A Beautiful Gift and Remembrance

There is so much to write about and more than 2,600 photos to sort through from our grandkids' time with us this month. It is all a bit overwhelming from a time standpoint right now.

Therefore, this morning I decided to share a little bitty crumb with you before attempting to slice the whole cake.

While visiting our niece and her family in Missouri, they took us to their friends' farm where we had a nearly indescribably fun evening. The kids experienced so many animals and activities there. This couple gives new meaning to the word HOSPITALITY.

Before we left their place that night, she gave me an armload of feathers from their many peacocks. I regifted a few along the way and placed the rest in a vase in our guest room. Aren't they beautiful?!?!?! And every time I see these feathers, I am reminded of them and the privilege of getting to meet them and the joyful experiences our grandkids had at their place.

You'll see more about that evening in posts to come.

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Double the joy...we are grandparents again! Yesterday for this special event in our lives was nine years ago today when our Dylan was born.

And now that beautiful baby boy has grown into a bright, thoughtful, hockey playing, loving, and very thrifty nine year old. He and his siblings returned home yesterday after a seventeen day visit with us. We did so many things, including celebrating his birthday and developing his very own blog...grandma and grandpa are so proud of his interest in computers and do all we can to encourage that! 

We love you, Dylan!!!

Men in Uniform...cont'd

In my post on Memorial Day, I mentioned that I didn't have a photo of my brother Wayne in uniform. You can read that post here Memorial Day Blog Post.

Yesterday, my brother Tom and his son Chad were here. He mentioned that he was surprised to read here that I didn't have that photo because he was sure that he had scanned it when scanning hundreds of Mom's photos so that we can all have them. Well, he found it and e-mailed me the following...

Another handsome Army man in my family!

Especially for Shawn!

Dylan, Shelby, and Jackson want to say...

"We love you Dad!"

"Happy Father's Day!"

Rich and I want to send an extra special Happy Father's Day greeting to our son-in-law, Shawn, this year. Our three grandkids have been with us for two weeks and return home the 23rd so he is really missing them on this day for Dads. It was difficult arranging a schedule for their summer visit this year and Shawn readily agreed to these dates, even though they included Father's Day...for that we heartily thank him! He is a really hands-on, loads-of-fun, action-packed Dad who deserves being celebrated on this day.

We're visiting a couple of the city museums tomorrow. So, after swimming this afternoon with Greg and Jenny, the kids got their pjs on and we all had pizza before enjoying Grandpa's Father's Day cookie and ice cream this evening. Speaking of great dads...Rich has certainly been one to my kids. And he is the bestest Grandpa ever!

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

Our Fabulous Trip

We are too busy having too much fun to spend time writing posts so here are some photos from the past couple of days in Indianapolis...

This is Frederick, the campground horse, that the kids spent two evenings feeding grass, oats, hay, and apples. He would follow them around the fence as they walked or ran...wonder why?

Lucas Oil Stadium where J's Colts and Peyton Manning play.

The kids' first visit to a Hard Rock Cafe...quite a hit with these rock n roll kids!

The Indianapolis Children's Museum is so amazing that I would not know where to begin describing our day there yesterday, so here are some of the couple hundred photos taken there.

The Dinosphere...

The Barbie Exhibit with Fashion Show...

The "Hood Ornament" pose in front of the water clock. I don't know, you'll have to ask Grandpa about this one...haha

A quick trip to Egypt...

And the highlight of the day for the boys. They both successfully climbed the rock wall...scaling its sheer face to the top of Mount Pittman with harness gear, helmet, ropes, and pads using only the strength in their arms and legs! WOW!!!

 This was a fabulous, fun-filled day for all of us! This is a truly great children's museum...a must see!

I have spent the better part of three hours just importing the photos you see on this post. Blogger has had problems for days it seems; it's definitely them, not our KOA WiFi connection. So, I can only share a peek at our indescribably fantastic morning today. Yes, the kids are standing in the actual winner's circle just off the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where we took the Grounds Tour.

Tonight we are in southern Illinois and tomorrow morning will arrive at our niece and her family's place in southeastern Missouri. The kids are so excited to see their cousins again. More fun to come! I'll post again after we get back home next week.

Just Hangin' Out with the Grands!

The first thing they wanted to do when we got home from the airport Sunday evening was play with Dora & Bella. Look how happy everyone is to see each other! Today we had a very low key, but busy, day. One of the things I miss most between visits is the snuggling and we started our day with lots of that! 

There is a restaurant that Rich & I frequent where the kids always order "the best pancakes in the whole world" when they are here so we went there this morning. No one changed their opinion of the pancakes!

From there we stopped at WalMart for supplies and treats to take along in the RV. This is a favorite prop for photos there.

In addition to preparing a few other food items, we baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars. Everything is so much easier when you have such eager helping hands!

Rich's sister is keeping Dora & Bella at her house, better known as Camp Marianne's. After dinner at the pizza restaurant where G & J's wedding rehearsal dinner was held two years ago, we all enjoyed the beautiful evening outdoors at Mar's.

If you have three minutes to watch the kids and the pups playing in the yard, click below. They got such a kick out of the pups chasing each other around the yard. Since Mar is the only one in the family with a fenced yard, the kids had never seen the pups' running speed and agility. The best part of this video is listening to the kids' laughter!

When we went inside for a bit before leaving, S took quite a few photos. She does a good job with the camera for a nearly seven year old. This was my favorite of her shots because of the unique special effects with the lighting and color. I had no idea what she did to achieve this (neither did she...haha), but Grandpa quickly figured it out...very cool! Then she and I tried several more shots like this, but this is still the best composition because of the light on the yellow dog toy.

Tomorrow we drive to the first destination on our exciting road trip!

THE HAPPIEST WORDS ARE...

And, they will be here for seventeen more days...but who's counting???
Their Grandma & Grandpa, that's who!!!
We couldn't be more excited and have several fun things planned.

Happy Birthday, Dorothy!

Anyone who is anyone in my life knows that one of my great weaknesses is my inability to remember birthdays, anniversarys, and other special occasions until it is too late to send a card. I do think of it, usually on the day of or the day after. I am forever apologizing for my forgetfulness.

Well, thanks to this lil ole blog of mine, I can now send out a greeting on the day of...an idea that just came to me this morning courtesy of one of my oldest, dearest, bestest friends, Dorothy, who always remembers my birthday.

Today is Dorothy's 61st birthday. Of course, that means that I too will be 61, but not for 45 more days! We've been friends since high school and through the years I have been so fortunate to see her fairly often because she would come to our hometown to see me whenever I was in town visiting Mom.

The youngest of her four children, and only daughter, is graduating from high school tomorrow...CONGRATULATIONS, Manda! Her youngest boy was about eighteen when Manda was born (give or take a year for my aging memory) and raising her has certainly kept Dorothy young and in touch with a whole new generation.

This photo was taken in December 1965 at my grandparent's home in Virden before we sang with our high school chorus in a county-wide holiday program at the high school there. I know she will be

thrilled/apalled/excited/mortified/happy

to see this photo of the two of us that was taken on that long ago Yesterday...and see it she will because she reads my blog.

Happy Birthday, Dorothy!

Our Son's Birthday!

This Yesterday occurred so long ago that I did not even know the gender of my baby until he was born...inconceivable, huh? My son was born on June 2nd in the long ago year of 1975.

Your foot needed a bit of straightening so you were casted on the second day of your life. Because babies grow so quickly, that cast was changed every two weeks. I still have a couple of them. Nothing kept you from smiling though! You have always been an outgoing guy who loves to be around people and can be quite a charmer. I am so proud of all you have accomplished!

It's hard to believe that we first met thirty years ago.  You've done so many things that make your mom and I proud.  I hope you have a very happy birthday and many more to come.  All the best to you!