Granny and Papa are going dancing

Granny and I have decided to go dancing, but not in the conventional way. We've joined the Dance Dance Revolution. In case you haven't figured it out, we are not going disco dancing or ballroom dancing or square dancing. It's a video game with two dance mats that test your coordination, endurance, balance and reflexes.

It's so frustrating. Neither of us has the balance that we used to have and we each had to dance with a broomstick. We have the Disney version of the game so the music is completely foreign to us. Granny keeps quitting when the game tells Papa that he winning. Papa looses patience with Grandma and with the game even when it's his own fault. We are not as technical as Matthew, Luke, and Aubrey. We are having a terrible time learning to set the levels of difficulty. Papa's feet are too big and they don't fit on the pad without stepping on the wrong square.

It is beneficial. Granny (that is an affectionate term!) has been going to Curves with a friend and it has been helping her, but Papa can't go to curves. There is some major sexual discrimination going on there. We decided that the PS2 was a cheaper alternative than getting Papa a new membership to the YMCA. When we finished our first clumsy dancing session, we were both sweating up a storm.

We need an education! Maybe we can convince our grandchildren to come and teach us how to control the game. Maybe we can even have our own version of The Golden Years Dancing with the stars.

Ashleigh's Disney Trip in SHORT form

Grandma and Grandpa VANCE,

At Disney I went swimming and I went on rides and I went to buy shirts and I went to take pictures with 4 Disney characters and I went to go see pocahontas! for free!
from Ashleigh

Attitude

Regret is an ugly word.
Every posibble way,
Ghosts lost to the sword of
Regret of what didn't happen today
Eat at the hope of victory.
Try again. Don't feed the regret.

Father

Dear old Dad
Angry at times
Do you love me?

Poor child, Yes I do;
And love very much
Pets, my children,
And loved ones dear

Do strengthen my heart
And make me stronger.
Do I make you feel
Dear and valued child?
Yet what can I give you?

Faith I would love to share
As life quickly passes and
The love for you deepens.
Hear this tender plea
Ever do your best and
Rember remember me.

Our Disney Vacation

Years ago when our children were small, we decided that it was time to take them to Disneyland. My elilelpsy was still giving me difficulty so we decided that we would take someone with us to help us drive.

Randy Vance had just come home from his mission so we asked him if he would be willing to come with us to drive and to help us with the children at the amusement parks. He agreed to come, and we were off.

Randy had just come home from a mission in Scandanavia and he had developed a love for cheese. Everywhere we stopped he check out the cheese to see if there was some type that we hadn't tried before.

Along the way, we stopped at the Grand Canon. I was in awe at the magnitude of the canon. No picture or film can begin to describe the magnitude of that magnificent place! It begs to be experienced in person.

We stayed with Bonnie and Emery when we got to California. They were living in Torrence and Shandi was a tiny baby that had cholic. She cried most of the time that we were there. They took us to Redondo beach which was a beautiful plalce. I enjoyed the ocean, but I did not enjoy the sand in my swimming trunks nor did I enjoy cleaning the oil from our skin after swimming in the ocean.

The trip to the Disney theme park was a trip that I shall never forget!! Emery drove the lead car and we followed. I had never seen anything like the freeway through LA. Somehow we took an exit we shouldn't have. We took the next on ramp onto the freeway at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour.

The amusement park was quite an experience! There was a death on the monorail the day we were there. Some teenage boys decided that they didn't like the ride and got off it in the middle of one of the tunnels and then were hit by the next car through the tunnel.

Many rides were not available to me because of the lights and were not available to Robert because he was too short. We ended up waiting while Randy and Andi and her mother took the rides.

Both of the kids enjoyed "It's a Small Small World". They thought it was cool when the ghost sat beside them in the Pirates of the Caribean, but Robert didn't like it when the explosions in the water were too close to the boat.

Robert and I went into the Haunted mansion. We went into the elevator and the walls began to grow taller and taller, he reacted. He turned to me in all the courage he could muster and said, "Daddy, I love you, but I won't come back in here!"

Neither Robert, nor Andrea liked the costumed characters.

Now that Betty and I are in our second childhood, we think that it would be fun to go to Disneyland ourselves. We can't afford it right now, but we can both return to the memories we have of the times we did go.