Destin, Florida 2010

I sure hope and pray that blogs last forever or at least for a long time - because this blog is also a journal that I hope one day my grandson might look back at and have fond memories of. Maybe a little learning too. And maybe my new grandchild might want to read. Oh maybe me - okay let's get back to The Trip . . .

So I did learn a lot more about my niece and her 3 kidlets this trip. I learned make-up tips from my teenage grand niece. . . I learned that being quiet is okay - believe it or not that is hard for me (I am chatty). . . I learned my daughter is a lot stronger of a woman than I gave her credit for being! (when I was sick so really took over!) . . . I learned to be constantly teased by my great nephew - I learned too when I didn't let it bother me he stopped - but not so the others so much - especially the little ones. . . (little ones are so sensitive) . . . . A lot of crying there. I learned my GS has definitely been raised as an only child and might be a touch spoiled - lol . . .
We played a new game called Farkle and it was fun. . .

And I learned no one is perfect and for me that is the greatest part of life. I love it people's imperfections because I have so many myself!!!!!!!!!!!

We stayed in a community called Destiny East. There are homes you rent inside a gated community. They gave us two golf carts - one street safe and one for inside the community to go to the pool. The house was beautiful. The teenagers wanted to drive them of course.

We drove on Monday with me sneezing and having a runny nose the whole way. Got there and celebrated my GS's birthday (in fact we did that all week - as this was a trip his mom gave him for his birthday) . . .

Our first stop was Hooter's for lunch. Yes we did. You know how lucky my GS is - some man bought a T-shirt from one of the girls and gave he gave it to my GS! My grandson had it signed by all the girls!

Of course it was his birthday so they stood him on a chair and put on a chicken nose and made him quack. Have to say he was a good sport.

Finally we got to the house (there were a lot of small bladders on this trip and every one had different timings). The house had two levels with 10 foot ceilings in each. It was gorgeous and plenty of room for the seven of us. No squabbles about who got what room.

Complete with snakes and lizards! SHould have put it on Angela's Show and Tail this week - it was about snakes!

This is the kitchen and my grand nephew cooked a couple of meals for us! I learned a teenager could be handy - if in the right frame of mind. This guy was the ultimate jokester. Beware. He was sharp and fast with the comments. The little ones had problems with this.

The recreation center had a mini theater we rented for free and watched Mall Cop - something we could all watch. I have to admit I feel asleep and snored. Well I was sick. We did not even ask the kids what they wanted to see. We picked it out for them. Aren't we getting smart?

Friendships developed. This is the pool in the community - my favorite thing to do. Look at the little guy looking up and learning (both good and bad) from the bigger fella!

On the beach my grand niece - 17 - got stung by a jellyfish. This is a picture of a jellyfish - they were just coming up to the shore every where. My niece also wanted to get a tan and used 30 sunscreen and we stayed out all day long. Poor baby got so burnt on her legs and feet. She hurt. She learned she'll use a stronger sunscreen. We had to go get Aloe Vera gel and antibiotic for her.

These two were quite a pair - just a few months a part and have always been great friends. This time though these two had some problems getting a long. My GS started copying the older boy and made this pretty little girl cry sometimes. Then he'd apologize and they would make up and become buddies again.

Burying the old teenager! He was cool - nothing got to him.

If you had told me 5 or 6 years ago the GS would do this - in the sand - with his sensory - I wouldn't have believed it - all our hard work and money for therapy has paid off! Praise God.

The two little ones played Foosball in the house.

And here is one of the golf carts. That was one of my favorite things to do. We'd drive all around - it was so freeing. There was a cool breeze and sunshine. The weather never did get over 73 degrees. A bit chilly, but no rain.

More tomorrow,



Happy Birthday Loretta Lynne - Wikipedia.

Born to Melvin "Ted" Webb and Clara Marie Webb and named in honor of Loretta Young, Loretta Webb was the second of eight children; her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle. She is also, on her mother's side, distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless. Lynn grew up in Butcher Hollow, a section of Van Lear, a mining community near Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky. Her mother, Clara, was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry. Her father, Ted, was a coal miner, storekeeper, and farmer. She was married to Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Doolittle," "Doo," or "Mooney" (for running moonshine), on January 10, 1948, at 13 years of age. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband, at the age of 16. The Lynns had four children - Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy and Ernest Ray - by the time Loretta was 19, and subsequently had twin girls, Peggy and Patsy (named after Patsy Cline).

Lynn always had a passion for music. Before getting married, she regularly sang at churches and in local concerts. After she married, she stopped singing in public, wishing rather to focus on her family life. Instead, she passed her love of music on to her children, often singing to them around the house. When Loretta was 24, Doolittle bought her a guitar as an anniversary present, which she taught herself to play.

Childhood home of Loretta Lynn Even though they were married for nearly 50 years and had six children together, the Lynn's marriage was reportedly rocky up to Doolittle's death in 1996. In her 2002 autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and in an interview with CBS News the same year, Lynn recounts how her husband cheated on her regularly and once left her while she was giving birth. Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but, she said, "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice."