My grandson Matthew was born August 26, 2014 - and he's been an absolute JOY! I love him and all of his curiosity, growth, development and FUN! I knew being a grandparent would be fun, but nothing could have prepared me for just how much I love my "lil buddy"! :) Michelle and Brandon are great parents, I just wish they could get out on their own. Here are his 6 month and 1 year pictures <3
John is still attending St.Louis Community College and has at least one more semester I believe. In other news regarding John, he worked at Harry & David at the mall during the holidays and just recently passed some big test to become a judge for Magic The Gathering (card game) tournaments. He said there's only 10k people in the world that hold that status and he's now one of them. :)
Stephanie reached out to Eric in the last two years sporadically and now she has moved back to St Louis and lives with her boyfriend and his mom not far from our house. I hope things will improve with their relationship.
Work has been amazing. My boss retired in July 2015 and I was selected as the Director of Training to take her position when she left. She's now working part time for me training tellers while the other staff trainers and I gear up in training all staff on our new core processing system upgrade that will go live on May 2nd, 2016. This is HUGE. EVERYTHING we do touches our core processing system so EVERYTHING is changing. My boss is great, too. He leaves me to work autonomously yet supports me any way he can.
Eric has been busy traveling on his motorcycle and we have had some trips together the past year as well. He's now in the process of looking for yet a bigger/better motorcycle (has to have a Harley Davidson *eyeroll*) and I anticipate he'll be gone even more on his own. I don't ride motorcycles, and really wish he wouldn't, but it's his thing. I feel like I have no choice but to support this "hobby" of his, but I really hate when he's gone on these trips. It's dangerous, he does stupid things when around his friends, and I want to be experiencing things with him. It leaves me feeling really lonely and afraid, yet I have to let him do his thing as well. The compromise is WE do things together as well, it's not ALL about his trips with his motorcycle friends. Last year was a better balance of that - I took a trip on my own as well last year too - so it helps me that it's more balanced.
Last blog entry we were excited to take our first cruise. The following year, we took another cruise and enjoyed it just as much! Our Eastern Caribbean cruise took us to Princess Cays, St. Marten, St. Thomas, and Nassau, Bahamas. It was as amazing and fun as the first cruise we went on. :) We also took a trip in July 2015 to Carthage, MO to visit the Precious Moments Chapel and museum. Something I've always wanted to see/do, but never have, even though it's not too far from St Louis! On the way there, we stopped off at Cape Girardeau, took in a civil war museum in Carthage and then went on to Arkansas where we stayed in a lovely little cabin in the woods. :) We hiked, visited a civil war battlefield, and an art museum while in AR. It was one of the best trips we've had together! In October 2015, we went to Memphis, TN. Also another place we've both wanted to visit but never have. Again, we weren't disappointed. Spent time on historic Beale Street, visited the Rock n Soul museum, the Gibson guitar factory/museum, and historic Sun Studios. Really great BBQ near our hotel and another great BBQ meal at BB Kings on Beale St. :)
I visited my friend Angela in mid-October 2015 and we went to the Hamilton Pool in a little town near Austin, TX. We went to San Antonio and saw The Alamo, toured San Antonio (by ourselves with a tour guide) from a double-decker tour bus, and ate at a wonderful Mexican restaurant where I had THE BEST strawberry margarita ever! We also had a baked potato loaded as big as our heads with whatever BBQ and other stuff we wanted on it for lunch before we visited the Dallas Museum of Art - which was the true highlight of my visit (other than the company of course)! The DMA had an interactive "scavenger hunt" and "zombie apocalypse quest" which led us through the entire museum and gave us "points" for all things we did and saw. Spent the virtual points in the gift shop for some souvenir swag! SO MUCH FUN! I'd like to go back again this year...we'll see!
It's been a busy and FULL two years! Hope to keep this blog a bit more updated than every two years! LOL
