Granddaughters

Our granddaughters have finished another school year. Our middle granddaughter finished kindergarten and will head to first grade in August. She grew up so much this year! She will celebrate her sixth birthday this summer!!

Our oldest granddaughter (she was 8 in the first picture) at the beginning of the school year.

Here she is on the last day of third grade and she is 9 years old!

She is looking like an almost teenager - be still my heart!!

And we couldn't leave out the smiley baby -- she had her first birthday in March and stays with her other Grandma so we don't have any "school" pictures - she is such a smiley baby!!

 

Day Four - Longwood Gardens

 Day Four - Delaware

We all slept in a little. I didn't even go down for breakfast - I asked Mark to bring up a bagel. He brought an English Muffin which was just fine! I stayed in the room and showered and packed. We had a full day planned but we had to check out at 11:00 and move our things to Susie and Bob's suite.

We headed to Longwood Gardens and if you are ever in Delaware, I highly recommend you visit -- just FYI, the garden is actually in Pennsylvania, not Delaware! These gardens are known as the best gardens in the US and one of the best gardens in the world. The gardens encompass 1100 acres and were originally bought by a Dupont to save some trees!

We were fascinated by the treehouses -- yes, six grown adults were fascinated by the tree houses.

Everything was beautiful.

The twin brothers and their wives (Alice and me!)

The flowers were spectacular. Someone told me that if a leaf falls off, someone swoops in to clean it up and replant if necessary!

Below is the Italian Water Garden - it was soooo lovely!

Treehouse #2 -- I think it looks like a bird - beak in the front, wings on each side, tail in the back. Can you see it?

Treehouse #3 - there were a lot of school children taking a tour and this was as close was we dared go!

The next two photos are known as the "potty wall." The walls on either side of this hallway are living walls filled with thousands of plants . . .and each of those doors is a potty!

The beauty of the conservatory took my breath away. I couldn't look at everything fast enough.

You might not be able to tell in this tiny photo, but each of those tall leaves is bigger than a normal size human.

We were able to catch the fountain show.

I forgot to tell you that we awakened to a very cool and windy day. I didn't pack a jacket. Just saying.

One of our favorite parts was the Ornamental Kitchen Garden. They've been growing veggies here since the 1920's. The crops are divided between the restaurants on the property, the employees, and a food bank. The trellises were cleverly designed to not only be functional, but to be beautiful, too.

Look at that tiny purple cauliflower. As we were walking around, we realized that the Delaware/Pennsylvania area was at least 4 weeks behind Alabama in the season - maybe closer to 8 weeks. Things were blooming in the gardens that bloomed here weeks ago.

I actually snapped a quick photo of the falls below when we were a tad lost - not really, but I did finally ask someone for directions to the parking lot. Mark and I were going back to the hotel to freshen up and head to the airport for our 7:00 flight to Bham. We wanted to leave in plenty of time to drive on I95, turn in the rental car, and make sure our flight was good to go . . . just in case we had to make alternative arrangements (remember the flight cancellations at the beginning of our trip?).

These are out of order -- here we all are up in the tree house!

Here we are on one of the paths.

Here is Susie with a dragon in the treehouse!

Here we are at the bird tree house.

Here is George touching the goat sculpture that he wasn't supposed to touch!

We made it to the airport and turned in the rental car and our flight was on-time. We landed in Birmingham a little before 9:00 p.m. and headed to the parking deck for our car. We were home and almost in bed by 10:00 . . .because I had to be at work the next morning.

What a fun and full four day weekend!

The Wedding and Reception

Day Three - Sunday Afternoon

The wedding was scheduled for 2:30 on Sunday afternoon at the Greek Orthodox Church. We've been to many weddings, but this was our first Greek Orthodox wedding! The church was small and beautiful and reminded me of the chapels and churches we've seen on the other side of the world.

There was a sign in the narthex about the use of cell phones - it said DO NOT unless you were texting with Jesus hahaha! We took it seriously and all of us turned our completely off. During the bridal procession, I turned my head . . .and across the aisle . . .all those of Greek descent were filming! I didn't take a single picture of the inside of the church or of the wedding.

We grabbed a few photos outside the church.

Mark is on the left and his identical twin brother is on the right. Bob, the father of the groom, is in the middle.

The bride only wanted immediate family in the wedding photos so we grabbed this one before Susie and Bob had to go back inside. Mark and I are on the left. I was very pleased with my dress! Susie and Bob are in the middle and Alice and George are on the right. Our niece, daughter of Alice and George, is getting married in June so we will all don our finery again soon!

The wedding was in an enormous building on the hotel grounds which was very  convenient.

There was a mirror right inside the door with Maria and Paul's names etched on it. You can see our reflection.

The ballroom was spectacular. There was an atrium surrounding the ballroom and there were tables laden with appetizers plus the bar. As appetizers, they served everything from crab cakes and mini crab cake sandwiches to lamb chops!!

Everyone had a favor at their seat (it was assigned seating). It was an evil eye like we brought back from Greece!! We also had Jordan Almonds and a luggage tag thanking us for "traveling" to the wedding.

These are slightly out of order - you can see Paul and Maria - straight through the middle - on the dance floor.

Maria's father is the man with white hair to the left and he is throwing money all around them on the dance floor. This continued throughout the night.

Below is a picture of Susie and Paul for the mother-son dance.

Below is the father-daughter dance.

Their whole family ended up on the dance floor and there was more money for the couple. We live in Alabama and we've never seen anyone throw money at the reception. I think it is a Greek custom.

We had ordered the beef and it was the perfect selection. It was delicious!

Paul and Maria cut the wedding cake and were sharing a bite or two. There was not a groom's cake. I wonder if that is a southern tradition only?

This was one of the Greek dances and it was so fun to watch!!

They had an awesome photo booth set up. Back row on the left is Thomas (he is moving to Alabama in June - yay!!) and then Susie. Paul, the groom, is the one with the boutonniere. Bob is on the right and Ben, the doctor in NYC, is in front. 

George and Alice at the photo booth (below)

Mark and me at the photo booth. I have the one in motion, too.

I think most everyone had too much to eat and too much to drink haha! After dinner, they had those same tables in the atrium (where there were originally appetizers) full of desserts. They even had a woman making Bananas Foster fresh to order. Mark had two orders of Bananas Foster with vanilla ice cream . . .but who is counting, right?

It was so nice to just walk back to the hotel and fall in the bed!

ZZZZZ!

Do they serve Groom's cake where you live? Have you ever been to a wedding where they shower the couple with money?

 

Hodgepodge

 

I'm joining up with Joyce and the gang for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. What is your favorite room in your house and why?

This is a hard question to answer. There are several spaces in our home that I love. When we were looking for a new house back in 2014, one of my non-negotiables was a large dining room. I wanted an actual dining room though many houses were being built without one. When we found this house, I loved that it had a full size dining room. We host the Young Professionals every Tuesday night plus we are in a supper club of ten plus we often host our family Sunday lunch at our house so a dining room makes sense for us. 

I think there were either 14 or 16 around the
table on this night! Have I told y'all how
much I love the song, "Crowded Table"?
You can listen here.

2. What's something that will instantly annoy you?

Let me start by saying that I am too easily annoyed lately. I am working on it. Things that annoy me quickly are when I realize someone isn't listening to me or when I've asked someone to do something and shown them how I like it done and they refuse to do it correctly (can you tell I like to be in control?) or when someone continuously mispronounces names or when someone makes mouth noises like smacking???? Grrrr! I'm working on it. I promise.

3. May 28th is National Hamburger Day . . .will you celebrate? How do you like yours? If you're not cooking at home is there a favorite place you like to go for a burger? Did you ever work in a fast food restaurant?

I love a good burger but I don't know if I will celebrate on the actual day. We had smash tortilla burgers on Friday night. That is Mark's newest favorite way I make a burger. I like my burger to be done. I do not want any touch of rareness in a hamburger. I love it with cheese, mustard, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, tomato or I love a good pimento cheese burger. There are several places in town that are known for their burgers - Chez Fon Fon is one and Jack Brown's is another. I have not ever worked in a restaurant at all - full service or fast food.

4. What are three scents you like?

I have so many allergies that I can't abide perfumes nor very many scented items. Essential Peppermint Oil and I are friends! I can usually tolerate real lemon scent. Most scented candles send my allergies into overdrive but I can tolerate the apple/cinammon candle for a short amount of time. People who don't have allergies don't usually understand this scent aversion thing. If someone comes into my office with perfume or cologne or even scented laundry detergent on their person . . .it is not good for me. There are other "smells" that I enjoy - popcorn popping, fresh coffee (even though I don't drink it), brown sugar brownies baking in the oven (even though I don't eat them). 

5. What do you miss most about being a kid?

Looking back, I guess I miss that carefree feeling. Growing up, our "job" was to go to school and do well. I did that easily. I had friends. I had sisters and parents and grandparents. We went to church. In the spring, summer, and fall we played outside. In hindsight, I realize that my parents had worries but they did such a good job of not letting those worries affect us. We always had food on the table and clean clothes. My daddy did tell my sister, who was an adult, that he wore underwear with holes so that we might have things when we were growing up.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We didn't do anything special on Memorial Day, but we did eat lunch together after church on Sunday. Mark's brother, George, cooked a brisket, baked sweet potatoes, and cooked corn on the cob. I provided a big bowl of fresh fruit. Mark's sister made green beans cooked with Conecuh Sausage. My sister-in-law set the table with a red and white "picnic" cloth and she used "flag" napkins. We sat around and talked for a while so it was a nice time together. My daddy was a World War II Veteran but he didn't give his life for our country. I don't know anyone personally who died in a war. I remember a young man in our home church was declared MIA in Vietnam. I think they did finally receive news that he died in Vietnam, but I was quite a few years younger and the Vietnam war seemed like something far far away. I am thankful for those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Delaware Is A Pretty State!

Day Three - Sunday morning! When Susie and Bob lived in Delaware, Mark never had more than two weeks of vacation at most (long story), so we never had the chance to visit. This trip was our first time in the state, and we took full advantage by spending some time exploring the countryside in our rental car.

Delaware truly surprised us with its beauty—at least the area where we were staying! Just one turn off the main road could lead you down a quiet, idyllic street, shaded by a canopy of trees like the one in the photo below.

We had seen the sign for Brandywine Creek State Park so we loaded the name into Waze and struck out for an adventure.

Once again, the weather was glorious.

All around the region were these beautiful stone walls like we've seen in other countries.

The following is from SAH Archipedia and the article was written by W. Barksdale Maynard.

For many years following the arrival of the utopian-minded Pierre Samuel du Pont to America, the du Pont family held land in a kind of communistic arrangement. But “Boss Henry” du Pont broke with tradition, seizing for himself huge tracts out of the common holdings, to the dismay of some of his kin. As if forever to mark the landscape as his own, he (and later his son, Colonel Henry A. du Pont) had Italian masons build extensive stone fences around their far-flung estate, using rock from Brandywine Granite Quarry which the family partly controlled. The walls at today's Brandywine Creek State Park are good examples—solidly built and with capstones so level on the top that one can easily walk on them. The park property was bought by landscape architect Robert Wheelwright in 1951 and auctioned after his death, at which time developers proposed a housing tract for the 433 acres. Concerned citizens pushed the reluctant State Park Commission to buy the property instead, and today it is cherished open space.

You can see the amazing detail and how you could truly walk along the top of the stones!!

This farm was right at the entrance to the park. We were wondering if the caretaker lived there. 

As we were headed back to the hotel, we passed another silo. I'm assuming this is a silo. I looked up the one above and couldn't really find any details. There were private property signs on the road leading up to the house.

This little house (below) was directly across from our hotel. There were several in a row and they were so cute!! I love seeing the different types of architecture when we travel.

Only two more posts after this one -- the actual wedding and reception and our visit to Longwood Gardens. We crammed a lot into four days!!