I feel like September just flew by!  It doesn’t seem like we did a whole lot, but we did stay busy.  We spent a lot of time painting the house.  In fact, we’re still working on that.  And while that’s not too much fun, we did manage to do a few other things that were highlights/favorites during the month.

Favorite #1

Family Time!

Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana while our son Danny was visiting his sister Cara and her family there.  Once it had passed through, they all did some yard clean-up, and then since they were still without electricity, they all made the drive to Texas on September 1st to stay with us!  The original plan had been for US to go THERE, but Ida changed all that!

Christmas in September?

We had a tiny bit of Christmas in September the first night they were here!  I had had this gift for Danny and Erin wrapped and on a shelf in a closet since Christmas 2019!  They were both working on a cruise ship that Christmas, and then they were in Lithuania the following Christmas.

 

Playing at the Park

The next day Cara and I took the girls to the park before doing some grocery shopping.

Edie “cooked” wood chips on her “grill”. 😁

A selfie with Helen.

 

Chillin’ at the house

Danny had the undivided attention of both dogs while he was putting his lunch together.

 

Shopping Trip!

Big Eagle’s birthday was that Friday, and it was a BIG one…the big 7-0!  Danny, Cara, and Paul wanted to take us to a really nice restaurant to celebrate, so reservations were made for that night.  The girls hadn’t known we’d be going out to a fancy restaurant, so they hadn’t packed a dress.  Helen especially was worried about what she would wear.  What better excuse to take them shopping?

We first went to Target where they tried on these outfits:

They were cute, but not quite what we were looking for.  We took a picture so they would be able to look back at these outfits to compare them with others we might find.

Between Kohl’s and Famous Footwear we were able to complete their ensembles.  Helen’s shoes were a little big, but they didn’t hurt and they didn’t fall off…plus they were only $9.99, so yeah!  Here they are in their dinner clothes:

It was a fun excursion!

 

Big Eagle’s Birthday!

We went to a super nice steakhouse in downtown Ft. Worth call Bob’s.  Only these two pictures that I took turned out good enough to post.

 

Back at home, we took this group picture:

 

My Birthday!

The next day was Saturday and also my birthday!  Danny had to leave that day to fly back to Alaska for a final summer visit with friends up there.  So Big Eagle stayed home to take him to the airport while I went with the Bovets for some wet fun at Pirate’s Cove.

 

Then that night after dinner we celebrated with cupcakes that the girls and Cara had made that afternoon.

They left the next morning for home.  It was my most favorite few days of September!

 

Favorite #2

On the second Wednesday of the month, my Orangetheory workout included a 2,000-meter rowing benchmark.  When I arrived, the coach had a sticky note for each class member posted on the glass wall.  He had written our personal bests on them, so we would know what we needed to beat if we wanted to improve our record.  Mine was 8:36, so I was fairly disappointed when my time that day was 8:54.

However, later at home I saw posted on Facebook the top 3 for each age group, and for my age group, I was #1!  WHAT?!  Ha!  I didn’t feel too shabby after that!  The competitive me regards #1 in my age group as a favorite!

 

You will note, though, that there are only two in my age group that even participated.  And that all other participants in all other categories had times better than mine.  I also thought it was interesting that in the men’s 60+ category, there were NO participants.

 

Favorite #3

I hadn’t ridden my bike much at all this year until this month.  Then I stepped it up in preparation for the Run Und Ride event being held on the 25th in conjunction with Ft. Worth’s Oktoberfest.  My friend Lynn and I did the 20-mile urban bike ride.  Here we are afterwards wearing our medals and enjoying our complimentary brewskies:

It was fun being out on the bike again…a definite favorite!

 

Favorite #4

This last “favorite”, although a somber occasion, was still a highlight of the month, as it was a celebration of my brother Frank’s life.  Frank died last November, and we couldn’t gather in his memory at that time because of the pandemic.  It was good to finally meet with my siblings and their families to pay our proper respects.

Frank was given a military funeral honors ceremony at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery.  It was quite a moving ceremony.

 

 

The flag was unfolded and refolded and presented to my brother Herb, whom you see seated in the picture above.  Taps was played, and my brother Steve gave a heartfelt eulogy.  My brother Tom placed Frank’s dog tags and his cross on his urn at the end of the ceremony.

 

We were not permitted to see the urn being buried, but we were told the burial would be complete later in the afternoon, and we could return to inspect the site.  So we all went to a late lunch at the Dixie Crossroads restaurant in nearby Titusville.

 

 

After lunch, my sister-in-law Twyla had each family choose a pillow she had made using shirts that had belonged to Frank.  He loved NASCAR and golf, so I chose one that was from a Daytona t-shirt on one side and what I recall being a golf shirt on the other side.

 

I didn’t realize until I got home with it that she had embroidered his name and dates on it!  This was just such a creative and thoughtful thing to do!

Finally, we returned to the cemetery to view Frank’s resting place.

 

 

 

 

While writing this post it occurred to me that September began with a family gathering (with my children and grandchildren), and it ended with a family gathering (with my siblings and their families).  And although, as I wrote at the beginning of this post, September flew by for me, Big Eagle disagrees.  He thought it c-r-a-w-l-e-d.  But his last day of work before he retires is this coming Friday, so October probably couldn’t get here fast enough for him!

With September behind us, I say happy October to you!  I hope you are able to enjoy some Fall weather where you are.  It would be great to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment if you’re able.  🎃 🍁🍂🍎