Carmella's Hang Out

I think after returning home from my last vacation I stopped typing after reiterating only a few days! So I shall try not to repeat myself in that instance.

 

After the break down in White Court, though a day late, we did make it to my Grandparents place. It has been 13 years since we were last there as a family. {Mum went back about 4 years ago by herself for my grandparents anniversary} Being as how they had never met Sammy, he was the belle of the ball {Beau? is that a better term} for a good part of it.

Some of the time was spent hanging out at the house. Though they have lived there for 22 years, my Grandparents have moved into an assisted living type of complex. They had much of their possessions still in the house where we stayed, but they spent every night in their new place so as to give us the space needed to fit five adults and two kids. I don’t think much sleep was had by any of us, really! heh. Every morning, Gram and Grampa would come to the house by 8, and if we were not all up by then we were awoken!! Then, Gram and Grampa stayed with us every night till ten at the very earliest I think, but often midnight. The five of us {Dad, Mum, David, Tiff,and I.} or at least all those that could keep their eyes open, would stay up for hours later playing games or chatting.

We arrived on Thursday. Friday, one of my Uncles, his wife, and their two sons {one of which Caeley took an IMMEDIATE liking to!!} came to see us. They were not going to be able to stay for the large family gathering at a restaurant that Sunday, so they came early to spend extra time visiting.

Saturday, much of the family had a gathering at one of the married cousins homes. {She lives just down the street from where we were staying, and having a larger home made it the perfect place for us to all congregate.} More of the family than I had thought, came for that event! We had been told that many of them still had to work, and would not be there until Sunday. So it was a nice surprise to see so many sooner than expected.

My cousins were nice enough to have babies for me to claim. I fell in love with them right away, and had a hard time giving her back to her momma at the end of each day. I tell no lie when I say my arm actually went to sleep holding her, and my shoulder hurt for days afterward, but I didn’t mind one bit!! Isn’t it sweet of all my cousins to have babies for me?? {that reminds me….another baby will be born soon!! I am so excited!! Too bad she moved away even farther!! I cant go over every other week to hold the little guy!! heh} I think I freaked Dad out a bit when I told him I wanted one {a baby} He kinda went a bit white. He kindly reminded me that I first needed a guy, and that if I didn’t wait for the marriage first……there would be trouble I didn’t want to even think about right now! I of course already knew this, but could only think “Baby” when I made the comment! heh.

Sunday we went to Church with my Grandparents. My Granddad helped build that Church many, many years ago, though it has undergone some changes since then. The three kids, accompanied by Dad on piano, sang “In My Heart There Rings A Melody” in front of the entire Church. They did so well, and I was one proud big sister!! Later in the service, Mum, David, Tiffany and I all sang a song Dad had written. I don’t think David knew how much it meant to me to have him sing with us! We didn’t think he would want to do it, but I just love what his voice adds to our group. Dad also played the piano for us. {We were given the key to the church so we could head down early and practice. After a quick run through, Dad began to play some of his other songs in the book Tiff had thankfully packed. I think I have mentioned before how his playing makes everything ok. Well, it did its job there too. We were all alone in this little church, all milling about singing, while Dad played. I love that.} If there is anything I miss about organized Church is it singing specials. I don’t like how nervous I get anyway, and I am sure that I would get over that pretty soon should I get the chance to sing more in front of groups. I really love singing! Thankfully, I have been told others can’t hear the fear in my voice, or see how much my legs shake!

Later that evening, much of the family that had met together at my cousins house, met at a restaurant near by. Others who had not been able to make it the night before arrived to see us too. We met some new additions to the family there as well.

The next few days saw us to more family gatherings and visits to local attractions. All much fun.

That whole visit left me with mixed emotions.

Some of our cousins and an Aunt gave us their email addys so I am hoping we can keep touch with everyone more now!

Our next stop, after Fairview, was to see more family!!! This time, my Dad’s oldest brother. He had been here for the fourth of July, but you may remember what happened then. Due to that, we had not seen much of him nor his family, but had all been ok with it since we would see each other soon in the future.

My aunt had made reservations for us at a camp site, reserving two nights I think it was. However, when we arrived at the office, the woman there claimed to have no memory of the calls my aunt had made. She had forgotten to write it down, and had therefor given away our site. After awhile, she did offer us a site, but there was not enough room for our tent there, so we just skipped it and went on to my uncles house.

All that were able came to the house that night to see us. My uncle and aunt have nine children, one of whom as I said before, we had already visited. Seven of the other eight, along with all their kids, came!!!

When we had been at the big family party the Saturday before in Fairview, there had been 24 people there besides us. At my uncles house, this being just one family, there were nearly the same number of people!

Mum and Dad had not seen some of these cousins {Their nieces and nephews} in well over 15 years…..some of them, I don’t even ever remember meeting. I may have met them when I was a year old, perhaps even since then, but not so that I have vivid memory’s of them. They were married shortly after I was born. One of them has a daughter just three years younger than me!!

We all has such a wonderful time visiting!!! What a time of fellowship! The time to go came much too soon!! However, since more driving was needing to be done the next day, sleep was a must.

The night was spent in a small motel just across the street. The room that David, Tiffany, Sam and I slept in smelled of old smoke so much that I could not breathe well the entire night. Plus, the room was cold…..and, not knowing what was growing under the sheets, none of us wanted to get under the covers! lol….so we didn’t sleep very well. Dad and Mum felt really bad about it all, since their room did not smell as bad. My Aunt said she wanted to call and complain to the managers, along with the call she wanted to make to the camp site manager for loosing our reservation!!

After another nice time of chatting around the breakfast table, we said our goodbyes and hit the road once again.

Banf was our next stop!!! What a pretty place! Reminded me of the little Swiss villages I have seen in photos and on TV. Just beautiful, with a background of snow capped mountains. 25 years before, Mum and Dad had spent time there on their honeymoon, so it made the visit even more special to me.

USA was in our sites as our next camp ground. Praise the Lord, we had no problems getting back into our home country. They did not even have to go through the trailer!! YAY!!

We drove all through Glacier National Park, taking photos all along the way. The kids, Tiff, and I got to take a photo at the sign for the elevation we were at! I am going to sound terrible ditzy right now, but I cant remember how high we were! lol. We were high though!!! heee!!! I would blame the late hour, but I doubt even tomorrow I could remember the exact number. You shall just have to wait to see the photo!!

Dad was really not feeling well while we were there. Many of us also noted that we just did not feel as strong as we thought we should. I blamed much of my fatigue on the high elevation playing tricks with my lungs. There was a path that took you around the mountains…I think it said that it was about three miles. Mum would have liked to take it, but we knew there was no way Dad could make it in his condition, nor could the kids make it all the way..and as much as we wanted to say nothing, I don’t think many of us were sure we could either. We were just not right.

Shortly before Shelby Montana, Dad had to hand over the drivers seat to Mum. He was shaking far too hard to be able to softly drive anymore. David took Dad’s temp and found that it was at a dangerous 104. We all voted to skip trying to find a camp ground and just get Dad to an ER. The people there could not have been nicer to us. They had no beds and room available for him, but didn’t make him wait too long for help. Much of the exam took place in the waiting area. When it was time for him to see the doctor, they took him into an emergency OB room that was very near. {I got a photo of him sitting in the pretty pink room with little bunny rabbits on the wallpaper!! When I asked the nurse if it was ok to take pictures she said “Hey, I wouldn’t miss this opportunity if he were my dad!!”!!!} Once the doc got some samples to run tests on, he sent Dad back out to wait with us. They found out that he had strep. Because many of us were starting to show the symptoms {only two of us did not have temps over 100.} and because we were in such close quarters {if we didn’t have it, we were going to get it} they gave us all medicine. Within two days we were all feeling much better. We like Shelby Montana!!

I was going to finish my trip details….but, its nearly one and I still have to spell check and get ready for bed!! SOO….the rest will have to wait!