Winding up my Year of Firsts

The intention of this blog was to record firsts done during my 65th year.  That ended April 22, 2018, on my 66th birthday, but I did start the blog a week in to my 65th year so I had a few to make up.  I've done a number of things since April 22 and I will try to mention some of them in this last post.

My most recent one was this morning when I went to the National Geographic museum in Washington, DC which is across from our hotel.  What a wonderful experience that turned out to be.  It is a very small museum and really has only one major exhibit at a time and this one was The Tomb of Christ at the Holy Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem which National Geographic helped to restore in 2016 as it was beginning to crumble.  The major part of the exhibit was done with 3d virtual reality so that it appeared that you were actually in the building and it was just amazing.  This is probably as close as I will ever get to the tomb of Christ, but I felt like I was there, like I could reach out and touch everything there.  This type of technology is going to make it possible for people everywhere to see major monuments and historical sites throughout the world when they can't actually travel there.  I learned so much and it was such a feast for the eyes.

We went to a new restaurant to us in DC called Georgia Brown's.  It was low country Southern food with sweet cornbread and buttermilk biscuits brought out with peach butter to begin the meal and then all kinds of choices of comfort food to choose from.  I had trout and it was yummy.  More food than I could eat.

We are staying at the Mayflower Hotel in DC which I had never been to.  Bill had stayed there once when I wasn't with him.  Our Marriott Ownership allowed us to use our points with them to get a huge suite to enjoy all week, with lots of amenities including hot breakfast.  This is the way to travel!

I got to watch Cassie graduate via live-streaming, and I am so very proud of her hard work in getting her dental hygiene certification.  We will be going to Hailey's high school graduation this coming Friday--first of the grandkids to graduate.  We are very proud of her accomplishments.

Bill is buying Mandi and Jeff's RV and we are preparing for our first road trip in it as we head to Nachitache, LA for Memorial Day weekend.

I got to take Mom to Mandi's so we could celebrate Clay's 7th birthday before they headed off to South America.  We had a great time watching Clay enjoy every minute of the day!

Tomorrow night I will complete one full year with the Central Texas Master Singers as we do our last concert of the year.  It has been such a rewarding and yet challenging experience to sing with this group and I look forward to my next year with them.

I've done many other small firsts that haven't been documented on this blog this year, but I am glad that Mandi encouraged me to do this because it has made me much more aware of the things I can take advantage of that I've never done if I will just do them.  It has gotten me out of a rut and hopefully will keep me out of it in the future.

Day 359--Researching Oklahoma City

While I was at Mandi's, we got out our calendars and worked on when Nana camps could happen this summer and other times that I need to assist with the kids.  Weston and Ruth want to do their camp together which I was surprised at, but we are working on a small "destination" trip to Oklahoma City--someplace we can drive to and that can be wedged between their many activities of the summer.  I've never spent any time in OKC so know nothing about what is there except the Cowboy Hall of Fame.  I have spent some of my morning investigating, and find there are some pretty nice areas such as a small riverwalk area which is called Bricktown, and there are quite a few museums, etc.  I'm letting the kids help with the planning now that they are so grown-up so we will see what we come up with. One thing I found today is that there is a Women's Pilots Museum there that I think Ruth will want to go to as she is very determined to become one herself!   I love every stage my grandkids hit because I see new and wonderful traits in them during each stage!

Day 358--Morning at the VA

Bill was out of town today so it fell to me to take his dad to the VA for a checkup.  That place is a mad-house for sure!  Wait times are crazy as well.  His dad has never been known for patience so the waiting was hard, but he was a good patient once he was seen.  However,  he was really confused by the time I got him back to his place and that has concerned us.  His memory is always bad but this time was different.  So we are concerned.  The doctor wants him to have a sonogram on his carotid artery because it sounds like it might be somewhat closed up which could cause a stroke.  So we will be doing that next.  We'll just have to wait and see where things progress from here.

Day 357--Meals on Wheels with Mandi

This morning I rode with Mandi as she delivered Meals on Wheels to 5 of her regulars.  While picking up the meals, we ran into Avis' niece who also lives in Flower Mound and she was picking up meals for her people--we didn't know she was working in the program as well so that was a nice surprise and short visit.  I forgot to mention yesterday that Avis has a new granddaughter--Catherine Rose--born on the 17th and coming in at a healthy 8+ pounds!  So I'll post her as my picture for today since I don't have one of Mandi and me delivering or eating lunch--but we had a great time!

Day 356--Getting to Party with some Historical Figures

Today I drove to Flower Mound specifically to visit with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, AKA Weston and Max.  But I actually got to visit with 14 other historic characters, some of which were Robert E Lee, Rosa Parks, Eli Whitney, Ruth Graham, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and others.  Mandi and her co-worker for CC had their students write history papers of 5 or more paragraphs and then the presentation for the last day of CC was for all those students to present their papers dressed as their character they researched and also to bring a snack for the entire attending audience that was particular to their time period in history.  It was a wonderful program and many kudos to Mandi and her teaching partner for the great job they did with these kids.  I'm so glad I got to go!

Mandi did a great job of being the emcee--except
for breaking the stand for the mic!

Most of the group--Weston the tall Thomas Jefferson
in back and Lincoln (Max) next ton him.

Max visiting with Daniel Boone

Robert E Lee was a riot!  He was definitely in
character the whole time even when serving
his "creamed possum" dip and hardtack!

Day 355--Strange New Tunnel

This strange looking contraption is the bridge that goes over the Leon River near Summer Fun.  The road crew has completely covered it with some kind of tarp to do construction on it and left only one lane for driving.  So we have a tunnel and a traffic light at each end to get from point A to point B when traveling the back way from Belton to Temple and vice versa.  I try to remember to come a different way to avoid it but sometimes forget out of habit.

Day 354--Concert in Copperas Cove

Today Master Singers had a concert in Copperas Cove at a Lutheran Church I had never been to before with the group.  I think this was the second concert they have done there and the first one was a Christmas concerted a few years back.  The people were very receptive and nice and had a spread of food afterwards for us and the attendees.