It's hard to believe that our oldest granddaughter is seven years old. Seven is a delightful age. They are way past the preschool age, but not yet to the preteen era. They still love to spend time with grandparents and they are old enough to hold wonderful conversations with.
Last Sunday evening Steve and I and Kristen's parents helped Alexis celebrate her birthday at her house. We then brought Alexis home with us and on Monday we had a special day together. We were planning to go to the same American Girl doll outlet that I had taken Lydia to, but when I checked the website for their hours, I discovered that they were closed on Mondays! We were disappointed but soon regrouped and decided instead to go on a buggy ride. I knew they offered them at the Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant which was close to the Choo-Choo barn where we also planned to go so we decided to go there. Alexis was excited about a buggy ride and I was happy that a little (big?) thing like a doll outlet store not being open didn't ruin our day.
We started out the day with breakfast at the Martic Store. Their egg sandwiches are the best! :)
As we waited for our buggy ride we walked around the Caboose Lodge. All the cabooses are tiny motel rooms.
Alexis walking the rails. She was much better at it than I was.
Standing in front of the horse that took us for our ride.
The back of the carriage.
Here we go!
We stopped at an Amish Farm and they brought out refreshments. I hadn't had homemade rootbeer in ages!
We went to Cici's for lunch. Alexis liked the macaroni pizza!
Ready to go into the Choo-Choo barn. I never get tired of that place!
We couldn't pass up a picture with Thomas!
Late afternoon picnic in our park.
Alexis' birthday meal! Delicious!
Smiles from everyone. I love this family!
The best we could do for a selfie
What a fun day. The nice thing about spending special days with a grandchild is that I enjoy it as much as them. Next one up will be Mark in October. He can hardly wait!
Good old summertime! There is nothing like fresh homegrown produce. As you know, if you have been reading my blog, I am not a gardener, but I sure do love to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. From our tiny little garden that we planted, I have harvested an abundance of green peppers. I got enough green beans for Steve and me to enjoy a couple of meals and the same with the lima beans. There is NOWHERE you can buy lima beans that come close to tasting the way they do right from the garden. My four hardy tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes and I have been picking the red ones for the past week or so. It's so nice to have my own tomatoes for my salad that I eat each day for lunch. My only disappointment was that bugs destroyed my eggplants.
We planted plenty of sweet corn and thought that we would have enough for anyone who wanted some. Unfortunately, the deer really attacked it and sadly we did not end up with nearly as much as we expected. We have never before had such deer damage but we are really seeing them a lot this year, even in the middle of the day.
On Monday, Steve's mom, his sisters Doris and Nancy, Kristen, Megan, and two of Nancy's granddaughters came to help with corn. I always dread "corn day" but said afterward that if they want to come every year when I do corn I will never dread it again. They made short work of the corn that we had and we certainly would have been able to handle more. Even though we didn't get as much corn as we had hoped, we all got to take home some and hopefully those that want more will be able to get it from another source.
Yes, they tasted as good as they look.
The pile of corn
Husking
Martina (back facing) and Alexis helped with husking and afterward had a great time playing with my American Girl dolls.
Still husking.
Cutting the corn off the cob.
Kaylene was in charge of cooling the corn.
Megan did the cooking.
Alexis and Hannah were having a great time with the jeep until....
...the boys showed up. Who has the right of way here?
Alexis protects her little sister from the boys :)
It was great to spend the day together and as I said before, they are all welcome to come back next year!
It's always fun to do something special with the family. For the past several summers, we have taken the grandchildren to Cherry Crest Farms and we decided to do that again this year but we also decided to add Strasburg Railroad to it. The grandchildren and their parents and Steve and I met at Cherry Crest on Saturday morning. We spent several hours enjoying the many activities and then ate our lunch there. Just as we were finishing eating, it began to rain and we made a mad dash for our cars. We traveled the short distance to Strasburg Railroad where the rest of the family was planning to join us for the train ride. We were early and it was pouring so we sat in our vehicles for awhile. Jay's were parked right beside us and we invited the kids to join us in our car. They happily bounded over (except for Hannah) and our car was soon quite lively. Fortunately, it stopped raining just about the time that Josh and Julissa and Megan and Jeremy arrived. We soon boarded the train and enjoyed a leisurely ride through the beautiful countryside. After the train ride, everyone came back to our house for the remainder of the day. It started to rain again and continued raining for the remainder of the day, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. Jeremy made delicious chicken barbecue for us for supper and the rain was perfect for children to ride their bikes and tricycles in. Sure, they got wet but they definitely had fun!
Feeding the llama
Here comes Mark!
Lydia and Alexis coming through the tunnel.
Wait for me!
Running through the maze.
Which way do I go?
Not quite as good as the real thing but a great photo.
He needs one of these at home! They are quite comfy!
The "boys" building a house.
Kristen helps Lydia with her sling shot.
Steve and Hannah don't seem too impressed with the house building.
Hannah plays in the water.
Jay and Alexis come down the slide.
Melissa and Awstin coming out of the chute slide.
Jay's family watches the "Singing Chickens."
More water for Hannah
Passing the time away in the car. You can see we were a little wet.
This year I am doing something individually with each grandchild on or close to their birthday. Awstin's 3rd birthday was on the 12th so this past Wednesday we had a special Awstin day. I don't think he realized that it was because of his birthday that we did some different things than we normally do on his day with me, but that doesn't matter. We still had a great time together and it was rewarding to see him having so much fun.
I like to get a selfie with me and the birthday child before we start out on our day's adventure so we posed for the picture on the left. We had quite a few unsuccessful attempts before we succeeded. I love the way his tongue is sticking out in concentration as he was the one pushing the button to take the picture. Next we packed a picnic lunch and took it to the Martic Elementary School playground. We actually go there a lot on Wednesdays because it is a wonderful play area, but we never take food along. There is a place where you can sit up to a table on high metal stools and we always sit on them and pretend to eat food so it was special for him to actually have food along this time. I forgot to get the camera out until he was down to his dessert which was gummies. Here he is eating them.
Yummy Gummies!
From there we headed to the Choo-Choo barn. Awstin LOVES trains and I knew this was going to be a real treat for him. The Choo-Choo barn is a gigantic model train layout with 22 operating trains. Trains whiz around everywhere, over bridges and through tunnels. The only thing that Awstin doesn't like is loud noise so he has a pair of ear muffs that he wears when it is too noisy for him. He looked pretty adorable jumping all around in excitement with his bright orange ear muffs over his ears. I believe the typical stay in this place is around half an hour and we were there for one and a half hours and we only left then because I insisted. He never tired of it. Thankfully not many people were there so it was fine for him to run around. He kept going from one place to another to watch the trains and each time you would have thought he was seeing it for the first time.
Someone is a little excited :)
Riding Thomas
After leaving the Choo-Choo barn we drove around Strasburg Railroad and the Red Caboose motel. The train crosses over the road right at the motel and we were able to watch it a couple of times and wave at the people riding the Strasburg Railroad. That was the end of our day's adventure and we came back home happy and fulfilled.
Last Saturday, Steve and I took Shawn and Melissa and Jay and Kristen golfing while Josh and Julissa and Jeremy and Megan kept the grandkids (we had taken Josh and Julissa and Megan and Jeremy golfing several weeks ago). Afterward we were all back at the house and Shawn and Melissa brought a cake for Awstin. Here he is blowing out the candles.
Since opening Martic Store a little over two months ago, many have asked us, "how's it going?" I'm really not quite sure how to answer this question. Usually, I just go with the expected answer, "It's going well." But there is so much more to it. Here are some of my thoughts about this venture that we have embarked on.
First, I can't say enough good things about the employees that we are fortunate to have. Every one of them is so conscientious and hardworking. We could not have asked for a better crew to have working for us.
The community has embraced us also. I cannot think of one negative comment (except disappointment from a few that we don't carry tobacco) that we received. Time and again, customers expressed appreciation to us that the store is operating again and for the excellent job that we are doing.
We have had a few challenges as well. We quickly learned that ice is a high demand item. After running out a time or two, we finally got our outside ice freezer operating and stocked it full of ice. Hopefully that will last for a long time. We have also had some problems keeping bread on hand. We had a wonderful delivery man/supplier who unfortunately had an accident that will put him out for several months. He has not been able to find a replacement and the result has been that our bread shelves are bare. This has been disappointing but it isn't our fault and there is not a lot we can do about it.
Probably the biggest challenge that we face is changing the mindset of the community to view our store as a place to shop for discount groceries and not just for quick convenience items. I totally understand that concept because that is how I always used the store as well, when it was in operation before. I only stopped when I needed one or two items and it could save me a trip to the grocery store at the Buck. We are hoping for the store to bring in enough revenue that we will be able to use the profits to help fund the food pantry. I still think that this will happen and we just need to be patient and continue to get the word out about our discount groceries.
I could name some other minor inconveniences, like cranky freezer doors that don't want to open, and steep steps to climb up and down multiple times a day, but overall I would say that our opening months have been a success. Considering that we are completely new to the retail business, I think we have done an okay job.
How will things continue with the store in the future? I have no idea. But I trust in God's master plan and it will be interesting to look back on this venture in a few years and see the way God has led us. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the ride and try not to stress.J
Last Friday afternoon Steve and I drove out to Shippensburg to spend some time with Jay and Kristen and family. Jay owns a chicken farm there and was getting the chicken house ready for a new batch of birds that was coming on Saturday. They had taken their camper out on Wednesday and set it up on a grassy area near a small woods. When they extended an invite to us to join them for one night we gladly accepted. I had never seen the farm and was happy for the opportunity to finally get a chance to see it firsthand. The family that lives there and collects the eggs was on vacation so we had the place to ourselves.
When we arrived, Jay was working in the chicken house trying to get some stubborn feeders to work so Steve went to help him and give him moral support. This pretty much consumed their evening, but in the end they were successful so that was a blessing. It would not be good to have chickens arriving and feeders not operating.
After supper, the children happily showed me around the farm. Alexis and Lydia and I walked, and Mark rode his tricycle the whole way around the chicken house. I enjoyed the tour inside the house as well. Being in a chicken house always brings back good memories. When I told the children that I grew up on a chicken farm and collected many eggs in my day, they were surprised. It reminded me that I should talk more about my childhood to my grandchildren. Unless I tell them what my life was like, how will they ever know?
Kristen was helping some in the chicken house so she wondered if I and the children wanted to get a campfire going and roast marshmallows. I think she was amused by my panicked look. When it comes to fires, I have always left Steve make them and really have little if any experience at making one. Unlike my father, I do not enjoy fires. In fact, they make me very nervous. Kristen assured me that Alexis knew how to make one and she would help me. I was doubtful that a six year old would be very helpful but she surprised me. She set about laying the wood in a pile and then she instructed me to pick up small sticks and told me where to put them in the pile. We added paper and lit it. The most difficult thing was lighting the lighter. I am very challenged when it comes to using lighters but fortunately Kristen showed up to help me with that. The result was not too bad. We had a fire and were able to roast a few marshmallows although most of them were eaten without ever seeing a fire. Hannah kept stuffing them in her mouth and I tried to keep the bag away from her but she always managed to find it and add another one to her stomach.
Waiting to roast marshmallows
Hannah and the bag of marshmallows :)
We slept pretty well, considering it was in a camper. I will take a camper like they have any day over sleeping in a tent. There was plenty of space for all of us and with the air conditioning running it was very comfortable.
The morning was busy as the trucks arrived with the chickens. We watched the activity for awhile but soon left the experienced crew to themselves to do their work. After breakfast, the children entertained Steve and I with their antics on the trampoline that was in the front yard. Steve even joined them.
Big, scary Lydia :)
Mark obligingly poses for the camera
Later in the morning, Kristen and I took the kids to a park. Playgrounds are always so much fun for kids and this one also had a sand pile with sand diggers which was big hit for all of them but especially for Mark. On the way back to the farm we picked up pizza and the men joined us for lunch.
Soon after lunch Steve and I headed home. It was a very short "camping" trip but one that we enjoyed very much. It is always great to spend time with family!
On Friday, May 20, the family gathered one last time at 15 Troy Drive. This would be the last time that we would drive up to this house and walk through its doors.
Doris had brought Mom down earlier in the afternoon and they had spent one last afternoon walking around the property, pulling a few weeds and looking through the empty rooms. By 6:00 the auctioneer had arrived and soon the rest of the children made their appearance as well. As the 7:00 hour approached, more people joined us in the front yard. Some grandchildren came as well, to bid farewell to the only place that they will ever remember as being home to Grandpa and Grandma.
Mom and some of her children watch the bidding while Lydia photo bombs my picture :)
The auction started at 7:00 and although there were not many people there and the bidding was slow, in the end the house was bought by a young couple from Dad and Mom's church. It was a nice ending to a place that we all loved. Knowing that it would be lived in by a family that knew Mom and Dad somehow made it a little easier. They have young children and in my mind it seems fitting that the laughter of children will fill the rooms. Dad would have loved that and I know Mom does too.
Time never stands still and I suppose we really wouldn't want it to, but it is always hard to close such a big chapter in one's life. Mom is doing so well with moving on with her life and accepting each day as it comes. I am so proud of her. It is time for this house to make new memories with the people that will be living in it. Thankfully, we will always have in our hearts the memories of times shared with family in this beloved home.
