Thursday, September 29, 2011

A Fabulous Train Ride

Several years ago Dan took our family on a train ride. It was so relaxing and serene to sit in a large windowed car and watch the beautiful landscape go by. I will never forget the peaceful feelings I had that day.
Ever since then, when things get too rushed, too busy, or too confusing, in my mind I take another train ride. This time I travel from the Northwest across the country to Maine and down the East coast ~ all by train. Just the thoughts of this train ride help me relax and carry on. My dream is to one day really take that train ride.
I love train rides!
Thanks to Jenni, I had another fabulous train ride.
While at Elizabeth's she asked if I'd like to take Gwenevere to go see Will, Jenni, Preston and Taylor for a couple of days. Of course!!! So, Sunday morning Gwenevere and I took James and Elizabeth's car and headed north. I have to say Gwen was a perfect traveling companion. We talked, sang songs and she even took a short nap on the way. We got there in time to attend Church with them. Afterwards we hurried home and played with Will and the boys in their huge backyard. Jenni fixed us a great dinner and then we all went for a walk together. It was a fun way to spend a Sunday evening.
When the boys were in bed, Jenni worked feverously on her computer to arrange for us to go on a train ride the next morning. Elizabeth had sent up two T shirts for the boys and a matching one for Gwenevere. They all had Thomas Train on them and the kids were in love with them. Jenni thought it would be fun to take all the kids on a real train ride with their new T shirts on. It wasn't easy but she figured out a way we could do.
Early the next morning (not as early as it was when Will left for work) we hurried out the door driving two cars into Stanford; a neighboring town. We left one car there, all crowded into the other car and quickly drove to Mt. Vernon where we purchased tickets
to ride the train all the way back to Stanford (a 15 minute train ride). The kids had fun exploring the train station while we waited for the incoming train. Preston and Gwenevere had to check out the maps to see where they could go on trains. Then we went outside to wait for our train.





Before long the train came roaring to a stop right in front of us. It was our turn for a ride.





And there we were looking out the windows at the beautiful scenery just flowing by.

Fifteen minutes of wonder and excitement and then we were deboarding in Stanford, right where we had left the first car. We got one more picture of Preston by another train before we all climbed into the car and drove north to pick up the other car.. On our way back to Stanford we decided that we would end our great adventure with a stop at McDonalds.
We ate...

We played on the toys...



Oh, what a glorious day; a train ride and McDonald's.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Waiting for Baby Sister

I was able to spend some time with Elizabeth, James and Gwenevere from August 8th through August 13th. Baby Sister was supposed to arrive sometime during that week, Obviously she had other plans but we had a blast just waiting for her.
We took on several projects: Gracie and Gwenevere's blankets:


Gwenevere’s is the green one and Gracie’s is the purple one.


We sorted through one very big pile of baby clothes!!


Oh, which ones do we keep and which ones do we give to someone else?


We made aprons for Gwenevere since she didn’t get to come to Granma’s to make one with her cousins.



We even had scraps for fun stuff!


The zoo was a favorite place to spend time together just waiting for baby sister.











Even though Baby Sister didn’t come, we had a great time waiting for her!

From the Gardens ~ Fruits and Flowers

Strawberries for the Grandchildren



Silver Dollars for Granma Grace

Pink Peonies for Granma Thomas



An Orange Rose for Gracie & A Yellow Rose for Friends



A White Rose for My Love -Dan



Red Roses and White Daisies for the rest of us.