Visiting Grandpa and Grandma

Saturday afternoon, Mom, Dad and I piled into Austin's truck and headed off to Lebanon, Pennsylvania. It had been a year since I last saw my Dad's parents and his sister, Shirley and her husband John. It had been NINE years since I last saw my Dad's brother, Stanley and his wife Elise. When we got there Saturday evening, we all headed over to a fire hall for a fundraiser dinner of chicken pot pie. (Grandpas' treat!) Can I say "Yummmm?" They had us all sit down and we were served bowl after bowl of food until we were stuffed. Then they served coffee and ice cream. It was an easy way to feed a group fairly affordably. Best of all, we left without having to clean up!

On the right side of the table we have Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Shirley and Uncle John.


On the left, we have my Dad, Mom, Aunt Elise, Uncle Stanley and Austin.


Sunday dinner was held at my Uncle Stanley and Aunt Elise's house. After dinner was a mini photo shoot of everyone. :-) Here are the three siblings. Stanley, Shirley and my Dad, Carl.


Three generations!


Pa and Ma.


Grandpa and Grandma with their three children and their spouses.


Austin, Uncle Stanley and Dad admiring the back yard...


While inside the house, we have a clean up in process...


And one sleeper on the couch. Grandpa turned really pale while he was sleeping and we were worried about his blood pressure. I checked his BP and pulse and he was OK. His color came back after he awoke. He doesn't look pale here in the photo, but he really was. I had a call from my dad late last night (Saturday) Grandpa fainted and fell and is in the hospital. He is ok, but I'm wondering if his BP meds (if he takes any) need to be adjusted.


Since my dad wasn't going to see his mother on Mother's Day, he gave her a card and roses that Sunday while we were there. I love the expression on her face when she saw the flowers.


And this photo says it all! She was SO thrilled to have all her children together that day.


Sunday evening before church, we detoured over to the farm where my daddy grew up. It's 90 acres and they farmed a lot of it. You can see the house nestled in the trees. The farm was owned by my Great Grandpa.


Here is some of the land my dad plowed many, many times.


Here is another farm house (with about 50 acres) that I remember my great grandparents living out their last days. After Great-Grandpa died, the farm was actioned off. I remember being there for the auction and running around with my cousin, Janelle. After that, Great-Grandma went to a nursing home where she lived to the age of 98. She died just after Zack was born and I was able to go up to her funeral.


OK. Sunday evening at Lebanon, Bro. Arnold's church. Penn View choir was there and my old classmate, Michele (Mason) Durkee and her family were there. It was nice to see them again, and Austin, in particular, enjoyed seeing them. We were also able to chat with another old classmate, Dwight Rine. We went to school with Michele and Dwight when we were kids at Penn View. I was looking forward to seeing Candy Hannold, too, and she was there! Her and Austin were in school together here at Hobe Sound. It was nice to catch up with all of them.


The choir and small groups did a fantastic job. I was very blessed! I didn't get any pictures of all my cousins or their children. There are MANY of them! Aunt Shirley has five children whose children range in age of pre-school to just married. We all stood around a talked for a while after Sunday morning services. Everyone was busy and the group too large to all get together on a Sunday afternoon. I totally adored Pastor Arnold's church. I told him that if I lived in the area, we would attend his church. He said "And we would treat you right, too!" I do believe he would. The services were wonderful.


Sunday evening we gathered at Grandma's apartment for super. I can't tell you what a great time we had. Dad ended up not feeling very well and we stayed an extra night instead of driving back to Austin's. We hung out in the living room having a great time teasing my dad and grandma. In order to NOT embarrass my dad, I won't tell you the content of the evening, but suffice it to say we laughed and laughed. It had a lot to do with his being sick and lots of little bars of soap including two in his socks. You REALLY don't want to know. :-)


Dad knew I would blog about the evening and was giving me a "look". See dad? I didn't betray you!!! (Note the bar of soap in dad's hand.)


Grandpa finally had enough of the hilarity and left to get his PJ's on. He came back out, though, so I guess he didn't want to miss out on the fun.


And so concludes my trip north! I'm so GRATEFUL to my LOVING husband who allowed me to go. I couldn't have gone without him holding the home front together during my absence. Poor thing. He had a daughter sick with strep throat, a baby throwing up, a toddler who WANTED to throw up and 'till I got home, another pre-teen with strep. I'm glad that I prepared meals ahead of time for him to make things easier. It helped me to not feel as guilty. I wanted to take James with me because under the age of two they can fly for free. But the silly boy turned 2, two days before I left. I probably could have gotten away with it, but I didn't feel it would have been honest. If you see my husband, give him a pat on the back. He deserves it!!!