Thanksgiving 2018

We spent Thanksgiving day at the Cornish house. 

Playing Speak Out

That's a crazy crew!

Evy begged Aunt Julie to bring Higgins and she loved on the dog all day long. 

Rest In Peace Grandma Maxine

Maxine Watkins July 23, 1923 - November 13, 2018

Grandma's health had been failing her in recent months and she passed away in the early morning on November 13. Below is the eulogy I gave at her funeral.

"Thank you all for being here today as we celebrate the life of Grandma Maxine.
Fifteen years ago we were all together as we said goodbye to Grandpa Willis. As
Caleb pointed out it is certain that Willis has been sitting at the gates of heaven
for the past 15 years honking the horn of a Ford Taurus as he waited on Maxine.
Just as he did after every family gathering here on Earth.

Grandma graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class here in
Keosauqua in 1940. Willis always said that he married her because she was the
smartest girl in the class. And I don’t think he was kidding. While she and Grandpa
lived in California she attended Long Beach City College and when they returned
to Iowa she enrolled in Business School in Davenport. She did not graduate but
keep in mind, in the 1940s less than 10% of women in the U.S. attended college.

I don’t remember my Grandma as someone who baked or knitted. I remember
her as someone who was always slightly ahead of her time. She read a lot and
stayed in tune with current topics. She lived a healthy lifestyle before it was the
popular thing to do. She walked regularly with a distinctively fast pace and
swinging arms. She watched her cholesterol levels before most people knew what
cholesterol was. She drank skim milk, used low-fat mayonnaise and snacked on air
popped popcorn. While many grandchildren may recall the baked goods at their
grandmother’s house I remember fruit soup on Christmas morning and my
brother’s favorite snack at Grandma’s as being a container of frozen strawberries.
This healthy lifestyle clearly worked out well for her since she stayed healthy into
her 90s. But as a child, the whole wheat bread and skim milk offered at
Grandma’s house were not my favorite. Luckily we could always count on a can of
Hi-C in the refrigerator.

Before it was widely known that tanning beds caused skin cancer she would tell
me “You should not get into those things. They will give you skin cancer.” You
better bet those words were going through my head the day I had basal cell skin
cancer removed from my nose.

She wasn’t only ahead of her time when it came to health. She was also
progressive in her beliefs. She believed in accepting others for what they are,
supporting others and standing up for what you believe in. She demonstrated
tolerance and while she was strong and opinionated she rarely raised her voice.
When all 6 grandsons were in the house things tended to escalate quickly with
balls being thrown, someone getting hurt or mad and something getting broken.
Her response would not get any more harsh than “You little dickens!!!”

Perhaps the time she showed the greatest tolerance in her life was after Caleb
and Morgan’s wedding. The day after the wedding several of us attended a
Cardinals vs Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field. As a life long Cardinals fan,
Grandma was sporting red and cheering on her beloved Cardinals while sitting
next to her Grandson who was wearing a Cubs shirt.

Caleb and I were lucky to live in the same town as our grandparents and share our
early childhood with all of our cousins. Grandma and Grandpa were constants in
our lives. Our first flight was to California with Grandma and Grandpa to visit our
family in San Diego. As we grew older Grandma and Grandpa attended all of our
school events. Actually, I think Grandpa avoided all of the choir performances and
school plays, but Grandma was there. During summer break Grandma would pick
Caleb and me up and drive us to the pool each afternoon. In college they would pick
me up on campus and treat me to dinner at Red Lobster.

These are my stories and everyone who knew Maxine has their own set of stories.
We are lucky to have had her for so many years, for there to be so many stories.
For her to have met all of her great-grandchildren. We can only hope that we are
all lucky enough to have the same."

Florida 2018

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to Grammy and Papa's we go...

Traveling with these kiddos is getting so much easier! Charlie and her neck pillow...ha!

Papa is quite the prankster and had these animal heads waiting for the kids. 

On our first day in Florida we headed to the beach. The kids love playing at the beach and we've been able to extend our time at the beach substantially now that they are older and no one is falling and eating sand. 

The next day we went to the Conservancy and learned about mangroves and took a boat ride. This was not the kid's favorite activity. 

Lunch at Tin City.

And back to Tin City for dinner at Kelly's Fish House. 

On Tuesday we went to Ft. Myers for a dolphin jet ski tour. 

Getting the instructions.

Evy, Scott and Will rode on one jet ski.

Charlie and Emily rode on one. Grammy and Papa rode together on another and turns out they were the only ones who tipped over! My goodness what an adventure! 

After the jet ski tour we snuck into the Pink Shell for lunch. 

The kids swam illegally and we tried to look nonchalant. 

Milk shakes for lunch. Yum!

Don't let this picture fool you. They went for a swim during the tour!

We spent Wednesday afternoon at the beach and took in the sunset. One of our favorite ways to spend the evening. 

When the sun went down we walked across the street to the Buzz's Lighthouse for dinner. 

While Scott, Papa and Evy went fishing Charlie, Will, Grammy and I walked to Publix for some doughnuts. 

The girls had a bunch of math homework to do during the week. Charlie is doing her homework and Will is circling Christmas present ideas in the Wal-Mart ad. 

Papa, Evy and Scott took off on a half day fishing excursion. Evy joined the guys at kind of the last minute and what fun they all had! 

Evy outfished Papa and Scott but she says her favorite part of the fishing trip was seeing dolphins and manatees. 

That night we played some mini-golf where we learned that Grammy won't hesitate to cheat. 

A super early flight back to Iowa means boarding the plane in the dark!