Grandpa Pete

[Insert rare serious post here]

This last Spring, I lost my grandpa to cancer. Man, that was tough.

One of my best friends just lost her grandpa as well. (He was really cool too. And I'm there for you when you need me!) It all makes me look back a bit.

No matter how much you tell yourself that this is a part of life - people lose their grandparents - it doesn't make the experience any easier. I just feel so fortunate to have had 25 years with my Grandpa Pete.

He was the man. (I mean, he was Superman's dad, for crying out loud!)

So many wonderful memories that I'll have for the rest of my life. Camping every summer at Thousand Trails, playing cards at their house, proudly claiming him as my Grandpa at every Veteran's Day assembly in elementary school. While I don't quite remember this, my Grandpa was Santa every year at Edison and every year I would sit on his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas... little did I know, my parents had a secret informant. I was clueless, but today, I look at those pictures and smile.

Here are some great pictures of my Gramps.

Grandpa and Grandma Pete

Edison Elementary (our alma mater) dedicated the new greenhouse to my grandpa, naming it Ernie's Place

All the kids* came to for the ribbon ceremony and school assembly

*it sounds weird to refer to my aunts and uncles as "kids"

also to note: as you can see in this picture, my grandma loves the color purple. we actually got pedicures together about a month ago and she got deep purple. it's like she's a natural born Husky!