Keeping Busy!

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, grandpa and I had the pleasure of two young visitors. Jordan (7) and Joy (8) spent a couple of fun filled days with us.

Since Jenna and her parents had to be at the University of Iowa for orientation and dorm business Jordan was going to stay with us. I figured it would be more fun for her (and me…lol) if Joy  was out here also. They are really good little girls and have a lot of fun together. But let me tell you…two days is about max until they are older. After two days, they start to get cranky, and so do I.

Do you suppose I tried to pack too many fun things in to a short time frame?

They arrived around 7-7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, had their hugs of greeting to one another and headed for the Barbie basket. I told them I had a couple of things to do and then I would take them swimming. I was determined to find water someplace, because it was pushing upwards in to the 90’s, and they needed to get outside. So water sports was our only option!

Here are my two little bathing beauties taking a snack break at waters edge.

Aren’t they adorable!!

Before going back in to the water it was time to do a land sandscaping. Since we had no pails or shovels, and grandmas are notorious for improvising, we robbed grandpa’s stash of empty coffee cans, added a couple of tablespoons from the kitchen and voila’ we had sand toys!

After the snack and sand time they decided it was time to go back in the water and work some more on the water ballet that they were putting together for my enjoyment. They didn’t actually realize that just watching them put this little show together was giving me great pleasure!

After our 3 hours in the water, sand and sun it was time to pack up our stuff and trudge back to the jeep. On the way home I decided that since they had been so good, I would stop in Polk City and treat them to an ice cream cone. We stopped at a new little cafe on the square called Sunrise Cafe and each had a small cone. The ice cream was delicious and very refreshing. My two little ladies were so polite and ate without much mess at all!

We then headed on home to see how grandpa was coming with the yard work. I made the girls undress in the garage, for which they preceded to inform me that they really didn’t want to do that, but since I’m bigger than them, I convinced them it was the way it had to be. They had sand and moss in their shoes, suits and on their little bodies, and I didn’t really want it all over the house.

So, off came the clothes and two naked little girls ran to the shower. Twenty minutes later with clean bodies, clean hair and clean clothes, they rested with a movie while I fixed dinner. We had a fast bite and then headed to the ballpark so Jo Jo could practice with her softball team for a tournament this weekend, (following in her siblings footsteps).

Back home at around 8:15 p.m., we did some bubble blowing on the deck and then got in to jammies for popcorn. Brushed our teeth, read a story and it was lights out…whew…and collapse time. I really do need to get in to shape sometime soon!

Wednesday dawned sunny and bright with the two girls jumping on me while I blissfully slept. Afterall, it was 7 a.m. and you can’t expect them to sleep all day…or can you?

French toast for breakfast, played for awhile in the morning,and I got things together for our day at the zoo. Our trip started at Mickey D’s (McDonalds) for lunch then on to the animals!

Isn’t he handsome?

This pair of swans never got too far from their furry little ones.

The girls got a kick out of the Lemer, and he pretty much ignored them and just kept hanging around like no one was there.

I really had to do some heavy coaxing for this next picture. They just did NOT want to get inside of this big egg, but I knew in my …uhmmm, artistic mind, that it would be an adorable picture…and again I WON! Two for grandma, zero for girls!

 

Can you tell they are getting less and less happy with me snapping their pictures all the time.

We ended our day at the zoo with a train ride. We had to wait about 20 minutes, because the train had jumped the tracks earlier and they had to get it lifted back on and then do a couple of test runs. But it was a fun ride and worth the wait. Well for me anyway, it meant I got to sit down!!

We stopped for ice cream again on the way home. Grandma deposited her two little charges with their parents, kissed and hugged them good-bye and made plans to do it again.

AFTER I rest!

On Thursday, I went over to Roosevelt High School to take pictures of the seniors and their coach (seated) on the softball team. These six girls have been together all through high school, and we have enjoyed the privilege of being part of their fan base. I’m sure that even though Jenna and the others have graduated, you will still see grandpa and I at some of the games. Count on it!!

Jenna

 

Jenna in action!

We have a few more Roosevelt games coming up and a couple of tournaments and then our lil’ ballplayer is retiring her glove. It has been a great ride, and now it is on to supporting the…

 Iowa Hawkeyes!!

Gathercole Boys & their (bosses) er, Wives!

Here is an image that Johnny sent me of the five wives. We each decided to don the hats that our husbands had worn in their picture.

Here is an image that Alan sent to me,  with all ten of us, and as you can probably tell from our smiles, we were having a really great time together!

Right-left: Johnny & Paula, Pat & Me, Kirk & Terri,
Sandy & Jerry, Alan & Yosi

Not too bad for a bunch of ol’ duffers!

The 2010 Graduate

Saturday evening, June 5, 2010, we watched Jenna Leigh Gathercole (grandchild #5) walk across the stage and receive her diploma. I must admit that this was a bittersweet moment for me. We are so proud of her, as we are all of the other 6 grandchildren, but just to know that she is growing in to such a smart young woman, that will be leaving us in just a few short weeks for college (University of Iowa), does make me sad. Go Hawks!!

 

It has been a wonderful journey watching each of our grandkids mature and we look forward to that journey continuing. But it also makes us aware that we also are growing older, and hopefully wiser.

Jenna’s Graduation Party

The youngest of our first five grandchildren (two young ones left) is about ready to graduate from high school. Her parents, Maggie and Bryan (our son) gave her a wonderful party last Saturday.

Here she is with her cake. It was really good but you kind of ended up with blue lips, tongue and teeth for a little while.

One of the things Jenna wanted at her party was a piñata. After letting the two littlest granddaughters have a couple of whacks at breaking it, and unsuccessfully, it was Jenna’s turn. The first hit didn’t do much damage, but as you’ll notice in the second image, she did the job in great style! Candy flew everywhere much to the delight of little sister Jordan and cousin Joy, and they didn’t waste any time in gathering up their fair share.

At the end of the party she wanted to release her balloons, like her older sister Jessica had done a few years previous. Here is that release. It was a wonderful day and the Lord blessed us with  beautiful  weather after several days of rain and cold.

   

I wonder what the three of them were thinking as they gazed skyward at the ascending balloons.

 

We were fortunate that Jenna’s party  also coincided with the 50th class reunion for my husbands oldest brother Johnny, because that gave us time to have a huge cookout at our home the following day. This was the first time all five boys had been together in three years (since the passing of their mother). 

I’ll have to get a wives picture from one of the others that had their cameras handy that day…hint hint everyone!

Standing L-R:
Kirk (Corydon,IA), Pat (Granger,IA), Alan (San Antonio, TX)     Seated L-R: 
             Jerry (Des Moines,IA), Johnny (Santee, CA)                        

Boys will be boys!  Or boys will be children sometimes!

As we all get older  we begin to think more about our own mortality and it draws us closer together. The day, and our home were filled with laughter, a few tears and a lot of memories both old and new ones that we were in the process of making.

Our house bulged with husbands & wives, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, and a couple of doggies. What a glorious day!
I can’t wait to do it all over again :)

The sad part was saying good-bye to everyone at the end of the day for the locals, and the end of their stay for the out-of-town visitors.

Loving Life!

I talk a lot about how blessed Pat and I are, but we didn’t get here by ourselves. We have wonderful children, amazing grandchildren, family members that are always there with support, many great friends, both new ones and old ones (clear back to our junior high and high school days),  Our 43+ years of marriage has had it’s ups and downs just like most people experience. We’ve had our hard times and our not so hard times. Through it all, we’ve remained true to ourselves and each other. Though we do have many very very close friends, none are as close as we are to each other. We truly are each others best friend.

Pat was so fortunate to be able to retire at age 55. I am blessed with the skills to have my own photography business, and be able to make my schedule coincide with things we enjoy doing together. Making some extra money for that fun hasn’t hurt either. But I’m getting tired, and feeling like what has been a passion is not quite so anymore. I want to do more “me” shooting, and less “I have to” shooting. I’m adding more images today that have been taken over a various time period. These are from the “me” shooting times I’ve had. I’ll try not to bore you too much!

On With the Show

As you know we have 7 grandchildren. Each of which are very special in their own ways, and we love them ALL EQUALLY. But back in 2001, God decided to test our strength a little further. He bestowed upon our family “Joy”, grandchild number 6. Joy was born with Down Syndrome and her name is a perfect fit for this wonderful child. We already had 5 with “J” names, so with some serious badgering we got our way. Joy came in to this world six weeks early, but as beautiful as any other baby I have ever seen. When our son-in-law came out to the waiting room to tell us that after many hours of dangerous labor for “our” daughter, he had another daughter, we were elated. Then with trembling lips, he said, “there is a possibility that she has Down Syndrome.”  I asked if everything else was ok and if so, then what was the problem. We had a baby, we had a very worn out daughter. Both were alive, so let us rejoice! And to this day, we have never stopped rejoicing. I cannot imagine life without any one of our grandchildren. The first thing I told my daughter when we went to see her was this, “God only puts special children with special parents, and that is what you are!” 

Joy was so lucky to have been placed in the care of Jeni and Todd for whatever time God allows her (or any of us) to be on this earth. She has never been treated like a child with special needs. She has chores, responsibilities, goes to regular elementary school, takes dance lessons, swims like a fish, rides horses, and gets “time outs” occasionally.  Here is Joy with a couple of images taken after a week (a couple of years ago) at “Camp Courageous” here in Iowa.

 

Below are more “me shooting” images from various places around the country. It was my distinct pleasure to be hired by General Motors to hire and coordinate photographers in 37 different locations around the United States for 6 weekends  during April and May for a couple of years. They asked me to not only be the coordinator of this project, but to also go on some of the shoots if my own schedule would allow. I loved all of the great people I met and worked with, and especially the opportunity it gave me to do some shooting on my down time while in various cities. Here are just a very few shots from some of those trips. You’ll see more throughout my blogging, but didn’t want to overload you right off the bat.

San Antonio River Walk

 

Dancing Waters at Night at the Bellagio in Las Vegas

Sister Blandina Convent ~ Albuquerque Old Town

San Felipe DeNeri Church ~ Albuquerque Old Town

I know this next one looks like a “work” shot, but I was actually just strolling around Old Town Albuquerque, when I spotted this couple in the square. They were headed in the same direction that I was (over to the courtyard of the above church) and the bride was very upset. As I got closer, I heard the groom tell her it was ok, they would have some friends take pictures. Well being the nosey person that I am, I asked if they were having a problem with their camera, they said their photographer was a “no show”, I gave them my card as I introduced myself. This (since I’m a professional) is just not acceptable to me, so I asked if I could take some shots of them (free of charge) and email them the edited images. As you can tell by their smiles, they were delighted. It also made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Portland, Oregon Chinatown

Louisville, Kentucky

Entrance to factory where they make
Louisville Slugger bats

Downtown Louisville

Boston, MA ~ Glass skywalk from hotel to mall

Boston row houses

Atlantic City from room at Trump Casino

Marina is for their boating guests!

Tampa, FL

My footprint in sand ~ It was so fine it felt like silk.

Patsy is one of those long ago friends I told
you about earlier from our junior high and high school days. She lives about 2 hours north of Tampa and came down to spend the weekend with me.
What fun we had catching up!

Detroit, MI

New York City, NY 
This is the city I wished that I had had much more time in, and would have liked it even more if Pat had
been there!

Times Square

Ed Sullivan Theatre 

Broadway and 45th Street

Phoenix, AZ

Ok, for this last picture for today, I have to say, that since wintering in Arizona, I have taken many more beautiful images in the Phoenix area than this one, but in keeping with the theme of my GM travel images , this is the one I took at that time.

Because I was doing the flying around the country in April and early May many of the cities were experiencing their spring rains, so I had to work with what Mother Nature had thrown at me.