One of the purposes of this trip was to see how my grandparents are doing. With Aunt Patsy having moved to Tennessee, there is no support system for them in Maine. Aunt Denise lives 2.5 hours away and with the winters they are accustomed to, we have a lot of concern for the safety and well being.
Mom and Aunt Denise did a lot of serious talking with Grammie and Grandpa about their plans. Grammie has been wanting to move to Tennessee for awhile, where she would be closer to family and the winters wouldn't be so hard. Grandpa on the other hand is a "New Englander" and has been a hold out. He has been thinking long and hard and pulled mom and Grammie aside the other night and said he realized that "one of his jobs was to make his wife happy and she wasn't happy." So, to make a long story short he has decided to move to Tennessee. This of course means we will be able to see a lot more of them and the kids will grow up knowing their great grandparents as long as possible...this is a great thing.
I still feel some sadness with this vacation coming to an end. I don't know when the next time I will be able to come up North, to see the sights of this beautiful part of the US. Its nice having family in a different part of the country allowing you to visit and see other places, but I do know this is the best thing for all of us!
So, its Friday we head to Grammie and Grandpas to spend some more time with them. I make everyone lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup and after lunch we say our "see ya laters" and head back to Manchester.
One thing we don't have in Tennessee is candle pin bowling. When we go north, this is one thing we try to do. In candle pin bowling the balls are smaller, a little bit bigger than the ones used for skee ball but big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The pins are set up the same but they are skinner.
I lucked out this year, because I had signed up for "Kids Bowl Free" summer program. I found a lane in Manchester, NH that I was able to change my membership to allowing us to bowl free while here! This was actually the same bowling alley that my mother use to go to when she was a kid! The only thing I had to pay for was shoe rental...which they had kid sizes at $3 a pair!
The kids really loved bowling here with the balls being smaller they were easier to handle and lighter so the kids were able to toss them down the lanes easier.
Tanner was super excited, he was leading the whole game and he thought he would win, but then mom came along and got a spare on the 10th frame allowing her to win by 1. Because of timing, we played a 2 person game afterwards, but made it adults versus kids and just shared in the taking of turns....adults won!
After bowling we ventured over to my mothers cousins house about 30 minutes away. She wasn't able to meet up with us any other time because of work so she invited us for dinner this night knowing we would be close to catch our plane the next morning. This is the 2nd time I have eaten at her house, they have a huge garden out in back of there house and grow a lot of their own vegetables. Marlyns house is an interesting experience I feel very out of place and could tell the kids did as well, but family is family and we must do what has to be done!
One of the things we did a lot of was swimming. At our hotel in Biddesford it was a little "chemically" smelling and the kids enjoyed it, but mom and I didn't really get in. Here the water was beautiful, but the hot tub was so inviting that I just had to get in and warm up which we did once we returned to the hotel after dinner. One last swim before heading out tomorrow.
At the airport they have a huge moose statue and this was the closest we came to seeing any moose...as many times as I have been to Maine I have never seen an actual one, one day I might!
Our plane ride home was pretty uneventful thankfully! Its always good to be home and in your own bed and I hadn't slept well all week so I was very glad to be home for this reason alone!
Our plane ride home was pretty uneventful thankfully! Its always good to be home and in your own bed and I hadn't slept well all week so I was very glad to be home for this reason alone!I enjoy going north and visiting family and the sights and even if family moves here, hope that we may still go north on occasions to just reminisce.
No comments:
Post a Comment