Difficult Loss

Well, unfortunately, we had to take a trip out to California in August because my Grandmother passed away. Madilyn and I were actually able to make it out there in time to see her one last time, which was special. We visited in her hospital where Madilyn was able to sing songs to her (like the ABC's and Wheel on the Bus and Jesus Loves Me), kiss her hands, dance, and color pictures for her. The funniest part was watching Madilyn absorb what she saw there in the hospital room, though, and try to mentally process it. Since Grandma had a trake (sp?), it made some gurgling sounds as she breathed. Madilyn was convinced that Grandma was snoring, though, and was glad to tell anyone who came to the room about how Grandma was snoring!

It was a very sad and hard loss for our family. Grandma will continue to hold a very special place in all of our hearts for years to come. As hard as it was to let her go, though, I'm glad that her health struggles are now over and she's in a much better place than we are! As is the case with most family deaths, it was an unfortunate circumstance, but nice visit with the rest of the family, though.

This is our immediate family all together in front of Grandma's house:

My mom's sister Gail, cousin Kinsey, sister Karen, Dad, Mom,

mom's sister Dotti, Scott, myself, & Madilyn
This is Grandma's 3 grandchildren & 1 great-granddaughter :-)

Grandma's 3 Daughters - Gail, Dotti, & Jean

Since my sister lives so far away, it's not very often that we
get a family photo together. I thought this one turned out nice
(if only we could convince my dad to smile for pictures!)

While in California, we were able to get away for one little
fun afternoon aventure...Madilyn's first trip to the beach!

She had a ton of fun, but wasn't quite sure

what to think of those waves at first!

Imagine what it must feel like to experience sand

moving out of under your feet for the first time!

It didn't take her long to fully take advantage of her day at

the beach! Needless to say, we continued to find sand for weeks!

My mom grew up in Oceanside, California, so we were able to

take a little stroll down the Pier and actually saw where she had

her high school graduation ceremony there on the beach!

(That's my Aunt Dotti & Mom holding Madilyn's hands on the Pier)

Can you believe this?! While walking along the pier, we

looked over the railing and saw what my mom says is a seal

(I can't tell the difference between it and a sea lion) swimming

along waiting for one of the fisherman with bait

to drop some lunch down for him!!

One afternoon when I was pre-occupied with something else,

Madilyn got to go the park with her daddy. The local park

there by my grandmother's house is much nicer than the

parks around our house. Look at these neat turtles that

have water fountains off their backs!

The rest of these California pictures are a little bit out of order...this

is a cute one of Madilyn with her Auntie Karen just before she got

off the shuttle at her terminal to return back to England (obviously,

our terminal to go to Arkansas was in a different part of LAX!)

Since I flew out to California on my own with Madilyn, I was SOOO

thankful that one of my co-workers and friends (Gretchen), just

HAPPENED to be on the same flight with us! She and her son, AJ, were

going out to California at the exact same time to visit her sister who

lives 20 minutes from my grandmother! What a blessing that was!

(This picture was taken at Gretchen's sister's house...we stayed

with her the first night we got there since we got in so late. The kids

put themselves in the dog kennel to eat their breakfast!)

On the way back to the airport, we had a Dodge Charger that

we had rented and had to get me, Madilyn, my sister, Gretchen,

AJ, and all of the luggage, car seats, & strollers packed in! Needless

to say, it was quite a site to see that car packed up! Poor Gretchen

rode between the 2 car seats with a stroller over her lap for that

1.5 hour trip! It made for some great laughs and memories, though! :-)