Mini Vacations

Our first mini-vacation was to go to Blossom.  We went on Labor Day weekend.  Last year, we had done a Disney with the orchestra with Gloria the same weekend.  This time it was Cirque du Soleil with the orchestra.  We left quickly after church, packed some food for the night, and took off… without taking a look at the weather.  We got to Blossom in good time, found a good parking spot, hauled our stuff in, and relaxed…

    

until it started to sprinkle.  Madison and I had headed to the car to grab some warmer clothes/blankets/whatever we could find.  We also bought the $5 ponchos because we needed something.  And then we sat.  In the rain. 

But not all night.  It did let up.  And it was a cool evening, but otherwise nice.  It is incredibly relaxing to just sit out and enjoy the music.  (Makes for a late night, but it is worth it occasionally).

For our second mini-vacation, Christi Michaels invited us to go to Cedar Point with their family on September 8.  She said it would be quiet that day because it was 1) after Labor Day, 2) before Hallow-Weekends, and 3) it is the first Sunday for NFL games.  And she was right.  There were hardly any lines, the day was gorgeous, and we could do whatever we wanted.  We were definitely spoiled.  It was the girls first time to the Point.  Jeremy and I hadn’t been there for almost 10 years when we were SYF sponsors. 

We got a medical pass so we could carry a bag that held snacks in case Ellie when low.  It allowed us to stash the bag at roller coaster loading zones; it was really nice.  We also bought two meal passes to be able to eat every 90 minutes – an entrée and a side dish.  It was a great deal!  We just grazed throughout the day, sharing the meals between the four of us. 

We started with some older rides (Iron Dragon and Corkscrew)  - which I thought would be so fun, but really just hurt my body because they were kinda rough.  Christi, Mariah, and Jeremy had headed to a big ride (Steel Vengeance) that had basically no wait so they could knock that one off their list.   The girls and I headed to the Cedar Creek Mine Ride.  They loved it.  I think they circled back and did that one at least 3-4 times in a row. 

Then, we did Gemini, two tracks racing each other.  Madison and I won :)

From there, I lost track of the order of how things went down, but we started in with the bigger rides – Gatekeeper (a scary first big coaster, that ended up being a top ride pick), Valravn, Raptor.  Pretty sure that since there was basically no wait time, we did most rides twice in a row.  Christi and I did the Power Tower.  We did some smaller rides – bumper cars, Cedar Downs Racing Derby (amped up carousel), and Cadillac Cars (the girls drove!).

    

Finally, towards the end of the night, Christi and Mariah headed off to ride Maverick, and we worked to convinces the girls to go on Millennium Force.  They did not love the look of the hill or the fact that it is just a lap brace and not a shoulder harness; to be fair, I am not a fan of that set up either… even though it is completely safe.  But they did it – somewhat reluctantly – and they were both super excited (and proud) when it was done. 

    

The ride winner was either Gatekeeper (rode that one 3x in a row to end the night – the last ride, Madison and I sat in the very front seat together!)

or Valravn (a ride where you literally hang facing down the hill for 3 seconds before being released… the girls were scared about that, but then embraced it!)

The night was beautiful and I tried to capture it as we rode the sky train on our way back out of the park.

First Day of School

It came upon us quickly, especially with both girls in sports now.  Monday, August 19, 2024 

Ellie is now a 7th grader – jr. high!!

 

Madison is an 9th grader – high school!!

And some random pictures of Pepper with the girls – his favorite chair/view, the patch of sun he likes to lay in, and selfie mode with Ellie…

    

Gloria

Gloria, as I mentioned previously, had been battling gall bladder cancer since last July.  She had been undergoing chemo pretty much continuously since then.  Her energy levels ebbed and flowed throughout the treatments with some better weeks/days than others.  But she had decided that the treatments outweighed the side effects, and she kept at it.  We had been planning a surprise 75th birthday party for her in November – family from Minnesota, New York, Florida, and Texas were all planning to come.  But that is not what was in the books. 

Jason had come out and stayed overnight with her on his way out to a work conference (August 11th).  Then, he stayed on the following Friday before heading back to Minnesota (August 17th).  Jen had been planning to come to stay with Gloria for about a week, just to help out as she could.  She was going to fly in on Sunday (the 18th), but because flights were cheaper on to fly on Saturday, she came a day early. 

On Sunday morning (the 18th), we were at church as usual.  The service had just ended when Jeremy got a phone call.  He saw it was Jen, so he took it.  Jen informed him that she had woken up and went to check on Gloria, who was not yet up.  She found her unresponsive on the floor.  Jeremy took off to be there.  I stayed back, walked outside, and collapsed in tears.  The contrast between the celebratory worship and the reality of loss was overwhelming.  I sat looking out over the playground and tried to pull it together.  Finally, I went and asked Luke for the keys to his van.  I realized I could at least go over there until Sunday school was over. 

The ambulance and paramedics were there.  The sheriff was there.  And Jen and Jeremy were there.  And it was heartbreaking. 

The assumption is she just passed quickly in the early part of the morning without explanation.  Maybe her body was just tired from all the treatments.  Maybe her heart was overwhelmed with the fluid retention in her body.  Maybe she knew she had seen all her people and she was ready to go.  We will never know, but we grieve her unexpected passing. 

I returned to church in time to get the girls from Sunday school.  Luke drove us home, and I just told them dad was with Grandma.  Oh man.  It was so hard.  He made it home shortly after us.  We sat down and shared with them what had happened.  It was so hard.  So much harder than with Maynard.  They are older, so they felt things differently and more deeply.  Plus, with Maynard, we watched as he slowly said good-bye to this world.  We knew his day was coming, and we could say good-bye.  We did not expect Gloria to go yet.  We sat together and cried and held each other.  And then we tried to be “normal” – to eat, to change clothes, to do the things that needed done.  Because the first day of school was the next day, volleyball practice was still happening that week, and you can’t just stop.

Jason basically got on a flight after just getting home.  Niki and the kids came a couple days later.  Arturo as well.  Gloria’s siblings from out-0f-state were able to get here fairly quickly as well. 

Jeremy, Jason, and Jennifer did an amazing job of communicating with everyone, making funeral arrangements, creating a memorial service, and supporting one another the best they could. 

In the midst of the grief and the details, it was nice to sit together, look through pictures, share memories, and create memories with one another. 

The calling hours were held on Thursday, August 22 at Grace Church in Wooster.

    

The burial was held prior to the service on Friday morning.  The girls didn’t want to say anything aloud, but they both chose to write a short note to Gloria that was put in the casket with her. 

   

Then, we went to the service at Grace.

    

Our family.

Madison (about a month after this) had a journal prompt for English, What is true love?  They are reading Romeo and Juliet, so that’s where the prompt originated, but as she and I were talking about what else to write, she started tearing up.  She said I want to write about Grandma, but I don’t know.  I said then, write about her.  In reality, it is a tribute to Jeremy and the love he showed to his mom in the past year in particular.  It is pretty special and spot-on.

Camps

The girls always enjoy going to Camp Luz, our (very local) church camp.  Ellie went first this year to the pre-teen camp.  She had a one friend she knew was going, but was surprised to see more familiar faces in her cabin!  Here are a few pictures from camp:

    

While Ellie was at camp, Madison and I went school shopping.  She also went tubing at Plesant Hill Lake with her friends, Gretta, Mallory, and Jaida.  And she had her first mini (unofficial) driving lesson in Lehman’s parking lot … where she learned to bike, too!  She was pretty excited about this!

Madison went the week after Ellie.  This year, she chose to do adventure camp.  Adventure camp participants attend the same camp as their peers, but they leave for part of some days to try activities off site.  So, she went biking, canoeing, and rappelling this year.  She said the activities were a lot of fun, but she missed her feet-off-the-floor recuperation time every day.  She may not do it again next year, but she was glad for the experience this year.

    

While Madison was at camp, Ellie also went school shopping.  She had two friends over, Maylynn and Alivia.  And Jeremy got tickets to go to the Guardians game – great seats and entry into the home run food area!

    

This week, we have all been spending our evenings at Scuba VBS.  The girls each volunteered to be Crew Helpers.  So, they talked to, moved with, and had fun with a small group of kids all week.  I volunteered with Christi Michaels to do the skit each night.  This was pretty fun as well.

             

We had a boardwalk theme food celebration after church.  So, we created tiny jello cup swimming pools with teddy grahams floating on lifesaver gummy inner tubes and a little umbrella above them.  It was a lot of tiny details, and we had a lot leftover, but it was fun to do.