Monday, October 20, 2014

Pure Joy!

The house was full of toys, noise and little boys (and a couple of girls) this weekend. I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Noblesville grandkidlets arrived Friday early afternoon and headed home this afternoon. Their school system is on a balanced calendar so they had last week and this week off.

Ava and Rhys were thrilled that Nicholas, Blake and Alexis were coming. (They told me so.) The twins turned 1 month old last Wednesday and were ready to be held by their cousins. A month??? How did that happen so quickly?


Ava and Rhys
 
1 month old Rhys

1 month old Ava
 
Nicholas holding Ava
While holding Ava, Nicholas said:
"This feels awesome. I could do this all day."

Nicholas and Blake loving on their cousin.

Kendra was 'allowed' to hold Ava once in a while.

Blake has decided that the new cousins are almost as precious as his Legos!

"Aren't these babies wonderful!!!"
 
It doesn't get more wonderful than this!

Alexis the Angel
Love this little girl!!!
 
Kendra and Alexis

"Mommy, I kiss your head."
"I love you, Mommy."
 
 
"I think Rhys is soooo cute!"
 
This afternoon, Jen, the twins and I were invited to visit Layla's classroom. Mrs. Chapman LOVES babies and was very excited for the visit.
 
 
There was quite a squeal from Mrs. Chapman when we arrived.
She couldn't wait to get her hands on the babies.

Layla was so proud to show off her brother and sister.
It was so wonderful watching her be the center of attention.

The girls couldn't get enough of the twins.

Jen and Mrs. Chapman had fun visiting. Jen's mother, Barb Snell, just retired from teaching at this school. She would have been with us at Concord Intermediate School had she not just made a return trip to help her mother in Salem, Indiana.

I handed my phone camera to Layla and told her to take any pictures she wanted to.

This is the Fantastic Five (I can't remember what Layla said these 5 called each other but this sounds good) that eat lunch together every day.

There can never be too many silly pictures.
 
After leaving CIS, Jen suggested that we head to Hubbard Hill to see Mother. This was the twins 4th visit there. It takes a while to get down the halls and to Mother's room. We tend to get stopped along the way.
 
I had an incredible long weekend.
Life is soooo good!
 
 
 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Fun In The Sun

Tom, Nila App, Katie App Benner and I were a little nervous when we went to the Hertz Rental place in Goshen Friday morning to pick up our mini-van for our trip to Florida and we were told that there was no van available. What??? But we have a confirmation number! What do you mean....a confirmation number doesn't mean anything? Are you really telling us that because many times, cars/vans that are reserved, aren't picked up and therefore you don't really reserve them??? And you're telling us that you never had a name or phone number or email address to inform us??? So the email that came yesterday to Nila to remind us to pick up our van really didn't reach her because you didn't have our address? I think that we won't be using Hertz ever again! We headed to Enterprise.
 
The Enterprise people were very nice and understanding. They came close to matching the price that Hertz charged us and offered us a Chevy Suburban which was far nicer than any mini-van. We were thrilled until we reached Birmingham, Alabama. We had spent the night in Franklin, Tennessee and headed out Saturday morning eager to reach Destin, Florida by afternoon. Thankfully, we were near an exit when the oil light came on. We were able to take the exit and get to a nearby gas station. I had taken out Enterprise's roadside insurance at the last minute (Thank You, God!) even though we figured we really wouldn't need it since the vehicle was nearly new.) Because of that, we called the Enterprise number. I was on hold for a while and we were finally told that it would be "safer and quicker if you drive to the Firestone store 3 1/2 miles away". Tom questioned this but since there was plenty of oil on the dip stick, I followed their suggestion. Firestone determined that it was an oil pump problem and we wouldn't be driving it anywhere. The Firestone people were so helpful and I was only on hold  off and on, on their phone for an hour!!! Ugh! Eventually, a tow truck came to take the Suburban to the airport to the Enterprise place. The driver waited with us as we waited for a cab (we were told it would be a van to take the 4 of us and luggage) to take us to the airport to pick up another Suburban. It was not a van that arrived but a small cab. The tow truck driver took the luggage and Tom with him and we three females road in the cab. After more waiting, we all met up and got another Suburban. It was 4 hours out of our lives. I ended up driving at night and we didn't get to the condo in Destin until about 10:30 central time. But we made it thank goodness!!! I'm so grateful that I was with 3 calm, patient, forgiving people which helped keep me calm. All the people that helped us along the way, were very, very nice. (The weekend Enterprise crew at the airport was rather clueless.)
 
We were thrilled to finally arrive! Sunday was our first full day in Destin and after some exploring, resting and reading, we are in love with Destin.
 
Nila and Katie are ready to check out Destin

Put those away Nila and Katie!!!
 
Mother/Daughter chat by the ocean

Maravilla condos

Katie

Perfect weather!

More perfection!

Sand as clean and soft as flour!

Travel companions
 
Where are my pictures of Tom? I will grab some tomorrow for sure. He has done his walking, reading, napping and football game watching on his own time schedule. Enough of that nonsense!