Lake Winnie--Come on get happy

This boat chute was here when I was a little girl. Granddaddy, Abigail and Bruce REALLY enjoyed it.

Granddaddy, Granny and Bruce enjoy the train ride around the park.

We really enjoyed going around the lake in the paddle boats. It was hot, so our trip was pretty short.

This was taken as Abigail and Bruce were leaving the 'haunted house.' It was really more of a silly place with lighting tricks making you think you were going to hit something that was not there. The last thing that happens before you exit, is a large semi truck is coming right at you with the headlights shining and the horn blasting.

Granddaddy and Abigail were just getting started on the Pirate Ship. This huge ship would swing back and forth and at its apex, they were lying on their backs. It was too much motion for this old sea sick gal, so I stayed on the ground and took photos.

Granddaddy and I enjoyed the merry go round. It is very old and the animals are really quite beautiful. For some reason, Abigail and Bruce chose not to ride it. Granny, as usual, was our photographer.

We all enjoyed the antique cars. Abigail thinks she is pretty big stuff...driving by herself and all.

Grandaddy is in the center in the light blue car and Abigail is just behind him and to the left in a light blue car also. We all enjoyed the bumper cars, but I ended up with bruises from the seat belt from getting hit so hard.

Bruce is in yellow, Laura is in green and Abigail is in light blue.

Let's go! They are ready for a fun and thrilling ride!!

For those of you who like amusement parks, this is a nice little place to visit. Bruce, Abigail and I enjoyed going with my parents a few weeks ago. It is not a huge place, but there are plenty of rides, especially for elementary aged kids. Bruce and Abigail enjoyed the Cannonball Roller Coaster.

My boldness paid off/what a thrill

Well, I did something today that I am very proud of myself for doing. No, it is not riding the ferris wheel, even though that was quite an experience (but another post for another time). As I am getting older, I think I am getting bolder. A friend mentioned that she was able to change her local cable/internet/phone service to get more features for less money. Well, always the one to look for a bargain, I thought I would check out the company's website and see what they had to offer. Well, needless to say, they had this AWESOME deal for new customers which ended up still being a pretty good deal after the 6 month promotional price ended. I talked to Darrell first and he assured me that I could not get the deal since I was an existing client and no one was able to authorize me to do so. He could add a few features for an additional fee each month, but it was nothing like the deal offered online for new clients. So, I asked Darrell if xxxxxxx company was willing to lose a customer over such a policy. He said he was sorry but there was nothing HE could do.

Normally, at this point, I would have said "thank you" and hung up the phone and been a bit frustrated, but this time I did something a little different. I asked to speak to his supervisor. He assured me that NO ONE could make a change like I asked for, but he'd patch me thru to her. I nicely thanked Darrell and waited about 10 minutes on hold before Destini came on the line. I explained what I wanted and asked why a current customer in good standing could not get the same rate. She apologized, but said she just could not offer it. Evidentally, they had done so in the past, and it became quite a problem for their company. Then, I asked if it would be possible to get that package for the "non promotional rate". Yes, it was $20 more than that rate given to new clients for the first few months, but eventually they got shifted to this rate as well. She spoke to her supervisor and got this approved.

So, we are paying $8 a month less and getting a LOT more stuff...digital preferred, about 50 more channels, encore movie network (not even sure what that is), free long distance, use of the modem and digital receiver for FREE, smart phone (LOTS and LOTS of extra features that I don't currently have) and much more. I was SO pleased that I could get so much more for less money and all it took was asking.

So, like riding the amusement park rides, there was a little 'rush' that came with getting this. Funny thing is...I don't even watch that much TV, but it looks like Bruce will have some additional really neat history related channels to watch and Abigail will probably like the additional kid channels too. I am glad I was a little bolder than I normally would have been. This time, it paid off.

Fathers' Day

We didn't really take a vacation this year...yes, Bruce took off from work and we went to visit my family for a few days. That was nice and quite a break from the normal routine. Abigail stayed in Georgia with my family so that Bruce and I could have a few days to ourselves, including our 19th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, Abigail was not here on Fathers' Day, so we decided to celebrate early. Our family went to see Kung Fu Panda at the Monaco Theatre, then we walked around Bridge Street. Bruce really wanted fish and chips, and since Connor's (in Bridge Street) had a pretty long wait, we went to TGIFriday's instead. I guess they don't get too many orders for the dishes we wanted, because our meals were not nearly as tasty as we remembered from our last dinner there. Oh well.....we ended up having some ice cream later, and it more than made up for the not so great dinner. Bruce LOVED his University of Alabama tailgating tent and new Alabama shirts from Abigail:)

Friends

I am so grateful that Abigail loves to play with children of all ages. She recently befriended a young man who is reserved. His twin brother is very social and has no trouble making friends, so I think it is really neat that Abigail enjoys spending time with this young man (as well as his brother). The two of them had a nice lunch at Shogun (a local Japanese restaurant) today.



Yesterday, she was SO sweet in spending time with a 3 year old...making sure she was having a good time and such. Later on, she 'took care' of a four year old to make sure she was able to 'go bowling' with the bigger kids.

It encourages me when she reaches out to others. God has blessed us with a sweet daughter and for that, we are grateful.

Blueberry picking in Harvest

Blueberries
Originally uploaded by LaStef

What FUN we had picking blueberries today! It was a little warm, but Abigail and I were able to quickly pick 3.75 pounds.....more than enough to make some yummy muffins and blueberry pancakes. Since the blueberry patch...is that the right word??....is only about 5 minutes from our house, we'll certainly be back for more. The season will go thru most of July and maybe even into early August, according to the man who owns the picking place.

Three in ONE day

WOW! I cannot believe that I am doing THREE things in ONE day that are new to me.

First of all, I am starting a blog. This is a new thing for me, and I hope I will learn quickly how to do this with the expertise that all the younger bloggers seem to have. It will be a neat way to keep people up to date on our very busy lives and hopefully, it will be an encouragement to my readers.

Secondly, I donated blood for the first time since moving to Alabama in 1989. Oh, I have "donated" a lot of blood for medical reasons over the years, but it felt so good to give just to help someone else that I don't even know. We were driving thru a parking lot in Madison, and I saw the big 'bus' and and told my DD...let's just see. Needless to say, she enjoyed seeing me getting stuck....and watching the bags of blood fill up.

Thirdly, my DD and I are going blueberry picking tonight. I have picked blackberries and grapes and all kinds of veggies before, but never blueberries. So, that should be fun. We're going to make some muffins later on....I'll try to post photos:)