Popcorn Anyone? - WW

This is my favorite Caramel Popcorn place EVER!

This is just my opinion of course.
I'd be willing to sample your favorite popcorn place

Views

There were so many fabulous views in Ocean City.  I was fortunate to have my camera with me to capture several of them.  Let's see if I remember where and when I got the pictures.....

The ferris wheel on the pier.
Jakes and I were pedaling on the boards.  Well, he was pedaling and I was taking pictures

This is from the parasailing boat on the way in from our sail.
This is the Inlet that leads from the bay to the ocean with the pier in the background

The beach at sunrise.

Busy busy....

While we were waiting to go parasailing, we got to see the very busy Rt 50 bridge.  The week before we were there, it got stuck in the OPEN position.  This is a main road in and out of Ocean City leading to Salisbury and other cities.  I was told that people sat there for HOURS until they were able to get the bridge fixed.

All the boats would drift back to the bridge, most with fishing lines dragging behind them

It doesn't take a tall boat before they have to raise the bridge for passage.

But at least its not open for long.

Parasailing

Jakes and I got to go Parasailing. I loved it!  Jakes did it but was white knuckled the entire time we were up there.

This isn't us but it will be!

We're up there!

that's our boat WAY down there.....
and of course the shoreline in the distance

Splashdown.....  We got dunked twice because Jakes didn't get wet enough the first time

I would do it again!

The View - WW

Is this an awesome view or what?

From the Boardwalk in the morning

Catching Up

I've been away from my blog but for a good reason.  I was on vacation with the family.  It was a lovely time!  We went to Ocean City, MD which is where Daddy spent a lot of his teenage summers.  He loves it there and so do I.  I think I prefer OCMD beach to any of the ones in NJ that I've visited.

I will share pictures with you this week of our activities.  So many good things!

I have one more vacation scheduled for the summer.  I don't have any big plans yet.  We'll see if anything good comes up.

Daddy has one or two more chemo sessions and they will then do another scan to see where things stand.  The Drs and nurses are excited over the huge drop in his cancer count numbers.  They have dropped from over 1900 to 393 at the last count!  I don't know exactly how they get this number but they are counting the cancer cells in his blood.  At 393 there is considerably less to count.


Dating. Or trying to date.  I've gotten several responses to my online profile but it hasn't materialized into anything.  One guy I chatted with for about 5 minutes, then he hung up on me.  I thought maybe my cell had cut off so I called back and left him a message.  About an hour later, I got a message from him through the dating site "good luck".  Nice.  You can tell about a person in less than 5 minutes.  Well, good for you.

The most recent one contacted me while I was on vacation.   I told him I was away and I would email him when I got back late Sunday.  About 6:30 Sunday, there was a message from him saying he figured something must have come up for me and that I wasn't interested.  Well, so sorry I have a life and you don't have any patience.

Moving onto the next one!


Jakes starts his sophomore year in high school on Thursday!  When did I get a sophomore? I'm not old enough to have a kid that old!  Hopefully this school year will be as uneventful as last year was.


Time to head out and give the garden some TLC.  I'll be around to catch up on your blogs shortly!

Dad's Favorite Stories - My Birth

My Dad has some good stories.  Some I've heard for the first time recently and want to remember.  Some I've heard repeated over and over all my life.  I an hoping to share some of these stories with you.

This is one that I've heard many many times over the years.  Every time there is someone new in the circle of the family, they get regaled with this one....

Daddy was in the Navy at the time I was born.  I have a brother who is 19 months older than me.  He was born on Veterans Day in the Navy Hospital in Philadelphia.  They had to call in staff to bring him into the world.    My brother took 18 hours to get here and backed into the world butt first.

So when Mom was pregnant with me, she expected a long-ish labor with plenty of time to get to the hospital.  From where they were living, it was about 45 to an hour to the Navy Hospital, depending on traffic.  But still plenty of time based on my brothers entry.

On the early morning of April the 3rd (like 3:30 am) Mom wakes Dad up to say its time.  They call my aunt to come and stay with my brother and head to the hospital.  Mom knows this time is going to be different; MUCH QUICKER.  So they head to the local hospital instead of the Navy one.  By the time they get to the local hospital, Mom thinks things have settled down enough that she can make the ride to the Navy Hospital.

Off they go.  Dad put his 4-ways on and flew up the highway.  On the approach to the Commodore Barry Bridge, a police officer wants to pull Daddy over. So ON TOP OF THE BRIDGE, Daddy stops and jumps out.  He runs to the police car to let him know what's going on and then runs back to his car and speeds off to the hospital, with the police in pursuit.

Daddy pulls up to the ER and yells for help.  They come out with a wheel chair and after finding out this wasn't Mom's first time, whisked her off to the delivery room.

In the meantime, the police pulled up behind Dad's car.  The MP at the hospital stopped the police at the door.  Dad got away clean!

While they were whisking Mom upstairs, Dad was told to go to admitting to take care of the paperwork.  When he got to the door he heard a phone ringing and decided to wait to knock.  Might be better to have the officer on duty woke up by the phone and not him.  Moments later, the door opens.  The officer asks "you Daddy?"  Daddy answers "Yes sir."  The officer opens the door to usher Dad into the room, "Its a girl."

Dad was flabbergasted that I was already here.  Mom used to say I skipped the line for patience and it started with my birth.  I wanted out and was ready to take on the world!

So Spoiled

I've written before of how spoiled I am, like at Christmas when I got a KitchenAid Mixer and lots of accessories.  Like when I bought myself the new iPad.  I am spoiled by my parents and by myself. And I love it!

This time I am spoiled by my parents again.  At the beginning of July they called to say they were stopping by.  Now, they don't do that often so I suspected something was up.  Of course, I imagined they were coming to give me bad news.  Am I ever glad I was WRONG!  They brought this:

A BRAND NEW grill for my deck!!
Love it!  And I've used it almost every night since!

Then last week ESM calls to say she has something for me but she needs to get Dad's truck and Jakes muscles.

A Table with 4 chairs and cushions!
A good cleaning is all they needed.

I had an umbrella to use with the table but when I went to put it up, I found THIS:

so sad....

But when I bought it, I bought TWO!  They were half price and the other one had not been used!  WOOT! I just needed to get it out of the parents storage shed.

Impromptu dinner party with the parents and Jakes

I have spent a lot of last week on the deck in the chairs under the umbrella reading a book, snapping beans and stringing basil to dry.  I've also eaten most of my meals out there.  I love my outdoor space!  I am officially moved IN!

Brace Face No Longer

Before Jakes moved in with his Father, Jakes had gotten braces put on.  His father took him ONCE in the last three years to get a problem taken care of.  He never followed up on the care required.  Jakes has been bugging him a lot to make an appointment to finish the treatment.  When I paid off the account, I messaged him that it was paid in full and to get Jakes to the Office to work on his teeth before they rotted out from having the braces on for so long.

He did NOTHING.  Even with Jakes bugging him and braces falling off.

So, I took matters into my own hands and took Jakes to get the braces off.  His teeth are in line basically.  There is still an overbite but its not going to hurt him.

Lookit this face!  What a gorgeous smile!!!

He doesn't like the flash which is why his eyes are closed.