Family Time: Part I

Saturday we took some much needed family time. We took a trip to Brown's Berry Farm (on a tip from some friends :). Any-who, we got there around 4:30 and they close at 6, so we didn't get to play in the playground area or go for a hay ride or even build our own scarecrows but we did get some fun berry and apple picking time. It was a perfect day, the weather was just great and a few trees were showing their colors. Fall is certainly in the air :)

Abygail was very intent on the job at hand. She loved picking raspberries - I don't think she ate as many as the rest of us, in fact...I never saw her eat even one, while she was picking! Jackson on the other hand was a pick and eat-er! We didn't wind up with as many as we thought we would, they seemed pretty over picked and we were running out of time. The blackberries, well, they were non-existent, guess we should go earlier next time.

Jackson really enjoyed picking apples, but Abygail just wanted to sit in the stroller and look at her basket of raspberries, and munch on them - she was very proud of her handy work.

After all the picking we had ice cream (well, I had a salad and everyone else had ice cream). I wish we had pictures of the fun mess that was made. Turns out that Abygail doesn't like eating the cone. She likes having a spoon and eating her ice cream out of the cone with the spoon - then giving the cone to Daddy to eat. Jackson - well, he likes it all!!!

On our way home we stopped at a state park that was just on the banks of Lake Ontario. It was beautiful! The kids enjoyed seeing the lake and then swinging on the swings. We tried to take a walk in the woods but the sun was going down and Abygail DID NOT like being in the woods when it was starting to get dark...guess we know a little more about her night problems now.

The kids fell asleep before we even got home and they stayed asleep too!!!

This is definitely something we will do again, it was such a good family experience.

Tribute: Grandma Reeves

My Grandma Reeves just celebrated another birthday and I wanted to post a few things about her.

I LOVE my Grandma. My fondest memories are in her old house (they moved to the new house when I was 12ish). Easter egg hunts in their back yard (when I say back yard I mean not the front back yard but the yard that was behind the back yard, it was HUGE). A giant garden and bushes of honey suckle. Cratemerdles (sp?) that we would climb and collect the locust shells. The play house. The park that was really close. I was always scared of the hallway with all the bedrooms and I was ESPECIALLY scared of the bathroom. I think it's because I was in my aunt Janet's room once and saw a picture of Gene Simmons from KISS with an axe in his hand and a bloody tongue - I was totally freaked after that. Painting trees. Getting my hair cut. Silver or Blue Christmas trees with tinsel. My mom telling a dirty joke in the entry way. The riding lawn mower. The row machine and exercise bikes on the patio. The dogs and playing catch. Sitting on the metal porch benches that glided.

I also think of beans, my Grandma always has a pot of beans on. It doesn't matter what time of day it is or how many people are there, Grandma is always ready to feed you and it's always yummy. She makes the best beans I've ever tasted - better than any restaurant could/can make.

My Grandma taught me how to paint (I don't paint now). There was one day that she and I were at the old house and she taught me how to paint trees. She is an avid painter, she loves to paint landscape scenes. I hope someday that I will be able to display one of her paintings in my home. I also hope that I can find that picture of a tree that we once painted. I know I have it but it's packed away and I need to find it.

My Grandma is strong, courageous, loving and fun. She can make anything fun, spending a day with her is like coming home or sitting in your favorite place on earth. I say that she is strong and she is. My father's father died when my Dad was 9 and my Grandma was left to raise 3 boys alone. She eventually remarried and even had another baby (Aunt Janet) but I know that she was strong because she made it through those years of tragedy and lose.

Another thing I think about when I think of her is cards. I loving going to her house and sitting around the table with family and playing cards. She never turns a grandchild away - no matter how young. She always makes room for everyone to play and if there is no room than she starts a new game so that you are included too.

She makes the best Christmas punch, Christmas isn't Christmas without it. Speaking of Christmas, she always makes us sing before any presents can be opened. We all grumble and act like we hate it but she makes us do it anyway. She loves to hear us all sing - even though we sound like a bunch of dying birds.

When I was young she cut my hair. Whenever I needed a hair cut we went to her house and she cut it for me. I wouldn't let anyone else do it. This lasted until I was in middle school. I loved the feel of the razor cutting my hair and the one on one time we got to spend together.

I know that my memories are fogged up and changed by time but I will always remember her for the gardener, painter, friend, and adoring grandmother that she is to me. My Grandma is one of my heroes and if I could be like anyone it would be her.

I love you Grandma and Happy Late Birthday!!!!