We went with J.J. (and his parents) to the pumpkin patch today, (um, a place with pumpkins stacked on pallet wood) and I was reminded why I generally do not like people!  With that said, I will quote Lucy from It’s The great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and say “That stupid blockhead of a brother of mine is out in the pumpkin patch making his yearly fool of himself”.  Although people could have cared less that I did NOT want them in my pictures of J.J., we still had a great time with the boy.

 

 

 

 

 

This next one make me think of Spanky from the Little Rascals.

 

 

Looking forward to J.J.’s first Halloween, should be a great one.  Maybe if J.J. could write to the Great Pumpkin he would say Dear Great Pumpkin, I am looking forward to your arrival on Halloween night. I hope you will bring me lots of presents.  (Yeah, I love me some Charlie Brown).

 

Ok, we thought he would hate it, but we were wrong and he loved it.  Here is JJ with is Daddy and Pa-Pa…

 

Three generations of Quayle men

Future Navy Diver

Or maybe beating Michael Phelps record!

 

Pa-Pa loves his boy!

I promise he was not bored…

 

He had a great time!  I am trying to load a video now, hopefully I will figure out the problem.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with a sweet friend from my old job and his future bride.  They are so cute, here are just a few!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could not imagine the pitter patter of 4 little feet, but Ava and Allison’s Mommy seems to already have it figured out. 

 

 

 

 

 

They are such beautiful girls, just like their Momma  

Emily Shay will be here before you know it, can’t wait to meet this little one face to face.  Until then, here are her very excited parents:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am really interested in genealogy, I just have not had to the time to get in to it like I want to.  Once I finish school, I think I will be making it a priority to get it done.  I love old pictures and my Dad has found a mother load.  They will be coming soon, I have a lot of scanning in my future!  So in the envelope of pictures from my Dad was this book:

We read it last night cover to cover.  Basically what it is trying to do is encourage you to move to Avon, NY (where my Dad and his family are from).  Other than the cover having some wear and tear, it is in really remarkably good shape for being 100 years old.  

I love how they are selling the beauty of the area, and that the streets are sprinkled with oil in the summer.  It goes on to say that there are two hundred thousand feet of concrete side side and no wood or brick sidewalks are allowed.  Nice!  There is also a picture of the Saint George Hotel:

Where my Dad spent many days.  This was owned by his family on his mothers side.  He has a picture of this hotel hanging in his house and it was really cool to see it in this little book.  So I got curious about Avon and googled the city population today, (just over 2,900)m and found a link to the next picture:

This is the Central High School class of 1946.  My Aunt DeDee (top row, 6th form the left) is pictured here.  How cool is that?  My new year resolution is to get busy with my classes, (and for the record Astronomy has been kicking my butt) then I am going to start researching the Wright family history, and since the Wright side came from Ireland, here is an Irish Blessing for you:

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

 

Happy New Year everyone!

First let me start off by saying John and I talk about vacations all the time.  Then we go through the whole conversation of where, when and the “I’m not gonna fly” fiasco (that is John, not me).  So when I said I wanted to take our two oldest grandson’s to Disney World, he immediately said yes and the plans began.  The trip planned was for us to meet the boys in Savannah, GA, then head to Orlando.  After Orlando we went to El Paso so the boys could see their Mom return from Afghanistan.  So needless to say it was a great, fun and emotional trip.  Along the way we stopped at a few places, (the beauty of driving I will admit) and had nothing but fun.  Here are a few highlights:

On the road, I know it is random, but it serves the purpose.    So we ended up in Montgomery, Alabama and I instantly started singing the Alan Jackson song “Midnight in Montgomery”, so I asked John, did they really bury Hank Williams in Montgomery?  Googled it from the Blackberry, got the answer and the address, put the address in the Garmin and within 10 minutes, we were there.  Google and Garmin became a theme for the rest of the trip, and we had a blast doing a few random things a long the way.

 

Someone left 2 beers on Hank Williams side.  I imagine that may happen a lot, but I assure you it was not us.  Next stop was Savannah, GA.  The homes are crazy pretty, it was night time when we found them so no pictures, but we did take a few there.

 

 

The sign above is to Paula Dean’s restaurant, “Lady and Son’s”  We tried to eat there but you have to show up in the morning and put your name on a list.  Also one thing I will add about Savannah, for it being the South and a tourist community, the people there were unexpectedly rude…  so there ya go.  The real highlight was getting the boys and that was when the adventure really started.

From Savannah, we headed to Disney World, it was a short trip, but it did not stop the boys from being silly or taking a quick nap.

 

Matt wearing Pa-Pa’s hat

 

Aaron being silly

 

 

We have arrived 

 

and you can jump on the bed there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BTW, I love me some Goofy!

 

John and Matt on the Roller coaster at Animal Kingdom…

This tree was amazing.  The detail in everything was truly incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

This was Aaron’s first roller coaster…   he was scared at first, but after he rode it he was fearless.

 

 

Why does Goofy wear clothes and Pluto doesn’t?

 

 

 

 

 

The food was outstanding…  and pool time was fun too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney was great, but seeing the boys greet their Mom off the plane was pretty special too.

 

Waiting on Mom

 

 

Sweet boy, Matt.  Love those eyes.

 

Trina’s hubby Mike, Matt took this picture btw, he did a great job.

 

Aaron trying to be patient waiting on the plane.  He is such a good little man.

 

Patriot Guard was there.

 

 

 

 

Trina is on the right, just entering the building before she was dismissed.

 

Matt cheering for his Mommy

 

Greeting her boys

 

and her Momma

 

So sweet, seeing your spouse after being apart for a year is a special moment.  So glad I was able to be there.

 

 

 

My favorite

 

Her smile says is all…  So glad she is home safe and sound.  We love you Trina and we are so proud of you.

 

Matt carrying her gear for her. 

 

We had such a good time making memories with our grandsons.  I highly recommend Disney World to anyone looking to go on a trip.  John and I are planning on going again, just us, then when Gage and Alex are 8 and 10 maybe we can take them too.  They are 1 and 3 now, so hopefully our bodies will stay fit enough to do that (fingers crossed).

I have to be the worst blogger EVER!  Here are a few pictures of our sweet baby Gage at Easter.  It is hard to believe that he will be 3 in just 8 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here is the deal, I have always wanted a car like this.  So one day I saw this car driving home from work.  Showed it to my sweety, and now he is mine.  My oldest son A.J. takes issue with the fact that I have given the car a man’s name, but that is ok, I like it.  Here are some before, during and after pictures.  We are not completely done yet, but we are driving it and having a lot of fun…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My Sweety did all the work with the help of his boy, except for the upholstery, which was done by Becky’s Interiors.  I love you John, thanks for my new toy!

 

Jeremy is graduating this year, his mother and I became friends when we worked together in Amarillo some 21 years ago.  I can’t believe it has been that long already.  Jeremy is a great kid, and if you ever get to meet him, give him a hearty thanks, he will be defending this great country by serving in the US Army.  Way to go kiddo…….