Fall Bucket List

1.  Pumpkin Patch
2.  Hayride
3.  Decorate for fall
4.  Football games
5.  Fall Boat ride on Beaver Lake
6.  Fall Foliage Sunday Drive
7.  Backyard fires and smores
8.  Haunted House
9.  Corn Maze
10. Boots and sweaters
11. Hot Chocolate
12. Hikes
13. Pumpkin Carving
14. Trunk or Treat
15. Thanksgiving

Boy Bands and the Fella with the Hella Good Hair

2 more sleeps and I am taking the girl to see One Direction and 5Seconds of Summer in Tulsa. She is so excited and I have to admit I am looking forward to it also. I wish some of her friends could have gotten tickets too but they were pricey. I didn't want to spend it either but the Mister told me it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity and she LOVES music.

I hope it perks her up, she has had a rough start to high school. She got her first broken heart the first week of school. It breaks my heart to see her hurt but unfortunately there will be many more I am sure. I joke that we need to ask for references but that may not be a bad idea.

Where does time go!!!

I have failed miserably keeping up this blog. I blame it all on Instagram and facebook!! It is too easy to post a pic and go on about my business, but I want to remember more memories.

Lots of things have been happening.
Spring softball playing with NWA Vortex. We lteoved the families we got to hang with. They made is possible because the coaching and direction from the coaches was HORRIBLE! Lying cheating lying bullying ignorance I could go on and on. We stayed on to complete our commitment but finally it got to be too much and we weren't teaching Coco anything by staying in such a dysfunctional organization. We resigned with a couple of games left but the team ended up disbanding anyway. We are taking a break from it this fall. Coco is football manager again and wants to be able to go to the games, last year she missed everyone due to softball practice. She needs this time to just be a teen and get more involved in high school.

Summer went by really fast. We didn't vacation this year because our vaca time was spent traveling with softball team. I did get to spend a few days in Pennsylvania in April with the Amish. The grands wanted to take Coco to Colorado. They left on Tuesday drove to Toucumcari NM the first day. The Hampton Inn they were in that night was struck by lightning and caught fire at 2am. They got out safely but just in their pj's. All the belongings still in the room, even their glasses. Poor Nana was blind without them. There was a wonderful couple that took charge, took them to Kmart to buy clothes and shoes. Took them to their home for lunch and helped get some of their items back. Apparently the firemen went through some of the rooms getting what they could. Scott and I took off work to go down there but by that afternoon we were to Oklahoma city and they were able to recover the car keys and Papa's wallet so they stayed that night and came home the next day. They did not feel like going on with their trip.

The very next weekend Coco's best friend was in a car accident and broke her jaw and had to have it wired shut the rest of the summer. Now still has bands in her mouth and can't move it much.

Not a great summer.

We had a couple of romances but have now decided boys stink!!! Whew no more boys. Luckily she doesn't get really attached so no major meltdowns. I am shocked how some people raise their boys. Scott says their all Eddie Haskell's (leave it to beaver). I think he is right.

Coco started high school as a Freshman. This has been hard for me. I am not a weepy person but one day I had a whole day of sad crying meltdown day. I can just feel her pulling away and not needing Mom so much. I have to find something for me to do. I have spent all these years as driver, chaperone, nurse, bank, decision maker I don't know what to do with myself. Very hard for me. Miss my baby girl. At least all her friends like to come to our house. I have 3 right now sleeping out on the trampoline.

Lancaster Pennsylvania Amish Country

Last week I had the opportunity to go with my sister on a work trip to Lancaster, PA for a trade show. We stayed a couple extra days to sight see.  We arrived in Harrisburg Pa on Tuesday evening, rented a car and drove to downtown Lancaster to Hotel Lancaster. Wednesday we woke up to heavy rains so we slept in. One of the first things we found is there are no fast food restaurants or gas stations in PA. We couldn't find a store to buy umbrella's but a very nice man on the street gave me his umbrella. The people were so friendly most every where we went. There is very little parking in the downtown area and the parking garage for the show was full. Finally in the downpour we found a spot on the street, Tammy Lou got drenched trying to pay the parking meter, the money kept getting wet and machine didn't want to take it. Once we were able to head to the show, it was a long trek in the rain. We spent the afternoon at the show getting lots of goodies. It continued to rain so we went shopping. The mall was 3 miles long, had several stores we had never heard of like Bosco's and Bon Ton. Had a delish steak at Long Horn Steakhouse.

 

Thursday we spent the day in Amish Country. We went East 30 to Highway 340 through Bird-In-Hand, Intercourse, Paradise, Strasburg and many other little villages.  

 

The horse and buggies were all over out in this area. Lots of touristy places also.

They ride scooters that are sort of like a bike without the seat. Not sure why? We saw lots of the scooters especially at the school houses.

Most people just went around the buggies on the highway. We saw men, women and young kids driving the buggies.



I have read all of Beverly Lewis's fiction books on the Amish. They are fiction but Lewis grew up in Lancaster County so the stories are fiction the content is based on actual Amish culture. Tammy Lou didn't know a lot about them so she was in awe. She really wanted to take home a little boy, they were so cute dressed in their little suits with straw hats just like the grown men. They don't take pictures as they believe it is a sin to have a graven image. I don't think they have mirrors either. We respected that and didn't try to take many pictures of their faces. Most of the Amish we saw out on the road were not friendly. I am sure they are tired of the tourists. The thing that struck me was how large the farms were. All of them had many huge barns and silos. The homes were large 2-3 stories. They were all neat and clean.

 



This farm had miniature horses. They all had dairy cattle too. I suppose that would be normal since that is where they get their milk, cheese, butter etc. Probably get their meat from the cows too.

 



 

We saw many signs for the sale of flowers and root beer. Wished we would have stopped for some root beer, not sure why we didn't. I would have loved to visit with some of them, to learn more. We did see several Amish women in town working in some of the stores. They spoke English but when talking to each other they spoke in Pennsylvania Dutch or German dialect. I admire the way they keep to the old traditions in our modern world. There were also the Mennonite's which are more modern around the area.

 

More on our trip tomorrow.

What a week it has been. I started feeling kind of weird at work on Tuesday, I decided to come home early thinking if I got some extra rest I would feel better on Wednesday.

Ummm no that didn't happen. I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday attached to the bathroom thinking I was going to croak!! I went to the doctor Wednesday afternoon and got a diagnosis of Stomach Flu. I had a busy work week scheduled and had been worrying about getting sick knowing I had some major things to do. I guess this is God's way of telling me those things weren't so major after all.
The doc told me to expect 5-7 days of this and several of my friends on FB are saying she is right and they are still weak going into week #2.

I had also hoped the rest of the family wouldn't get it but lo and behold I got the dreaded call from school to come get Coco. Headache, nausea and fever.... 2 down in our house now. Scott will be so excited.

I think it is nap time again. Say a prayer for us if you think of it today.