It's Been Awhile...

Hi there everyone!

First (and I promise - there is "fun stuff" after this...), thank you all so much for your lovely supportive comments when my husband's mother and brother passed away... As you all know, my MIL was somewhat expected as she had been battling for quite some time. She had contracted MRSA at the end and it was just too much for her body. God really blessed her final day with us... She got her hair done in the morning, ate some ice cream (this was the first thing she had eaten by mouth since she went into the hospital in Feb.), and, most exciting for her - she met Joe Theismann!! He just happened to be in the hospital and my hubby ran into him on the elevator. He told Joe what had been going on and that mom was a HUGE Redskins fan (her blood ran burgundy and gold, I tell you). Joe went by mom's room for a visit and actually spent quite a bit of time chatting with her. She passed peacefully about 2 hours later.

My brother in law was entirely unexpected. He was fine one day - in fact, he went to work the day before he died - and passed away early the next morning. He had begun feeling unwell the night before with stomach flu type symptoms. We still don't have final autopsy results, we only know it wasn't H1N1.

We are starting to get back to normal... the grief is still there, especially for my husband and his siblings... even Leah commented this morning that she is really sad that Memaw is gone. But she's happy that Memaw will be with her in her heart forever. Aww... don't kids just get right down to the bottom line in the sweetest way?

My stitchy/ crafty mojo has been gone until the past week or so. I've finally started slowly piecing that quilt I had cut the fabric for. As soon as I have any real progress to show, I'll post pics.

Now on to the fun stuff!! We went to Orlando in September and had a blast (this is a pic heavy post, I'm afraid)!! We visited Sea World, and all the Disney parks. We rented a house in Kissimmee which was sooo nice. It had a pool & hot tub, and you know we were in them every night. :)

I really put my camera through it's paces while we were there (I took around 2,500 pics - overload, I know) and below are a few of my faves...

I think this is my favorite pic from Sea World:

We loved the Shamu show so much we went to see it twice. It was way better than I remembered it from my last visit to Sea World (an almost embarrassing # of years ago).

Here's a pic of Leah as we left one of the shows there. I just thought it turned out so well, I couldn't resist posting it:


We visited Epcot, which wasn't Leah's favorite but which the grown ups loved. She met a few characters there which made it more bearable for her, I think. There was a really great band there called Off Kilter which we watched a couple times. They are a sort of Celtic Rock band - they're good enough I'd buy their CD. Here's a shot of the golf ball:

And, of course, we went to the Magic Kingdom two days. Leah ADORED the Magic Kingdom. Had an absolute blast meeting princesses, and riding roller coasters. Yep, you read that right, riding roller coasters. She rode the kiddie one first, then decided she wanted to ride Thunder Mtn. I was very uncertain (I want a roller coaster buddy when she's older since my hubby doesn't ride them, so I was afraid it would terrify her, and she'd never set foot on one again), but she loved it so much she rode it twice! That's my girl!!!

We also had breakfast in Cinderella's castle. It was absolutely wonderful... but the best part was Leah's reaction when we gave her her "invitation". Ever seen footage from Beatle's concerts where the girls are just losing it? Well, that's pretty much what Leah did. It was awesome. :) Here are a couple of my favorite shots of the castle.

Here are a few shots of Leah with her favorite Disney characters (she met all the princesses except Pocahontas, but I thought I'd post more variety than just princesses). Note the uptilted "model foot" in the shot below:

Pooh & Tigger spent almost 10 minutes interacting with her - she felt sooo special!

This is Leah meeting Ariel... it was adorable to see her meet all the characters, but this was just classic... she was so excited it was as though she couldn't quite decide what to do with herself. Couldn't smile right, was soooo trying to sit just exactly perfectly. It was fabulous!

And here she is with Mulan - Leah looooves girl power!

Let's see.... not much else going on. Leah has been through and recovered from a bout of pneumonia (seeing her w/ the nebulizer on her face was sooo sad, but she was such a champ!), I've been sucked into the online vortex known as Facebook (If any of you are on there let me know!), and that's about all my news.

I hope to not be such a stranger now that I'm "back"... can't wait to get caught up with what's going on for all of you!

Peace out!!

Robin