The End of the visit

It was a tearful goodbye for me and my dughter. I kissed little Garret on the head as he was sleeping peacefully and I just had to get out of their quick before I started crying again. He is just so precious. Shelley just cried and she didn' t want me to leave, but I have obligations here at home, but it was still so hard.

Now I have to turn my attention to other things, such as mom's illness and going back to work.

So here I am...

The Visit....continued

We had a pretty relaxing week, considering there is a new baby in the house. We lounged around and mostly took care of the baby, helping with the feedings when we could. After the 3:00 feedings Shelley and I would have a little snack and we had such a great time together. It has been years since we spent so much time together. Cary is great and is a wonderful dad, he was such fun too. He kept talking in a british accent (I forget why), it was hilarious, Garret may begin to think he is foreign......ha ha.

Wed. we had to take baby for his first visit to the doctor. Shelley got him all 'duded up' and we all went . Afterwards we went to McDonalds's. It was nice to get out of the house. Garret loved the ride and we listened to much i nthe car with the top open. Here are some pictures from his first outing...

A week with Garret and family

I spent last week with Shelly, Cary and my beautiful grandson, Garret. They came home from the hospital and before they could even get out of the car the huge pine tree that was in the middle of their front yard came crashing down. Fortunately it hit nothing at all! What a miracle! It fell diagonal across the yard and into the street! What a homecoming for them all. Here is Cary and Garret. Garret wore his duckie outfit to come home in, accompanied by his dad in fashionable red..

More Garret News......

Several days have gone by since the birth of little Garret. Here are a few more pictures from the day he was born, surrounded by grandmas and pas in celebration of this little bundle of joy.

Welcome to the world, Baby Garrett

Shelley and Cary..............

This doesn't really need anymore comment, he is just beautiful and a friend made this little announcement for me and mom, but it is for all the world to see.

Mom, Bill and I got to Decatur after the baby was born, since it was a c-section, we knew everything was fine before we left home. We all spoiled him and held him all day. Shelley wasn't feeling the greatest, but I am sure she will be doing fine soon. I am going to go stay with her for a few days when she goes home Monday morning!

Amanda and Preston....You are next!!...sending hugs from grandmas and grandpa! Can't wait for little Caleb to arrive so I will have two babies to spoil!

This is the Landing in the oldest part of St. Louis, MO, by the Arch and the Mississippi River. I took these picture last night when we first got there, loved the Arch looming in the background and the little sidewalk cafes. It was around 40 degrees, so no one was eating outside, but in short order, there were tons of people running around the cobblestone streets, going to restaurants, bars, going to the casino, riding in the horse drawn carriages. It was such a nice atmosphere!

And now, onto the Royale Dumpe, dinner theatre.....

Adventures at the Royale Dumpe

We arrived at the Royale Dumpe and found our table. For a while people just filtered in and were seated atlong tables. There was probably room for about 300 people (just guessing and with a quick calculation), at 7 p.m. they closed the doors to the dining room and the dinner/and show began. Everyone had their own wench to serve them! It was the usual Renaissance affair with 16th century costume, British accent, music from the period playing in the background and the always silly and clever performers. They would do some of the show and then they would serve a course, so the first course was soup! And here is our wench serving it from a bucket (well, it was actually in a heated crock inside the bucket).

Adventures at the Royale Dumpe..continued

All during the meal, the wenches, etc. performed on the stage while serving the customers....quite a lot of work! Here are some of the wenches, singing about their names.....Robbin TheCradle, Sheil-a Blige, , etc. and the Master of ceremonies.....Master Bater!!! (playing the piano)

Adventures at the Royale Dumpe..continued

Meanwhile, back at the Dumpe.....

All during the evening (which went on until 9:30 or so), instead of applauding we were given a "banger", a wooden stick to hit on the table. Robert and Teresa and the other friends that were with are just hilarious and so there was a lot of "whacking" going on during the evening for no reason!...

After the dinner of, Cornish hen, baked potatoes, steamed mixed vegetables, bread and cheesecake, they chose this poor guy out of the audience and accused him of committing some crime!..They put in him the stocks and sent the jester looking for a "virgin" in the audience to free him. The "jester" came back with a pregnant girl, that looked like she was due yesterday....to funny....

Finally all of the "virgins" in the audience had to kiss him on the check to free him, while all the while the audience was throwing pieces of bread at him!...

Adventures at the Royale Dumpe..continued

We were celebrating our friend, Robert's, birthday. He just had to have his picture taken with our Wench, she had alot of glitter on her "chest", so the rest of the night he was all sparkly too!..he looks pretty content doesn't he?

Adventures at the Royale Dumpe..continued

And here we all are with our wench,

At the end of the night they gave everyone a favor to take home, it looked like a large book of matches and on the outside it says:
I BANGED ALL NIGHT AT THE ROYALE DUMPE!, AND inside, was a blue condom!!...

After that we went to a Sports bar and had some more beer and talked and laughed for another 2 hours or so, then rode the metrolink home...

THE END.

An Evening at the Spa with the Red Hatters

I swear I always want to type...Mad Hatters!!!...because I am quite sure when we are out in public people wonder about us.....we don't care, we're young enough to be silly and old enough to not care!....but I digress..

We had our Red Hat meeting at what once was the Christian Science church building in Salem, it is now owned by the bank next door and has wonderful large windows and a tall ceiling. Our meeting was a week late because the original hostess hurt her back. Rhae, the Queen Mother, took charge and decided to have a Spa evening. It was such fun and so relaxing. First we had a light meal, with sandwiches, chips, relish tray, cheesecake and/or angel food cake with strawberries! Carrie, from the "Practical Magic" health spa was there with her massage chair and so we all got a wonderful massage. She recently moved her business into a 3 story brick home on the south end of Salem. Her mom has been a good friend of mine since high school and she (the mom), lives about a mile from me and I see her from time to time. Again, I digress...
So we all go wonderful massages, heated neck wraps, warm foot soaks with smooth rocks in the bottom to massage our toes and wonderful smelling salts in the water, while we were soaking our feet we had our choice of herbal teas. The lights were turned to a softer glow and candles lit the room. Soft relaxation music tinkled in the background. We chatted and laughed and had a wonderful time. I just couldn't resist getting a picture of mom while she was in the massage chair!...Smile, mom!