TGIF!

Just do NOT have any energy today! If I were really truthful.....I haven't felt like doing anything all week! I think I am still tired from vacation! It is a LOT of work getting everything ready the week before you leave and the day before.....it is like a marathon! Then while you are ON vacation.....you try to cram in as much as you can knowing that you only have a certain number of days there! We didn't really DO that much but I think all of the sun and fresh air and heat is just as tiring. THEN you have the last day of vacation where you are doing the laundry and packing to go home. Not to mention the feeling of sadness that the fun is about over and it is back to the real world! Not that the real world isn't fun but it was so nice being on the beach, lounging around the pool, spending time with family and laughing till you hurt! I think I need TWO weeks at the ocean next time! Then maybe, just MAYBE, I will be ready to come home!

Bud and I went to the casino with Mimi and Poppy last night. They had free rooms and it was Senior Night. Senior Night is for people 50 years and older and I'm not so sure how I feel about being in that 'elite' group now! Was really different gambling in that sea of wheelchairs, oxygen tanks and WHITE hair! I DID feel pretty young though! haha Bud left this morning at 7 a.m. for work.....I think he said it was about the same distance from Siloam to Rogers as from Springdale to Rogers. I know he has to be tired too so am thinking our weekend will be pretty low key with sleeping in and naps on the agenda! The temperatures are so much cooler now so will definitely be taking the jeep down on the jeep tomorrow! Haven't had many days where it was cool enough to do that this summer!

Last week this time, we were enjoying our last day at the ocean! We ordered pizza delivery and were doing laundry and packing. And some tears were shed as well.......I don't know if people who live on the ocean ever take it all for granted but I honestly don't think I would. Each day was filled with new things to see......sharks, rainbows, tar balls (not many though), owls, falling stars! I don't think you COULD take it for granted......and since we went later in the season than we normally do.....the kids were all back in school so we pretty much had the pool, beach and ocean to ourselves. And traffic was nothing! SO NICE!

Probably won't blog this weekend.....will take too much effort and I hope this post is appreciated since I had to move from the couch to the guest room to type this! ; )

Gigi

Hugs from Heaven

I was going to post some more about our vacation but instead I want to share something else. My heart has been heavy lately.....due to personal things as well as things going on in the lives of those that I love. I won't go into all of that but I have just felt overwhelmed at times and I know so many hearts that are troubled and that are hurting including my own. I had a very special relationship with my grandma........and since I've become a grandma......I feel an even closer bond with her. She was THE best! She always had time to laugh, to love, to play....to listen, to hug and she had a wonderful hug! When she died.....there was a special song that kept playing on the radio and for a few months after her death, I would occasionally hear it again and always when I needed to feel her hugs the most! I haven't heard the song in YEARS! Not that I haven't needed to feel her hugs but I just haven't heard it in a long, long time. Yesterday on my way to church for my hour of Adoration.....I gathered my Bible, jumped in my jeep and flipped on the radio which I seldom do and immediately 'the' song came on and I felt those arms hug me and I felt her love so clearly. I needed that more than I've ever needed it before! And during Adoration, I felt her presence like never before. I felt like she was sitting right beside me holding my hand and holding my heart. I miss her so much but I also see her in my mom and my aunts.....that same love, that same strength, that same love of life! I am so blessed.

Not only was she beautiful on the outside, but just as beautiful on the inside! She was a little woman but she had a BIG heart!

Gigi

Vacation anything but boring!

We are back from vacation! We had quite the adventure! I may have to post about our vacation in more than one post! We left Saturday morning at 4 a.m. on the dot! Mimi, Poppy, Albie and Carol picked us up in this!


This was RV's maiden voyage and we were all so excited to be a part of this adventure! We had watched the movie "RV" and knew that we were going to have an adventure for sure but didn't really plan on the adventure that we ended up having!!!! It started out great! We had loaded all of our luggage, food, etc. in the RV the night before so at 4 a.m. we just had to load our bodies and a few carry on bags! About halfway to Little Rock, Albie who was sitting at the table in the RV suddenly announced that she was going to faint! Well, that is exactly what she did! She was out cold! We pulled over a couple of different times.....once when she passed out and another time when Bud and Carol carried her and dumped her little body into the bed at the back of the RV. The little woman weighs as much as a hummingbird and they acted like she was a ton of bricks! They literally 'threw' her into the bed! We were hoping once she was in the bed and cooled off that she would feel better but she was sick and weak most of the trip to Florida! She didn't get vertical until we were in Florida! I think in Maumelle Rhyno started driving and we were driving either into or out of Pine Bluff when we heard this loud crashing sound. We all thought something had fallen over in the RV but Mimi and Poppy came up to the front of the RV and said we had blown a tire! Do you know how hard it is to find someone who will come and fix a flat tire on an RV on the side of a road!? Let me tell you, it is hard! It was an inside rear tire and we were all very lucky that Rhyno was able to keep control of the RV and we didn't crash! Here we are on the side of the interstate with a very sick woman and it is hot, hot, hot and we are waiting for someone to come and change the tire. Luckily we had a good spare tire but the guy said that the other rear tires were not in the best of shape so we needed to be careful! AND remember, we didn't have a spare now! We started calling places to try to find tires for the RV.....even made a couple of stops at tire places. In addition to it being impossible to find tires to fit the RV.....we were dealing with most tire places closing at noon on a Saturday and we were getting close to noon! We didn't find tires and prayed that we would make it to Florida safely! THEN the generator quit working! Did I tell you how hot it was?! No generator meant no air conditioning except for the very very front where the driver and passenger seats were and that wasn't that cold when it is that hot and you are trying to cool a big huge RV! And did I mention that we had a freezer and refrigerator full of food that we had to try to keep cool?! And did I mention how hot it was?! And that we were trying to keep Albie cool who was still feeling sick and weak?! We finally made it somewhere in Mississippi and all of a sudden, traffic came to a stop! No moving and did I mention how hot it was?! We saw some cars turning around so decided to take a short cut on some side roads and try to pass the accident ahead. We used Bud's iPhone.....google maps or something. Well, I guess people thought we knew what we were doing because they started following US! We were going down little country roads which probably had never had anything other than a tractor or pickup truck traveling on! I guess our convoy lost confidence in us because we were soon enough out there all by ourselves. Have you ever seen the movie "Deliverance"? Well, this was Deliverance in an RV! And guess what!? We ended up right at the accident and the police had our way blocked! There was a military truck that had turned over I guess and burned. It had to have been a very bad accident with injuries and we all thought that perhaps the fainting and blown tire had delayed us enough where we weren't involved in that accident! They had that side of the interstate closed down.....and were redirecting traffic on the other side of the interstate. We were able to merge in - thanks to a kind driver who surely felt sorry for this RV trying to get into traffic! We actually didn't merge.....we had to find an opening in traffic going the opposite direction and then find someone who would let us in going in the direction that we needed! Not as easy as it sounds and poor Rhyno was driving and this was his first time behind the wheel of an RV! The generator finally kicked on and we were getting cooler so thought we were on our way! Well, Mimi got up to do something and there is water in the kitchen area! We had sprung a leak in the hot water pipe under the kitchen counter! She and I used towels and after turning off the water, we sopped up the water under the bottom cabinets and floor. BUT we made it! Well, at this time Bud was driving and he turned off too soon so we took a LONG scenic route to our condo! Mimi and I kept telling them that we were turning off too soon but what do we know!? Apparently a lot! haha What should have been a 12 hour drive more or less ended up taking us 16 hours! But as Sonny Bono would say, "It's all good!" We made it safely and checked in! We didn't have to go out for food since we had turkey breasts that Mimi had baked before we left so we had sandwiches, grape cheese salad that I had made Friday night and a pasta salad that I had made Friday night also. Was so good to be able to just be 'there' and not have to go out for something to eat! Will post more tomorrow about the rest of the vacation! Here are a few pictures of our condo where we stayed. It was our second time to stay in this condo and it is our favorite one!


We stayed on the 14th floor. We were the second balcony from the top. Had a huge balcony where we spent a lot of time! If I ever win the lottery....I am so buying that condo and moving there! haha

More memory sharing tomorrow!

Gigi