A WONDERFUL FAMILY CHRISTMAS

OK, I'm REALLY slow in posting. Life just keeps happening.

AND I'm a WORLD CLASS procrastinator. I can spend hours being very busy and accomplish absolutely nothing of consequence.

The Christmas Season hasn't started at the Cook house until we've made COOKIES !!





Bobbie, Carol's sister from Baltimore came down two days before Christmas. Then we drove on to Rick Creek, VA to visit their 91 yr old grandmother.

Andrew sings in the Children's Choir at Our Lady of Nazareth Roman Catholic Church. They perform 4 or 5 times a year and Christmas Eve is one of the best. We had Christmas dinner here on Christmas Eve and then went to the Children's Mass. It, was, as always, an inspiring service and the kids sang beautifully.

Carol, Andrew and Bobbie at OLN



Since the kids were leaving early Christmas morning to be with their Dad, we came home from Church and opened all of our presents. Then we had dessert for supper.

The day after Christmas, Tom, Ann and the kids drove from State College to Massanutten Resort.

Adam and Tyler arrived later that evening and we arrived, with my daughter Lena the next day. I was able to use two weeks of my timeshares to get two units almost across the street from each other.

Here is a panoramic view from our balcony. Click on the picture and scroll to the right to see the slopes.




Sunday evening Tom, Adam and Tyler went night skiing. We went to the Indoor Water Park which was one of main reasons we picked Massanutten. Tom, Ann, Adam and all four grandkids are skiers. Carol, Emily, Andrew and I had never been on skis in our lives, so a place with alternative activities, centrally located, was perfect.

Monday morning, the skiers went skiing. I helped Carol, Emily and Andrew get equipment rented, booted up and they went off to ski school.




After an hour of instruction everyone was ready for a break. Lunch, rest and then back for a second hour. Andrew stayed at the school. Emily and Carol went to the beginner's slope and their first experience with the lift. Both made it down the hill and called it a day. I spent most of the day sitting with Lena and Ben because the group consensus was that "Grandpa is way too old to learn to ski."

Here's Ben and Tom after a morning on the slopes.



Emily, Ben and me at the lodge.


Ben on my knee


Tuesday we went to the pool. Carol, Andrew, Ann, Casey, Sarah and Ben made Tie Dyed Tee Shirts. Andrew and Emily played ping pong. Tom, Adam and Tyler went skiing. This resort really does have something for everyone. Then since Adam, Tyler and Lena were leaving, we opened Christmas presents.







Wednesday we all went to the Water Park. Thursday, Tom and family left for "real skiing" in the Adirondacks. (Which they canceled because it got VERY COLD.)

So - we're left alone. And the school package starts looking AWFULLY attractive. I joined Andrew at the first class. Then Carol stayed at the school with Andrew. I skipped the second class and Emily and I headed for the slopes. With a couple of rest periods we made 9 runs. Fell down a couple of times and are looking forward to going again. Grandpa might be old, but he ain't THAT old. I get discounts on lift tickets and equipment rental AND in 6 more years I can ski FOR FREE !!!

This was the first time ALL of both my families were together and I think I speak for everyone when I say, "We had a ball."


You may be getting tired of hearing this, but I AM SO BLESSED !

NOVEMBER WENT THERE, TOO

I titled my last blog, "Where Did October Go?" because I'd been so lax at posting. Well, it's happened again. Another month has flown by without a blog.

And it's NOT because there's been nothing happening.

On the 3rd, we had Parent-Teacher conferences. Andrew's was quick and easy. Mr. Edwards said, "He's a great kid, doing well in his studies. And I do silly things on purpose just to hear his wonderful laugh." Emily's took a little longer. Not because of any problems, but because I talked too long with teachers that had Jeff and Adam. Brought them up to date on my two son's doin's and on some of their classmates. Absolutely MADE Mrs. O'Hare's day when I told her that Mike Barber was a middle school science teacher in Charlottesville. NOTHING makes a good teacher happier than learning that one of her students followed in her footsteps.

The next day my son in State College called and said, "Hey, Dad. Wanna go to the PSU/Ohio State game?" I told him there were two conditions. The weather had to be good enough - as in no rain and temperature above 40 - for me to ride the Honda and the seats couldn't be in one of the nosebleed sections. The seats were good and the weather promised to be almost balmy. So Friday morning I headed to State College. With my frequent stops, it's a 7 hour ride. But it was in the 50's by noon and a great ride.

Friday night the frat brother who had the extra tickets invited us to join him and his family at The Tavern which is an old Penn State tradition. It's where you take your parents when they come to visit. I took mine there 40+ years ago. We went there with Jeff. Jeff and Ann's rehearsal dinner was there. And then we learned the real reason we'd been invited. Everybody else was driving in Friday evening and the Tavern doesn't take reservations. Never has, probably never will. So, "Would we mind going down early and getting our names on the list to eat around 8:30?" Of course not. Jeff called around 5 and the lady said,"Oh, if you're here by 7 it should be no problem." So we went down around 6:30 and it was a complete zoo. PACKED shoulder to shoulder. Took 5 minutes to fight our way to the check in. The greeter said, "We're seating #48 and you'll be number 165 with seating around 10 or 10:30. But wait, I need to check and see if we're even giving out any more numbers." He came back and said that the chef said it was OK to give out a few more numbers, so we could plan on eating around 10. Then a man came up and said, "What did they tell you?" When I told him "10 o'clock, number 165", he said, "We're not going to wait any more. Here, you can have our number 94." So we found an empty table - another little miracle in itself - and waited for the gang. Had time for one drink with them and then we sat down to dinner at exactly 8:30. We had a wonderful, leisurely meal and just as we got up to leave a few minutes after 10 we heard them call number 165. Thank you, kind gentleman, whoever you are. And remember, it always pays to wear your Penn State colors. Because he said he wouldn't have approached me if I'd been wearing red !

Well, you know what happened at the game. We played poorly and lost. But in a stadium of 110,000, we sat down next to two of Tom's frat brothers. Not only brothers, but from the same class. More in-betweens every where I look. They had a great talk while sort of watching the game.

I posted on Facebook that I was in State College for the weekend to see if any of my old PSU friends might respond. No one did - except Marie, the young lady we met in Jamaica this summer. She joined us on Sunday for a hike up Mt Nittany. And she got her first motorcycle ride as part of the day.



AND she has video to prove it !

A wonderful day, great friends






AND Marie hit it off so well with my grandkids that Tom and Ann hired her the very next day to babysit. So they've got a new "daytime" babysitter, Marie has some local friends for when she wants to escape campus life and she has some spending money.

All because we said, "HI" to a couple of strangers in Jamaica.

Tinkerbell lives !