Home Again

We just returned from several days in Clermont. Dru's sweet Pah passed away and we traveled down as soon as we could to be with Dru's family. Pah was the sweetest man. I know he and Goosie are just a smilin', together again, in Heaven. I have known Pah since the summer of 2001, and as I sat through his service, realized what I've always known. I didn't just love him because he was Dru's Pah, but I loved him because of who he was to me over the past 10 years. A funny firecracker of a man, who was also so sweet and kind to me. After Goosie passed away 2 years ago, Dru and I made the decision that we wanted to be very intentional with our time when it came to Pah and our children. Our 2 are very close with their great grandparents on my side, and understandably so, as they live right down the road. We decided distance wasn't going to deter us and as Pah's health declined, we tried to travel to Florida as much as we could. And we are blessed that Simms and Cope knew Pah, had that time with him and loved him too. My camera broke before our trip (boo hoo) but luckily I just got a new phone with a pretty decent camera, so these will have to do! But first, here is one of my favorite pictures..

Pah (Drury deGraffenreid Rambo) Dru (Donald Drury) and Cope. This was when we took Cope down so Pah could meet his first great grandson. Cope was around 6-7 weeks old.
We were thankful for Aunt KaKa's pool to help beat the Florida heat..


Papa, Becca, Lilla and Cousin O took an afternoon trip to visit Disney and brought our 2 back some mouse ears. Cope loved Simms' just as much as his..


It didn't affect his manliness too much. Evidence below..


Simms was even treated to a Mickey pancake one morning at a local restaurant..

Double Trouble..

And just get ready for this picture of Dru...I still cannot get over Cope's resemblance to him..

Even though it was for a sad occasion, we still had such a wonderful time with Dru's family. They are so much fun. From all the good eating, to funny stories, and just hanging out together, it was a special few days. We left Wednesday when Dru got off work and it took us about 6 hours (we arrived at 12:30) and Sunday our trip back took 7 hours (we were stuck in a wreck on 75 for an hour). The children traveled really well which is always a blessing, and Dru and I enjoyed time in the car together. Now we are gearing up for Simms' first day of preschool (August 31) and enjoying these last few lazy weeks of summertime! And trying to lose some of the pounds we put on in just 4 days (good thing I'm about to start boot campin')
Click here for an article on Pah in the Orlando Sentinel
And..I'm making myself get back on the blogging bandwagon!