"PaPa's Getaway" - Painting in progress.

This is my painting in progress titled "PaPa's Getaway". The reason I titled it "PaPa's Getaway",  is because I was told this lake cabin was built by my great grandfather, PaPa Judy, as a place for him to go and fish. Little did he know it would become much more than that. Growing up, I remember packing up in the van and heading to the lake. The van we took was the type of work van where there were no back seats. It was a work van large enough to put tools or a lawnmower in it if you needed. So it would be me, my two sisters and our dog rolling around the back, it was comical. Remeber, this is a time when you didn't have to wear seat belts.

I remember going to the lake every Summer and Spring celebrating birthday parties, Easter, or just going to hang around and swim.  My grandfather, Poppy, seemed to always be the one grilling out hamburgers and hot dogs. We would be swimming and laying on the dock all day until we would hear the dinner bell. Literally, we had a dinner bell.  We would all cram into the little cabin and eat our lunch only to go right back into the water! We had a pontoon boat for a while but they always seemed to break down. Though we didn't have a boat, it didn't take away from the time we spent at the cabin. 

I could spend all day telling you about the memories I had down at the lake cabin. I have about 1,000 more things I could go on and on about.  I didn't realize the impact this little cabin had on people until it went up for sale and everyone on Facebook lit up my aunt's pictures with comments.

Upon hearing about having to sell our cabin, I decided to paint it to remember all the work my great grandfather put into it and to remember all of the great memories he built for us.  Everyone is so sad to see it go, but we will always have our special memories to keep.

E-mail Time Capsule For Your Kids

Ok, I ripped this idea off of a commercial, but I thought it was a fantastic idea and had to try it.  I call it an e-mail time capsule.  Where you open up an email for your child and write to them during their lifetime until you finally give them the address and password.  So I opened up an account for Anya and started writing to her. Here I will guide you on how to go about doing this time capsule.

1. Make an E-Mail account for your child. Don't put their real birthday as they will not accept it because they're too young! Make one up, or put in your own.

2. Write down your child's username and password so you don't forget 18 years from now when you finally want to give it to them.

3. When you start writing to them, you have to be careful because you can easily get off track and start talking to them like their teenagers already. "Please don't do drugs". "This is what I hope for you..." Remember, they will be reading this when they're older and when they will appreciate it.  They will probably already have been through your lectures and have experienced half the things you want to warn them about.  I have already gone through this in my emails to her and constantly have to remind myself to stop doing that! 

4. Focus on the main points of what we're going through, today.  What was the highlight of your week?  Did you take him/her to the park?  Did you go on vacation?

5. You don't want to write every day because then your child will have a million emails to read when you decide to give them this great gift. Keep it to once every two weeks or just when a big event happens. Or when something great/funny happens that you think he/she will find it interesting to know.

6. Add pictures!  Did you take pictures on that vacation you were on?  Did you take pictures of the Easter egg hunt he/she had? What about when they ate a bug?  Add these pictures, it will only add to the fun of reading these emails.

7. At the end of some emails I would add a section called "Fun Facts about You". Here I will write such things as, "You love to play with your daddy's dirty socks when he gets home from work" or "You love to dance and be tickled".  Always make it in the present time.....and yes my daughter has a fascination with my husband's nasty sweaty socks. Don't ask me why.

8.  You can give this to them as a graduating gift or whenever you feel like they will appreciate it.  Think of a creative way to present it to them. They will thank you for it and have a blast reading it as an adult.

God Bless! 

Ashley

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