FAMILY VISIT!

I hope you are enjoying this Easter day.

My youngest son and his family visited Fri and Sat;  when I invited them for Easter, they had plans at their church but said they could come and spend time earlier, I jumped at the offer! 

 We had such a wonderful time!  

Eli, his grandpa and Dad enjoyed several fishing attempts in the pond but two gators, one smaller and one larger,

 have moved into the pool for the Spring season

 and have removed any of the fish in there!

We all enjoyed doing some shooting--I do love target practice!

Ella and I did some sewing;  she is making pillows from the fabric

 I bought at the last Shop Hop!

She did beautifully and here is the proof!  

 

A PERFECT THANKSGIVING!

The kids loved their turkeys 

and in record time had the candy gone!

After dinner, clean-up and some target practice with some firearms, the ladies settled down for some crafting time!  We mixed our glob of acrylic paint with some backing soda and then applied it to some odds and ends of vases to  make the glass look like pottery!  It was very relaxing!

Just before evening settled, we explored for the annual finding of the Indian Pipe fungi! We were not disappointed!

(I am late in posting this because I have a new laptop, a Chromebook, and I cannot for the life of me get my IPhone and the laptop to communicate so all of my photos are stuck out of reach!  I finally gave up and went to bed last night and this morning, really gave up and did it on the old laptop! lol)

 

PRECIOUS TIME

We had fun making a pillowcase! 

 Ella is a natural at sewing,  even using the serger!  

We spent a long time in the pool, too!

We hung the heart swag in the crepe myrtle bushes.

The sunset was very colorful and lent a beautiful glow

 while skateboarding around the driveway!  

Her dad and brother came to spend the night--he always

 brings some powerful fireworks!

 We ooohed and aaaahed appreciatively!

CATCH MY BREATH!

The red Rain Lilies are starting to bloom!  They are very pretty and have a bit more sweet aroma thant he white striped ones.  We've had several T-storms which is what brings them out!

I took a visit to these guys--they were so funny playing on the trampoline!  I would call out positions and steps and they 'interpretted' my instructions!  

They were hysterical and enjoyed working together to add to the nonsense!  I was impressed with their athleticism!!

In the studio, I have only rearranged the blocks.  I think I am using this set up. maybe! lol

And today I had my sewing student comee and she made a pair of pj's!!!  She amazed herself and is looking forward to making some for her Mom, too!  (Mom asked for anonymity for her so I cropped her face out of the pic!)

 

FOND FAREWELLS....

We played outside for a long time yesterday; 

 the sunshine was such a treat!  

The cherry tree is coming alive--it will be giving fruit in late June!

While I filled my grandma-tanks as full as I could yesterday, today I am off to the airport for a long day of travel back home.  Tears abound, hearts are full of gratitude for the wonderful visit!

 

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!

 

After church we are gathering for an old fashioned Sunday dinner and then a birthday celebration for Noah, who turns 1 next weekend but we will be home by then,

 so he gets to celebrate it one week early!  

JOY UPON JOY

After a morning of watching Noah while dil had to go to doctor's, we took advantage of the little bit of sunshine and headed to the creek.  Since there had been two days of drizzle, the creek was flowing a lot more this time-we all ended up with wet feet!

Some of the rocks are boulder size...

while most are football sized.  We look at the center where the smaller rocks are because lugging around large ones isn't as much fun as a bunch of pretty SMALLER ones! lol  One of the science lessons that get discussed during our rock hounding!

This is a beauty but I couldn't barely pick it up so I just petted it and left it behind!  It really is a deep green!

There are also lots of large red jasper

 but green is the dominant color!

Some of the areas we have to transverse look like this! 

 Yup, under, over and through is our motto!

And when we are tired, thristy and wet we still have to climb the 300' bank to home-which you can see at the very top of this picture.  After the rain, the bank is slippery and hard to get a good foot hold--there are a lot of sliding back down when you hardly have any oomph left!  I did a lot of sitting and resting but was determined to climb it all the way myself! 

 I'm slow but definitely determined!

It's fun to unwind for a bit before dinner and then savor the joy of bathing this guy....he has a tub of toys and what does he want to do?  Figure out the faucet and shower button! lol 

 The men in our family are all mechanically inclined 

and Noah is well on his way to 'figuring it out!'

 

SLOW DAY FUN

Since we bought a new phone plan and IPhones now, I needed to paint a new insert for a new phone case!  I haven't played with watercolors in a long time and it was wonderful.

I added another page to my Landscapes journal from Kim--I have another layer to add but ran out of time since we needed the table to eat!  It rained today and kept us indoors but we played at Dotz, games and enjoyed the slower pace together.

Breakfast with this guy is a trip--just keep the food coming! lol

 

BLISS

First snuggles after a very hard day of travel...helped to melt away the stress.  (I'm showing them pics from our flight-from beaches to snowy mts!

Grandpa enjoyed playing with Noah, newest grandchild (#9) who will soon be one-it's been a hard year to schedule a visit 

but we are making up for it now!

Noah is busy and curious about all gadgets and how things work.  

Yesterday morning, we enjoyed crafting Dotz after breakfast.  

We woke up to 34* temps which are a bit of a jolt but is not going to deter us!  This is the view from the big picture window 

just to the left of the dining room table!

When you see trees like this,

 you understand that this area is a rain forest!

At noontime, it had warmed up into the 50's so we ventured down the hill to the creek bed below to rock hound!

  What a blissfull few hours we enjoyed! Some of the creek was open and enjoyable to walk and then in other areas, we had to duck up and over branches which was quite a work-out!

Through the tough terrain, the girls were very helpful

 and we shared a ton of laughter!

We are sitting on a ledge here swinging our feet out 

so you can see the drop! lol

We haven't yet cleaned all the rocks we hauled up to the house but so far, this one is my favorite!

  It is a large piece of green jasper--there's tons of it here!  

 

BLESSING OF BEING GRANDPARENTS

During the morning yesterday, when I had made two rectangles which were going to become slippers, I received a phone call to babysit the boys as Matthew's sitter had to cancel!  No problem!  We decided to go early and spend some time with all of them after the boys got out of school.

Over the St Johns to Matthew's house! 

 What a beautiful day-mild and sunny and NO humidity!

On the way, I finished putting the seams in the slippers and gave them a try on--my toes are cramped due to the windshield! lol

Once we had the boys, we huriedly changed their clothes and headed to the park next to their home.

Bike riding is always a good after school activity!  They whizzed away and in back of us-probably doubling the distance I walked.

Look at the size of this stump--it is easily 5-6' across!  

Throughout the park are these hidden frogs-

very fun to spot along the way!

When we went near the water, the boys parked their bikes so they could throw stones...

and climbed the trees. 

 The wind was much stronger by the water!

The water was choppy and the waves were impressive!  If you look at the top right of the photo, you will see the end of the pier--a very long pier!  During Ian, the water was right up to the level of the pier! All of this area was under water, too!

Here we enjoyed the view from the end of the pier!

This is looking toward Jacksonville--you can see the skyline-just.

Heading back down the pier--you can see how far

 it juts out into the river!

I took a lot longer to walk back--I could feel my left hip catching and my right knee throbbed!  I was slow but determined to walk all the way back without help! lol

What a view!  This is looking southwest--away from Jax.

Look at this 1892 log cabin that was built to hold their wine making.  The walk did me a lot of good--especially the good company!