Hirsche Family

After spending time with family we headed over to Crescent City to camp for a few days and let Geddy experience the ocean for the first time. We found a great KOA campground just a few miles outside of Crescent City. The location was great as were the facilities. In fact Geddy still (six months later) refers to is as his home away from home. He has declared it the place he always wants to vacation at. Here are a few pictures of our tent spot.

We were by apple trees, blackberry bushes and other shade trees. There were numerous sites actually among Redwoods just down the road from us. Next time hopefully we will get one of those spots.

But this was nice, and Geddy enjoyed munching on blackberries whenever he wanted.

Fairly secluded spot, unlike our only other experience at a KOA in Yellowstone. That one will never be repeated, this one, maybe.

Scott being goofy in the tent one night. We didn't have a way to hang the lantern so he just put it on his head. Worked for awhile, as long as he didn't move at all.

This was our home for three nights. Geddy particularly enjoyed the game room where he played countless games of ping pong and Foosball as well as some arcade games. He also was able to rent a little pedal powered go-kart thing and zip around the whole campground. We were five minutes from the beaches as well as yummy pizza so a great vacation was had by all. More pictures of that will be posted soon, hopefully.

So this summer wasn't the best for us in some ways. I started the summer with two grandmothers still living strong. Then we lost Grandma Donna suddenly on June 27.

Grandma Donna with her two sons - Bruce (Dad) and Uncle Brian. This was taken at Grandpa Ken's funeral 2 1/2 years ago.

My parents were able to hold off doing services for her until the beginning of August when Scott, Geddy and I could be there as well as Carrie and Ben from Logan. So we planned out our summer vacation to coincide with her memorial service. We had already been leaning towards heading out to Etna for a few days then on to the ocean and Redwoods. Taking Geddy to see his grandparents and great-grandmothers were a key part of that trip.

Then unexpectedly on the morning of July 27th we got a phone call saying that Grandma Darlene had passed away, even more suddenly. Thankfully, Uncle Ken, Aunt Liliana, Brandy and Denisse were able to make it out from Tennessee the same time as the rest of us so we could have her service the day after Grandma Donna's.
This is so not the way to start a family vacation. But we had beautiful services for both grandmothers. And it was so good to see all of my family. I just really wish it had been for a different occasion. Finally after being married for 18 years, Scott was able to meet my Uncle Ken and Aunt Liliana along with my only two first cousins. I think Geddy especially had a hard time dealing with it as he had been looking forward to reacquainting himself with his great-grandmas. And knowing that we had been planning to stay with Grandma Darlene and have her pass the morning of his birthday, was not easy for him. I think it was good for Geddy to see that although we were sad, we were also grateful. Grateful that they had lived long, full lives. And though they are greatly missed, we are happy to know that they both are back with their beloved husbands. And we are grateful for our knowledge of the afterlife.

Things being as they were, we didn't get a lot of pictures taken. But here are a few that we did get. Please excuse our tired faces and less-than-enthusiastic smiles, it was a rough couple of days. Thank goodness for the great-grandkids, they helped lighten the moods at just the right times. Just missed Brandy's three oldest daughters and Denisse's son.

I am trying to update the blog again. I have kind of slacked on it for awhile. I am giving it a few tweaks to have an overall new look. As much as we love our wonderful Spanky, it is time for his picture to not be the first thing I see every time I visit the blog. It has been four years this week since we lost him. We now have our amazing Rocky who is nothing like Spanky other than a good, furry friend in our home. Time is not as plentiful as I want which is partly why I have not updated in awhile. The new job as Geddy's school librarian keeps me busy. Also I have been delaying a sad and difficult post from this summer and as I like to try and keep things in somewhat chronological order, I have felt I can't post anything until I get that one done. So that also should happen today. In the meantime, bear with me as I hopefully get the blog looking new and fresh.

A kitty lego set he has been wanting for ages.

Rocky loves paper!

A Nerf-esque gun he has been wanting for ages.

Surprise action figure from Dad, his favorite movie of late.

 

I threw him a Minecraft party. Sorry, didn't get many pictures, but Pinterest is amazing!

Pin the tail on the Minecraft Piggy.

Saturday May 16, 2015 9:30am
We went to the Payson Temple Open House.
Such a beautiful place, words can't even describe.
We were able to take just a couple of pictures. I had to get to work, and the weather wasn't the most cooperative.