Homecoming and "Mr. Purp"

I spent the weekend with my "little guy," G-Man - only he's not so little anymore. My goodness he is getting all grown up. He drove me around in his purple Honda, which he has affectionately named "Mr. Purp," not to be confused with "Mr. Perp," okay? I got a good laugh out of this and the name really grew on me. I was a little amused by the good luck charms in Mr. Purp. Here are two:

As it was Homecoming weekend , the GMan and some of his friends were going to the dance. Apparently you don't take a date to the Homecoming Dance, but rather you only take a date to the Prom. You go with a group to Homecoming. The gang met at the Pizza Palace for dinner before heading over. When he got home, his tie was still damp from the sweating he had done on the dance floor. He said he danced all night and had a great time. Here he is getting into "Mr. Purp."

Perhaps you noticed his "beard." He and some of his buddies are observing "Octobeard" this month and seeing who can grow the best beard. He assures me it will be gone in November. It has kinda grown on me too.

Parents Weekend

Big Dad and I just got back from visiting Hollywood at Parents Weekend at VMI. We had a really great time. We stayed at a very nice b&b, right outside of town called Fox Hill B&B. It was quite nice - spacious, and cozy. Here are a few photos from Fox Hill. We really enjoyed the hospitality of Sue and Mark as well as kitty and puppy. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we could not have asked for anything better.

The highlight of our trip though was spending time with our girl. We actually got to go to class with her on Friday which was quite interesting. In her English class I learned two new words - portmanteau and epiphenominal. I remembered on Friday what they meant but if you want to know yourself, please refer to Webster's because I have all but forgotten. It was quite fun. I can't necessarily call her Calculus class fun because to tell you the truth, Big Dad and I had absolutely zero clue as to what they were talking about. They used arcsin, derivatives, inverse, differentials, etc. Heck, I don't even know if I'm spelling it right. We could have kept up in a class in Japanese just as well. No matter, the important thing is that Hollywood understands and she seems to be keeping up just fine. I also had the chance to tour the barracks and see the spartan conditions of their room. Trust me, nothing fancy.We also got to eat in the mess hall. Here is a photo of Hollywood with one of her BRs (brother rats). On Saturday morning we were able to watch the corps in a parade.

In this last parade photo you can see Hollywood marching. She is 3rd from last.

We had a really fun time on Saturday at the football game. My sister Blondie and her fiance Scamper came to the game as well. Unfortunately my camera battery died around that time. No worries though as Mom Bear took lots of photos and promised to send them to me for future postings. I think she has a photo of the rats doing pushups which is pretty funny. Everytime VMI scores at all, the entire rat mass must run out of the bleachers onto the sidelines and do a number of pushups equal to VMI's new score. They weren't too happy that the score ended up being 47-20 VMI.

After the game we had the nicest dinner with Sis and Scamper. I hope she has some pics of this as well. On Sunday we took Hollywood to Walmart for provisions refill. Before we left we visited with her host family - a family that takes in cadets on the weekends and provides them with a place that feels like home. We are very thankful she has met a family kind enough to take her and several of her BRs in.

Road Trip

I had the great fortune of catching a ride with my bro Mike on Sunday up to see his daughter play field hockey at James Madison University. My fortunes were many as his oldest daughter, a student at Sweetbrier College was able to pick up my daughter, a Rat at Virginia Military Institute, and bring her over to JMU. My greatest fortune of all was surviving the trip as that was in question early on when we nearly ate guardrail soon after we set off. We truly got run off the road by a very inconsiderate driver. My bro does not understand the concept of "the bigger car wins." No, he was not going to let his Toyota be pushed around by a full size Ford Econo Van. After a few tense seconds (my sister-in-law can provide details), we emerged victorious and the van exited at the next ramp. Lil' Red never even looked up from her book. We had a fabulous time as his daughter #2 hosted us at her school. It was Parents Weekend at JMU and we feasted on a lovely breakfast and we baked, I mean basked in the sunshine and enjoyed watching JMU stomp Hofstra. Afterwards was a pasta tailgate party. These ladies know how to throw a potluck!

Hollywood arrived in her uniform and quickly took advantage of her chance to change into "civilians." We camped out in #2's room for a while, just chilling out and waiting for the field hockey game to start. We helped ourselves to her roommates candy - I actually stuffed some into my bookbag for later consumption in case bro did not stop on the way home for a snack (he did not). Here is a picture of Hollywood with #2 before the game and a picture of me with Hollywood. She and #2 are the same age, and grew up together, along with my nephew, The Ladies Man.

At the end of the day my dear sweet niece #1 took Hollywood back to her barracks to begin another week of "straining." No worries though, I will be back there on Friday for her Parents Weekend. Hubby and I will be attending classes with her and then we will attend the parade. Saturday will be the football game, tailgating with the Moms in Prayer group, and dinner at a nice restaurant in town. Sunday will be brunch and church then we'll have to leave. Hub and I are going to take a few more days off and trek up to Wintergreen for spa treatment. I'm hoping the leaves in the Blue Ridge Mountains are at their peak then.

A Good Cause

I had a really nice time on Saturday participating in a Walk for Diabetes.

My friend C. Butler had asked me if I would walk and it turned out to be a beautiful day. I was all set to walk 5K but was pleasantly surprised when we walked from 31st Street south to 17th Street at which time we turned around and walked back. I don't know that we even walked 1 full mile but it was just the right length. I got to meet some new friends and raise money for a great cause.

Team Butler

G-Man

I haven't blogged about GMan lately but he is doing great in school. He is beginning to think about colleges and we are going to get him signed up to start taking his SATs. He wants to major in International Business and right now he thinks he wants to go to school at either the University of Florida or the University of Virginia. Both excellent schools. Here is a photograph of GMan in France back in June - he was over the fact that I kept taking pictures of the teenagers. He politely asked if he would "pose" for me, if I would not take any more pictures. I agreed and while the band was playing the "chickadee" song he gave me his pose. I thought this was funny.I also thought this was a great picture of us as we stood at the border between Germany and Austria. I am supposed to visit with him in a few weeks but I am thinking about fetching him and having him come here in the next week or two. I miss him a lot. He is at a great age and he has the greatest sense of humor.

Happy Belated Birthday Hollywood

My daughter Hollywood turned 18 a little more than a week ago. I had hoped to put a photograph of her as a baby up here along with her graduation photograph but I do not have a scanner and need to figure out how to get the photographs digitized. But I want her to know she is the very best daughter, stepdaughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and cousin a person could ask for. We are all very proud of her and are behind her 100%. Photos will follow once I figure it out. Love you girlie!

Sister/Momma Bear is Okay

My sister, the Old Stewardess, was hospitalized last week and we had a very bad scare. Near the beginning of September we had gone down to visit Dad in Duck, NC and she was uncharacteristically feeling ill. Old Stew is always the life of the party and when she is down, she is down. I took her to the hospital during Hurricane Hannah and 8 hours later they sent us on our way with a few percocets and a cd of her MRI which showed a large tumor in her abdomen and it had been causing severe pain. She will not be pleased that I say this but it was the size of a grapefruit (some 13x8 centimeters). The doctor told her that they suspected cancer, he did not mince words and I was there to witness it. He told her to get to a gynecological oncologist as soon as possible. I was amazed at how she handled the whole situation. She did not panic whatsoever. She was actually quite calm. I would have been beside myself and quite hysterical but she was not. She refused to be alarmed unless and until she knew she had something to be alarmed about. Wow. I kept checking in with her up until the time of surgery and she remained calm the whole time. Many folks were praying for her and once those efforts were underway, I began to relax as well. We were relieved to discover this "thing" was totally benign. I went up to Fairfax on Tuesday afternoon, the day of her surgery. I was there along with Dad and Scamper when she came out of the recovery room. She was chatty within the hour. She got tired quickly and sent us home. The next morning she had made them remove her catheter and she was up and at 'em. They let her go home Thursday - she really is the best type of patient. Here are a few photos, a couple of her, one of me making the bed with the nurse (I think she took this because it is rare to see me do housework) and one of Dad doing what Dad does best. I'm sorry, I'm not good with what I need to do to arrange the photos the right way and I don't care to learn right now.