Back to Pennsylvania

Thursday, June 30, 2016
After packing up this morning, we drove over to my uncle's home a block away to say a final good bye to my three cousins, Peggy, Bonnie and Bob and ended up enjoying breakfast with them on the porch with its beautiful view of Lake Harris.  They still had a great deal of food left from the breakfast buffet that had been provided for us at the church following the funeral on Tuesday and were eager to share it with us.

The painters were already at work so furniture was pulled away from walls in the main area of the house and Bonnie had been busy sorting through clothes.  Bob was then off to get chores done outside.  Peggy too had her assigned clean up work to do but first enjoyed just sharing the meal with us.  It was so good to share one last hour with them.

Ken and I then drove over to Hawthorne, the retirement community where my folks lived for close to 20 years.

We wanted to get a tour and see how it is today partially to just revisit and partially to see if that is a spot we might like to settle.  It really is an amazing place to live and has grown not only in its offerings but in the number of dwellings.  There are approximately 2000 now living there and a list of activities a mile long and fantastic facilities to do them in.

Once we were done, we drove back to Sanford, first making a stop at the Yalaha Bakery just a short distance from Hawthorne and a place both my folks and my aunt and uncle raved about.  I can sure see why after checking out the offerings on the inside.  We just had to take a taste with us - a German pretzel and a couple of cookies.

Then once we arrived at the airport, we turned in our rental car, had a bite to eat at the terminal after checking our suitcase and then read till it was time for our plane to load.  Thankfully it was there on time and we were off on time.  That meant we got back to our son's place by 7:30 and could even get a couple of loads of wash done before calling it a night.  Jen even had some supper ready for us so we could enjoy that and see the family for a short time.

Tomorrow starts the next adventure -- we'll off for Branson and our own family reunion.

Time With Winnie Friends

Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Ken and I spent the morning with my cousins Peggy and Bonnie chatting and helping them as they continue the process of cleaning out their father's home and prepare it for sale.

Then we met with some of our "Winnie" friends for lunch at the Oakwood Smokehouse in Leesburg. We were lucky to find Tom and Sharon Zopff, Jeff and Sara Roudebush, Sally Hungerford, John and Mary Christof,and Joel and Brenda Oleksa all at their homes in the local area and free to gather for some great conversation.  Both the Oleksas and Roudebush's will be going on the road in a couple of days and not returning till November so it was truly a treat to find them free.  John and Mary were just back from a caravan with stories to tell of their journey.

Following lunch, John and Mary invited us to their home where we were able to enjoy even more time together over a cup of coffee/tea and a little dessert treat.

Ken and I then returned to the motel and simply relaxed with our books and a little TV watching before calling it a night.  

Family

Monday/Tuesday, June 27/28, 2016
We were up and down in the breakfast room of our motel by 8:30 am where we planned to meet Len and Sarah Muller, my cousins who had arrived early yesterday.  But what a surprise, my brother David (he had come in late last night too) was also there so we had a wonderful time just chatting together for about an hour.

But we then had to take off as we'd made arrangements to have lunch at the newly reopened bd Mongolian Grill in Lakeland with Frank and Susan Kiefer and Frank and Bette Foulke - Mid-Florida Winnie friends.

Then from there we needed to go to our home in Zephyrhills to find the title to our home as there was a request by the insurance company for specific information.  Unfortunately that part didn't work out so well as what they needed we didn't have and they've therefore cancelled our insurance.  We visited with our reps at the company and they gave us some suggestions of what we might do to solve the problem but it will now have to wait till we return in the fall.  But at least we had a chance to check out the place and see how it was doing.  And we also took a few minutes to visit with Mary Gray and give her a hug

Then we returned to Leesburg and my uncle's home where family was beginning to gather.  It has been quite a long time since I've seen some of them so it was truly a joy to just gather and spend time with one another.  I did go shopping at the local Publix with Len and Sarah to pick up some snacking food (several cheeses and crackers plus grapes and watermelon) that could be shared by everyone today and tomorrow.  Bonnie had ordered food from Olive Garden that was delivered at dinner time for all of us to enjoy.

Here are many of our cousins' children enjoying eating together.

From left to right at this table was Len, Sarah, Peggy and her daughter Masha.

Our cousins' children all enjoyed having time with one another.  Here are a couple of the from left to right David boyfriend of Katie, Masha and Erin.

One of the great joys for my three Ross cousins was finding a half brother of their dad.  Rick came (on the sofa) came down from Newport News.  Here are Bonnie and Bobbie getting acquainted with this long lost brother of their dad.  He was a wonderful addition to the gathering fitting right in.  

Tuesday morning we all gathered at St Paul's Catholic Church in Leesburg for the funeral which was part of the regular morning mass.  Bob had reverted to his Catholic heritage in the last couple of years and requested that the service be held there.  Then following the service, we all gathered in a social room for brunch.  These are Bob's children - my cousins Bonnie, Bobbie and Peggy

This is Peggy's family (from left to right) Rickie (husband of Masha), Masha, Biz, Lee, Peggy and their son Daniel.

This is Bobbie with his family 

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of Bonnie with her family but these are her children twins Katie and Daniel with Erin in the middle

This is a picture of Peggy's kids: Daniel, Biz and Masha

And here is the gang of all of them including Masha's husband and Katie's boyfriend.

Also attending was my cousin Sarah with her husband.  She is the youngest daughter of my uncle - my mother's only brother, Donald.

And here I am with my two brothers David and Stephen.  We are the children of the oldest of the MacRae siblings, Rosalind.  My brother David and I are now the head of the "clan" as the oldest members of the next generation.

Our cousins from the middle child, Margie, were not able to make it but we had just all spent time with them in Ohio in May when we had a memorial gathering for their mother who died earlier this year.  We've made plans to all gather at the Ohio home which is now a vacation rental place in October.

At one point during the day there was a toast to Bob

My brothers and I made a trip over to the First Presbyterian Church of Leesburg to visit the memorial garden where both our dad and mom's ashes are buried.  When this garden was created, they donated the fountain.  Name plaques are on the wall of the church for each of the people whose ashes have been placed there.

Off To Florida

Sunday, June 26, 2016
We truly filled a long pew this morning at the church!  Jen's sister, Sue and her husband Jim along with their two children, Ellie and Sam sat with us as well as Jen's folks.  Since Dan wasn't preaching, he even joined us during the sermon though for the rest of service he was busy singing with the praise group and leading some of the rest of the service.

Noelle is now playing the keyboard on a regular basis when the praise group leads the singing so she was buy popping up and down to do that and today she also provided the offertory music playing Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - one of the pieces she did for her piano recital last month.

Following church and Sunday School, we scooted home to finish our packing and then have a quick lunch with the entire family  before setting off for Pittsburgh to catch our plane for the trip to Leesburg, Florida and my uncle's funeral.  Unfortunately we our hurrying was for naught as there was a problem with the plane and the replacement did not arrive till five hours later than originally scheduled.  So our 6:00 flight bacame an 11:00 pm flight getting us into Sanford, Florida at 1:00. By the time we had got our rental car and drove to Leesburg it was 2:30 in the morning but at least we made it!

Time to Party!!

Saturday, June 25, 2016
This afternoon we celebrated our granddaughter, Abbi.  She is now a high school grad.  Her other grandparents, Rick and Bev, and her mom's sister, Sue, along with her family arrived here on Thursday and we've been working together to get the yard and house ready for the big party.  Weeds have been pulled, grass cut, flower beds spruced up, and food cooked.  Last night we put up a canopy left here by the previous owners but with no directions.  What a challenge that proved to be but with lots of cooperation it finally happened.  So with all the teamwork we're ready to have lots of fun and meet many friends and families who have watched Abbi grow into the beautiful 18 year old grad.

Abbi pulled together all the books she had to read through her four years of high school just so we could see what all she had done (also all of her portfolios).  Included were some of her awards (she earned a volleyball letter the one year she went to a Christian school and a swimming letter while on the team at Butler High even though she didn't attend there), some of her art work (note the eye in the background), and some of the cards she received along with fabulous blanket her maternal grandparents gave her last year filled with pictures of her.  It made quite a display in the living room.

The other rooms had photos of her along with more art work

photo albums and books

and on the dessert table was a computer with a slide show of pictures of her through the years.

It was fun just checking out all of these items.  But there were also lots of chances to just interact with her both inside and out.

Many enjoyed the various gathering spots around the yard including the deck

under the canopy in the yard

in the side yard

on the swings

playing crochet

and gathered in various spots around the house such as the garage where the food table was located

in the kitchen

and even in front of the outside TV on our RV (Star Wars #4 was running there)

After everyone left and we cleaned up, we put Abbi in the gift opening chair and gathered to enjoy the fun of watching her open them

Once that was done she slipped into the graduation gown her cousin Scott wore a couple of weeks ago, put on the mortar board her mom wore and posed with mom and dad and her diploma.

That led to moving outside and taking all kinds of pictures putting the various family members together including her mom, dad and sisters

Her Ratcliffe family - aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles and cousins along with grandparents and of course mom and dad and sisters

both sets of grandparents

and finally tossing her mortar board in the air

What a fun day!!!

We Are Back Home

Wednesday, June 22, 1016
We are once again back in our son's driveway after two days of driving.  Yesterday we spent the night in the same Shenandoah RV Park as we did going to Virginia Beach thinking we'd see what the Yellow Barn had to offer, but it rained most of the time we were driving and we came in to huge puddles.  It did stop long enough for us to register and pull in. However, right after Ken plugged us in it started to spit and by the time he had the water hooked up it was coming down steadily.  After a very late lunch (we just drove straight through without stopping), the rains came in earnest with wind blowing it sideways, lots of thunder and lightning and even a bit of hail. So we voted to just stay in the RV, get all the wash done while Noelle and I played lots more games which she won!!!

Today we did stop for a bite to eat at one of the rest stops along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  Noelle vegged on DVDs -- several episodes of the Lord of the Rings -- while we again covered several hundred miles.  The day was cool and a bit overcast making it an easier drive for Ken.  As soon as we backed into the driveway and parked, Noelle was out of the motorhome carrying all her stuff and racing into the house to see her family (all but her dad who is in Alabama for the annual General Assembly).  She was eager to share experiences and show them the things she got.

We just enjoyed a quiet evening staying in the motorhome and catching our breath.  It was great fun spending the week with Noelle but we were ready for a bit of quiet contemplation :-)

Day 7 - A Lazy Beach Day

Monday, June 20, 2016
What a positively gorgeous day!!!  Clear blue skies, 90 degrees but only 28% humidity and a nice breeze.  We couldn't have picked a better day for relaxing and enjoying Virginia Beach.  Of course our day didn't even start till 9:30 am when everyone was finally up and it wasn't until 11:00 when breakfast was done :-)  But then it was midnight before we were all down last night.  Vacations aren't for time schedules.

We decided we'd do a little biking along the boardwalk this morning and just see what there was to see all the way from the Rudes Inlet

where road the dolphin cruise boat out to see all the way to 40th Street

- about three miles one way and we went there and back!  It provided lots of good exercise and a chance for Noelle to try a little "driving" since she was in control of all the steering and the brake for our family bike.

The views were gorgeous as we rode along the boardwalk fronted by hotel after hotel, beautiful gardens, a wide walking path, wide beach covered with colorful umbrellas and cabanas and then the Atlantic Ocean.

Every couple of streets there is a wide mall area providing entry spots from the streets on the other side.  Statuary, stages, and other eye catching items are placed in each of these such as the sand castle,

these fish, 

and this huge shell.

This statue of King Neptune (much larger than the one at the campground) graces the beachside.

One area dedicated to fitness had these and several other challenging pieces of equipment

We saw kites,

drones, jets (they fly constantly across the  sky),

volleyball courts (I think I counted 30 of them grouped between 5th and 10th streets on the beach near the sidewalk)and lots of people walking, biking, eating at open air restaurants by the hotels, and carrying chairs and other stuff to and from the beach.  What a fun place to spend time and relax.

After dropping off our bike and picking up a boggie board at a local store for Noelle to use later, we returned to the RV for lunch and a little relaxation and cooling down time before returning to the beach.  We once again settled down with our chairs, camera, books and just had fun watching Noelle dash out into the waves with her board and began getting mastery of body surfing in on the waves. 

She spent a good four hours running and swimming out to the waves and riding them back in taking only a very few minutes to stop and eat half of a Subway sandwich and catch her breath.

Ken and I would alternate keeping our eyes on her all the time as she often ended up moving way down the beach because of the wave action.  As people began leaving and the fewer and fewer in the water with her she got better at staying near where we were so we could watch her -- after all that was half the fun having us see her catch a good one.

I had fun watching the sea gulls run in and out of the water and snatch bits of food left behind by those who had been camped out along the beach most of the day. This one found a bit of apple buried in the sand and kept rinsing it off in the water as it ate bites of it.

Yes, we were facing East since we were looking out at the Atlantic Ocean but the clouds still gathered some of the sun setting colors making the last hour before sunset truly a beautiful time.

But finally around 8:45, the life guard blew his whistle announcing the beach was closing - he was leaving - so we packed up our things and headed back toward the car.  While Noelle was rinsing off her feet and legs, we looked back across the beach and notice this beautiful "strawberry moon" beginning to rise. The picture doesn't begin to show how huge it was and how very red it was too.  We did read later that this full moon on the summer solstice last happened in 1948 and won't happen again until 2070.  That really made it extra special.

We drove down to the 17th Street Dairy Queen for one last treat.  This gal was crossing the street across from the parking lot.  Later we saw her entertaining some kids with her small hula hoop.

Meanwhile we were treated to a bit more of the same circus acts we'd seen on our first night at the beach although this time there were far more people so lots more interaction between the performers and audience.  What a fun way to end our time in this "happening" area.

Noelle took a quick shower and got ready for bed and then enjoyed Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with us but after a short time all she wanted to do was go to sleep.  Today really exhausted her -- that is lots more exercise than she is use to but oh how she enjoyed it!!