My Dad's passing

Richard Ellis Michaud

1932 - 2010

My Dad passed away last week at his home in Maine. I knew his health was declining, and that we were lucky to have him be around as long as he was, but it was still awful to get that phone call from my mom. I was more sad to think of my mom. They were planning on going to FL next week to move into their new home. We all feel it was a blessing though, that he died at home and not on the road, or in FL where they knew no one. Also that he died quickly and did not have to be in a hospital. He always hated doctors.

I was able to fly up to Maine the same day to be with my mom-also a blessing. There was much to do and I did not want her to be alone that first night. We spent the next couple of days going through years of paperwork, making lots of phone calls, and packing up some of Dad's things.

The rest of my siblings were able to come up a couple of days later. On Friday, we buried my Dad in the Clark's hill cemetary where his mother and grandmother were buried. Saturday, we had a very nice memorial service. There were many family members, fellow church members, and friends of my parents. It was nice to share our memories and our children's memories.

My mom plans now are to move to FL as planned and see how it goes. She has been so strong through this process and is getting through it. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings a certain amount of peace-she knows she will see him again. The hard part is getting through the rest of her life without him.

Homecoming

I wasn't home this year for homecoming :(; but, I was able to enjoy Julia's events through pictures. Thankfully cousin Christie was able to step in as "mom" for the day and get her ready. She looked beautiful as always.

Longwood gardens

I took Eliza and Anna to the gardens on Saturday because the weather has been so gorgeous and Eliza had been wanting to see the flowers. Well, we had been there for about an hour when I decided to sit on a bench while they took pictures over in the flower garden.

The next thing I know, Eliza runs up to me crying, saying her nose stings really bad, then her lip. I couldn't get her to stop crying, even with cold water. Apparently, she smelled a flower with a bee on it. Then she reports she can't walk either because she has a blister on her foot. Piggy back ride it was to the first aid station, all the way back at the entrance. She even refused ice cream, she was in so much pain. So a quick stop at WalMart and the application of "First Bite" cream saved the day.

Julia's b-day

This year, a scheduled church dance made Julia's birthday party super easy to throw. She invited friends from school as well as had her friends from church there to share in her celebration.

Her friends from school came back to the house for a sleep over. I actually was not in the same car as them, and had to make an emergency trip to the hospital with one of the girls in my car. By the time I got home, they were all crashed. The next morning it was muffins and a movie. I'm happy Julia has so much fun with her friends. They've known each other since we moved here five years ago.

Happy birthday my beautiful girl!!

Soccer begins

Back to school means back to being a soccer mom. Eliza loves to play soccer and still loves being goalie. She is on a sweet team this year.

Disney!!

This year, Disney was giving away one day passes to anyone who did community service. Since we normally do family service on Martin Luther King day anyway, I signed us up to work at one of the "sponsoring" locations in our area, unbeknown to the girls. We worked at a church tying quilts, making cards and PB&J sandwiches. The fun part to me, was they had no idea about the disney passes.

Well, this summer we never did get the chance to go down there with everything going on. But, the girls had a 4 day weekend for Labor Day, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. There were only two issues: flying standby on a holiday weekend and the Category 5 hurricane sitting just off the eastern seaboard. We solved the standby issue by flying into Tampa instead of Orlando and driving the hour over. It was actually nice to have a car to pick up food items and not be at the mercy of Disney's overpriced food. It was quite stressful though, renting a car and hotel room literally while getting on the airplane. But it all worked out.

The other issue, the hurricane, actually worked to our advantage. It just barely skimmed the outer banks of North Carolina and sucked up all the moisture that normally would be in FL. So we had perfect weather the two days we were there. It also probably scared half the people away, so the lines were quite small for all the rides. Woo-hoo.

The girls loved the surprise. They had fun running around Downtown Disney and swimming the first day we were there.

The next day we hit the magic kingdom. We took a break at dinner time and enjoyed some more time in the pool. That night we went back to the park to see the electric parade and fireworks. Although in some ways I think they have outgrown some of the "magic" of Disney, the girls had a ball. I'm glad we could fit the trip in to our crazy schedule. It is wonderful sometimes to get away as a family!

Back to School

The end of August means back to school. After such a fun, hectic summer, it will be nice to have some routine back in our life. I guess it was unofficial stripe day. The girls were cute, as always:

Eliza

Julia & Anna

New glasses and new doo's