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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

"Are you leaving yet?"

I guess I wore out my welcome, as far as Maya was concerned anyway. Her question made me roar with laughter, perhaps not her mom who was appalled by the question, but the other adults found it amusing. Before I got to my niece, Tina's, house this a.m. after having breakfast with Marian and Biff, Maya was making those on the home front nutso with her regular questioning about when was I getting there and was I going to go swimming with her, and so on. Now that I was there, she changed her tune! She is such a bright little girl and wanted to be the center of attention, not having her mom converse with Marian, me, or her mom-in-law, Joan. I had to laugh, though, and say that this type of thing happens often to me, people asking me 'are you leaving yet"???
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Little Rayna is just adorable and napped part of the time I was there visiting. She is a bit slow with her speech development but folks come to the girl's day care to work with her, to help her catch up. Rayna, who was two on New Year's Eve, suffered with ear troubles until this past spring when she had tubes put in to remove the excess fluid from her ears, so soon talking should get underway. One must be careful what they wish for....But she is so pretty and has a wonderful smile complete with twinkly eyes. Tomorrow is Maya's actual 4th birthday and the rest of the party will take place but I was glad to be able to spend this time today and get to see Marian and Biff for awhile. Marian and Biff were both lying down when I finally DID leave but I got say 'good-bye' to Marian. While she is now able to walk without benefit of her cane, she still has back and hip troubles which prevent her from enjoying much activity. Not even the pool was fun for her because she was afraid of getting in too deep, despite having hold of flotation devices and getting dizzy if the water moved too much. Joan, the other grandma, is 76 and enjoyed the pool, aside from needing assistance getting in and out of the pool, which had no railing. She still works 5 days a week in a school library and I give her lots of credit for doing that!
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Maya enjoyed her birthday presents which consisted of butterfly wings to wear on her back, plus fancy ballet slippers complete with matching bracelet. The slippers were a bit large right now, did not come according to sizes, but the wings and bracelet were perfect. She was unsure about the Play Doh thing which was actually an extruder but once someone can sit down and show her how it works, she will have a blast! I hope....Gabe and Manny sure entertain themselves well with Play Doh and I am sure Maya will, too!
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Last night I stayed in a motel in Palm Coast after Suzanne's concert in St. Augustine. Being more accustomed to staying in a hotel vs. motel, it was tough getting used to commotion going on outside, car doors and room doors banging, people laughing and getting settled in for the night, etc. Eventually I did fall asleep in the very comfy bed and woke up around 7:15 or so, before my alarm went off. Without the sun beaming through the windows, it was hard to tell what time it was!
A photo taken with my phone at the concert last night
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Suzanne's concert was fabulous, very well done and very well attended. The audience even sang happy birthday to her, accompanied by the 25 piece orchestra. Her children were extremely well behaved in spite of the hour and the venue, and likely slept all the way home! Besides John, Judy, and her kids, the only other person who came besides me was Rachel, from Victory. That was so nice of her, and I thanked her for making the effort. She went up front following the concert to check out the pipe organ which serves Trinity Episcopal. Awesome! Today is Suzanne's birthday party so in an hour or so, I will be heading to Lake Asbury to join the fun at her low country boil and bbq! Whoo hoo!!!