Williamsburg, first half of week

The Road Trip Begins

If you haven't checked the blog in a week or more, check out the two posts immediately before, as they are both recent as well.


They are both happy at the same time, yay! Riding in our car before borrowing Grandma and Grandpa Lockes' van.

First Stop: Ohio

Recreating a picture of Brooks at 16 months in the same high chair, eating a banana

Elliott gives "high fives" now.

He loves this book with pictures of trucks--he waves to each one. :)


Surprise from Grandma and Grandpa Locke -- loads of fun.

Second Stop: Pittsburgh

Our welcome at the Babson's :)

The cousins play "together"

Third Stop: Langhorne

Great-Grandma tries to pick up this heavy boy.


How big is Elliott? SO BIG!

Great-Grandma Locke and the great-grandkids and her grandson

Fourth Stop/Destination: Williamsburg, VA

DAY 1: Relax a little at the resort

The baby pool at Williamsburg Plantation.

DAY 2: Colonial Williamsburg

Jillian in period dress for the day at Colonial Williamsburg. Her sash matches her croc's.

Grampa Jim's gift was the dress-up for the day, and she got to keep the bonnet.

I had to tell her not to smile for this one.

I liked Jillian's bonnet. Elliott liked waving bye-bye to the shuttle buses.


Elliott took a short nap in the stroller with Nana and Grampa

The spice lady told us that nutmeg is a hallucinagen if you eat the whole nut.

Aren't they so cute?


Me and Brooks at the Capital (re-created for the third time, we learned)

Fife and drum players outside the Capitol. I couldn't get a pic of them playing because it was too crowded then.


Jillian as the Speaker of the Common inside the Capital, recreating a meeting in May 1776


Jillian and Brooks on the jury...probably Brooks' only time to do it, too.

Tour at the Governer's Mansion, inside.

At the Governer's Mansion...so precious, I had to put it in.

DAY 3: Busch Gardens--way cool! Elliott stayed with Nana & Grampa Jim

Jillian near the entrance with the beautiful blue hydrangea bushes.

Brooks and Jill wearing their 3D glasses for Curse of Darkastle in Germany. We also wore them for a cute story called Corkscrew Hill in Ireland.

We saw lots of cool animals, like these bald eagles, some wolves, and a hawk. We wanted to see the "More Pet Shenanigans" show, but we instead saw an Irish dance one and a rock 'n roll dance and acrobatics show at the end of the day.

Me and Jill on the Katapult.

Me and Brooks on the carousel.

Jillian on the carousel

Brooks and I on a ride together...the only one.

Jillian on a carousel horse.

Griffin: The roller coaster we didn't go on...with 2 90-degree drops.

We rode Le Scoot (log flume) and got drenched, the Loch Ness Monster, Brooks and I took turns on the Alpengeist, and we all enjoyed the Big Bad Wolf and Apollo's Chariot, similar to Raging Bull at Great America. Jillian required some convincing (ok, forcing) to go on some of the rides, but she was fine. She thanked me later for making her go on them. :)

Weather was warm but not very humid or overwhelming. I dressed for the sweltering heat I expected and was delighted to experience some more mild coastal-Virginia climate. Thank the Lord for two beautiful days outside!!! Busch Gardens Europe is really beautiful, I highly recommend it!

In Memoriam: Clarence "Gramps" Neuhauser 1916-2009

Father August (1883-1921) Mother Amelia (1886-1945) Anita Grunwaldt (1933-1935) Clarence Neuhauser (1916-2009) Ottilia Neuhauser (1916-1993) Lenore Puckett (1947-1993)

Gramps was my last living grandparent until last week. We would visit him at my Dad's house, where he lived for as long as I can remember. My Grandma Neuhauser died in 1993, but she had cancer. My Grandma Warren died suddenly just before Jillian turned 1, in July of 2001. Her husband, Grandpa Warren, died when I was 8 I believe, just 4 days after Christmas. My Great-Grandma Sanders died about 1 year after Grandpa Warren. I wasn't that close to them, but I was glad for the "experience" I had to prepare for losing loved ones as an adult.

Gramps was a WWII vet, so he had a flag on his coffin. I picked out flowers that would match and still be colorful. We didn't have many people there, but I still wanted something nice for my Grampa.

I cried when I got the call from my dad on my cell phone on the way to church that morning. When I saw his number, I was almost certain it was "the call", and unfortunately I was right. We still went to church, but I cried through parts of the sermon as I thought of my grandpa and how my dad was taking things. I did what I could to help--there was so much to do even though the arrangements had been made 3 months prior to him entering the nursing home, as they suggested.

An English garden from the Great-Grandkids.

I helped Dad with some of the arrangements (pastor, flowers, music, getting my older brother here from Arizona, getting readers for the actual funeral, meeting with Pastor Todd, picking scripture passages) so I was pretty busy Sunday and Monday, then the visitation and funeral were Tuesday morning at 10 and 11 respectively. I was SO thankful to see some friends come--just their presence touched my heart so much I began to cry. Stephanie (Hopperton) Perry was the first one there, with 2 kids in tow to boot, who were very well behaved I will add. Later, Sarah and Nathan Lindquist (they are brother and sister) who are friends with Brooks and me, came and I was so blessed by their presence. I doubted anyone from 129 would come due to the timing and late notice, but they did. Katie Stephen came and played piano so I could sing a hymn for the funeral. She was there for most of the funeral, as were Sarah and Nathan. She is such a dear friend (like Sarah) so I was glad to see her as well. Our Pastor Todd Augustine, who performed our wedding and Elliott's dedication, did the service and shared the Gospel with my family, some of which do not know Jesus as their personal Savior from Hell and Lord of all Creation. We were so thankful to have him there.

We processed about 45 minutes from Wheaton to Forest Park. It just started to rain when we arrived at the burial site, which is actually for Grandma Neuhauser's family, Nickel. Her parents, one of her 2-year-old cousins, and her daughter were all buried there, and now Gramps. Pastor Todd kept it short, but then the rain subsided. Mark and Tim, my cousins, sons of my deceased Aunt Lenore, visited their mom while we were there. The grave stone was covered by the turf, so Dad asked the guys to go ahead and lower the coffin, so we got to see all that. It was very emotional for the guys, especially Tim, who was 12 when she died. I tried to be a comfort, but I hadn't seen him since her funeral 16 years ago. Mark had been close to Gramps since he was young, so he was probably the most emotional there. Dad was most emotional when he was on the phone with me, since I started crying of course.

Brooks was a paul-bearer with my cousins, my brother, and my dad, and Tim Hultgren from the funeral home.

Jillian and I got our picture taken by my niece, Lauren.


The part you usually don't see.

Tim takes a photo of where his mom is laid to rest on his phone.

We drove back to Warrenville for dinner at the Courtyard, and we had a really nice time together as a family, catching up on careers and hobbies.

The Neuhauser family: (L-R)Tim Puckett, Susan Locke, Mark Puckett, Gail Chambers, Jillian Locke, Dean Neuhauser, Lauren Chambers holding Elliott Locke, Katie Chambers, Brooks Locke, Judy Neuhauser, Dennis Neuhauser.

It was really amazing.

Mom with Dean and Gail.

After the dinner, we went to Dad's to look through Gramps' stuff and take things that we wanted. My sister, Gail, and I both took the last boxes to sort through later. There were a lot of old pictures and important legal documents, like death certificates, for family members. I have the Bible that was given to my grandparents at their wedding, Gramps' wedding band, and a hymn book that was my grandma's. After that, Dean and Gail, their mom, and my nieces all came over to our house to visit, eat pizza, and play a game of Imaginiff.

Dean, Tim, Me, Gail, and Mark--The Nickel/Neuhauser cousins

It was so nice to be together as a family! Karen (Dean and Gail's mom) may not be my family by blood, but I sure do like her, and I'm glad I get to visit with her when she comes to Illinois and when we go to Arizona. She's like one of my aunts, all of whom I am very fond of. :) I took a lot of pictures, since I like photo journalism, but I posted just a few. This posting has been very theraputic for me. Thanks for reading.

Long Overdue - May and June in Review

My first picture taken with my new camera!


The kids enjoy taking baths together...for now.



Elliott's new "scrunchy face" which we think is supposed to be a smile for the camera. Here he has an apple that he has been playing with and knawing on, but still no new teeth.


Elliott goes up and down stairs very well now...and likes to try on shoes. Funny, he doesn't like keeping his own shoes on for any length of time.

Happy 1/2 Birthday to Me!

Brooks finally gave me a new digital camera for my 1/2 birthday, so I have been taking lots of pictures, naturally. First, let me explain the 1/2 birthday thing--Brooks and I both have birthdays near major holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), which is a busy time for everyone, and an expensive time. I got the idea from my friend Sandy to celebrate our 1/2 birthdays (for gift giving) instead of the usual time to make it more special. It's just between us, kinda special. :) So that's why I got a birthday present in June, for those of you who know I'm a December baby. And now, on for a brief 2 month review.

A cute picture of Elliott from bathtime.

Elliott loves anything that cleans floors! The nice lady at Noodles was kind enough to let Elliott and Jillian help vacuum the restaurant while we visited with Bethi and Brian.

Brooks and Elliott with Brian and Beatrice Goss, dear friends of ours. We had dinner together at Noodles before we left on vacation.

Bethi, Beatrice (aka Beabur), and Jillian laughing at another funny Beabur moment. She is so cute and funny!

May--2nd grade Dinosaur program and school ending ate most of my time. Brooks and I stumbled upon a house for sale in Wheaton that was what we have been hoping for and for a price we can handle. The seller is a motivated house-flipper who helped us finance the new house and still keep our current house, but rent it out. He would have bought our house, but the "comparables" in our area are foreclosures and short sales, and it just wouldn't work out. However, Steve found someone who wants to rent our townhouse for 3 years! Yay! We are still waiting for a closing date and some final changes (per the inspection), but we hope to move in mid-July, after I finish my Orff Level 1 certification at VanderCook.

Elliott does his new "scrunchy face" with Aunt Sherry.

June--so much before it was half done! So much, I'll save our vacation pictures for the next post.

Daddy and Elliott taking their first dip of the summer in Nana and Grampa's pool. Friday after we were done for the day, we went out to celebrate!

School ended, got my camera, did some music curriculum revision, and my Grandpa Neuhauser, aka Gramps, passed away on Sunday, June 14. The visitation and funeral were on the 16th, and we left for vacation on the morning of the 18th. I'll share more about Gramps' funeral in the next post.

For now, Brooks is at a local minor-league baseball game with Jim and his brothers, Mark and George. We stayed home and cleaned up, relaxed, and ate spaghetti. I'm sure they are all having a great time. We all went to Williamsburg all day and had a nice time. Yesterday Mom and I went shopping, Brooks took the kids to Jamestown and Jim went pier fishing with his brothers.

If time permits, I will post again tomorrow night after Busch Gardens. We have a limited wi-fi access at the resort, which we had to pay for, and it expires tomorrow night, but I'm not sure what time. Thursday we are supposed to got out for breakfast, then go to D.C. area to visit Jon and Ali, the parents-to-be, and hopefully see Mount Vernon or something else on the way. There will be no posts after tomorrow unless it is a miracle. We hope to go to the water park on Friday and depart Saturday, perhaps stopping by Monticello and Lauray Caverns.