Flight of Honor!!!

My 89 year old Father is leaving this morning to fly to Washington, DC on the Flight of Honor with 104 fellow World War II Veterans. It is sponsored by our local Rotary Club. They will tour the WW II Memorial, The Korean and Vietnam Memorials, the Navy Yard, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Air Force Memorial.

It will be a day to remember for these WW II Vets. They range in age from 82 to 96. I am so proud of my Dad and all these men who served during the war to protect the freedom that we have today in this county.

I pray that they will have a wonderful and safe trip and that it will be very memorable for all of them. More pictures to come.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

Beach Trip - Part 1

In early October, I went to the beach with my sister and some of my girl cousins. One of my cousins has a lovely home at Kure Beach. If you remember, that is where we went on our vacation this summer. One day, we drove over to Wilmington and ate lunch and shopped. This is a view of the riverfront. There are lots of great restaurants and shops along the water.
One of the local sightseeing boats. Wilmington sits on the Cape Fear River.
My shrimp and grits! This version was a bit different, but delicious!! The grits were fried, instead of creamy.
This is my older sister. Her name is Cecelia, but we call her CC. She is a wonderful sister and we love spending time together. She and I live about 2 hours from each other, so we are fortunate to get to see each other a good bit. Nothing better than time spent with your sister!!!
From the boardwalk area we could see the Battleship North Carolina. It has been restored and is a tourist attraction now. We did not go on it. Just looked from a distance. I toured it as a child.
Here is another view of the riverfront area looking back towards the big bridge coming into Wilmington.
It would not be the south unless moss was hanging in the trees.
Isn't this a cute place to eat? Look at the people eating out on their own private balconies. This restaurant was right on the river front. What a wonderful view!!
This was a view from the bridge as we were coming into Wilmington. Such a pretty city. I didn't get any good pictures of the old houses, but Wilmington has lots and lots of beautiful restored houses near the downtown area.
This is a picture from my beach chair as I sat out on the beach one afternoon and read my book and watched the world go by. At the beach, I love to sit and listen to the roar of the ocean waves and watch the seagulls running along the sand.
Notice all the people on the pier. It was wall to wall people!!! Needless to say, the fish were running and there was not an empty spot to stand and fish. We loved walking down to the pier and checking on the activity in the evening. Lots of fish being caught.
This guy and his friends sit on the end of the pier and wait for people to feed them fish that they don't want to keep. It was fascinating watching the pelicans eat their fish snacks!
A view of the beach from the pier. Even though it was October, the temperatures were in the mid to high 80's and there were lots of people swimming and surfing while we were there.
During the 2nd weekend of October each year, the Blues and Jazz Festival is held at Carolina Beach (next to where we were staying). It is a big event, but we did not go. Leon Russell was the headline artist this year.
I loved these big plants that were along the boardwalk near the beach. It is hard to tell from the picture, but they were huge!!!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time at the beach. It takes so long to get my pictures uploaded that I will do this trip in 2 parts. More to come!

Fall Fun!!!!

Just a quick note to let you know that I have not dropped off the face of the earth!! I have just been super busy! October is an awesome month here in North Carolina and the weather has been gorgeous, but boy, has it been busy. I had to go back to work on Monday, just to get some rest...... just kidding, but I'm sure you know the feeling sometimes!

I started off the month celebrating the 7 year anniversary of my cancer surgery, followed by my oldest daughter, Lauren's birthday. That was followed by Mom's second detached retina surgery and a girl's trip to the beach with my sister.

The next weekend my husband and I went to the mountains to attend Parent's weekend and we took my 89 year old father tailgating and to the football game at my daughter's college. Adelaide also announced to us that she has a new boyfriend and we got to meet him. We like him a lot!!

That weekend I attended a blogger brunch with around 15 fellow bloggers. It was so much fun! If you have not met any of your fellow blog friends, I would urge you to do so.

After Parent's weekend, Adelaide came home the following Wednesday and stayed until this past Sunday for Fall break. We had an awesome time having her here at home, but we ran non-stop the whole time she was here.

This coming weekend, my sweet Father goes on a Flight of Honor to Washington, DC to visit the World War II Memorial and I have all my family coming for the weekend, so we can be at the airport for his return celebration on Saturday night. Then throw in Halloween on Sunday night and the month will be complete. Not to mention the fact that I have worked this whole month too and am still trying to get my house back in order following having my new carpet installed earlier in the fall. I am pooped, but life is good!!!

I feel so blessed to have such a full life with lots of fun things to do and a great family and awesome friends to share it with! I promise to go back and share some pictures of my beach trip, Parent's weekend, the new boyfriend, the blogger brunch and I will also post about my Father's trip. There just have not been enough hours in the day recently. But guess what? I get to be on vacation next week. Yea!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

PS I almost forgot, 2 of my sweet blogger friends had Grandbabies this past month too.
Suzanne and Valerie! Congratulations ladies!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Holly!!!

Today is our sweet little chihuahua's 11th birthday. Santa brought Holly to Adelaide when she was in elementary school. Although Holly is Adelaide's dog, she lives with us, since Adelaide can't have her dog at college. Holly really misses Adelaide and she gets so excited when Adelaide comes home to visit. Here is a picture of the two of them relaxing at the beach this past summer!
This is a picture of our dog Holly and her cousin Chi Chi. Chi Chi is on the left and Holly is on the right. (Chi Chi belongs to my oldest daughter, Lauren) Both dogs are almost the same age, but Chi Chi is much more gray colored. They love each other. It just so happens that Chi Chi is here visiting us this week, so I'm sure the two of them will have fun celebrating today!! We LOVE you Holly! You have brought so much joy to our lives!!!!!!

Girl's Weekend at the Beach/Update on Mom!

My sister and I are headed out this afternoon after I get off work to spend the weekend at Kure Beach, North Carolina with our girl cousins (on my Dad's side)!!! Won't that be fun? Rest, relaxation, good food, talking and laughing will be the highlights of our weekend. Who knows what else we will get into. I will be sure to take lots of pictures. This is the same beach that Tom, Adelaide and I went to this summer, so I am so excited to be going back in the fall.
The weather is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend, so I am thrilled!

My Mom came home from Duke on Wednesday and she is doing good! Praise God!!! The doctor felt like the surgery went well, but we don't know anything yet about her vision until things settle down in her eye. Still praying for some recovery of vision and that her retina will not detach again. She goes back to Duke in a week for a follow-up.

I hope all of you have a delightful weekend filled with those special things that you love. Enjoy doing whatever makes you happy and spending time with those folks that are special in your life.

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!!! TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Blogger wanted this picture first, so I am not going to argue. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful Lauren! Your birth was a joyous occasion for me and your wedding was an equally joyous event too!! You were a radiant bride and I loved every minute of your special day. As I saw you walk down that isle in the church, I remembered so vividly the joy I had on the day you were born. I was one happy Mama that day!!!! You were so tiny and sweet with that head full of dark hair and those pretty blue eyes. You melted my heart the first time I saw you!
Twenty-seven years ago today I became a Mom and my precious Lauren was born!!! I had always dreamed of becoming a Mom and my dream came true with the birth of my first born child. I was so happy!!!! Lauren has been (and still is) the JOY of my life!
Happy Birthday, Lauren! I love you and you have made me very proud. I am so happy to be your Mom! We have had some great times together and I look forward to many more wonderful times together in the future!

Lauren is a very smart young woman and she will go far in this world. She has a Master's degree in accounting and works for a large accounting firm here in NC. Lauren has ALWAYS been very independent and strong-willed, so it was quite a challenge raising her. She never gave us a bit of trouble, but she was just so headstrong and she usually knew more about things than I did. Lauren's mind is like a sponge and she remembers everything that she reads. One hint... don't try to argue with her, because you will never win!

To tell you how independent she was, she taught herself how to ride a bike. We came home from the mountains one Sunday and on the way home, she asked me if Tom could take off her training wheels when she got home. She immediately rode the bike, just like she had done it all her life. She taught herself to tie her shoes too, and would not let me help her at all. I guess she just watched other people. Then instead of letting me potty train her, she just got up one day and told me she was ready to wear "big girl" pants and she wore them from then on! She also walked at 9 months old! Lauren was a very determined little girl and still is to this day, which a wonderful trait. It will suit her well in life!!! Love you sweet girl!!!

Lauren was always very grown up and she was way beyond her years in everything she did. She kept me on my toes, but I would not have had it any other way. Lauren is a delightful young woman with a big heart and a love for life. She puts 100% into everything she does and she always does her best.

I could not have made it through my cancer experience without her. She helped keep me strong and she was my encourager. Lauren kept friends and family updated on my progress via the Internet.


Here are my two beautiful daughters with my Mom. Please remember Mom as she has her eye surgery today on Lauren's birthday! I pray that her surgery goes well.


Lauren and Adelaide are the joys of my life. Being a Mom was the highlight of my life and I loved staying at home with my girls when they were young. I have so many wonderful memories of times spent with my girls.
As they have grown up, I now am their friend as much as I am their Mom. We love doing fun things together..... going shopping for Lilly, getting manicures and pedicures, going to Barnes and Noble, traveling together, going out to eat, laughing and talking, etc.
As I'm sure you all have figured out by now, I am head over heals in love with both of my girls and I would do anything for them. I treasure all the time I have with them.

Lauren, I hope you have a wonderful day, despite the fact that you have to work today. I know Thomas will have something fun planned for you tonight. I'm sorry I can't be with you today, but you will receive your second birthday surprise in the mail today. I'm glad you enjoyed your first surprise I sent the other day. You know how much I always love celebrating birthdays. We will just have to have a belated celebration with cake and ice cream when we are all together later in October.

Enjoy your special day and know that I love you very much!!!!

Love & blessings,
MOM

Anniversary and Update!

Sorry about the delay in posting..... but things have been a bit crazy around here lately. Today I am celebrating the 7 year anniversary of my cancer surgery in Philadelphia, Pa. at Will's Eye Hospital. I have done so well following my surgery on October 2, 2003, and as a matter of fact, my oncologist is going to have me do one more CT Scan in December, and if it turns out good, I will be dismissed from his care. Isn't that wonderful? Woo hoo!!!

As a cancer survivor, I feel so blessed. Life is good and I enjoy each and every day to the fullest! I cherish my time with my family and I love my time spent with friends (both in my personal life and in blogland)!

An update on my sweet Mom. She found out the other day that her retina has detached again and she will require further surgery this Tuesday, October 5th at Duke. We hated to get that news, but we have faith in the doctor and are praying for a good outcome for her. Thanks for all your prayers these past few weeks for her. (Poor thing, this will be 2 surgeries in less than a month.)

I have been working in my house trying to get things back in order upstairs in all the bedrooms. It has been a lot of hard work, but we certainly love our new carpeting. It is so fresh and cushy-soft! I will post some pictures when I get everything finished and back in place. I am putting the finishing touches on the furniture that I am re-finishing. I think it is going to be real pretty! I am no expert, but I think it is turning out good.

Today has been a perfect fall day! My Mom and I started off going to some yard sales and I found some great treasures. I got some beautiful old linens, some milk glass and some Christmas things. Mom and I went to lunch together and for dessert we had a sweet potato turnover with butter pecan ice cream and toasted pecans. It was delicious and so "fallish"! Tonight my husband and I are going to dinner with 3 former neighbors of ours.

I have had a wonderful day celebrating my anniversary. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been having my girls here, but hopefully I will see them real soon. Hope you all are having a great weekend and doing whatever makes you happy! I can't believe that it is already October! Christmas will be here before we know it. Take care.

Love & blessings,
Melinda