Diva the Duck

I am sure many of you already know that Steve and I are grandparents.  We tend to be a little silly over our granddaughter, Hadley. But then again, maybe we just use the granddaughter excuse as a cover for our silliness?

Once again, a little background.

In December of 2011, my dad died just before Christmas.  We had a memorial service in Texas and then drove to Kentucky for burial on the 26th.  The next day was our son, Taylor's, birthday.  We decided to leave that afternoon to head back to Texas, and stopped in Memphis for a couple of nights to relax and celebrate Taylor's birthday.  This was our last real trip together as a family, just the four of us. 

While in Memphis, Andie and I (and Hadley, in utero) headed over to the Peabody Hotel, so we could see the World Famous Peabody Ducks make their walk back to the elevator from the fountain!  Andie was cute, shoving little girls out of her way and plopping herself down on the floor on the front row of the walkway (it is a once in a lifetime event as you only need to see it once or less while you breathe).  While waiting interminably for the event to start (it was the holiday season so you had to arrive early, and this was my second and extraneous viewing), I found the Peabody Duck gift shop in the hotel.  I managed to find a Dr. Seuss book about Ducks and get it autographed by the Duckmaster (really, that is his title, and he is proud to have it).  I also bought Hadley and I little matching Peabody replica rubber duckies, stamped with the Peabody logo. 

This did not even start the trend.  For years, since Andie was about 12 years old, we have both found and purchased unusual rubber duckies.  We both have a medium sized collection of cute ducks.  Thank goodness, Bath and Body Works learned of our passion and began selling adorable adaptations of rubber ducks to suit our needs!  Now if we could just get Lloyds of London to insure the entire collection. . .

So, the next Fedex trip that Steve had that took him to Europe, he purchased a cute tiara and bathing suit clad duck at Harrods, named her Diva, and then proceeded to take pictures of her inspecting the load, riding in Business Class, checking out Fedex catering, etc. . . and a fun tradition was born.  We have photos of Diva in many locations around the globe.  I think the furthest from Miss Hadley is a pic of Diva in Sydney.  Diva loves Toblerone, Kolsch, and unique bridges.  She has been spotted in MN with her Roepke relatives and on a ferry in Hong Kong, among many other destinations.

 

 

 

Sadly, when the weather warmed up and Steve could no longer secretly carry her in his coat pocket, Diva disappeared for a while.  Recently one of Steve's friends (a manly guy, I might add) actually suggested Diva needed to reappear.  And we agree.  It will be fun to make a scrapbook just for Hadley of places we have seen and she needs to visit.  Just to remind us that we need to take her there. 

A couple of nights ago, while visiting friends, Diva was hanging out in my purse when a ballpoint pen burst.  She has a few "battle scars" and no longer looks as perfect as she used too.  We will try to always take pictures on her "good side" in the future.

Diva's recent reappearance occurred on January 26th in Beethoven Park in Sulz in Cologne.  She saw one of the most beautiful snowfalls ever, rode down a hill on the "death sled" belonging to our friends, the Swensons, and had a fun time at Sean's birthday party. 

She will see you all very soon from London. 

For those of you who think we are crazy, well we just might be.  And that is fine with us. :)