My dad's obituary

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(A blog post from the past:
I found that I never posted
this story from January 2010,
so here it is for your enjoyment.)

Visit to Beatrix Potter's Lake District



Logan and Lily enjoyed their visit to The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction -- especially this diorama showing Peter Rabbit and his mother.

The day we visited Beatrix's neighborhood the weather was very rainy and foggy. We were unable to tour her Hilltop house since the parking lot (her front yard) was full and there was no parking on the road or in the nearby town of Sawrey. We drove by a couple times to take pictures and then found a lane to follow in which we found this view. The house was way up high on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley and river. It was incredible to think about Beatrix Potter walking around all this land and knowing that she "left fourteen farms and 4000 acres of land to the National Trust, together with her flocks of Herdwick sheep.

Miscellaneous Photos from December

With the holidays, Kate's three week visit with the kids, and just life in general, I have tons of photos built up to show. This bunch I am going to just post and caption. Have fun looking.

Michael and his girlfriend Leah Holden
just before leaving for "Wicked" and dinner in Indy.

Addison giving me her sweet smile.

Addison "p"laying with Loralai.

Logan Wii Fit boxing with Grandpa Drew.

Both Loralai and Grandpa in their sweatshirts.

Cousin friends Audrey June and Lily Grace.

Girls dressed in pink: Aunt Carrie with Loralai.

Sleepy baby Loralai.

Bundled up Loralai sitting at the table.

Logan telling my friend Nancy how to cut the pineapple
during our visit to Warsaw before Christmas.

Lizzie and Ryan (military friends from England living in the States)
posing with Logan, Loralai and Lily—

Kate and Jamie and the kids.

Loralai got her ears pierced.

Drew and his sister Ruth Anne.

Kate, Lily and Logan watching Hannah play basketball.

Valerie and Loralai at the game.

Logan and Grandma at the game, too.

Lily watching basketball with her box of popcorn.

Schaad, Loralai, William and Logan cheering on the team.

Matthew helped to shovel the snow
in Minnesota after 24" fell in one day.

Loralai intent on the game.

I found this doll stroller equipped with
a laptop and thought it was ingenious.

Lucy and Grandma Cooper snuggling.

Jonah eating his egg.

Lily, Loralai and Logan leaving to go back home.
Logan asked me why I was crying
and then he said, "Take care, Grandma."

Hannah.

Best pals: William and Loralai.
They were inseparable most of the three weeks.

Jonah watching the ball game;
he bought popcorn but just held it.

Grandpa Cooper bought Ritter's ice cream for Lucy;
Amber helps to supervise.

Andy and dad Drew talking at the dinner table.

Lucy Marie eating breakfast.

Hannah learning how to use her label maker after Christmas.

Drew poses for a picture as I tried out my new Nikon camera.

An artsy photo of Lily. I actually got her with her eyes open!

Drew models his new umpire equipment (some is under the new shirt).

A Visit to
Great Grandma Cooper's House

The whole group: William, Kate, Loralai, Michael,
Valerie, Jean, doggie Prudence, June (Great Grandma), Ruth Anne, Hannah,
Logan, Sue, Drew, Lily.

Hannah reflecting.

Valerie and Loralai playing.

Hannah gets her turn with Loralai.

Lily looking out the window at the squirrels.

Sue shows pictures to June on Drew's iPad.

Loralai cheering with William.

Drew and his mommy.

Prudence.

Ruth Anne poses by the Christmas tree.

Logan helps Great Grandma open her present.

Logan and Lily - First Time Sledding

Grandpa Cooper took Logan and Lily out for a walk one afternoon to burn off some energy and they ended up finding some snow piles in which to play. They hadn't ever played in large amounts of snow so they had a blast. When they came back inside after about fifteen minutes, their hands, legs and feet were so cold and red they had to be put directly into a hot bath to warm up. The England natives hadn't brought winter clothes and their wellies and jeans just didn't keep them warm enough. Even though they were very cold one can't tell in the video.

Biggest Christmas Surprise Ever!!!

William and Logan.

You cannot believe how wonderfully surprised Drew and I were when we arrived home the evening of Tuesday, December 7, to find our daughter Kate and her three small children in our living room. They had secretly traveled all the way from their home on an Air Force base in England to little ole Middletown, IN, to stay for Christmas with us.

Initially Drew thought Kate was Hannah with a new haircut or one of Hannah's friends, but when Kate said hi he knew that it really was Kate. Our disbelief came from the fact that there was no way she could be in our living room without telling us she was coming all the way from England; and I had just been to visit her in England the month before so I was confused why she was here. Was there something wrong? No, her husband Kenny had let her bring the kids for the month of December to visit us as our present. He was going to have to be working twelves at night through Christmas and knew he wouldn't be seeing his family much anyway. Why not let them be with family at this spiritual time of year? Kenny, you are a saint!!!

Kate and the kids had left on a military flight on Monday morning and landed in Wichita, KS, Monday afternoon after a ten hour cold flight on jump seats in a refueling plane. After getting a ride off base to a rental car office, Kate rented a car and drove (four hours) to a high school friend's home in Kansas City where they spent the night. Thanks Kameron and Anique for your hospitality!! (See that story here: http://aniqueandkamaron.blogspot.com/2010/12/unexpected-guests.html) Tuesday morning Kate and the kids jumped in the rental car (three car seats crammed into the back seat) and drove the eleven hours to Middletown. They were very tired by the time they arrived at our doorstep.

Kate and Loralai just after arriving.

S-o-o-o, at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, we began organizing bed assignments. We put Kate (with baby Loralai, 4 mo.) on William's bed and Lily (3) on a toddler bed in the same room. Logan (4) slept on the extra lower bunk bed under Valerie in Valerie's and Hannah's bedroom.

Kate reading to Logan, Lily and Loralai.

Thus began a very eventful month of hugging, feeding, bathing, and visiting with our grandbabies, and more grandbabies who came to visit them throughout their stay. Joey, Carrie, Audrey and Addison visited often, since they live in town. Andy, Amber, Jonah and Lucy came over from Lafayette to visit for a few days after Christmas and for New Year's. The seven cousins had a blast playing with our toys and the toys they bought each other for Christmas.

The cousins: Logan, Jonah, Lily, Lucy, Loralai, Audrey, and Addison.

Only Bobbe's family in Minnesota was unable to make it to Middletown this year. Matthew and Gregory had their own Christmas at home.

Gregory, Justin and Matthew sledding.

Logan, Lily and Loralai even got to visit their other Grandma, Kenny's mom, and their aunts, uncle and cousins on that side of the family. They even celebrated a couple birthdays with them in addition to celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lily being cute.

As of January 1, 2011, all the cousins have gone home. Maybe I'll write about Kate's trip home in a different post on this blog.

What a blessed Christmas our family had in 2010!!