Grandpa...

Last Sunday my grandpa went to be with Jesus. After visiting with him a week ago, I know it was his time. He lived a long and happy life. I was just talking with my mom today about Grandpa...we don't know a lot about Grandpa's youth...but we do know that he quit high school early and signed up to go to war in the Merchant Marines during WWII, that he loved cars (driving them, showing them off, rebuilding them). He was married once before marrying my Grandma, and his first wife died of brain cancer. Grandpa had his own Maytag repair business, and I remember his old red work truck with the mechanical lift gate. It was so dirty, inside and out, you couldn't get in it without getting grease on your clothes. Sometimes, though, we'd get to ride in it on the way to the donut shop or to the grocery store to pick something up. Of course since it was kind of "forbidden" we loved it was kids!
Grandpa married my Grandma Joanne in the early 70's. He loved our family, and was thrilled to be a Grandpa when I was born, especially since he'd never had any children of his own. He was the best Grandpa Billy and I could have asked for...we had him eating out of the palm of our hands for all of our youth. I remember being really young and wanting to shave with Grandpa...they got me a fake razor and lathered me up with shaving cream, sat me on the counter in the bathroom and let me go to town. There were the pool parties at their house in Long Beach, the holiday BBQ's in the summer, and the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Some of the most vivid memories I have of Grandma and Grandpa are of them trudging through the wet grass to get to our soccer games or to Billy's little league games. Having grandparents who live so close (across town) was such a blessing for us growing up. They weren't "visiting" grandparents - they made us behave (or at least Grandma tried). Grandpa used to play the ukulele and sing for us when we were little, and we thought that was the greatest. He will be missed by our family. Services haven't been decided upon, but I think we're leaning towards doing something very small just for our immediate family.
Backing up a bit, on Memorial Day we took a family walk on Coronado, then let Ellie play to her heart's content on the playground. After her nap she got to bake chocolate chip cookies - she's a natural in the kitchen! While they were baking, Ellie and Daddy kept me company in the kitchen by building a block tower right in the middle of the kitchen floor...did I mention our kitchen is SMALL? No problem - I just stepped over them.




Ellie and Brant are in Arkansas! They left on Thursday morning and had a great flight. They got to spend time with baby Brenner, Uncle James and Aunt DeAnna, and of course Nana. Apparently Ellie's favorite thing to do right now is to walk Rascal (one of Nana's chiuaua's) on his leash. Saturday they tried to get pictures taken of Brenner and Ellie, but I guess there wasn't much cooperation from the kiddo's. Hopefully better luck next time. Then Brant, Nana and Ellie headed down to Atkins to visit Papaw in the hospital. Brant said that he's doing ok, but just isn't himself. Ellie also got to see Mamaw, Aunt Connie and Uncle Charlie. Then they all went over to cousin Jill's house and got to see the rest of the cousins, along with Katie's girls. This morning Brant, Nana and Ellie loaded up and headed to Texarkana to see Grannie, who is also in the hospital. Poor Grannie fell last Tuesday and broke her wrist and pelvis. Yikes! But she's a trooper and is in the rehabilitation wing of the hospital there, doing all that she can to move in the direction of coming home soon. What a road trip they're on. On Tuesday they'll pack up and head back to Nana's house, for some R&R for the last 3 days of the trip.
I'm hanging out at home, have taken Daisy to the park, watered the tomato plants, and spent time hanging out with Mimi. We enjoyed dinner out last night and some shopping, before settling down to watch Annie and eat Ben N Jerry's straight out of the carton! Delicious!