80 Years

I can't remember when I last saw my aunt.  I know it was at my dad's funeral (her brother).  But, I could have seen her before we adopted the girls.  I have great memories of spending a couple of weeks almost every summer with her when I was younger.  Her daughter was a few years older than me, but that didn't stop us from having a fun time. 

My aunt was honored with a surprise 80th birthday party a few weeks ago.  I took the girls up, over, around, and down mountain after mountain to the small town tucked away in West Virginia.

(Aunt Peggy, with her daughter)

At times it was painful to look at her.  She reminded me so much of my dad, who was only 13 months younger than she.  Initially, Aunt Peggy was upset about the "surprise" party, but soon she made her rounds and enjoyed seeing everyone.  She even got in a couple of dance moves with her grandsons.

After the party, all of us sisters crashed mom's quiet house.  We brought with us 1 husband (Melissa's) and 6 granddaughters.  It was good being together with everyone.

 

Aidan never wanted me to take a picture of her.  So, the cousins did their best to make her look at the camera.  That's OK.  I was able to quickly sneak one anyway.

Gotta love the chewing gum hiding in Eva's mouth.  I think she chewed that for 5 hours...Anything to stop them from getting carsick from all those mountains.

New Bathroom

We finally finished up our bathroom remodeling.  And, as usual, we found some interesting things after the tear-out.  For instance, we had double sinks.  But, they both were feeding into one pipe thing-a-ma-jiggy underneath.  Mike spent a lot of money on drain-o over the years trying to make the water drain faster.  What a waste.  We also had our duct work feeding right into a vanity, which then had a vent at the bottom.  Lots of wasted heat/air over the years.  So, it's now all working, and I am very pleased.

So, here is the before picture.  Behind the door was a dressing vanity with the strange vent.  It is a small bathroom, but I'm thankful for it.  I grew up in a house with 4 kids (3 girls) with mom and dad and only one bathroom.  We made it work.  So, this is more than enough.

We decided to open up the small space by bringing down the wall.  I'm glad we did.  It feels much larger than it is.

We had a stall shower insert previously.  When we took out the insert and replaced it with tile, it added a little more elbow room, which is a bonus.  I'm very pleased with the result.  I really wanted a frame-less shower door.  That was a "must-have" on my list.  But, I went a tad bit over budget on the tile itself, so we will have to wait on the shower door.  I realize that it wasn't a "must-have" after all.  Most things aren't.