Happy 31 baby!!

 Next week, Larry and I celebrate 31 years of marriage!! In this day and age, that's kind of a shocker.  

We had a whirlwind romance,  our first date was on my 18th birthday.  We went to Reunion Tower in Dallas and had a big fancy dinner and I was impressed!  We were engaged 3 months later and married 3 months after that.  Larry asked me to marry him on the top of a mountain in Colorado!!  

Larry took me to Lake Louise, Canada for our honeymoon!  Growing up in Dallas, I had never really seen snow before.  Well, in Canada in November, there is a LOT of snow!  We even went skiing!  We stayed at the fancy Chateau Lake Louise, right on the frozen lake.  It was an amazing adventure!  That started my love for travel!!  I was like, there is a giant world out there and I want to see it!

A lot has changed in the last 31 years!  3 grown kids, new son and daughter in law, 4 grandkids!  We moved maybe 14-15 times.  We've gotten to travel everywhere!  Come see our push pin map sometime!

But the thing that's changed the most is my love and devotion to Larry.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into (in general with marriage, but also being married to LARRY KILGORE!😜)

It's been a fun ride and I can't wait to see all the new adventures we take.  It's just the best with you, Larry!!

Happy 31 years!!!  💕🤟  Here's to many many more!

Homeschooling Adventures!

There's a whole bunch of  new people doing virtual school at home now.  I just want to encourage you all that you can do this!  We homeschooled all three of our kids for many many years.  Two of them all they way through and one all but about 2 years.  

We used every type of curriculum over the years.  From structured, to workbooks, to computer classes, to unit studies, to unschooling.

First of all, every kid is different.  That is the first thing that I learned homeschooling!  Everyone does not learn like me!  Some of my kids liked structure, some liked more freedom.  Some needed a desk, some needed to be outside. Some liked to do the pages in order, some liked to randomly open the book and do that page! 

Our homeschooling definitely evolved over the years. At first, all I knew to do was what I knew as "school" at home.  I tried to recreate it.  That didn't go over so well.  Then I realized we had the freedom to do so much more at home!  We could learn here or there!  We could learn everywhere!

We utilized the library, and games, and outside, and loads of free play.  Some of the best learning was random questions as we were flying kites at the park.

Now I know, you all doing the "virtual learning" at home won't have quite as much freedom.  But take this time to get to know your kids.  How do they learn?  Visual, auditory, tactile?  By rote, by memorizing? By singing?   Take this time to get to know yourself!  How's your patience?  How's your attitude? Take this time to listen to what they are learning.  Listen to what's going on in the classroom.

And really, it might be easier just to homeschool yourself! Ha!  I know it's not for everyone, but you'd be surprised what you are capable of!

My biggest thing is you don't have to make sure they know "everything"!  You don't have to stuff every fact into their head before they are 18.  But give them a love of learning.  Teach them how to learn.  How to find the answers.  Find what their passion is and hone in on that! 

Take this time to get to know yourself and build that relationship with your kids.  

It truly is a blessing!

49 of my favorite things on my 49th birthday

49 of my favorite things (in no particular order of course...)

1. my kindle
2. my hula hoop
3. dancing with my hoop and hubby every weekend
4.  the trips I take
5. my ever optimistic hubby
6. watching and listening to my kids
7. playing and loving on my grandkids
8. the moon
9. my mini essential oil bag for my purse
10.  just mini and tiny things in general
11. a big old glass of unsweet tea in the summertime
12.  my swinging chair on my balcony
13. doing yoga trapeze
14. the sunset
15. my rosemary growing on my balcony
16. my cool steampunk top hat
17. all things Charlie Brown
18. walking, hiking, exploring new trails
19. Chaffles
20. my big funky earrings and bracelets
21. coffee...just coffee
22. puzzles
23. daisies
24. hummingbirds
25. It's a Wonderful life
26. reading books
27. sitting on the floor
28. dark dark chocolate
29. my yellow pointy toe flats
30. having my mani/pedis every 6 weeks
31. my chiropractor (and all the past ones I've had!) love chiropractic
32. maps and studying maps
33. musicals and watching plays
34. old black and white movies (especially mysteries)
35. fringe
36. yarn and knitting (I haven't in a while though!) but yarn! all the yarn!
37. Runny Babbit book
38. thunderstorms and lightening
39. kites
40. scarves
41. Haikus
42. tea cups with saucers
43. Eating keto
44. Starry night painting
45. all the skirts!
46. natural healing and wellness
47. unschooling
48. succulents
49. Puns!  ...ok here's one.. Bad puns are how eye roll! 😂😜😹

Amsterdam!

I absolutely love traveling.  I love the planning, the going, the seeing.  Everything.

We just got back from a quick trip to Amsterdam and it was fabulous!

We flew from Dallas to London and then onto Amsterdam.  We landed in Amsterdam around 2 in the in afternoon.  I had printed directions on how to get from the airport to the hotel.  But somehow we got on the wrong train or something and ended up going the long way to the hotel.  There's trains, buses, metros and trams and I only researched metros, because that's what I'm used to riding in Europe.

Anyway, we were both really tired and Larry had suggested we stash our luggage in a locker at the train station because we had tickets to see the Anne Frank museum at 5:30.  These tickets I had to buy in advance because they sell out days in advance.  I really wanted to get to the hotel and change clothes, brush my teeth and refresh so I insisted we get to the hotel first.  Well, we ended up on the longest metro ride with about 17 stops! and our hotel was at the end!  ugh...  Well, we got there, freshened up and had a moment to collect ourselves. Then we got better directions to the Anne Frank house.  A bus!

So off we went.  We got there in time for our reservation. I showed them my printout.  They said we only had bought one ticket.  What!!  I thought I bought two!  Oh no!!  Well, I kinda lost it from sheer exhaustion.  But Larry was ok walking around and waiting for me to go.

It was so interesting to see the actual place that the Frank family and several others hid for almost 2 years.  The actual place! (not allowed any pictures inside- so this is all I got)

The next day, we had reservations to see the Corrie Ten Boom house in Harlaam.  It's about a 15 min train ride from Amsterdam.  Trains are easy breezy there!  Nice ride, beautiful countryside. Harlaam is a quaint little town.  

The house where Corrie Ten Boom's family hid the Jews during WW2 was so interesting!  We got to crawl inside the place where the hiding place was!  We heard all the stories of their bravery.  So interesting to see the perspective of this one from Anne Frank's house.  Both were hiding places, one was a more permanent place, one transitionary.  Corrie Ten Boom's house was bathed in prayer and scripture and Jesus.  No mention of any of that at Anne Frank's house.

The next day, we hit the ground running in Amsterdam.  We ate good food, took a canal cruise, enjoyed lots of coffee and tea.  We went to the Dutch Resistance museum and learned how the Dutch resisted the Nazis.  Some people resisted, some collaborated, some adapted. Really interesting interactive museum with lots of displays and things to read and listen to. 

The last day, we made our way by train to the town of Zaanse Schans (every town had at least 2 A's and a couple of J's, K's or Z's).  It was windy and rainy there but so cool to see the Windmills!  

As we were walking down the street, we noticed a church just starting their service so we went in!  It was such a unique experience!  An older lady came over and translated for us.  They were very welcoming!  The service had no set "program".  There were about 50 people and we all sat quietly.  When someone wanted to sing a song, they announced the page number and everyone sang!  No instruments or big production.  When someone wanted to pray, we all stood and prayed.  A Scripture come to someone's mind, they read it.  Communion was passed around.  We loved worshipping with other believers!  As we left, the lady that translated for us says "Until we meet again!"  Yes!  We will see her again!

Loved our time there!  Sad for vacations to end.  Now to catch up on my sleep!! Ha!!

Looking back this past year

Well, 2019 is almost over.  I can't believe it's going to be 2020!  This past year has had it's good and bad, for sure.  Here's just a few of the happenings:

I lost my uncle and brother in law at the beginning of the year.

But on a happier note, we had 2 grandkids born this year!

We got to take a wonderful trip to Croatia and Slovenia!

I did an actual TRAPEZE swing!

I started doing trapeze yoga with my sister!

Larry and I celebrated 30 years of marital bliss! 

I finished my Invisalign!

We went to New Mexico to visit our son over Thanksgiving!

Lots of fun weekend trips to see our grandbabies, daughter and her family.

Celebrated 5 years at my job!

So many fun concerts, times with friends, games and good times!

Here's to new beginnings!  His Mercies are new every morning!  My word for this past year was relationships.  Although some became distant, others drew closer.

I don't have a word yet for this next year but I would like to continue to work on relationships, and keep my heart and mind serving the King of Kings.  

On to 2020!!

The year was 1989!

The year was 1989!

The Berlin Wall came down,  the USSR got its freedom, Tiananmen Square protests were happening.

But the biggest news of all was Larry met Valerie. 💓💓💓

We dated and got engaged in a  whirlwind.  Our first date was in April, we got engaged in August, and married in November!

Our first date!

Thirty years ago!  THIRTY!!

What a huge milestone in today's world of broken relationships.

It hasn't always been easy.  We've had a lot of ups and downs. Mostly ups- thankfully.

We've moved 15 times, lived in everything from a small house behind a  house to a 3500 square foot 5 bedroom house, and we even lived in a hotel for a few months!

Lived in 4 states.

Can't even count how many cars, jobs we've had. Or houses we've bought and sold.

We raised 3 kids, and now have 3 grandkids!

We've been to almost every state in the US and lots of places around the world.

I can't imagine my life without you.  You've pushed me to be more than I ever thought I could be.  Challenged my comfort zones. Helped me grow in the Lord.  Shown me how to love the downtrodden.  Helped me come out of my introvert shell. Helped me to chill and see the positive side of things.

Marriage is a crazy adventure.  We've grown.  Even flipped personalities at times.  It's the learning to give and take.  When to give, when to take.

Thirty years ago, I was a young, naive girl who had to read the directions on the washing machine in order to know how to wash the clothes!  My how things have changed.

We've learned from each other so many things.  And now we are learning the art of the empty nest.  And the fun times of grandparenthood!

Who knows what the next 30 years will hold, or where we will be.

But I'm glad I'm with you on this crazy adventure.

Love ya.

A Grandma again!

Being a grandma is absolutely one of the best things I can think of right now.  My kids having kids!  It feels really surreal.  Like, didn't I just raise yall?  Weren't yall little just a minute ago??  And on the other hand...it seems like soooo long ago!

But it's a neat feeling to see your kids having their own families.  Seeing our family grow, not only in size, but in other ways too!  Learning different parenting thoughts and styles from my kids, learning the love of a grandma.

So my son and daughter in law just had their first baby--my THIRD grandbaby!

Of course, I want to post all the pics and splash it all around social media.  But I will restrain.  I just went through and took all the pictures of my other grandkids off social media etc.  It's a big bad world out there and I want to protect my kids and grandkids' privacy.

So, just know, that I am loving this stage of life right now.  Enjoying the empty nest, the grandkids in all their different stages- newborn, crawly baby and busy talking toddler!

And even though I don't post everything, I'm still having fun and loving this stage of life!  God is so very good and I am extremely blessed.  So thankful.

Croatia & Slovenia 2019

We just got home from an amazing adventure!  Croatia & Slovenia!  Here is our route:
We started in the south of Croatia in Dubrovnik.  That's where a lot of Game of Thrones was filmed. And we ended in the Capital of Croatia, Zagreb!

First day all travel...  Flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, to Munich to Dubrovnik.  Dubrovnik was abolutely stunning!  The islands, the coast line, the old town!  Just wow! Our hotel was really close to the beach, so after our long walking tour of the town, we came back and hung out on the beach for the afternoon.  The water was crystal clear.  Beach was unexpected--pebbles!  

Next we headed up the coast to the town of Split.  I enjoyed it, but it was a bigger city and we didn't spend a lot of time there.  It was so hot there too!  

Driving up the coast, we stopped in an island town, Trogir.  Really cute place, walked and had coffee and enjoyed just watching the sea. 

Next up was the one place I really wanted to see!  Plitvice Lakes!  This place did not disappoint!  Sixteen Lakes connected by waterfalls!  With a cool boardwalk that you walk around and see everything.  So many people though!   But the beauty was just phenomenal!  We stayed the night at a hotel in the park.  It was an old hotel so no AC! ugh!  All our hotels were gorgeous.  This was the only one I wasn't too fond of. 

Next day, we made a quick stop in the town of Opatija.  Just enough to stretch our legs and have lunch.  We lunched by the sea and the waves were just ripping!  

Onward to Slovenia!  We stayed the night in the the amazing town of Bled!  Our hotel was right on the lake!  This was an unexpected treasure!  Such a fairy tale!  Beautiful lake with a castle on one side and a little island in the middle with a church on it.  We hiked, and went to the castle.  Got to hoop on top to the castle! Then we went down the summer toboggan!  Long lines but really fun!  This was definitely one of the highlights! 

Hated to leave this place, put then we went to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. Quaint little town on the rivers.  Walked a lot and had some great lunch there too-Steak!!  So good!

Last stop was the capital of Croatia-Zagreb.  We enjoyed the cultural dance and dinner that we had here!  Lots of good food and games! A full moon that night too! Walked a lot in Zagreb as well.  

My favorites:  

First of all, the tour.  We did Gate1 Tours (for the 3rd time) and we just love them.  They take care of you.  You have free time, lots of optional tours, great accommodations, the tour guide is awesome, local guides at the towns.  I just can't say enough good about them.

Another favorite, Bled, Slovenia!  Loved loved loved that town. Oh, I forgot to mention the caves!  We stopped at some caves in Slovenia and they were bigger than anything I've ever seen in the states!  Way bigger than Carlsbad!!

The coffee.  I just love European coffee.  Maybe it's the atmosphere, maybe it's the cafes, maybe it's the little cups and saucers, i don't know but I really really love the coffee in Europe.

Such a wonderful trip.  Enjoyed every minute of it.  Can't wait for the next trip!!

What's your favorite memory from a vacation??