Vacation at Poland Spring Resort ---

We spent a week at the beginning of the month relaxing and doing as little as possible aside from having fun, thanks to Daddy Poppie and Naughny. Poland Spring of Maine was the perfect place to do so. The Resort was built by the founder of the Poland Spring bottling company, Hiram Riccar, as people used to travel far and wide to come to Poland Spring to buy the water there. There's a lot of history at the Resort, which we enjoyed learning about.

There was a lot of overcast weather while we were there but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. The girls got at least one day of sun in the pool which they enjoyed. Even when it rained, however, it was still nice to just be able to sit back and not worry about anything. There were game rooms, arts and crafts, and a variety of entertainment to be enjoyed. The all-you-can-eat buffets for breakfast and dinner were also wonderful.

Ella Grace and Eliza took to the place and we received a lot of complements on what good children they are! Daddy enjoyed teaching Ella how to play pool, she picked it up quickly. In the "cottage" we stayed in (it was more like a house, to be honest) we found a small library of old books, including a couple printed by the Society back in the 50's and 60's. We also found an older version of the Gideon Bible that still retained Jehovah's name in it's proper place.

The congregation in Poland Spring is very nice and friendly, and Daddy Poppie enjoyed telling the family how much they had seen the congregation grow in the last 13 years they've been visiting. In that time they watched the Kingdom Hall need to be replaced by a larger one that still looks brand new after almost 10 years. We received several invitations to visit with our brothers and sisters the next time we visit, as well as a couple of jars of preserves prepared by one of the local brothers.

Eliza found a giant mushroom she enjoyed looking at every day until it was mowed down close to the end of our visit. Ella Grace enjoyed being able to play board games with the family every night. Daddy bought a book on the history of Poland Spring and enjoyed not have to think about work for a whole week, but was ready to get back to it by the end of the week, a vacation of perfect length.

On the way home we stopped at a local amusement park right on the coast. Ella Grace spent almost all day on the log flume ride, Eliza loved the kiddie rides (the log ride not so much), and Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun being able to act like kids for a day!

Pictures are here.

Difficult Times Hard to Deal With ---

Sorry, no new pictures this time. Affairs have been too numerous to stop and document them. First of all Mommy was in yet another car accident last Friday and is still recovering from it to some degree. She was back to work the next Monday, but not without pain. There were no broken bones resulted from the incident, just broken cars. Both were totalled. Mommy had procured a ride to work from a co-worker and long-time friend and as they were headed to their destination they were cut off by a car that illegally attempted to cross through the intersection. Their car struck the offending car, a caravan, in it's right-side sliding door. The front of the car Mommy was traveling in was badly damaged, her side taking the brunt of the impact. Air-bags were deployed.

Daddy spent most of the day running between taking care of Mommy and providing for the kids, though help was received from Naughny-Na who took the kids for some time in the evening. Mommy spent most of that day and Saturday resting under the doctors orders. Saturday Daddy, Ella Grace, Eliza, and Naughny-Na spent at the carnival which was in town and had a great time despite the grey and damp weather. The entire family pulled together and got through the crises, each handling it in their own way.

Last week Mommy, Naughny-Na, and Daddy helped Ella Grace pull through a project she had fallen behind in at school. It took some time but in the end it was completed on time and Ella Grace was happy with the results. We still await a grade from the teacher, but regardless of what it ends up being we are proud of Ella Grace for sticking through a difficult assignment and for getting it done on time despite all the difficulties we experienced.

Through all of this Mommy's van was in the Grasso Tech automotive shop receiving much needed repairs. It took about a week and a half during which the family did well using and sharing our one remaining car, the Civic. The van is back with us now but will require some further work.

We also adopted a baby bird for about a day. It had fallen from it's nest and we suspect it may have hatched premature. We had it for about a day and were preparing to take it to someone who would know how to care for it, but sadly it died before we had the chance. From what little we learned it's an enormous amount of work to care for a baby bird, it's a full time job and very complicated. It's a credit to Jehovah's design that birds are able to do easily what is difficult for us acting only on the instinct he gave them.

The Family Pulls Together ---

The last few weeks have been difficult for everybody, but as a family we've been getting through our various trials and have enjoyed each others love, company, and support.

First there was Grandpa's heart attack. Everyone was supportive and understanding as Daddy spent many a day at Yale New Haven Hospital with Grandpa, Grammie, Auntie Rissa, and Uncle Map.

Grandpa was brought to the Pequot Walk-In by Grammie and Uncle Map were he received medication in an effort to open his blocked artery. That having failed, Grandpa was then flown to Yale via the Lifestar helicopter and received a stent to open the artery. It was determined that a triple by-pass would be necessary to prevent another attack from happening in the near future. These proved to be trying days for the family as Grandpa was in a lot of pain but everyone held up and held together through it. It was impressed upon Daddy and Uncle Map that they needed to look at their own health condition more seriously.

The family enjoyed a visit by Brother Brainard, our substitute Circuit Overseer while Brother Crispen was away. Daddy had a great day out in service with Brother Brainard and felt the love and support of the congregation through the difficult times. The whole family, including Naughny, enjoyed a morning out in service with Sister Brainard as well.

Ella Grace received new glasses for reading and watching TV and has been enjoying them. She did not get them in time for her first talk but she didn't seem to need them as she did a wonderful job with it. She was relaxed and natural while giving it with Mommy and seemed as though she had been giving talks her whole life. Most importantly she was herself, fluid and natural.

Ella Grace did get her glasses before the Special Day Assembly however and enjoyed showing them to everybody. The family did well and we were able to get to the hall early as we were planning. Even though the Assembly Hall was renovated only about ten years earlier it had already become difficult to schedule everyone for Assemblies as the Organization grows quickly. While there we enjoyed association and meeting old friends. One Sister whom we did not know personally stopped us at the hotel the night before the Assembly and said that she always looked forwards to seeing what we would be wearing the next day as Mommy always does a wonderful job arranging our clothing around a particular theme. Mommy and Daddy had the privilege of helping to keep the bathrooms clean during and the session. Ella Grace and Eliza had fun running around and taking pictures in the wooded park behind the small lake on the property.

Great Grandpa fell and broke a couple of bones, so the family visited him as much as possible at the Windham Hospital were he was recovering before being moved to the Mansfield Rehabilitation Center. Ella Grace made a card for him selecting Winnie the Pooh stickers to help cheer Great Grandpa up and invited the rest of the family to join in. Eliza is writing her name now and enjoyed adding it to the card.

We also got news that Uncle Map was in the worst pain of his life regarding one of his teeth. We were glad to hear that he was doing better but it was hard to hear that he was going through so much pain.

Recently Daddy and Daddy Poppy were able to get the web-cams working between Daddy Poppy's computer and Ella Grace's. The whole family enjoyed being able to see each other live on the computer.

Through it all the family has been enjoying each others company and the time we get to spend with one another.

Pictures of the Assembly are here.

Groton Day 07 ---

The family enjoyed an afternoon at Washington Park for Groton Day. Naughny-Na, Daddy-Poppie, and Auntie Ann were also there for hamburgers, hot dogs, and moon bounces. We collected a lot of freebies from the various kiosks of local companies. The free sno-cones were much appreciated on the hot day! We left as the mosquitoes came out in force but Ella, Eliza, and Daddy snuck in a ride on a horse drawn wagon first.

Family Trip ---

We had a great time this last week, traveling down to see Grannie Vick Vick and then to see the most recent addition to the burgeoning Yarmosh family. The proud dad can be seen in picture holding little Layla.

Eliza had a great time with Grannie Vick Vick (where the Victoria in Eliza Victoria Rose comes from), as did we all, and Grannie Vick Vick said Eliza gets her personality from her, Naughny-Na, and Daddy. Eliza talked everybody's ears off and held school in the living room several times a day. Ella Grace had fun with old fashioned video games (of the Atari 2600 variety) and Mom and Dad got a chance to relax and do nothing.

We attended their bookstudy on Friday and met some of the friends who were very nice and many of them surprisingly knew exactly where Groton is, something that doesn't happen too often. That night we spent at Nan's playing cards. They were supposed to be teaching us but Nan and Grannie Vick Vick kept swapping hands because they didn't like their own, so it got a little confusing. Ella, as usual, took lots of great pictures. She's quite good at catching people off guard.

Eliza crashed when we first got to John and Lisa's but was then up half the night. Layla was alert and entertained by all the attention Ella and Eliza gave her. She's got her mothers looks but her fathers expressions. We spent most of the evening at Eve's as she, as usual, outdid herself with a delicious dinner. We got to see Darryl and Justine again and the four of the kids spent a lot of time playing with each other.

John's in-laws were nice enough to let us spend the night at their place (which is right above John's) and John cooked us all breakfast in the morning.

Pictures can be found here.

Rodgers On The Move---

Jannai picked up a remote controlled car the other day, something she'd been wanting for some time now. Ella Grace seems to be enjoying it more, though, as she tears up the parking lot with the big-wheeler, jumping curbs on and off the sidewalk with it. Ella Grace has also been spending time at Naughny's and Daddy Poppi's, last night completing her third consecutive sleep-over, making good use of her time off of school.

Eliza has taken her long-distance running up a notch as she enjoys running away from her family at almost every opportunity. She seems to like being chased, and so far no amount of reasoning with her is disuading her from the activity, so she's had to be quarentined inside for intervals of time to get her to stop. She is cute when she's caught, however. As she's walked back to the house by hand she droops her head low in a look of defeat.