Fairytale Town

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail notifying me that I won a museum pass from a local news station.  On the back of it were a number of museums that we could use it for, including Fairytale Town.  Since we hadn't been in over 2 years, and LaVor's mom was spending the weekend with us, we decided to use it for that.

Doodlebug couldn't get out of his stroller fast enough.  He is always on the go and wanted to see and do everything by himself.

He did let me go down the slides with him (even though there were signs posted everywhere that you couldn't go down in doubles or sit on someone's lap) and probably would have been content going up and down the slides the entire time. Same with The Lime.

Shortly after we got there, we heard some little voices calling The Lime's name. Two of his classmates were also visiting that day and couldn't contain their excitement.

Doodlebug couldn't contain his excitement when he saw the animals. That boy loves anything that moves.

We took a quick refreshment break and then proceeded our fun with a visit to Mr. McGregor's garden, where the boys got to water the plants. Such a cute idea.

Doodlebug had a fit when it was time to move on. The pirate ship seemed to distract him fairly quickly, until another little boy wanted to steer and then the hysterics started right up again.

Thankfully, there was another slide just around the corner that brightened his mood.

And another!

From there, the trains caught the boys' attention.

I love getting out and allowing the boys to play, climb, and pretend. I was telling me mom recently about an incident I saw at a restaurant where a parent was there with their two boys and all three of them were on a device, not interacting with each other one bit. Meanwhile, The Lime was pretending the little containers of jelly were cars and racing them around the table. It makes my heart swell seeing our boys use their creativity for good.

Speaking of being creative, The Lime and Doodlebug were pretending to be the mice that transformed into people from Cinderella.

And to finish off the visit, The Lime walked across this "balance beam" type contraption, despite the stinker kid who told him it was his and to get off.

I entered another contest today to win another pass. Cross your fingers we win and get to have another fun (free!) Saturday at one of our local museums.

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 16

-Says "ha" for hot.
-Knows how to brush himself off when he falls down.
-Loves playing outside in his little car, on his firetruck, and riding the scooter (with my help).
-Still only has 8 teeth.
-Loves brushing his teeth and will take you to the drawer in the bathroom so you can put his toothpaste on the brush.
-Always sits in my lap when I'm putting The Lime's shoes on in the morning.
-Loves, and I mean loves, to help me around the house. He's a pro at putting the laundry from the washer into the dryer and loves to press the button to start the dryer.
-Has had a cold for two weeks. Poor thing can't get rid of this cough.
-Has become more vocal in the last week. For someone who doesn't speak English, we communicate very well.
-Loves to help me water the garden and usually gets soaked in the process.
-Understands so much and is great at following directions.
-90% of the time, he wakes up in the 5 o'clock hour.  Depending on what's going on that day I'll feed him and put him back to bed or let him cry it out.
-Gets kissed and told that we love him hundreds of times a day.

Celebration of Life

What a weekend!  Hard to believe that we did this all exactly six months ago and one month ago.  We're hoping the funeral services are going to be put on hold for a while between our two families.

But what some might expect to have been a somber weekend was quite the opposite.  We celebrated Omi's life with friends, family, food, fun, and laughter.  Any time someone expressed their condolences (which was always appreciated!), I let them know that Omi's lived a long, wonderful life and it was hard to be sad when we all knew she was so happy.  And I think that translated nicely in the weekend we had.

My brothers and their families, as well as my parents, all got into town Thursday night.  All of us traveled to Union City Friday morning to meet my two sisters, a few friends from our home ward, and my aunt and uncle from Washington D.C. for Omi's service.  All of the cousins and siblings gathered in the Primary room (it's not as big as I remember it being 19 years ago!) to practice our musical numbers.

We got to meet our brand new niece (grandbaby #19!) who just joined our family a month ago. The sweet little thing didn't make one peep in the four days they were here. Talk about perfect!

The service was filled with music and memories, lots of tears and laughter. I'm sure it's exactly what Omi would have wanted. She had beautiful purple flowers that rested upon her casket and she was buried with photos of those she loved. She and her husband are now laid to rest together on earth, but are reunited on the other side.

After the casket was lowered, we all threw flowers into the plot as we said our last goodbyes. Surprisingly, there were no tears from anyone (at least that I saw). Seriously, this ended up being such a happy, peaceful day.

My mom and her brother

Hayley and the line of great-grandchildren

Sweet Ethan had to throw his a couple times - it just didn't want to go in

Doodlebug and LaVor

My brother

Last was my dad - Love my mom and Sister Grow hugging in the upper left hand corner

Before everyone left the grave site, we had to take some pictures together. The first one with a dear family friend, Marlis Grow. She has touched so many lives, including every person in my family, and it was extremely special to have her at the church for the service and then the cemetery for the burial.

Our entire family has not been together in seven and a half years. What an amazing legacy Omi helped create!

My parents kindly and generously offered to take everyone out to lunch. It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to visit and enjoy the moment. I only wish I took a picture of all the food they brought out. We had no clue what to order for 30 people so the waitress said, "Don't worry!" We trusted her and ended up with enough food to feed about 100 people. It was nuts.

From there, everyone went their separate ways. We didn't want to sit in Labor Day/Friday night traffic so we spent a few hours at my sister's where The Lime played and played and played with his cousins and the adults talked like old times. We finished the night off with a treat at the Ice Creamery before making it home by 11:00 that night.

Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready to meet my brothers and parents at IHOP for what we were planning to be brunch. We had to wait so long for our food that it ended up being more like lunch. I don't think they were ready for 22 people, 14 of which were children 11 and under.

As if we hadn't eaten enough that weekend, we had everyone over for dinner Saturday night. The kids ran wild with imagination and the adults talked. I loved having everyone here and LaVor did a fantastic job with dinner.

Sunday was our last day together and it just so happened that my cousin's wife was in town from Canada, with their brand new baby, and we were invited to their open house to meet sweet Lucy. I didn't take any pictures there (mainly because I just wanted to visit) but it was a nice ending to an even nicer weekend.

It was a special time to look back and reminisce about our Omi and bask in the delight she brought to our lives. We will miss her but are so happy that she's back home.

I'll Be Seeing You

When my mom, sisters, and I went to see The Notebook, we decided it would be best to not take my Omi with us.  She had just lost her husband and an emotional love story was probably not the best thing for her to watch at the time.  When we left the theater, my mom mentioned that the one thing Omi would have liked was the song "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday.  I believe it was when Omi was in college, she and some girlfriends went to see the movie I'll Be Seeing You.   When they left the theater, they vowed to always remember each other anytime they heard the song, which was featured throughout the movie.  Now whenever I hear that song, I think of Omi and her friends.

Omi being held by her grandfather

I spoke to my mom on the phone earlier this week and she notified me she was getting ready to head back east.  Omi's health had all of a sudden declined and my uncle wasn't sure how much longer she'd last.  I must be honest in saying, every time my mom called, I expected her to say Omi died.  She's been ready to pass for over 10 years, ever since her husband suddenly passed away.  I've been grateful that she's hung on for so long, to see all of us get married and have kids but now I'm grateful that she's reunited with so many people that she's missed for so long.

One of which was her mother.  Some time after Omi's dad passed away, MooMoo came to live with her.  As long as I could remember, Omi and MooMoo were always together.

Omi and Opa on their wedding day with MooMoo and Daddy MooMoo

They moved from the Bay Area up the coast to Fort Bragg in the late 80s.  There, Omi had a beautiful home built, where MooMoo had her own space downstairs and Omi had her's upstairs.  We took many vacations up there and I have nothing but the fondest memories spent at Omi's.

We would go to the beach, play in the wooded area in her front yard, feed Buttons, the horse, next door, go bowling, rent movies from the movie theater that also doubled as a video store, get chicken tenders and potato wedges from Safeway, go to Mendocino, go to the hobby store on the edge of town, watch slides on Omi's bedroom wall, watch Overboard time and time again, and visit Omi at her various jobs.

Omi had quite the résumé!  While living in Fort Bragg, she worked at the local radio station, a local shell shop called "Just the Shell of It," the yummiest bakery ran by a Dutchman, and I've been told she worked at a hotel (but I don't remember that).  She worked at banks and for a company called Fairchild, which took she and my mom to Germany (which is how my parents met). Omi was very independent but loved taking care of people.

Like the time she watched my four siblings and me while my parents spent their 10 year anniversary in Europe. I'm told she tried giving me cheese but I refused to eat it. She always took great care of MooMoo, preparing her coffee and milk toast every morning. And when she remarried later in life, you could tell she took great pride in serving her husband who had fallen ill from a stroke.

Omi was a huge 49ers fan and was especially fond of Joe Montana. She always wore a ribbon around the neck of her collared dress shirts. Purple was her favorite color, and I can still picture her in her strappy purple dress shoes. She was the queen of SkipBo and Yahtzee. Her Dodge minivan had a very distinct smell, not bad to most but I'm sensitive to scents. She always hung blue candy canes on her Christmas tree. She had a full head of white hair by the time she was 35, and it was always set in curlers. Her short term memory began to dwindle not too long after her husband died but she could tell you anything about her childhood. She was able to travel the world. Her prayers were always the sweetest and most sincere. If I ever had to identify her by her hands, I'd bet money that I could; they were arthritic but her nails were always sculpted. She loved Christmas and I'm so blessed to have many of her decorations, including her Santa collection. She loved cream soda and ham. It was guaranteed that at 7:00, she'd turn on Jeopardy and follow that up with Wheel of Fortune. She had D&C 82:10 posted on her bathroom mirror and I have it memorized because of her.

There are so many things I will miss about her being here on earth but I know she's in a much happier place. So, Omi, to you I say, "I'll be seeing you!"