Irwin family weekly: October 2009

In August, I went out to visit my parents in Florida. It was the first time we have all been together at my parents' house in Florida since my wedding (13 1/2 yrs ago). Needless to say, my mom was very excited. I flew out with Karen and her youngest child; but spouses, unfortunately, stayed home with the rest of the kids.

We went to visit my Grandpa Bob (my mom's dad) and his girlfriend, Lois. Lois used to put the "2 scoops of raisins" in Kellogg's raisin bran. Impressive, huh! It looks like we're outside, but that's a mural they had painted on their wall.

It's hard to see this picture of me from high school, because I took it through the glass at my grandpa's house. Quite the hair I had going on. Looks like I need to send more pictures!

A picture of my Grandpa Bob during the war. How come he looks so good in his old photo and, well . . . you saw mine!

We met David's girlfriend, Natalia, and her two cute children. It was fun getting to know them, they were all so nice. Natalia must kinda like David, since we didn't manage to scare her away at dinner.

We drove around one day, looking at all the old landmarks from growing up. This was the house that we lived in my last two years of high school. It was Air Force housing that has now been sold and being torn down.

It was all fenced off, but we HAD TO get one more look before they tore it down. I wondered if I could fit under the lock. My brother, Mark, was so encouraging - "Yeah, you can fit. Go ahead." Then when I got stuck - "Ah ha, got it" (referring to the picture he took of me stuck in the fence). That's my brother.

So . . . over we went.

Here's me looking through mine and Karen's old bedroom window.

The living room . . . funny how your memory of the house you grew up in doesn't match the actual size of the house. Everything seemed so small.

Mark - coming out of the "no trespassing" area. What a rebel.

The whole family at my dad's baptism. The reason we all came home for a visit.

Mark and my dad.

We stopped to see our old high school. Mark is 7 years younger than me (surprising, I know). Here he is doing the Scorpion stinger - we didn't do that move when I was a Satellite Scorpion (and for good reason).

Here Mark is again at his old junior high. They were the scotties (as in the dog). Use your imagination to what he is doing here.

One of the things I don't miss about Florida - the big bugs!! This palmetto bug crawled over my foot (I was wearing flip flops - ugh!) in the parking lot. I put my camera case down next to it to show how big it was.

Someone had the great idea to go to the beach and watch the sunrise one morning (oh yeah, it was Mark). No sleeping in that morning, but I have to admit, it was beautiful - a moment to remember.

Had to get all the pictures as the sun rose. Mark and David.

Karen and I.

A beautiful morning.

We decided to go on an airboat ride after we took Mark to the airport. We didn't want to take two cars, so while I was napping, I volunteered (or at least, didn't object) to riding in the back with the luggage. OK, it wasn't bad. I just wanted to get the sympathy photo.

Me, trying to wrangle the alligator and save David.

Emily, Karen's youngest, wearing the noise blocking headphones during the airboat ride. She was SO good during all but the last 5 minutes. Even then, the boat was so loud, no one could hear her screaming.