Spring Break Trip to Grandma's House

Hello Friends!!! I has been awhile since my last post...I've been counting!!! tee hee.. See previous post!! I've been trying anyway.. Things are still tough here but we keep praying for things to break loose and work to pick back up. Thanks all of you for your prayers and good thoughts... your nice comments and support help me more than you realize. I have been feeling pretty down lately and alone, so your friendship means the world to me.
The kids and I got to take our trip to Illinois after all to see DH's mom.. Grandma Locke. DH was worried about us taking that long drive without him but 1523.8 miles later we made it there and back without any problems, Just fought the wind driving there. But other than that it was a great trip. I have tons of pictures but only have space for a few and I don't want to bore you, so here are a few of my favs!!! Joe's mom lives in Quincy, Ill, but has tons of family history in Historical Hannibal Missouri.. I could live there in a second!!! I love, love, love the river and could sit and watch it for hours. Grandma Locke's Great Uncle was a boyhood buddy of Sam Clemens, aka, Tom Sawyer. Family history is very important to Kaye so we got a really interesting history lesson while there. It was fun and I hope the kids remember it all. We WILL go back and get more..we all loved it!! Okay now to my pictures.....This cutie is DH's Grandma!! So she is the kids Great Grandma!! She is a tiny one!! Brandon at 9 is already taller than her and look where Ash is at!!! She has almost lost her sight but she still lives in her home and cleans and cooks for her self. Joe's nephew lives with her but she does a lot on her own. We got to take her to the store for groceries, that was a fun trip and the kids loved it. This is the first time she has been able to meet them. She doesn't travel much and we have only been back to Ill a one other time since we have been married, Joe's mom comes here most of the time, and last time we were there she was sick and didn't want company.. understandable at 98!!!

The kids and I were on our own most days, since Grandma had to work but we found out way around pretty well. This is the riverfront in Quincy, ILL and this bridge takes you to Missouri. They had a great time and got to see a very big barge and tub boat.. My first too!!! We had a great day!! I love my kids ....

This is Hannibal Missouri, what a neat little town. Which if you don't know is over the river from Quincy. Kaye lived there for awhile and we love it, so we try ti visit it also when we can. So much history and neat shops there!!! This is the view from Lovers Leap that is south of Hannibal a few miles. It was such a pretty day and we there was a riverboat taking a test drive that day, so that was a treat for the kids to see. Far in the distance in this picture you can see a lighthouse, we climbed the hundreds of steps up to it!! What a view and well worth it!!!

This is the walking path up by the lighthouse. It was fun and you could see for miles and miles. The kids slept very well that night!! I didn't get a picture of the Tom Sawyer cave in this post, but I'll do a remix or something and get more on here, it was so interesting and where some of our family history is. Sam Honeyman's siggy is in the cave and he was the friend of Tom Sawyer, who knows, he may have been with him when he wrote hisname on the wall..

Grandma Locke!!!The kids just love her so much, well, so do Joe and I, but she really has a special connection with the kids. They would move in if she would let us! She has a cute home and lives a great life. She takes care of Grandma Hoagland and is a Red Hat Lady and keeps herself busy with friends and fixing up her home!! We hope to go back this summer to see her again. Hopefully DH will get to go this time.

Have a great day everyone I hope to be back soon!!