Hat Quilts

For anyone that knew my Dad - you know he always had a hat on (except at the dinner table or in church).

When he passed away, we were left with LOTS of hats.

We didn't want to throw them away, and yet - we're not really okay with strangers wearing them all either.

Mom and I decided to make 'Hat Quilts' - our own version of a 'Memory Quilt'.

We split his hats up between the 4 grandchildren.
I tried to give each one the hats that meant the most to them or that they gave him. For instance: Leila got the one that says 'Papa' in Chinese, the one from the Mall of America (shopping), the one from the Bahamas (she's the only one of the 4 that's been there) / Darrell got the one from Pensacola (where he was born), the Broncos one (he's the only one that's been there), the US Treasury one (since he works in a bank) / Austin got the Wrestling one, the Toyota one, the New Mexico one (he's been there) / Ryan got the Tennessee one, the Smoky Mountain Knife Works, the Kentucky Fried Chicken (Darres's first job). And so on.

After splitting up the hats, and finally deciding just HOW to go about this and actually do it (with much help from Dorothy M) - the next step was picking out material. Darrell came up with the idea to use material that would be personal and meaningful to each of them. Ryan's quilt has guns and shells on it / Darres is a huge gun person and Ryan has grown up with that. Austin's has deer and bear / he 's the one that hunted with Dad the most. Darrell chose trains / he's the one that has always been the most interested in Dad's model trains. Leila was a little harder because she didn't have as much time with him. We settled on travel and maps for her. She didn't get to travel with Papa as much as the boys, but she surely LOVES to travel and go - just like he did.

After all this deliberation and decision making - it was finally time to do it. I cut the material and sewed on the hats. Mom put the squares together and has been doing the 'quilting'. (Her job is far, far more time consuming than mine.)

I have to say that several times as I was getting ready to take the scissors to a particular hat - I would hesitate. On one hand, it seemed wrong to cut up Dad's hats. But, then I would think - he would be okay with this. He wouldn't want them to sit in boxes in the basement and rot away. This way, each 'kid' has something of his, that's filled with memories and that they'll (hopefully) keep and treasure forever.

As I worked on the hats - there were times it was really hard. It was a trip down memory lane. I realized that these were more than just 'hats'. They were his life. There were hats about his likes and his hobbies (hunting, trains) / there were hats about the people he cared about and loved (Mom's bank, the places each of his grandchildren were born, places we've all worked and gone to school) / places he, we or us all visited and brought a hat back from. They represent him.

Each quilt is 72" x 90". Each one has 40 hats on it. Each one represents Papa's life and Mama's hand-sewn stitches and hours upon hours of work. 2 are completely finished now. One is about 1/2 way quilted. The top of the last one is done, but not the quilting part.

If you ever went anywhere with him or brought him a hat from somewhere - look close. You may just see it and find some memory there that's a comfort.

Austin


Darrell


Leila


Ryan

Fall 2018

We've done a little traveling this fall.

Rather than have a birthday party for Leila, I decided to take her to New York City.
She's wanted to go for years, but I never thought she was old enough.
This year, I found out there was a bus trip coming up a few weeks after her birthday.
It was an overnight one, rather than a red-eye, so we decided to go.
It was Leila, Mom, Jessica and I.

Even with 2 whole days, it's still never enough time to see and do everything you want.
We tried though.
We took a bus tour around the city.
We went to the 9/11 Memorial (Leila and I had talked extensively about that on Sept 11 this year).
We went up in the One World Observatory (amazing).
We saw a Broadway show (hilarious).
We went to Rockefeller Center and Time Square and China Town - did some shopping in each.
The Christmas Tree wasn't lit up yet at Rockefeller Center, but at least we saw the tree itself.
Leila saw both the Naked Cowboy and Cowgirl in Time Square - She thought they were just too funny.
We didn't make it over to the Statue of Liberty - but we saw it from Battery Park.

It was freezing cold, and we walked about 12 miles in 2 days.

Leila did awesome. We all decided we need to go back again soon - to see the things we missed.

9/11 Memorial


New York Style Pizza


Time Square



Ellen's Stardust Diner



NBC Studio Store


Statue of Liberty


Swarovski Crystal Store at Rockefeller Center



2 weeks after that - Leila and I decided to take a weekend trip to Canada.
David was working up in Waterloo, so we drove up to see him.

Crossing the border was a new experience for Leila. The guard asked her lots of questions to make sure I wasn't kidnapping her.

We went to Niagara Falls - definitely more of a summer destination.

We did the Journey Behind the Falls.

Probably the neatest thing though was eating at the Skylon Tower.
We splurged on diner because it was David's birthday.
It's a revolving restaurant 775 feet above the Falls.
The food was great, the service wonderful - but the view...WOW!
We got to see the Falls lit up and changing colors.


We came home from our trip in time for Leila to have a minor surgery on her ear.
She had a tympanoplasty, and breezed thru.


As much as I love to travel (and Leila seems to have that travel bug as well) - I'm ready to stay home and off the road for just a little while.

Trials

Although summer was fun - it was probably our most trying time in ages.

Our 'trials' started the end of April, when our dishwasher broke and had to be replaced.
Unbeknownst to us, the new one had a faulty valve.
So for the next month, it slowly leaked - thereby ruining our kitchen floor, which then had to be replaced.



The new floor extended into the bathroom, so I ended up re-doing that as well.


We returned home from vacation in July to find that our air conditioner was no longer working.
It couldn't be repaired, so we ended up with a whole new system.
The following day - the refrigerator quit.
Leila and I went and bought a new one - only to find when we got it home, that it was damaged.

David had a little mishap while on a motorcycle trip back in May.
After making the necessary repairs on his bike, his thumb was still hurting.
Turns out - he had torn some tendons and had to have surgery to repair them.

He didn't even have the pin out or the bandage off, before he ended up in the hospital with an abscess in his stomach.

Darrell's car was in the shop a few times this summer.
My car was in the shop enough that we finally broke down and bought me a new one.
We were able to use Austin's discount, and I got a cute little blue RAV4.


Leila got her bottom braces.
She was very excited about that.

David's step-father passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.
However, we got to see some family that we haven't seen in a long time.


On the plus side - we have lots of new things.
On the negative side - we have lots of new bills.
I know they say that God doesn't give you any more than you can handle.
I'm thinking that maybe he's had a little too much confidence in us lately.

Summer 2018

We had a very busy (and trying) summer.

Austin and Casey sold their little house and moved.

They bought a new house.
Granted they're only about a mile down the road now, but they're no longer 'just next door'.
Their new house is nice, and I'm happy for them.
(I really am.)
But I so miss them being right there.


Darrell and Haley got a dog.
Millie is a very sweet, well-behaved 6 year old German Shepherd / Lab.
She loves coming here to play in the yard and with Charlie.


We went on our 'family trip' in July.
We really wanted EVERYONE to be able to go, but that didn't work out.
Austin and Casey didn't get to go with us this time.
We flew to Puerto Rico and took a 7 day / 5 port cruise to the South Caribbean.

Our first stop after leaving Puerto Rico, was in St. Thomas.

We went on an excursion called the BOSS (breathing observation submersible scooter).
It was one of the neatest things I've ever done.


The next island was Barbados.

In Barbados, we went out on a catamaran and went snorkeling with turtles.


Our third stop was in St. Lucia.
St. Lucia was my favorite.
The water, the beaches, the island, the people - it's all beautiful.
Our excursion here was a Segway Tour and then beach time.



St. Kitts was next.
In St. Kitts, we toured the island in a 4x4 jeep, before stopping for some more, much enjoyed beach time.



There's a point on St. Kitts called Sir Timothy's Hill where you can see both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Breathtaking!

St. Kitts is also home to lots of monkeys.


Our last island was St. Maarten.
St. Maarten still had a lot of devastation left from last year's hurricane, but this was probably our least favorite stop.
Our little group went on 2 separate tours here.
Darrell and Haley chose to go horseback riding on the beach.


The rest of us went on an island tour.

We saw sights such as the Dutch / French Border.
(St. Maarten is actually split in half.)

We visited the famous Maho at Sunset Beach where planes fly right over your head as they come in to land.


Once we returned to San Juan, we spent an extra night there before flying home.



This is a much abridged version of the things we saw and the fun we had.

But - as we know, all good things must come to an end.

Girls Trip 2018

We made our 8th annual Girls Trip in June.
We try to go somewhere new and different every year.
This time, we went to Hilton Head.
We loved it there - enough that we may consider going back again.
We also made a few day trips to sightsee in Savannah.



It doesn't matter where we go or what we do - we have fun.

I am so very blessed to have this group to travel and explore and have fun with.
I'm thankful Leila has these times and opportunities to experience these multi-generational trips with her family.
I know she looks forward to it every year, but I hope someday she realizes how cherished these memories are.