The time has come

"The walrus said..."

Now really, I have no idea where that saying came from, except that I remember my grandma Ruth saying it!
Anyway, it popped into my head when I was starting this post, so that's what I wrote!

3 years ago, the first of July our Daughter Laura went to Finland to live and work.
Without today's technology of cell phones, skype, internet--e-mail, blogging and facebook, I can hardly imagine how difficult it would be to have any of my children go so far away.  When I was a kid, "over-seas" was very very far away, and rather un-amaginable.
Today's technology and the ease/frequency of travel makes it a whole different scenario.  While it was still difficult to see her leave, I know it was no where near close to years ago when travel & communication was a very long and difficult process.

This was a couple months before I started blogging, so I'll post the pictures from then.

 Our family--at the airport to see her "off"...

Some of her co-workers who came

Goodbye's are a bit hard at best, and there's alot of distance & time with this one!

At least there was a smile for the last view before the gate!

*******
Last summer our 14 year old daughter went to visit her for 3 months, traveling by herself. (See here) I don't think I ever would have been able to send her alone without the technology!  She flew from Denver to Newark, NJ, and I saw her on the plane in Denver.  Laura was in communication with me via cell phone at the same time as tracking Meshayla's flight progress on the computer.  From boarding, to take off, to progress in the air. 

Meshayla called me as soon as they landed in Newark, and I talked to her as she went from her arrival gate, to her departure gate, both of us looking at the maps of the terminal that we printed off the computer.  She hung up after telling me she was on the plane, and Laura called to tell me that the plane had taken off.  She sent me updates via facebook telling me of her progress as long as it was available, & then called to tell me that the plane had landed, and Meshayla was safely on the "otherside" and by her side.

We worked it in reverse on her flight back home 3 months later.  Pretty much kept the whole "traveling on her own" thing bearable.  (And yes Lynisha and Relyssa, I know...I STILL had some moments...)

Anyway....a little side tracked with where this post was suppose to be going.... 

It's MINE....For the very first time, I have a passport.  Travel in my life has been very limited & I've never had a reason to get one before.

After much talking, persuading & figuring out plans, *I* am going to visit Laura!  Leon can't go as he dosen't have time off from his job available.
I applied for and got my passport in record time, still didn't know for sure who was going to go with me, I was NOT wanting to go by myself, and I was thrilled when my friend Ruthie said how much she'd like to visit over there, and I said "Would you like to go with me"? and she said "YES"!

(Raimie w/baby P. Gay,-- me, and Lynisha with our friend Ruthie.  We spent the night and had Sunday morning and noon with her on our way home from our trip to Longaberger country Ohio.)

I leave the middle of Sept, and will be gone for 3 weeks.
Now I have my work cut out for me.  Arrangements for kids.  Laundry done up.  Bills paid.  I have a convention to get ready for first, and then last but not least......
The all consuming question of WHAT CLOTHES DO I TAKE?

Summertime and the living is fine

No new blog posts on here do not indicate a lack of things to post about, but rather either I'm too busy "living" them, or my head is simply too full of things, and I can't seem to get my thoughts organized enough to put down.

After the grandkids were here, Meshayla and Morgen got invited to go camping with Lynisha and Jim, and so we arranged for Kara and Kaela to go to their older sisters (Jeanne's) at the same time.  One week turned into two, and during that time I spent working on house and yard projects that needed done and I couldn't seem to get done in the middle of cooking, cleaning, and well, you know, just "every day life with a family".

I wish I could have gotten more done, but that's the story of my life.  I have to say I did enjoy some "down" time, and simply "him and her" time with my husband!  By the middle of the 2nd week tho I was missing the kids, and wondered what in the world I was thinking, as I realized that I was going to be gone all the next week, and they were going to have to stay another week.  That one kind of slipped up on me unexpected like.

Being "kid-less" for 3 weeks at a time was the first time that's happened since our first was born a year after we were married!  I will say that I am NOT ready for "empty-nest" around here yet, even if I do enjoy some breaks now & then!

Since it was going to be another week without kids, Leon and I went out to Sidney to spend the weekend with them and have a little bit of birthday celebration for Kara and Kaela who had turned 11 and 9 while they were away from home.

 When do you think I'll learn not to take pictures facing the light? I don't know either, but it sure irritates me that I don't think about it!!

 Banana cream pie and brownies for this birthday treat.

 This little missy enjoyed her banana cream pie, and her first birthday is just around the corner!  I think she was getting in some good practice for it!