Pharmacy Retirement Party

Today we said congratulations and good-bye to two pharmacists. Howard Hartung is finally retiring from Red Cross Pharmacy. He worked two days a week, and sometimes more if needed. He also drove to Paris two days a week to work at their pharmacy. He and his wife Darlene are one of the sweetest couples ever!

Howard and Doug, another relief pharmacist who left us recently, were chatting since they don't see each other anymore.

Christina (tech) manned the punch bowl for a while.

Tamara Wilhoit is the new pharmacy manager at Red Cross Pharmacy. She lives here in Macon, but used to drive to Boone Hospital, so she is enjoying working closer to home. We like her very much!

Kyle Kocher is our other new pharmacist. He just graduated from KC School of Pharmacy. He is also really fun to work with.

Someone snapped a picture of me refilling the cookie tray.

These are all of the pharmacists who were present at the party. (Howard - retiring, Tamara - new pharmacy manager, Kyle - new pharmacist, Ed - retiring and former owner, Doug - former relief pharmacist, and Steve Hartwig - one of the owners of Red Cross Pharmacy)

Two of our techs, Kristi and Cheryl, who have worked here the longest.

Kristi, Cheryl and Melissa - techs

Zach, our former delivery guy, came by to visit for a while.

This is Ed's surprised face when his kids and grandson came. He didn't think they could come, so this was a nice surprise for him. Ed is the other pharmacist who is retiring. He used to own the pharmacy and had built up a great business. Right at the time we moved to Macon he sold to Red Cross Pharmacy so he could work towards retirement. Now, here he is!

Proud "Pops" with his only grandchild, Grayson.

Betsy, Sally and Todd looking really happy to pull off this surprise. We will miss both Ed and Howard. They are great people and were easy to work with.

Family Vacation - Day Four

Day four got a little goofy! We spent the morning getting the condo ready for our departure and packing our belongings. After that we headed to the mall, then lunch before we headed home. Gracie practiced her photography, which is what you see here.

She's turning out to be a pretty good little photographer.

Oh, he will regret all of those silly faces!

That's better!

Who knew a bendy straw could make a kid so happy???

Our little carbohydrate addict enjoying a biscuit at Bob Evans.

Obviously there was butter on the biscuit, but I can see past that and see the huge smile from a fun vacation!

More evidence of a fun-filled four days.

Family Vacation - Day Three

For the past two days, Ella has had a temperature and been pretty fussy. She has a horrible time getting teeth, and I think that's the culprit again. This morning the girls woke up happy, so that was nice!

OK, maybe one girl woke up happy. Ella got her glare on early today. It's hard to not laugh at her when she is glaring at you!

Nana tries to make Ella feel better.

Finally, a smile again. Ella was teasing Grandpa with a rubber snake that Uncle Dana provided.

We all got around pretty early today so that Uncle Dana could go parasailing.

Whew, that's a long way up! Gracie and Brent rode the boat out with Uncle Dana, so they got some pretty good pictures.

Dana said it was a blast. Maybe next time one of us will go with him. This time he had to go with a stranger.

After the parasailing adventure, we headed to Big Surf, however the rain was threatening, so we decided to go to the indoor water park at Tan-Tara.

Ella still has a temperature, so I tried to get her to cool down in the water. She snuggled in on the Lazy River, but didn't really enjoy it.

Uncle Dana has obviously seen more sun this summer than I have.

Brent and Gracie snagged a double raft and went down the water slides together. The slides were so much fun! We took turns going down together. Gracie was exceptionally brave.

Poor Ella spent most of the time snoozing on Nana. She was so hot!

It was very loud at the water park, and since it was indoors the noises echoed around the room. Somehow, Grandpa and Nana still found a smile for me.

This was one of the kiddie waterslides. The biggest kiddie of all just exploded out of the chute!

I don't know if this picture really displays how much fun Gracie was having, but she was just dancing with her arms up in the air while water sprayed her.

More joy, more giggling, more bliss!

Gracie got brave enough to do the water slides by herself, and could even do this one without her life jacket.

Uncle Dana took a turn holding Ella, the little oven.

Family Vacation - Day Two

Day two started with a lazy morning and snuggling in our pj's on the condo balcony.

Nana and Gracie spent some time coloring.

After lunch we split up for a while. Brent hit the golf course, Nana went to the mall with Uncle Dana, and the rest of us went to Miner Mike's. Uncle Dana actually split his time between Miner Mike's and the Mall. This is one of Gracie's favorite games.

Uncle Dana tried his luck too. I think Gracie was the big winner.

Uncle Dana also won Gracie quite a few tickets shooting basketballs!

The Runaway Mine Train gave Dana and Gracie quite a thrill. Enough so that they rode it over and over.

Ella woke up and wanted to get a snuggle from Uncle Dana.

Ella really enjoyed the ball pits at Miner Mike's. Some were too deep for her to even navigate in, but this was a toddler sized one, so it was perfect.

You gotta love a good action shot!

Peek-a-boo, Ella! Ella got pretty good at navigating through the tunnels.

What a cute little grin from our littlest girl.

Not one to be outdone, Gracie gives me her signature grin and pose.

What a little snuggler! Ella got exhausted at Miner Mike's and headed for Grandpa's lap.

It's not too easy to get a good picture of the Ferris Wheel since there is a window behind it, but this is Gracie, Ella and me taking a ride.

Nana came back from the mall and tried her luck at a few games.

Deal or No Deal sucked us all in. Unfortunately, it got the best of us.

Gracie was really good at choosing the briefcases.

Ella wasn't too sure about the rides, but as long as she had her purple elephant and pacifier, she was OK!

Posing for a quick picture outside Bandana's Bar-B-Que after supper.

Uncle Dana wanted in on the action. Who wouldn't with such sweet little girls?! OK, I'm partial.

This is what happens when Brent gets a little lippy with me! It's not a bad idea, but we were actually miniature golfing tonight.

I love the pitiful faces everyone came up with while they were in the stocks.

Not your best look, Uncle Dana!

What a full day. We wrapped up day two by watching Brent and Dana riding Go-Karts and then getting some ice cream. The Go-Kart pictures are all a blur! The boys were having a good time driving fast.

Whee! Gracie thought this looked like so much fun that she was ready to give it a go. Unfortunately, the only way we were able to convince her not to do it was to show her that she wasn't tall enough. Whew! We have a couple more years before she will qualify to drive a go kart.