Road Trip to Ohio, Part 2 ...

The biggest reason why we scheduled this road trip to Ohio at this time was because my sister's grand daughter was getting married and this would serve as an excellent reason to get the entire family on my side together for a while. 

This wedding took place at a nature preserve near my sister's house.  It was a very nice venue which featured an indoor/outdoor portion for things like weddings. The weather had been pretty wet for a couple of days, right up to the start of the wedding, but it all turned out for the best and everyone enjoyed the outdoor seating.

One funny thing -- you know how they always have that "anniversary dance" at weddings where they ask all married couples to come out and dance and they play music. The DJ then starts eliminating couples by saying something like "if you have been married less than 15 years, leave the dance floor." He works his way up the year's criteria and usually gets to 50 years being married and there is a white-haired couple or two left out there.  Well, he got to 50 years and we were still out there along with another couple. They were coming up on their 53rd (I think) later this month, and he asked us -- we are coming up on 56 years of marriage in August. There was some applause, but there was also some gasping. 😊 We didn't win a prize, but we won the "anniversary dance"... first time ever. Might be some more coming up if we're ever invited back to another wedding in the future. Maybe we'll be around to dance at our grand daughter's wedding.

Overall, it was a good get-together and we got caught up on lots of things that were going on in everyone's lives. At one point, we had a "family" picture taken.  We clean up pretty well, if I do say so myself. 

Here are a couple of short notes I just remembered from the trip:

a. I mentioned that we drove the trip in one day each way, 9.5 - 10 hours which was really pretty easy with longer sunlight. But I looked at the mileage the other day when we got back and saw that the trip totaled 1,510.9 miles (up, back and running around while up there) (total mpg was 26.7 for the whole trip).

b. Today I went to breakfast with some men from our men's group and happened to notice that the odometer had an interesting number in the display. Check this out. Looked like a picket fence. The Jeep is a 2019, so that means roughly 15,873 miles per year so far. 

c.  I mentioned that I bought 2 books at the book store in Troy, just across from the pizza place. Well, I am now finished with one of the books and have started the other. If I keep this up, I think I am going to have to go get a library card. Books are getting expensive these days.

d.  Next trip(s) will come some time in August. Going to celebrate our wedding anniversary again at Kitty Hawk. We really like doing that.

To Megan and Hunter, we wish you all the best on your new chapter together. May it be filled with love, laughter and adventure.  

Once a couple gets married, "What's for dinner?" won't be the hardest question you'll ever ask each other.

Hooah 

Point of view ...

I don't know about you, but I've been up to my belt loops in crap before and I was serving myself a heaping helping of "woe is me" when I realized that where I was and what I was experiencing was just a matter of perspective. 

"Once you've seen there is another perspective, you can never not see that there's another point of view." (Ellen Langer)
 Hooah

Giddy-up L'il cow-poke ...

A couple of our grandkids were here to spend the night this week so we decided to take them back to the horse farm we had visited a little over a year ago.  At that time, one of the horses they were riding, Kitty, was expecting a colt at some time and they were anxious to get back to see the young colt, which the owners had named "Pistol." 

But before they were able to do any riding, they had to do some "barn" time which involved brushing a horse and checking the feet for dirt clods. 

 

 

Of course, when all of that is finished, it's time to saddle up. I think the saddle probably weighed almost as much as Heath does.  But they finally got everything done.

 

 And off they went into the sunshine. Giddy-up l'il doggy.

 

 

Thought I would include a team picture from this event.  The horse liked the smell/taste of Vivian's hair.

Another fun day with the grandkids.  Doesn't get much better than this.

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. ..

Hooah

A bird in the hand ...

I'm sure you have heard that old saying.  Well, how many have actually had a bird in the hand. 

The grandkids were on "track out" recently and we were all looking for something to do for an afternoon with them.  Outside of North Carolina, there probably aren't many people who have heard of the Sylvan Heights Bird Sanctuary, but it is quite a place.  Such a collection of birds I have not seen in my lifetime .

So it was Pam and me, D,D,Q,H,and V, along with Randy and Margaret, and what an afternoon.  

There were large areas for the birds to be in -- not in little cages such as you might see in other places. One particular attraction was a really large area where people could walk around with the birds, where the visitors could buy special popsicle sticks coated with peanut butter and bird seed.  The birds would fly down and eat the seed and sit on your fingers, shoulders, head, and even your shoes.

This was a pretty good afternoon with the family. We learned a lot -- especially that little yellow birds really love to try to eat the little button on the top of your ball cap. 

When I went in that area, I had a white ball cap on.  When I came out, I had a white ball cap on that had a big yellow-greenish mess on it.  At least I had a hat on!!

A bird doesn't sing because he has an answer, he sings because he has a song

Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/857047-joan-walsh-anglund-a-bird-doesnt-sing-because-he-has-an-answer-he-s/

"A bird doesn't sing because he has an answer, he sings because he has a song."(Joan Walsh Anglund)

Hooah

Great father & son evening out ...

Last week, Doug and I had two tickets to the Durham Bulls baseball game -- great seats -- first row behind home plate!  We were both excited about going to the game.  The only trouble was it had been raining all day with a 90% prediction of continued showers throughout the evening.  What a bummer.  It was a 6:30 game but the radar was showing lots of holes in the storm front.  Well maybe those highly-paid weather guys don't know what their are talking about.  

We sat around at home trying to figure out how to turn our tickets in for a future game should this game get cancelled.  Strangely enough, though, the longer we sat around, the more the percentage of rain kept going down until finally around 6:00 it was down to 30% and we said "what the heck."  So I told him I would be down to pick him up and we'd take our chances.  Glad we did.

We got to the ball park about 6:40 and it was only the 3rd inning...no score, so didn't miss anything.  FRONT ROW, here we come!!  

Of course, I had to make a short stop at the hat store ... had to have a Bulls hat for the game, just in case it did rain at some point.

So here are some pictures of a couple of guys enjoying a night out.

Probably wondering about the game, huh?  It was tied going into the bottom of the 9th.  Bulls had one out and the next batter was supposed to be the designated hitter.  Well, the Bulls manager decided to pinch hit for him..The batter came up to the plate and with one strike on him, promptly hit the next pitch out of the park for a walk-off homer to win the game. The crowd went wild...what a way to end the game! What an exciting night at the old ballpark. 

So glad I got to share this with Doug. Something special about a father and his son going to a game together, regardless of their ages.  Next game we'll take the grand kids.

could be, it might be… It is, A home run! (Harry Caray)
"All the way around if you know what I mean" (me)

Hooah

Guys night out ...

Laughing, chair-dancing, clapping, head-hanging, selfie-taking, Tootsie Roll sucker chomping, popcorn eating, whooo-whooo-whoooing -- all took place against the background of a professional hockey game last night at PNC Arena as three generations of our family had a great night out.

Our son, Doug, his two sons and I went to my first hockey game since moving to NC.  I was really looking forward to seeing this team, the Carolina Hurricanes, as they had actually won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and had been pretty high in the standings a few times since.  Also, I had seen a bunch of hockey in the old days while attending Ohio University and really enjoyed it then. But more than all of that, it was a chance to have a night out with these three guys, a fun get-together, a special time for me with them.

 

  

Our seats were pretty much up in the nose bleed sections of the arena, but we could really see very well. In fact, as you can see from the picture above, I was sitting right behind the goal.  I think that vantage point allowed me to see a bigger perspective of the action.  Up, and down -- up, and down -- and up, and down again and again.  The Hurricanes took an incredible 40 shots on goal and only managed to score one time, while the Dallas North Stars took a total of 18 shots which produced 4 goals.  Not a good night for the home team.  Some of the Hurricane shots were pretty weak and looked more like passes to the goalie than real professional shots.  Oh well, it was reported that the team had just that day wrapped up some team clearing trades and this was pretty much the first game that they all had played together.  

Have you ever kicked an ant hill, or lifted up a piece of ground cover in ant country and watched them go everywhere -- well check out this film loop.                                         

                              

So, what can I say --- it was a really great time  of being with my son and his sons ....my grand sons, with a hockey game thrown in for good measure.  As we walked back to the car, and made our way back home, the kids were laughing (mostly about our walking around looking for the car),  talking about the game and the lack of goal production and loud crowd -- at least until they fell sound asleep in the back seat.  Good, good stuff.

 I know this quote was said in an entirely different context, but from a grandpa point of view describing a night like this, it fits quite well...

This is your moment. You’re meant to be here.  Herb Brooks

Hooah
                 

Family road trip...

It's hard to believe that all of us are in our 60s and 70s, and this is the first "road trip" we have taken together.  But we finally managed to get everyone's schedules to align in the cosmos and we took a weekend trip to Cincinnati to take in a river boat dinner cruise and a Reds game. 

Pam and I had been on the BB Riverboat dinner cruises before, so I thought the group would like to do this,  We signed up for the Thursday evening captain's dinner cruise which consists of a very nice buffet dinner, about a two hour twilight cruise up and down the Ohio river, and a relaxing "sit around" up on the top deck of the boat, watching the skyline of the Queen City.  The evening was very pleasant and quite relaxing.


It was funny that the evening turned out so well, because when we left our hotel in Newport, just across the river by the Aquarium, we got caught in a heavy downpour.  We caught the trolley and took it part of the way to the BB location,  but had to go about two blocks in that rain.  The ladies' shoes were soaked and the hair got frizzed, but once we got there it rain stopped and the sunshine came out.

The boat people take these pictures when you  board.

So, the next day, we walked around the river park area over in Cincinnati near the ball diamond.  We had a good lunch at the Holy Grail and then went over to ride the carousel.  This was fun.

There is just something about these old rides.  And this one had some hidden things on the horses and other animals that you were supposed to find.  Pretty good way to act like a kid again, but not stand out too  much.

Also a must-do when visiting the old ball diamond is looking around the gift shop.  Gotta have a Reds cap or maybe a shirt.

One nice thing about this weekend is this was the '76 Reds reunion weekend (Friday's pre-game activity) and a Fireworks Friday game.  They were also expecting big crowds for the induction ceremony of Pete Rose into the Reds Hall of Fame (Saturday game) and the retirement of his jersey during the Sunday game.  These were 3 sell-out games in a row -- pretty good considering their struggles on the field this year during their rebuilding phase.  We did not stay for the Saturday and Sunday activities. 

Since this was a reunion of the '76 World Champion Reds team, we wanted to get there early to see the old guys come out on the field for the pre-game ceremonies.  While we were there waiting for the gates to open, out walked Johnny Bench.  He went over to his statue and spent about 45 min. talking to fans and having ;pictures taken.  The whole team was there for the ceremony, but Bench was the only one who came out to spend time with the fans.  Class guy.

Oh, by the way, here is a picture of three "wild and crazy guys" waiting for the gates to open.

 We had pretty good seats too.  It was REALLY hot that afternoon, but we had seats in the second level, and we were in the shade.  Great seats to see the game and the fireworks following the game.  The Reds put on a pretty good show on those Fireworks Fridays.

Overall, this was a pretty good get-away for all of us.  .Too bad we had to wait so long to do this; maybe the next one won't be too far down the road.

Oh, by the way, the Reds lost.

I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.  (Mark Twain)

Hooah

A Memorial Day walk to the park...

I did not know this, but Memorial Day is a big, big deal in Brooklyn.  The city has celebrations, storefronts are outfitted with the U.S. flag and other patriotic bunting, and there is a big parade.  One whole street is blocked off and the parade goes from somewhere around Bay Ridge Parkway and 3rd Avenue (I could be wrong about the streets) clear down to the Ft. Hamilton area, a distance of over 30 blocks.  There are bands, floats, civic and fraternal organizations, scouting groups and military groups from the various branches.  All in all, it is a big parade and quite remarkable for this day and age when it seems that displaying patriotism is something that is talked about but not often observed.

Quinn's cub scout troop was going to march in the parade and he had asked me to walk with him.  I was really looking forward to doing this.  We talked and laughed as we made our way to the finishing area.

Once we got to the finishing area, they took a team picture of the scouts.

The rest of the family picked out a nice area with some shade where they could watch the parade and wait for us to pass by.  Of course, the sun tends to move and what once was a shady area is not so much so later on.  It seems that this was as good a place as any for Miss Vivian to take a nap...the heck with grandpa and Quinn.

So, when Pam and I planned our trip to visit D&D and the grandkids, we knew that this would be a busy weekend with lots of traffic and plenty of warm temperatures.  But we had done this many times before.  The kids have plenty of fun in the parks, where they can generally run through the fountains and play on the swings and jungle-gyms.  And, they can always cool off in the pool in the back yard.

After the parade, there was ice cream all around, complete with sprinkles and gummy-bear toppings.

Of course, no trip to NY would be complete without lots of "grandma and grandpa time."  This is the time we get to spend with them as they grow up -- which seems to be way too fast.  This is the fun time for us, getting to hold them, read to them, interact with them, and even get beat in a game or two by them.  We got to watch Miss Vivian drive around in the little red car they were playing with.  At one point, she just sat in it in front of the TV and it looked like she was sitting at a drive-in (old people remember those).

So, here are some of those "G&G" moments I mentioned.

 So, that was pretty much the weekend.  They always go too fast, and there are way too many unseen changes in these youngsters between visits.

So we have to Skype every once in a while, and get in a few words during phone calls.  I came up with a new way to get connected...I wrote a letter to Quinn in Morse Code.  I am doing some refresher stuff for my Ham Radio hobby and I think (I am not sure if they still do this one) Quinn can get a badge for doing something with Morse Code.  We'll see.  I told him that this would be our secret pirate code way of communicating (....   ..  /  --.-   ..-   ..   -.   -.).

We brought our children and they brought theirs into this world because it/we needed the light that only they can bring.

Hooah (....  ---  ---  .-   ....)

Christmas 2015, Part 1 of 3...

Well, we started our Christmas season with the Michael W. Smith concert in Cincinnati and that gave us one day to rest up and then we would be off to Brooklyn to spend time with D,D,Q,H & V.  Really looking forward to it.  Not only do we get to celebrate Christmas with them, we get to see Quinn's school's Christmas show and we get to celebrate Doug's birthday.


Normally when we drive to Brooklyn, we stop in PA and spend the night in Bethlehem.  Boy what a fitting place to spend the night.  So, we arrived on Friday.  And before I get into telling about the weekend, let me first say that the State of NY gets a boatload of "attaboys" for getting the highway completed through Staten Island. Boy does that make a huge difference.

The choir show was pretty good.  Lots of parents and little kids in the audience. The school doesn't have an auditorium so they use their church for things like this.  It was decorated nicely and added lots of atmosphere to the Christmas songs and stories.

What better way to spend a Christmas than with your grand kids.  Quinn showed us their Advent calendar and told us what it signified.  He and Heath also showed us their tree and the ornaments they made for it. I think Vivian wanted to tell us about her role in all of this, but she was having too much fun flashing that big smile of hers and those bright eyes.  That was pretty much all she had to do while we were there to get our attention.  And it worked every time.

It was really fun watching the youngsters opening their presents.  Things haven't really changed a lot from the times of my childhood.  Paper goes flying every which way, and mom and dad have to keep track of things for them so nothing gets lost or put in the trash bag by mistake.  And no phrase is more important to note prior to even wrapping the gifts is -- "batteries not included."  The best way to shut down the moment is not having batteries for something.  (It also helps to have the correct size, Grandpa!)

Some of the gifts came without batteries being required.  Grandma got both of the boys puppets.  She has been a ventriloquist for many years and showed them some of her puppets when they were here this past summer.  They both really liked them, so Grandma got them each one.  Quinn got a lion, Heath a turtle.  These only require some imagination to make them work and Quinn jumped right on that idea.  He was having lots of fun with his.

The weather was really nice while we were there.  Really unusual for Christmas time.  We were able to take some walks and we took Heath up to the church courtyard to play some hide and seek. He took his glider and we had a good time outdoors too.

And did I mention that Miss Vivian was the hit of the show when she broke out that smile ?  I would often wonder what the kids were thinking when they would stare at the tree, or the decorations or just smile at us.  I know for certain that when I was there age, there was nothing going on between these ears, and I probably wouldn't have to work too hard to come up with an unlimited list of those who would attest to that fact.  But when I look at these little ones, I know that they are WAY beyond that, way into deeper things that I ever imagined at their age.  Good for them.  Keep going.

One night, we went out to look at the Christmas decorations.  Doug took us to a place to see lights that put Clark Griswold to shame. They were unbelievable.  I noticed TV news trucks there and sure enough, there wea a segment on the NBC nightly news a couple of days later about these lights.

 Of course, a celebration of any kind wouldn't be complete without some silliness.  We played a game of 20 questions one afternoon and these pictures came out of that.  Lots of fun.

What a great time we had.  We left on Monday and set out for Carlisle for the evening.  This normally 3-hour drive took 5.  The next morning we finished the trip home.  Again, this was a long day of driving in the rain and heavy fog, accidents, and sitting in traffic.  This leg is normally 6 hours depending on stops and traffic.  However, this time it took about 9 hours.  Oh well, it was worth it.  D,D,Q,H and V were going to spend their first Christmas at home and then they were off to NC to spend time with Danika's parents and some of the rest of the family.  I hope their trip is smoother than our drive.  The I-95 corridor can be a real bear normally, let alone during a holiday. 

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!  

Hooah