July 4 weekend trip to South Dakota

We were all able to get off on July 3 - July 6 for a long weekend, so we decided to go to see Randy and Joy's family in Parkston, SD.  It had been over a year since they had been to Kentucky, and we had never seen Mandylyn in person since she was born August 26, 2019.

So we traveled from very early on Friday morning and arrived at their house at almost 9 p.m.  We packed in as much excitement and fun as we could the next two days and then came home all day Monday.  It was almost 2000 miles!

Mandylyn trying to get acquainted with Grandma.

 Elizabeth with Joy, Jewelyn and Mishael in Joy's kitchen.  Randy remodeled the house completely before they moved in.  This part of the kitchen was not even part of the kitchen.  It was part of the garage; but what he did was so helpful for more space and more storage.

 In the dining room.  It is a large room with two tables, and the portacrib behind Jewelyn.  Right behind me is going to be a breakfast bar, but right now it is the second table.

 Some of Joy's beautiful flowers!

 

 Micah in the tire swing

 Piggy back rides for all!

 

 Fun on the trampoline

Grandma's tradition to clip fingernails and toenails for the grandkids and tell them stories while I do it!

Joy showing Daddy her garden

 Games at the large dining room table

 Grandpa playing a game at the smaller table

 The girls all accidentally matched on Saturday.

 Mandylyn watching the goings on from her portacrib.

 Mishael trying out his new quilt from Grandma.  It is actually a great fit for his toddler bed!

 Lunch on the picnic tables under the pavilion.

 Afternoon swim time!

 Grandma did NOT want her hair to get wet, hence the pink shower cap...

 Joanna came after her shift at Wal-mart.  We were so happy to get to spend time with Joanna, as it's been a long time since we've seen her, except for Emily who drove to Illinois and surprised her with a visit in early June when she was at her parents' house.  Emily and Joanna are best friends, as well as aunts to these precious grandchildren of ours.

 Emily and Joanna with Jewelyn and Mandylyn

 Jonathan holding Mandy

 Jewelyn and her sweet sister!

 Micah and Mandylyn

 Suppertime after grilling burgers, hotdogs, and chicken!

 July 4th was very pleasant, not too hot or too humid.  It was a perfect day.

Elizabeth holding Mandy.

 Joy, Randy, Janet, and Rowen

 Mandy in the highchair

 The aunts' and kids' table

 Grandma and Mandylyn

 Playing at the park with the aunts

 Playing school

 Making home made ice cream!

 Yummy s'mores

Toasting the marshmellows 

 Yummy!

 James with his ice cream and strawberries

 Joanna with her marshmellow masterpiece

View from the tree fort 

 Mishael coming down the slide from the tree fort

 Jewelyn at the top of the tree fort

 Grandpa

Jonathan

Joy and Randy

James and Micah

 Fun on the trampoline

We walked to a close by park for fireworks.

 The beautiful moon while we waited for the fireworks.

Grandpa and Mandylyn ready for fireworks 

 It was a very nice fireworks show, especially for a small town!

This one looked like a bouquet.

The next morning was Sunday and we went to Ravinia to the reservation church Randy pastors.

 The day lilies were very beautiful and so is the little girl!

A handsome young lad named Jonathan

  A couple more beautiful ladies and the flowers.

We were early so we took turns playing the piano.

Elizabeth

 Micah

 James

 Grandma and Grandpa and six of their nine grandchidren

 Grandma and Grandpa and Mandylyn

 Aunts and the kids

 Joanna and Emily.  Emily and Elizabeth stayed at Joanna's house while we were there, so they had a wonderful time visiting with her there.

 We went to a lake after church for eating our lunch.  The kids are watching a boat get into the water at the boat ramp.  They are very interested in the process because this is where they bring their boat sometimes.

Jewelyn with two of her aunts

Eating the Sunday dinner we brought along in crock pots.

 Watching the water

After we got back to their house, Emily and James painted each painted a picture.

 Micah drew a vehicle

 Micah's truck

 The paintings complete!

 We went to Mitchell for Faith Missionary Church's service.  Randy's family sang a special song:  "Here am I, Lord, Send Me."

 After church, supper

 

 Time for bed.  Emily read the kids books and we had to say goodbye.  We packed it in and had to leave early in the morning.

 We are so glad we got to go and see them where they live now and get reacquainted with the kids.  It was a special time.

 Monday morning we started out early and the kids did not wake up to see us off like they wanted to.  They were worn out!

We stopped in Osklaloosa, Iowa at lunch time to eat with the McKays and Tonya Poe and her granddaughter.  The McKays furnished the food and we had a good, quick meal and visit with these dear ones.

 The young people's table.

 Waving good-bye until next time.

 We got home just after midnight.  It was a safe trip with light traffic.  We are so glad we got to go on this fast, short, long weekend trip!

June 2020 events

After I got Felix's nap quilt done, I thought I should make Mishael's the same size.  It had been a couple rows wider.  So I sat on the swing to do the ripping.

 The front flowers have been enjoyable.  We didn't know what would come up in the front beds, since we moved here late in August last year when things had stopped blooming.

 Emily likes to get a bike ride in most days in the neighborhood, but she has also gone to Idlewild Park and biked with families from church, and Jason and Karen.

 Rowen worked in his little workshop (garage) putting in shelves and organizing it into usable space for his tools.  This looks like a garage from the outside, since it has a garage door, but the people who flipped this house, cut the garage in half and made the bonus room inside beside the kitchen that we use as an office.  The workshop is maybe big enough for a mini cooper if you parked it sideways in there, but we don't have one, so we use it as a workshop.

 On June 6, I got Mishael's nap quilt all quilted and bound.

 Finished quilt pictured on the swing with Janet

 June 7 we had the Arender family over for Sunday dinner.

 The kids enjoyed some chalk artistry on the front porch!

 Junior church started up again, outside as the weather permits.  Since we have to have social distancing, half the congregation comes in the morning and half in the evening. The junior church and the adult service is repeated.

 On June 11, we wanted to go walking at the Boone County Arboretum and invited Lonnie and Leta Witt to walk with us.  Emily had gone biking, so she wasn't in the pictures.

 The Arboretum is a beautiful place to walk, and we enjoyed reading the signs with the many varieties of trees' names.

 Someone had made chalk signs on the pathway.  

 The next night, Jason and Karen came over for supper and we took them to the Arboretum to walk.

 They liked it too!

 They enjoyed our new swing.

 On July 14, we had Randy, Kim, and Felicia Staley over for Sunday dinner.  We had a very nice time visiting with them.

 After they were gone, we walked in our Stringtown Park walking trail close by our home.  We enjoyed the magnolia blooms.  It was neat to see them in all different stages on this tree.

 We are purposefully enjoying Elizabeth being with us.  She plans to move to Bedford, Indiana in August to work for Evangelistic Faith Missions (EFM) in the home office.  We will miss her!!

 On June 15, the church youth had a baseball game at a park nearby.  It was a pleasant evening to watch the kids and some of the adults play.

 The younger kids were allowed to play with special privileges.  If they got "out" it didn't count as one of the three outs/inning.  The older ones gave them lots of chances to get on base.  Their runs did count!

 Emily played baseball, while Elizabeth played with the younger kids at the play equipment.

 It was a fun evening, and so enjoyable to know we are part of a church family that values all the ages and abilities of each other.

 We've been "playing" badminton in our yard some evenings, but one night we went to the high school tennis courts to play on more level ground.  Surely we provided amusement for the people in vehicles at the stop light close by the court..

 Our zucchini plants have been growing and blooming, but alas, almost all male blooms.  We are waiting for some female ones, so we can have zucchini.  We don't know why we never struggled to grow zucchini in Colorado.

 Another junior church service.  As the month has gotten hotter, they have moved the service to shady area.  When it rains,

 or is too hot, the service moved inside the parsonage to their sunroom.

 We got some pictures on Fathers' Day, June 21.

 We are thankful for our precious girls who love us and each other.  We know the day is fast approaching when Emily will be our only "child" at home with us.

 We had Steve and Korin Harms and Daniel over for dinner.  (Their triplets and older son were at the grandparents.)  While we waited for Jason and Karen to come, we took pictures.

 Daddy-Daughter pictures

 We all had teal clothes on.

 

 Janet and her girls

 Janet and Elizabeth

 We put the hammock between the front trees.  Steve and Daniel liked it.

 Elizabeth and Daniel

 Visiting with Korin

 Cheesecake and strawberries for dessert

 A family picture with Jason and Karen

 Daniel is a sweetie and Emily spends enough time with him that he really knows her.

 A Thursday pizza night when Jason and Karen came over and ate with us, then we played dominoes.

 Another nap quilt top.  I used leftover blocks from Mishael's quilt to make this one.  The blocks are arranged into squares instead of diagonals.  I haven't quilted it yet, but it will be for Elizabeth when it is done.

 Your name had to be Sarah to be invited over on June 28 for Sunday dinner!  Sarah Watson and Sarah McBryant were our guests.  We played Things with them after dinner.

 Emily and Elizabeth got matching shirts and skirts and wore them that Sunday.  They are standing in front of our Jane Magnolia tree which bloomed again the end of June.  It wasn't as prolific in the blooming as in the spring, but having all its leaves probably makes a difference in how many blossoms the second blooming has.

 That evening we had an outdoor concert with GBS Assurance Quartet.

 Some of the crowd that was there that night.

 Our pastress, Regina Stetler, holding her precious granddaughter while she napped.

See Emily's blog for all the things she did besides what's here...