Father's Day Weekend - Grammy's Visit to OP - Last June Weekend

Father's Day weekend - we traveled to Overland Park on Friday to see Garrison play t-ball, then we all went out to dinner at Coach's Bar and Grill.  We spent the night and were treated to breakfast the next morning to celebrate Father's Day a day early - at The Big Biscuit, followed by watching another t-ball game for Garrison!  

The Mark Mintun family added a new family member on Father's Day weekend - Joe and Nicole's new puppy, Norma Lyman (named after her new grandpa, Mark Lyman Mintun) - ha ha.  Wonder who's idea that was.  We are anxious to meet her, and I think she is enjoying her new family.

Amanda found out that Friday that she was traveling for work early Monday morning, and Chad had already planned a golf outing to Sea Island, Georgia with a friend, so I was blessed with the opportunity to go Sunday evening to spend until Thursday morning with the kiddos.  And - we had a blast.

On Monday, as each day, we started the day with breakfast, doing workbook lessons, Peyton reading and Peyton practicing the piano. We had leftovers for lunch before Madison, the summer nanny, arrived to stay with Garrison while I took Peyton to tap dance class and waited for her to finish - only an hour.  When we arrived back home, Madison took both of them to the pool for a couple of hours.  The kids had requested spaghetti, so that is what we had for dinner, and they ate so well!  I fixed some broccoli and Challuh bread to go along with the meal - yummy.   Garrison even ate seconds, which is unusual.   Peyton had made rice krispy treats - all by herself - earlier in the day which is what we had for dessert.

On Tuesday, Miss Kelly drove up from Clinton to accompany us to Science City - another request from the kiddos!  We spent about 2 1/2 hours having fun on the zip line, top chairs, seeing snakes - you name it.  What a fun time.  We then went to Olive Garden for lunch followed by a trip to Walmart to purchase supplies to make SWAPS for Peyton for Girl Scout Camp the next week.  She and I had checked out Pinterest the night before and decided to make mini popsicles with pipe cleaners, pins and popsicle sticks - they turned out very cute.  Peyton, Kelly and I whipped out 50 of them very quickly and had a great time.  I taught everyone to play Figit, and we had a great time playing a few games.  Garrison and Peyton took Miss Kelly outside to see their garden and found a mouse - still alive, but barely - and brought it inside to show me in Garrison's shovel, near death.  He wanted to keep it to show is parents, and the poor little thing died, so we put it in a zip-loc - then another zip-loc, then some foil and put it in the freezer to save for the unveiling for the parents.  He was so excited.  Only for the grandkids.

Wednesday started out as usual, then we took Peyton to her piano lesson at 10 a.m.  Garrison and I sat quietly and listened to her lesson, then we all went home.  We had planned to go to the pool when we got home, so they wanted to go to McDonald's to pick up some lunch to eat at the pool, which we did.    They are such good little swimmers, and we had the pool almost to ourselves and had a great time until Peyton slipped on the tiles around the side of the pool and fell into the pool, getting minor cut on her foot and hitting her lip.  She was very upset, so we went home to doctor it.  I think it scared her more than anything, but it gave us some excitement for a bit.  She had to be at dance from 3-7, so we packed her some supper in her bag and delivered her to dance class.  Then Garrison and I went to Sam'sClub to pick up a few things.  He enjoyed the one-on-one attention and getting samples of blueberry bagels and a waffle with grape jelly.  I promised him I would watch a movie with him when we went home, so that is what we did and had a TV dinner.  After we went back to get Peyton from dance, we all went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt as a treat for Peyton getting hurt - her Mommy's suggestion (Peyton had wanted to call her about her foot - Mom advised to give her some Tylenol and to put neosporin and a bandaid on it - also some essential oil on her wrist for calming).  By the time we got home, it was time for bed, and we were all tired following a busy day.  Peyton went to sleep immediately - Garrison had a hard time going to sleep and wondered why I was able to watch TV and he wasn't, so I turned off my TV too and was soon asleep as well!

Chad and Amanda were to arrive back home on Thursday, so Madison (the nanny) arrived around 7:20 a.m. for the day, and I drove home.  Garrison thought I should just stay since we were coming back on Saturday night for t-ball, but I assured him I needed to go home for a couple of days.  It was so sweet of him to want me.  I went to exercise class in the morning, and we went to the Rotary Installation Banquet (prime rib, yummo) that evening.

Ron played in a golf tournament on Saturday, and his team tied for first place in A Flight, winning $65 each!  Considering the bank paid their entry fee, it was a good day, and he had fun.  A beautiful day - nice and cool.  We then went to OP to see Garrison play t-ball - late June with temp at 76 degrees with a nice breeze and no sun - unbelievably nice and enjoyable.  On our way home we had dinner at Freddy's - my favorite.

Sunday we had a slow day - church - lunch from Brown's BBQ - naps in the afternoon.  We are so blessed with wonderful family time.  I go back to OP on Thursday morning to pick up the kids for Olde Glory Days festivities.  Amanda and Chad will be here later in the weekend to join in the fun.  Mark and Mary plan to stop by on Thursday evening on their way from OP to the lake - more wonderful family time!!!

Starlight and Amanda's 36th Birthday

We went to Starlight Theatre Wednesday to see Peyton dance at the pre-show with her Tini-Tainers Dance Performance Group.  It was a 40 minute show, and she danced in 4 different dances.  She had to try out for the tap dance number and made it - something totally out of her comfort zone.  We were so proud of her, and it was her best dance!!!!  We arrived early and secured front row seats - sweet!  We also saw the show on the big stage, The Little Mermaid - a fun evening.

On Saturday, we started the morning with attending Garrison's t-ball game.  He did a great job.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, but windy - it was like sitting in a dust bowl - but we loved every minute of it.  Garrison made my day when he came out of the dugout when he had already batted and was waiting to go back on the field and gave me a big hug and told me he loved me - awhhhhh.  He can be so sweet.  Peyton had a good time "watching" a couple of little neighbors whose brothers played on the team and playing with some of her friends.

After the game, we all went out to eat at The Salty Iguana to celebrate Amanda's birthday a day early.  It was delicious.  We went back to the house for birthday chocolate pie which I had taken to Amanda by request.  We sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candle.

The kids wanted to come back to Clinton with us, so we took off for Clinton about 1:30 p.m.  Before we even came home, we went to the playground at Artesian Park and checked out the car show on the square to see if the big slide was back this month - sadly it wasn't.  We played downstairs and then went to McDonald's for dinner (by request).  Baths and an early bedtime.

Sunday, we went to church.  I was playing the piano for the gathering music, and the kids wanted to "help" me, so they stayed up front with me and took turns taking the piece of music I had played from me and putting it on a stack on the front pew - alternating - and did a great job!!!!   We had donut time at church and then home.  On our way home, we called Amanda and sang Happy Birthday to her over the phone - Happy 36th!

Ron took the kids with him to take the recycling, and then to a playground at the Catholic Church.  I took them out to Miss Kelly's house to hold the baby kitties and the baby bunnies - they had a good time.  When we got home, they wanted to bake brownies to take to their Mommy for her birthday, so they each baked a box of their own.   Garrison chose peanut butter cups to put in his - Peyton chose hershey kisses in hers.  They were great little bakers and enjoyed it.

We had pork chops (not a hit with the kids), mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob (cut off) and fruit for lunch with hot brownies and ice cream for dessert.

The kids needed to be home around 3 p.m. for Peyton to go for a playdate and Garrison to help his Mom and Dad with the outdoor project they had been working on, so we took off pretty quickly after lunch.   We came pretty much directly home.  The house is quiet now - miss those cute little sweethearts when they go home.  But - we will get to see them again on Friday night and Saturday when we go for more t-ball games and to celebrate Father's Day.

We are so blessed to have our precious only daughter, Amanda, and her family not too far away and that they welcome us into their lives and their home to experience the kids growing up and everything else that goes along with it.  God is good.

Trip to Alaska May 2017 and Peyton's Dance Recital

On Tuesday, May 23, we boarded a Motor Coach with 40 other members of the Hawthorn Bank Elite Advantage Club and headed to the airport for a 9 day trip to Alaska.

We had so much fun including riding a train from Denali to Taketna through National Parks; we went on a conservation tour, on a float trip, on a yacht for a 5 hour tour on the ocean, a dog sled ride, rode a  tram to the top of a mountain for dinner, rode our coach through national parks, and many other things during the trip.  We saw bears, whales, porpoises, moose, caribou, mountain goats on the side of the mountain, eagles, and many others.  We had salmon for many meals - it was a great time.

While we were gone, Peyton had her end of the year dance recital at The Music Hall, downtown KC. We were very sad we had to miss it, but the pictures above show how cute she was in her costumes, and we look forward to seeing the DVD of the show.  Amanda/family spent the weekend downtown where they went to Science City, rode the streetcar and had many other fun activities.

When we returned home, we found a mess in the storage part of the basement.  It had rained in the window and soaked many of the items not the shelves but nothing was destroyed that cannot be replaced and it did not get on our new carpet - yay!  Took about 4 hours to dry everything off - will put back together tomorrow.

We made new friends on our dream trip and enjoyed it very much.  We are blessed.