays. It's a 24/7 job and it seems thankless most of the time. But as you get older you realize how important family is. When you see the fruits of your labor grow up to be wonderful adults and parents themselves, and you're still married to the same man, and you have beautiful grandchildren, then that job as good wife and mother becomes the most rewarding job any female could have.

The debate will go on forever between stay at home mothers and working mothers and I've been both. I can honestly say that being a working mother is easier. Which is why I admire stay at home mothers so much and if had it to do over again I would have strictly been a stay at home mother.

The point I'm trying to make is that being a good wife and mother is a hard job and one that I admire greatly. My mother would be the pefect definition. I wish she realized this as much as I do.

I Still Remember

Here we are, Friday again, and I don't have much time. But I had to take a few minutes to remember 9/11. It's still a sad day every year and in remembering back eight years ago I could still cry. Even though I didn't personally know anyone that lost their life that day in this horrible, senseless tragedy, my heart aches for those that did. I can only imagine how the families of fallen loved ones from that day must feel on each anniversary of 9/11.
I pray that we may never have to experience anything like this in the United States again. No country should ever go through something like that, but some do all the time and it becomes their way of life. No one should have to live a life with those fears.
I am so thankful for the United States Military and their sacrifice. I am so proud of my two sons that are currently in the United States Air Force.
Let there be peace on Earth!

Friends, Family and Niagara Falls

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post. (It sounds like I'm at an AA meeting or in a confessional, not that I have experience with either) Where do the days go? Last Saturday I spent the morning cleaning, because I have to do that before I go away anywhere. Then when I get home I'm able to relax and it feels more welcoming when I walk in the door. In the afternoon my parents took Ellie Mae and Fergie, along with their dog, Lilly, to the dog sitter. I did the laundry and packed a bag. Even though we were just going away for one night it seems just as much work as getting ready to go away for a week. Saturday evening we went to my good girlfriend's (Paula's) house for a small get together. I have a group of very good girlfriends that used to get together all the time and now it seems life has gotten in the way of that. We still try to arrange it whenever we can, though it is a much more rare occasion. Last Saturday night it was a couple's get together and not just "the girls". The evening weather was beautiful , with the feeling of Fall in the air. We had a great time, and stayed much later than we thought we would.

Paula on the left and my good friend's (Francey's) mother, Dorothy, on the right.

We got back home shortly after my cousin, Brad, and wife, Jane, and their children, Grady and Libby, had arrived from Harrisburg. They were spending the weekend at our house and visiting Jane's family and Grandma and Grandpa in the nursing home. I enjoy their visits and felt bad that we had to leave so early the next morning, so I stayed up until about 1:00 a.m. talking with Brad and Jane.
My Bob and I got up at 6:30 and we were out the door by 7:30, picked up Austin and the boys and met Mom and Dad at the convenient store so that they could caravan behind us as we drove to Buffalo, New York. Unfortunately, Austin was not feeling well at all, so he slept. It was a beautiful day and we arrived at the Family Reunion by 12:30. It was one of our smaller reunions and I expect it to go by the way side after a few more years. The older generations are dying out and the younger generations hardly know each other and I don't see them showing enough interest. We had a great time. I love seeing family that I haven't seen in a while. The grandsons were very good. The highlight for them was when we went back to the hotel to swim in the pool. Monday morning, Labor Day, we drove to Niagara Falls. Austin was feeling a little better, but the little bug he had was still hanging on. We had to stay on the American side because Austin didn't have a current passport. With the new laws, Canada will let you into their country with a birth certificate and a photo ID, but United States won't let you back into the country without a passport. I explained that Austin had a military ID and the border patrol said that didn't matter because a U.S. Military ID does not prove U.S. citizenship. Isn't that something? But the American Niagara was very nice and there was much more to see and do than I remember from 20+ years ago.

Austin, Logan and Landen with the Falls behind.

Big G.G (My dad), Austin, Logan, My Bob getting geared up to go into the Cave of the Winds.

Aren't they cute!!

We had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the Falls. It was very nice and a great view. The boys were having a great time and yelling to people walking down below.

It was a great family weekend. The timing of the weather was also perfect. It was sunny and warm until we headed back home and then it turned to Fall. It started to rain a little and the temperature dropped. I'm OK with that now. Summer is over and I'm ready for the new season.

Hurry - Quick - Too Much Going On

O.K. this is going to be a quick one. I don't know how I got so busy. I don't have kids in school, but I guess just the change of season has brought things to my attention that I need to do. And the Labor Day Weekend. So before I run out of time, I hope everyone has a great End of Summer, Four Day, Labor Day Weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful here. We're going to Buffalo on Sunday for a family reunion, maybe stop at American Niagara Falls on Monday morning, then head home. Austin and the two grandsons, Mom and Dad, and My Bob and I are going. Austin's wife isn't going. She didn't really want to, and they have recently decided they need to move closer to Austin's Recruiting office over an hour away, so she's going to look at rentals. They own their house (used to be my grandparent's house) here and they don't want to get rid of it so they are going to rent it out. Long story I don't have time to get into. More on that later.
I've been doing my Fall decorating all week. I love fall. Even though the weather is warm it still feels like fall in the air. I'm ready. And you know how one thing leads to another! So I ended up cleaning as I changed out summer "things" for fall "things". Then I got into window cleaning, which I hate. Then I couldn't just leave one window clean because the one next to it looked even dirtier, and so on and so on.
We have my cousin and family coming into town tomorrow . They always stay at our house, which I look forward to. They're not going to the family reunion because they want to spend the free weekend visiting with my grandparents in the nursing home.
I'm hoping to fit in a quick trip to the monthly summers only flea market. I haven't been to one yet and this is my last chance.
Well, it's Friday night and I try to reserve Friday nights for My Bob. He feels I don't pay enough attention to him. I don't know why he thinks that!! So I better get off this computer real quick. There's the rambling update and I hope I have more time next week. My grandson baby sitting won't start until the following week now.
Oops, he's coming downstairs, gotta g----.

Caves and Wild Animals

Our last couple of weekends have been busy with visiting the sites and attractions of Central Pennsylvania with Logan and Landen, our grandsons. They are now at the age where they enjoy doing these things and their attention spans are just a little bit longer. What is so much fun for My Bob and me is that we went on these same exact excursions with Austin and Brandon (our sons, L & L's father and uncle) about 22 or 23 years ago. In fact, I was going through some old picture albums and I have a few of these same exact pictures with Austin and Brandon at this same age.
Last Saturday we visited Indian Caverns. This is a walking cave tour with a guide. The boys felt like we were on a real Indiana Jones adventure and felt like Bobby (that's what they call Grandpa) should be carrying a gun just in case there were any bad guys or monsters. Fortunately we didn't come across either.

Outside the cave was this tee pee that little kids just love to go in. I didn't even remember this tee pee being there 23 years ago, but there in the old photo album was this exact same picture with my little boys peeking out the opening of this very same tee pee.

Also the same totem pole.

On the way back from Indian Caverns we stopped at a place that our boys loved to go to, even up into their teens, called Bilger's Rocks. This is like the best playground ever for little boys. It's a series of rocks and valleys and little caves and walkways deep inside the rocks that you can get lost in. It actually could be very dangerous because there are very sharp rocks and steep drop offs. The boys loved it. I complained that I was too old to be doing this until I saw an older woman than me just hiking and climbing along, so I shut up. Wasn't my idea of fun except for watching the boys have fun.

Yesterday, we decided to take a Sunday drive with Logan and Landen and also my parents to Penn's Cave. This is a boat tour through a cave and there is also a wildlife bus tour that we didn't go on. Their attention span (and mine and Mom's) wouldn't hold out.

This was a better cave tour for, shall we say, the older generation. No walking or climbing.
As we were driving up the entrance to the cave property this herd of Bison was off behind an electric fence. None of us had ever seen Bison, or Buffalo for that matter, up close or even far away in person before. They are huge.


Inside the cave and the back of My Bob's head with his little shadow, Landen, on his lap.

Took a little seat after coming out of the cave. It was a beautiful, autumn feeling day. Logan just couldn't sit still any longer, though.

So we were leaving the property to head back home and right in front of us, on the edge of the wildlife area was this huge elk. It was only there a minute and wouldn't turn it's head toward us, but we had never seen one of those in person before, either.

We stopped at this Harley Davidson store to show the boys some motorcycles but it was closed. So they got up on the rock carving and loved it just the same.

We had such a fun couple of weekends with our boys. And we should have just come straight home after the Harley shop, but thought we'd make one last stop in State College (Penn State) for ice cream cones at the Creamery. The ice cream was excellent, but we were sitting outside at a little table and Landen's cone was dripping all over his hand and table and a little bee thought the ice cream on his hand looked good. It landed on his hand and as Bob pushed it off with his own hand it stung both of them. Landen screamed. I felt so sorry for him. We got ice and wrapped his hand up and he was fine by the time we got home.

I just got a call from DIL and their Day Care subsidy is being cut off due to no budget for Pennsylvania. In order for them to keep both boys in Day Care from noon to 5 (after pre-school) five days a week it would cost $240.00. Isn't that awful? So DIL just put in her notice at work that she is quitting as soon as they can hire and train someone else. I'm very glad to hear that. So she asked if I would be able to keep the boys after pre-school for a few weeks. Of course I said yes. If it were not a temporary situation I wouldn't have agreed to that. It sounds like she and Austin are discussing a lot of possible adjustments and changes to their work and home issues. I'm much encouraged by this. Everything always works out eventually. Patience is the key.