Slade Family Blog: July 2010

Here we are at the Spencer Family Reunion (minus Mike, since he was home beginning his Master's Program). Right before this picture was taken, the small bench that my boys and I were sitting on collapsed beneath us. Ethan's leg was hurt, and I tried to console him, but with all the little ones finally in place, we couldn't wait for him to calm down to take the picture. Poor guy!)

Now, don't get confused or anything, but this is not the same Spencer family that said goodbye to Leonard & Lorraine last year. That's on Mike's side. This Spencer family is on my dad's side.
I knew very little of them during my childhood, and even less since I've been married. I remember receiving a card and a crocheted bookmark from my Grandpa's wife, Pat, when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I still have it. I knew that the Popcorn Tin, with three flavors of popcorn, which we received each year for Christmas, came from Grandpa Spencer & Pat. And I can vaguely remember knowing that they had a son named Robby.
While I was pregnant with Alex, and living in Pennsylvania, one very difficult day I felt a strong urge to talk to my dad. I had been too sick to attend church with the rest of my family, so the house was quiet and my dad & I were just able to talk. We're both fairly long-winded - I get my love for talking mostly from him, I believe. We rambled from one subject to the next quite easily, and this time, due to the waves of morning sickness I experienced during the course of our discussion, I did a lot more listening than I usually do.
I asked him about his relationship with his biological father, Grandpa Spencer. All I knew was a little about his and Nana's divorce, & that Poppy had adopted Dad. I hadn't known, before this conversation, that Dad had had a relationship with his father the whole time he was growing up. He had regular visits with him for much of his childhood.

Sadly, about a year after my dad & I had this conversation, Grandpa Spencer passed away. If I remember correctly, he had had a heart attack, and subsequent heart surgery. He had been released from the hospital, and given clearance to work, though he was still on oxygen. Unfortunately, the oxygen tank he brought with him one day was not sufficiently full, and he died in his car (luckily it was parked), when his oxygen ran out.
Well, now that we're living back in Utah, Dad was able to invite us to attend the Spencer Family Reunion, held at Grandpa Spencer's sister's house. It happened to be on the very night Mike started his Master's program through WGU, so he didn't come with the boys & I. We missed him, (I would have loved to introduce him to my family I'm just getting to know better), but I talked to the boys on the way about the need for us to support Dad in this endeavor. He may not be able to participate in all the things we do, and we can let him know we miss him, but we need to be grateful that he's able to further his education & understand that it won't last forever, but will be beneficial to all of us in the long run. I'm proud of Mike for taking this step, and now really is the best time to do it.
Anyway, I introduced myself, and my kids, or sometimes Dad did, to as many people as I could. I saw Pat (& Gloria, wife #2, between Nana & Pat - it's all one big happy family now). I wish I had made myself get over my uncomfortableness and offered Pat condolences for Grandpa's passing. Instead I kept it light and told her that I still had the bookmark she'd made me. I saw Robbie, too, and this time it occured to me that he's my uncle; not just their son. I learned that he's two years older than I am. I think that's kinda cool, since Andrew's Uncle Trevor is only 3 years older than him.

Amber & I made sure that our branch of the Family Tree poster was filled in correctly, with all the kids and grandkids included. It became quite a crowded branch, and we even had to extend it beyond the length that was there! The boys played on all the fun stuff in that yard, allowing me to visit easily and scan the yard at random times to assess their whereabouts. Alex even discovered the water feature, yet, with the help of a dear distant cousin of mine, Delanee, he managed to NOT get completely soaked! I considered that a great wonder of the night.
Besides Amber & Mitch, & I, Carina & Ben were there as well; and, of course, Trevor. Uncle Marvin came, but Uncle Stevin had to work. Marvin suggested we have a Chase family get together this summer, and I agreed that would be a wonderful idea. I haven't seen anyone but him in at least the 10 years since I got married, and I definitely haven't seen any of my cousins on that side for that long or more either. I hope we can get it planned and make it happen! I love making & keeping family connections! The best thing I took away with me that night (since I forgot to take a picture of the Family Tree poster - darn it!), was a stack of Family History papers, including a Family Group Sheet, and personal histories written by Grandpa Spencer's father. I've already studied them all and added them to my growing collection of Family History files.

This blurry picture is my dad with those of his brothers that were there.

On the way home, as we were climbing into the car late that night, Alex slipped and landed face first on the gutter. He now sports a lovely scrape on his nose and forehead. I so glad he's tough! Even as he cried & I tried to ascertain how badly he was hurt, I asked, "Are you okay?" and he replied through tears, "Yeaaaah." What a trooper!

So, we finished swimming lessons today. I'm so glad that we chose to put Andrew & Ethan into lessons. They had so much fun and learned so much! I loved that the instructors used games to teach them the skills that help them swim. Andrew and Ethan both loved the games, and since they learned the same games, they can play them together now whenever we go swimming anywhere.

Andrew's class had only two students - perfect for direct instruction!(especially since this was Andrew's first time having lessons.

Here's Ethan's class playing "Walking Through the Forest." The instructors (two for his large class of about 7 Preschoolers) would pick a child to tell them an animal and if it was mean or nice. If it was "mean," they would have to run away fast, splashing with their legs. If it was "nice," they would "pet" the animal with "Big Arms."

Here they're playing "Monkeys Dancing on the Wall." I was so proud of Ethan's adorable little dance! By the end of the lessons, he was the only one that would still wiggle & dance.

Every time I looked at them, they had big smiles on their faces. Once Andrew got his goggles, he was always going under water. I wonder why he still doesn't like getting water on his face when he's in the tub? Maybe I should let him wear his goggles for his baths!
Today, as a graduation reward, the kids in our classes got to go down the yellow slide. I found Ethan just sitting on the wall, near the base of the slide. He told me afterward that he didn't want to go down the slide because he didn't want to get water in his ears. (He has special ear plugs, to protect his tubes, but he says a little water still gets in when he goes all the way under.) In this picture, Andrew has just come out of the slide, and his instructor caught him.

During the lessons I would alternate between entertaining Alex (poor guy has to wait until next year for his lessons), and watching the big boys. Finally, today, I remembered to bring Alex's swim suit too, so he could play on the Splash Pad. (Luckily it was a day when it was on, since it only seemed to be working on random days, during the lessons.)