We Say Goodbyes

Day 11

Thursday

August 21st

This morning we drove past the house I grew up in from birth to age 8 1/2. It looks pretty much the same, except our brown Pinto has been replaced by a Honda Accord and the front door isn't red anymore. That's sad. I wonder if the multi-colored pink shag rug is still in my bedroom? Fat chance, but perhaps the family room still has its fake wood paneling.

I loved rainbows when I was younger and this was always my favorite landmark in town. I was so happy to see that it still exists. It's a little girl's dream garage. I wonder what's parked inside? Probably either life-sized My Little Ponies and Care Bears, or Barbie's red Ferrari.

We stopped by my cousin's house to play. The kids ate Flavor Ice. Another childhood memory of mine. The purple ones always made me cough.

My boys like wearing helmets.

After lunch, we went to the cemetery. This poor guy only has a remnant of a tombstone. How does 88% of a tombstone get lost?

There were different levels and quality of tombstones:

One of my ancestors chose a tall, erect tombstone. This is not the tombstone of my ancestor John with the 18 kids.

Most opted for short, shiny granite.

Some selected from the value menu. I admire the Chikes (not related) for thinking outside the bun and ordering a rock and street sign.

After the cemetery we went to the park and abided by all the rules. We are obedient people.

We ate pizza for dinner and attempted a photo with my grandmother and her great-grandchildren. This is the only photo from my camera with all the children pictured. I had to set my camera down and duck behind my grandmother while Jason sat on my head. My sister-in-law has those pics on her camera. My brother's kids were very cooperative.

This was the night I cried. My mom thought it was sweet that Emily was crying too. However, she was only crying because there was no time left to go to the hotel pool. Tomorrow we leave. It's been a great trip!