My Grandpa

A week ago today I found out that my grandpa had passed away.  The past week has been rough for my family and me.  My grandpa, William Bruce Jr., was a well loved and respected man.  He was a WWII veteran, a leader in the Boy Scouts, a father of three, grandfather of four, great grandfather, and devoted husband of almost 70 years; and so much more!  He lived a full, rich 92 years and was one of the sharpest and smartest people I have ever known.

Grandpa at work in the Army Airway Communication System during WWII.

Antoine and I made our way to the Cleveland area the day following the news to be with family.  We had been asked by one of my aunts to scan some photos of grandpa for a slide show, so we spent most of Friday going through albums upon albums with my grandma and mom and scanning any photos of him we could find.  I cherished that day.  I got to see so many photos I had never seen before and hear stories about my grandparents that these photos brought to life.  It was an incredibly fulfilling day for me and greatly helped the grieving process.  We scanned over a hundred photos that day, but I'd like to share some of my favorites with you now.

My favorite photo of grandpa and I, taken when I was about 3 years old.  

My grandpa and grandma, before my grandpa headed off to war and before they were married.

Antoine and I also scanned a bunch of news clippings, several poems my grandpa had written, and this letter from my grandpa to my grandma, in which he asks her to marry him while he's serving over in Europe during the war and she's back in Amherst, OH.  How amazing is that?!

Newly married after grandpa returned from the war.

My grandparents both loved the outdoors and traveling!  My grandpa had been to all but three of the US states, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska...all of which I think he would have absolutely loved.

He loved to fish, play cards (and he was crazy good at it!), do word puzzles, and cross-stitch.  In fact, he taught me how to cross-stitch and play pool when I was a little girl.

Another favorite photo of grandpa and me, out of focus, but who cares!

My grandparents both mean so much to me.  They both taught me so many things and I have such fond memories of spending summers with them.  As I grew up, they encouraged my studies and intently listened about my job or my/our travels.  My favorite part was when they would tell me stories about their adventures.  I can't imagine not having him around.  There is an obvious void now in my family that cannot be filled, but the photos and the memories help.  Before leaving my grandma's house I boxed up nearly all her albums so that I can begin the process of scanning all her photos (which is a lot!).  While it will be a long process, it will also be a rewarding one and, I hope, it will offer some more closure for me and my family.

Autumn in Spring Grove: Part 2

Brrr!  I don't know what it's like where you are, but it's freezing in Cincinnati right now.  All the more reason to share some more pictures from Fall to warm you up a bit!  While I'm no hater of Winter, like some people out there, Fall is definitely my favorite season.  The leaves, the pumpkins, the pleasant chill in the air.  I just can't get enough.  Pair that with Spring Grove and I'm one happy lady!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Stay warm out there!

Mabel: The Newest Addition to Our Family

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram then you already know that Antoine and I added a new member to our fur-family just before Christmas.  Her name is Mabel and she's a 9 week old basset hound.  We've been thinking about getting another basset puppy for years, but the timing was never right.  But since I have all of this week off  from work we thought Xmas might be the perfect time to get a puppy so I can be home to train her and get her adjusted to our household and her new family.

Our little stocking-stuffer!  We just couldn't resist the urge to put her in a stocking and take pictures...it's just too cute!

Me and a very sleepy Mabel.

After we took her out of the stocking she immediately fell asleep (with back legs crossed like a proper lady) and then we noticed this was stuck to her butt! 

We've had her for almost a week now and I'll admit it hasn't been the easiest week.  The first couple days were really rough: tons of accidents, nonstop crying/whining, and very, very little sleep for Antoine and I.  When we got Cheese he was the last of the litter and was almost a month older than Mable.  He slept all the time and potty training him was a breeze.  Since Mabel was weened only a week or two before we got her she obviously had some separation anxiety from her mother.  But each day gets better, she sleeps more and more during the night, she's stopped whining and whimpering for the most part, and her potty training has greatly improved.  She is very smart and a very quick learner, so I don't doubt that she'll progress even more this week!  She already knows her name, knows to go to the door if she wants to go potty, that she has to wait for me to put on/take off her leash, and how to go up and down our front steps!

It's been a definite adjustment for Cheese and Guillermo, as well.  We expected Guillermo to hide at first and be standoffish, which he has been, but I expected Cheese to be more excited.  He has been cautious and even a little grumpy about the new addition, though each day does seem to get better and better.  He'll even lay with her on the couch now, as long as she doesn't lay on him...he's not a fan of that yet.   I don't doubt that with time he'll come to love his little sister and the two will become inseparable.  At least we're already half way there, she's crazy about him and follows him everywhere!  Baby steps, I guess.  Literally!

Until the next Mabel update, happy Monday everyone!

Pumpkin Picking '14

Where did Fall go?  One second the leaves are changing and the next it's snowing and in the 30s!  I'm not a winter-hater by any means, but I Fall is by far my favorite season and it also seems to be the shortest one!  But let's talk about traditions, which seems appropriate since it's nearly Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it.

By far my favorite Fall tradition is pumpkin picking!  It started when my best friend, Amanda, and I were roommates in college.  We'd pack some bacon sandwiches and spend the day in Yellow Springs picking pumpkins, hiking, and eating ice cream.  When Antoine and I started dating he was more than happy to carry on the tradition with me, and I breathed a giant sigh of relief that pumpkin picking didn't fall to the wayside, because it makes me so freaking happy!  This year we planned to go to our usual spot, Peifer Orchards in Yellow Spring but as a bonus Amanda and Aaron (and their dog Gatsby) decided to trek down from Cleveland to meet up with us!  We arrived at Peifer a little before Amanda and Aaron (not surprising since it's much closer to YS from Cincinnati than from Cleveland!), but decided to make our way to the field since pumpkin picking for me tends to be a very intense and time-involved process.  The lovely people at Peifer warned us before we headed out to the field that they had had a lot of rain the previous week which flooded their fields, so there might not be any pumpkins to pick.  Still we remained optimistic that there'd be some pumpkins to pick.

 "Come on, guys!  To the pumpkins!"

Unfortunately, only a couple pumpkins survived the flooding of the field and I only found one pumpkin to pick...

Still, we wandered around for a while.  I snapped some photos while Cheese smelled everything imaginable!

 And then I spotted a couple ducks with a bunch of little ducklings trailing behind them...

 How cute is that?!

 Basset butt.

Next to Peifer there is a greenhouse/farm with a variety of different animals.  Shortly after we arrived at the fields we saw this guy.  He really wanted to be Cheese's friend...Cheese wasn't so sure he wanted to be his though! 

 Cheese would get close and then when the horse bent down to sniff his head Cheese would hurry off!

We were definitely bummed that there were no pumpkins to pick, but after Antoine did a little calling around he found that Young's Dairy (which was on our list of activities for the day anyway), just a half mile down the road, also had pumpkin picking.  So we told Amanda and Aaron there was a change of plans and to meet us at Young's.  As we were leaving the fields I spotted another duck with a big group of ducklings following her.

 

I've been to Young's Dairy many, many times (it's actually one of my most favorite ice creams!), but I've never actually been pumpkin picking at Young's.  Let me just say, it was awesome!  There were so many pumpkins and their field is so large!!  I really had a hard time narrowing down which pumpkins to actually take home, because I loved so many of them.

"Oh, mother."

Antoine and I (mainly it's me!) always pick way too many pumpkins to actually take home, so we always line up the candidates in a row to survey possibilities for the keepers in the bunch.  A year or two ago we started another tradition, we make Cheese pose with this assortment of pumpkins.  Because really, what's cuter than a basset hound posing in front a ton of pumpkins?! 

Oh wait, maybe this little family in front of a bunch of pumpkins!?  That's pretty adorable too!

Once we chose all our pumpkins, paid (thanks again, Amanda and Aaron, for the perfect wedding present!), and packed up trunks full of pumpkins we were all ready for a some delicious ice cream and fried cheese curds!

Mmm!  My personal favorite, chocolate peanut butter in a freshly made waffle cone.

Despite the little hiccup at Peifer, our pumpkin picking adventure turned out to be very successful and fun!  And we now have another place in Yellow Spring for pumpkin picking.  After Young's we did a little hiking before parting ways and heading home, but I'll share those photos later this week.  Until then, happy Tuesday!  Are you as ready for the long weekend as I am?!

On a little sidenote, Antoine and I have been married for exactly six months today!  Six years and six months ago today, he picked me up for a date, 45 minutes late, and we ate fondue together while I'll babbled on and he listened.  Now I can't imagine my life without him!  He's such a caring, funny man and I absolutely love the life and home we've created together.  Happy six-month-anniversary, Tran!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I thought I'd share some of the pumpkins that Antoine and I carved this year seeing as how it's Halloween and all.  It's no secret that I love pumpkins!  I love picking them, I love carving them...everything about them just makes me happy!  Well, except for the fact that they rot, which means I can't keep them forever.  Though if they did last forevver I'd probably have several thousand pumpkins sitting in my front yard and that's no good.  Anyway, this year I went a little overboard on pumpkins!  I think we had eight in all that we carved (I carved six and Antoine carved two) and then a couple smaller ones that we painted, plus an assortment of gourds...

 These three are mine:  a vampire on the left, a kitty in the middle, and Jack Skellington on the right!

 These are two of our larger ones: the one of the left is Antoine's and the cyclops is mine!  Also, in the background is Antoine's other one...though for some reason he decided to rot faster than the others, so he'll likely wind up in the garbage this weekend.  [Insert sad, pathetic face]

A basset hound pumpkin seemed like a must this year [read: Antoine insisted that I do one]

For the kitty pumpkin I decided to carve the front and back (that's why there's so much flickering candlelight in the background of the gif).  This pumpkin is actually pretty small and when I got it I had no intention of carving it, I just liked that it was still mostly green.  But then, when we were carving, it just looked so cute it needed to become a kitty!

 A couple of our gourds.

Two of the pumpkins that we painted; the gold one is mine and the silly one is Antoine's...and I'm just crazy about it!  I also painted a pumpkin for work, which you can see here.

I'll share more on our pumpkin picking adventure later, once I get the photos edited.  Until then, happy Halloween everyone and have a fantastic weekend!