Laid to Rest

 

My brother, Doug, has been here for a couple of weeks. He lives and works in Germany and its been 10 years since we've seen him.

The main purpose for his trip, other than to see his amazing sister, was to put to rest our parents cremains.  Our father passed away in November of 2002 and our mother followed in August of 2004.  You are probably thinking, why did it take so long?  My mother had 2 brothers that were still living and the plan was for them to all be buried together at Saratoga National Cemetery in Saratoga Springs, New York.  Finally, everything had come together and we were finally able to have a dual service there.

Cousins

Cousins 2nd generation

Cousins 3rd and 4th generation

Plaque on visitors pavilion



Me with my brother Doug

Cousin Jill played taps

Side by side Sister and Brother

Headstones won't be done for a couple of weeks.  Never realized that my parents both died on the 24th of the month.

Robert Moore was my mother's brother

Vernon was also her brother but he was buried in the wall.  However, it worked out that my mother and brother are facing the area where he is buried.

Entrance

Area where Vernon is buried.

After the service, we all went Old Bryan Inn in Saratoga for lunch.  It was really good to be able to spend some time with everyone.  It wasn't until after lunch that we all went back to the cemetery to actually see where they were buried.  We all sat around some more in they area where Vernon was buried. It was late evening when we finally got back to the hotel.  It was a quick trip but we were glad to finally get it done.  Hard coordinating something like this.  In order for them to be side by side, we needed to do it together.  We had separate flag ceremonies but only one gun salute for both and of course Jill playing taps. 



California Dreamin

Since we were not able to drive the motorhome to California, my son was nice enough to send me a plane ticket.


I left the Monday before Easter and had an absolutely wonderful time. My DIL Sarah is a teacher and it was her spring break so we had a lot of fun with April.  Thursday we went over to her sisters house. Jenny has a daughter that is 4 months older than April.  The purpose that day was to color Easter eggs.  They set up a small pool and then the kids colored the eggs using whipped cream and food coloring. 

Friday morning I was able to attend the YMCA's Good Friday Breakfast program.  When I worked there I attended many of these so it was good to see some of the people I used to work with.  It was at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.  Here are a couple of pics of this beautiful historic hotel.

Saturday was spent with my daughter Stacy and her daughter Ciera.  Here is my oldest granddaughter holding my youngest.

Sunday was Easter and here is the cutest bunny ever.

My oldest granddaughter Ciera is getting married in September so I will be heading that way again. 



Sorry But I Had To Do It!!!

This is to post pictures of the newest addition to our family.

April Noel Dixon  Born July 31, 2015

 

My son and daughter in law love anything Disney.

 

Testing out the Mouse Ears!!!

 

 

Cheerleading Competition

Our granddaughter is into cheerleading.  She has been going to the same gym since she was 5.  She’s now 10. Yesterday we traveled to Virginia Beach to see her compete.  We had done this a couple of years ago, but she’s now on 2 different teams so we wanted to see her “fly”.  That’s the term they use for those cheerleaders who get thrown up in the air.  Even though my heart was beating so fast, I watched as they threw her in the air and she then completed her stunt.
Savannah is the one on the left.


Now she’s in the middle.

On her other team, she doesn’t fly but she has a part in the routine where she does a couple of back hand springs and then blows kisses to the judges.

The teams both did real good on this day, however, they really messed up on Saturday and with a 2 day total they didn’t place very high.  But we had fun and enjoyed watching some of the other groups. 

St. Augustine Day Two

We were up early again Sunday morning.  First stop was to walk onto the bridge so we could get a closer look at the replica of a Spanish ship.  Ed love making models of these ships, so he spent quite a long time looking it over. 
  Our next stop was Castillo De San Marcos.  This was the first stone fort the Spanish queen authorized in 1672.  The fort is made of coquina.  Coquina is naturally formed in the ocean from limestone and fossilized shells.  Its very soft when first quarried, and when left to dry, forms a block that cannon balls cannot penetrate.  This fort was never taken over by force.  Its the oldest masonry fort in the United States.
       
We took the time to watch a demonstration of a cannon fire.

We were told that the reason they were so good at defending the fort, was that the practiced every day.  They always used the oldest gunpowder for practice and saved the good stuff for the real battles.  There cannons they fired that day had a 3 mile range.  They were very accurate when in battle.




We then hoped on the trolley to go to Mission Nombre De Dios.  When Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed in St Augustine he had with him, Father Lopez.  Father Lopez was to bring Catholicism back to the area.  This is the first mission in the United States.  The Statue of Father Lopez with the cross in the background.  The cross marks the spot of the landing. 
                      
There is so much to see in this town.  In order to really see everything you need a good week.  We only had 3 days and only 2 of them were nice enough to walk around.  It would really be good if you could take the time to rest a day in between.  But we really enjoyed the area.  Wouldn’t be a bad place to settle someday.

St Augustine, Florida Day One

After going to the Golf Hall of Fame, we spent the next 3 days touring around the beautiful town of St. Augustine.  First thing we did was go to the tourist information center and we bought a 3 day trolley pass with admission to the Fountain of Youth Park.  It was still very cold on Friday when we bought the tickets, but we decided since it was late in the day, that we would just take the trolley all away around and then decide what we wanted to see.

Saturday we got an early start and our first stop was the Fountain of Youth Park.  Ponce De Leon arrived in Florida and found what natives had told him was water that had the ability to grant eternal youth.  This a large park was once home to the ancient Timucuan Indians and evidence has been found that early Spaniards had a village here.
Back on the trolley, we then toured the Old Jail, Oldest Store and History Museum.  Henry Flagler came to St. Augustine in 1891 and bought land and built the Ponce De Leon Hotel.  On the land, was the county jail. He paid to build the jail on the location its on now.  Looking from the street, he didn’t want it to look like a jail. The jail held both women and men.  This location is also where the Oldest Store was.  This store furnished many of the things Henry Flagler needed for his hotel.
           


This grand hotel had running water and electricity installed by his friend Thomas Edison in each room.  Guests we expected to stay for the entire winter season.  The dining hall (yellow round portion) had windows made from Tiffany.  These stained glass windows are now protected with plexiglas. It is now home to Henry Flagler College.

After we finished at the Old Jail, Store and Museum, we hoped back on the trolley and got off at St George Street.  This street had many shops that are housed in some of the oldest parts of the town. These stone pillars are at the entrance. 

                         
We were exhausted by the time we finished day one….and we had another day to go. 

Golf Hall of Fame

We are currently in St. Augustine, Florida.  One of our missions here was to see the Golf Hall of Fame.  We did that yesterday.  It was very cold here in Florida, just as it is in most of the United States, so we thought it would be a good day for an indoor activity.   However, the entrance fee includes a round of golf on the 18 hole putting course.  If we had known, we probably would have waited.

Ed enjoyed it anyway.  He spent a good 2 to 3 hours roaming the museum.  They had a nice exhibit and tribute to Bob Hope.  He loved golf and gave a huge boost to the PGA with his golf tournaments in Palm Springs.  Then it was on to the history of golf.  Ed got to stand on a replica of the bridge at St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland.



Then on to the newer history and the Wall of Honor.

                 

I thought this rule was really funny.

 

             

This a picture taken from the tower looking down at a replica of the 17th hole at TCP Sawgrass, one of the courses played on the PGA Tour.  The tee is by the white building by the trees.  You can see the flag of the green which is surrounded by the water. 



The weather is going to be warming up some in the next few days so we are planning on touring old St. Augustine, the oldest town in the US. 

Catching up

Just realized my last post was back in October!! Wow! So I thought it was time update it.

Our time at Amazon went fast after the Halloween holiday.  They were having some trouble finding workers up at the warehouse in Indiana so about 100 of the work campers who were in Kentucky moved out and headed to campgrounds just above Louisville. After that happened a lot of us remaining were shifted to other positions.  Since we had done ICQA (inventory control) before, that’s where we finished out our time.  We finished up on the 19th of December and headed to Livingston.

The weather there was horrible.  We were there 21 days and I think we saw the sun twice in that time.  We went through a tank of propane because it was so cold. (we didn’t use our electric heater because we have to pay our own electric). 

We spent a great weekend in San Antonio with good friends, David and Noreen Becker.  We worked with them for 2 years in New York and they joined us in 2012 at Amazon.  We spent Saturday walking around the Alamo and River walk.  Had lunch at Buckhorn Saloon and toured the Texas Ranger Museum.  Sunday we hung around the park and watched the football games.

 

We left Monday and headed back to Humble, Texas.  Ed is having some issues with a high calcium level.  He was sent to an endogrinogist who wanted him to do some other testing.  He had more blood work done and had a bone density test.  Still waiting for results.

We moved on to Pass Christian, Mississippi.  I really love the area here.  When Ed and I win the lottery we have found our next sticks and brick house. House with a view!!!

     
Looked it up on Zillow.  Only 12.5 million!!! 15 bedrooms!! Enough for my whole family!!

One evening we had dinner at Shaggy’s.  Sign says its the best seafood dive!! Ed had the shrimp basket and I had the chicken basket.  We were going to have the fish, but we found out it was catfish so we passed. Neither of us is fond of catfish. But the shrimp was very good as was the chicken.  As you can see, we had enough food!!

      
We are on the move again…..this time Robertsdale, Alabama just the other side of Mobile.