The Pumpkin Adventure

I just rec'd this email from my daughter. I really have to share it with all of you. I do have her permission. She tells it in such a funny way.

"One of my dearest friends, Landon's godmother Dori, Kelly (Dori's cousin), the kids and I went on a great adventure yesterday and wanted to share our story.

Dori and I had this wonderful plan to go to the pumpkin patch to take the boys on a hay ride and pick pumpkins. This would be her nephews first time to a pumpkin patch. Of course Bryan was relieved, he didn't have to participate in such an activity. We had it planned for atleast a week. We waited out the weather, as it had been raining the day before, and just when the sun started peeking out, we were off.

We drove all the way to Camden, ok, it only takes about 30 minutes, but still.... we had a one year old (Dori's nephew baby Allen, or as she lovingly has named him "Goose") "singing" the whole way, and my two boys who were extremely excited about going to the pumpkin patch!

Let me point out that it was approximately 2:30 when we left. Dori had plans at 6, in Columbia (which is an hour away), and I had a babysitter arriving at the house at 5, so we had a time limit, but surely an accountant and lawyer could pull it off, after all, we are both really intelligent women.

We arrived at the patch, sometime after 3 only to find out they were SHUT DOWN:(

So here we are, with three kids, who were obviously disappointed, well Goose doesn't count, he was still "singing" in his own little world and appeared very content watching all the cows in the fields.

So, Dori being a lawyer and I an accountant had to come up with Plan B, and fast! We decided to turn back and follow these signs to a haunted house, we thought they surely would have pumpkins for sale!

We drove and drove and drove, left turn, right turns, who knew where we were going, but we knew there just had to be some pumpkins there. We did notice, that the signs all had different dates on them some appeared very old, but the lawyer and accountant in the Tahoe were determined to find pumpkins! Kelly, the very intelligent teenager, announced that some of those signs were for pervious years, as the dates were not coordinating with the weekends. Darn smartass teenagers think they know everything.

Dalton began protesting in the back, "Turn around, turn around!" And of course his shadow, Landon, chimed right along!

Finally it was 4 pm, and we found the haunted house location, which was CLOSED, and no pumpkins in site.

At this point we agreed it was time to turn around. We had paid attention to all the signs, and planned to simply follow them pack out of the country roads. So we followed our signs back, or so we thought! Somehow we ended up going in a complete circle and ended up right back at the haunted house, which as you know was CLOSED.

So the lawyer says to the accountant, I think we went in a circle, and the teenager laughs at us! The smart lawyer announces that the accountant needs to pull up along side that Dodge truck over there, which happens to be the only person we have seen in the past hour and half, because the farmer on the tractor didn't count, for directions back to Camden, which will be our last resort for pumpkins.

The polite toothless lady in the Dodge, said "take that road right there, to the stop sign and turn right, and then drive to the next stop sign and turn right again, and you will be smack into Camden." What do you know, her directions were perfect, and we went right past the originally pumpkin patch that was SHUT DOWN, and arrived to a main road in Camden.

Some where along the way, Goose got quite, yep he fell asleep! The lawyer at this point was a little green, apparently lawyers do not do well on country roads driven by accountants. Then the miracle happened, as we turned left, there was a church parking lot, filled with PUMPKINS. Landon proudly announces, "We are finally here, we made it!" Seeing the boys smiles was all worth it. The lawyer's color improved, and six pumpkins later, we were on our way. We arrived back at our house around 4:50, just in time for the babysitter, and for Dori to return her nephew and head back to Columbia.

Hope you all enjoy our pictures, and remember this, never trust a lawyer and an accountant to plan a trip to a pumpkin patch!"

Repeating my blog message here:

I am heading to Syracuse NY tomorrow. My best friend will pick me up at the airport. We will start our Road Trip right away. I wish I had a laptop so that I could share this journey on line with you all.
You know that big trip after graduation that you always wanted to take? Well this is my trip. I have always wanted to travel by car across the country. And what better way to do it than with your best friend.
So here we are a couple of grandma's taking a trip across the country by car. She is moving there and I am keeping her company on the trip. We have been best friends for 36 years. We raised are kids together, camped together and drank a lot of coffee together. We have laughed and cried together many times over the last three decades. I am so happy to be able to join her on this trip. I can't wait to see some of this beautiful country we live in.

I worry that I will lose my momentum here with not being able to visit with all my teams. In the past traveling has meant weight gain. I am hoping that this time the desire stays with me to eat healthy and to get some exercise.

I will be reporting back. around the 20th or 21st of this month. I will have weigh in on the 23rd so I will let you all know how I have done.

Gail

Quote of the Day

Stamp Camp success

Hello fellow stampers. I held my first of this year's Christmas Card Stamp Camp on Sat. I prepared for 6, which means lots of cutting. Wore the blade out on my cutter. I like to have one extra set of things in case someone wants to come at the last minute. Unfortunately this time one canceled out at the last minute, so I had two extra sets. What did that mean for me... I got some of my own crds done. After everyone left and before I cleaned everything up, I made up my cards. Yahoo... Now I am ahead on my own cards. I think everyone liked the cards I designed. One was a gate fold, one was on glossy card stock, and one was embossed on a cuttle bug. I am sure you all are dying to see them and I promise I will take some pictures later today to show you. One of the stampers had never done any stamping before. I didn't even know her before Sat. Another new stamper gave her my card and she called to join the class. I just love new stampers, they are so excited about making the cards and the different techniques you use. Hard to beleive that Christmas is only 3 months and 10 days away! Have a great day.
Gail

I'm a Mazda RX-8!

You're sporty, yet practical, and you have a style of your own. You like to have fun, and you like to bring friends along for the ride, but when it comes time for everyday chores, you're willing to do your part.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Christmas Card Stamp Camp

I will be getting ready for Christmas Card Stamp Camp this week. I have 6 maybe 7 ladies signed up. This is the biggest group I have done in my home. I plan on setting up stations and step it out instructions so that those who know how, can work at their own pace. I have several brand new stampers that will need to have more help. We always have a good time at these camps and I look forward to preparing for this class. It must be the elementary teacher in me that loves all the prep work for the classes.

It has been a busy summer!

We have had Birthday's, grandsons visiting, visiting our daughter and family in SC, My hospice volunteering, Library volunteering, and stamp classes. Since I decided to give up being a SU demo I am finding myself very busy with new stampers. I already have 5 people signed up for my first Christmas Stamp Camp of the year, Sept 13th. My Coffee Shop stampers Class is growing too. It is always so much fun to get new stampers.

I connected with a distant cousin of my husband's while doing genealogy research. I have been having a lot of fun looking over all the info she shared with me. She even shared a photo of my husband's grandfather when he first came to this country at age 2. I am having so much fun researching my roots. I have a line on another branch of my family and hope it leads to more info.

Last week I had a little scare, with dizziness and chest discomfort. Went to the ER and then was admitted overnight to monitor my heart. PTL I had a clean bill of health on my heart. Just a little low on Potassium, and a sinus infection. I am on an antibiotic and feeling pretty good. Scared my kids, and DH. My DD told me the next time I needed time away from DH I should get a hotel room, it would be cheaper.LOL In a way it was good, because it made me realize I need to take better care of myself.