Visiting and Travel...

When I finished Blogging on the 26th, I knew it would be at least two weeks before I would Blog again. We would begin a round of visitors and travel and Blogging would be low on the totem pole of my To Do List. So, let's catch up on the past two weeks.

Tuesday, August 28th, Claude's mother, Bonnie would arrived for a two week visit. I always take a quick shot of Bonnie and Claude watching for her luggage to arrive. Then I pop a quick Facebook post to let everyone in Utah and family know she arrived safely and we will watch after her for the next two weeks.

Bonnie only had breakfast that morning. We waited for our evening meal till Bonnie arrived. We would stop at Beans in Dry Ridge, Kentucky and enjoy sandwiches and soup together. Beans is a fun place to get a meal. Claude always purchases a loaf of their sour dough bread to take home.

We arrived and made sure the grid was out for our next two weeks. It would stay on the kitchen counter this time. Often it is posted on the refrigerator. Many mock my making of the grid. But it helps in purchasing food so we don't over spend on things we won't eat or need, it let's us know who is arriving and departing and when. I often add activity options. This time we had some dining options Claude and I thought of before Bonnie arrived so it would be easy to pick when we wanted to go out for a meal and it had a few food possibilities for our little great granddaughter. The grid is not cast in stone. It lets everyone know what is available and in the house and we can tweek as we go. I LOVE the grid.

Wednesday the Roper family would leave Michigan and travel to Nashville, Tennessee. This is our oldest grandmonster and her hubby and daughter. Drew has a relative in Tennessee they wanted to visit and they opted to do that prior to coming to Sadieville. Wednesday Claude had an appointment with the ophthalmologist. There was a concern about the pressure in Claude's eyes and he wanted to do a quick follow-up to see if it had improved. Claude was given a prescription for additional eye drops to be used morning and night. I would go in to visit Papa in the afternoon as I usually do while Claude had this appointment. He also took Bonnie to visit Yuko-En in Georgetown while I was visiting Papa. Mostly, it was an easy day for Bonnie after her flight.

Thursday the 30th we took Bonnie for a drive in the afternoon. We accomplished a few chores along the way. One was to pick up batting for pillows Bonnie was going to finish for each of her great grandkids she would see on this visit. She had made the pillow covers, just needed to fill them and stitch them shut.

We took Bonnie to the Georgetown/Scott County Museum to see the Viet Nam War Exhibit. Claude thought she would enjoy seeing the things they displayed about him.

We drove Bonnie by The Castle that Claude and I stayed in over my birthday. Then we drove her through the little country roads through Winstar Farms. This is where Justify (the horse that won the Triple Crown this year) was raised and now resides. It is always fun to show off these amazingly beautiful horse farms.

We ended up at Wallace Station for our early dinner. This is locally owned and operated restaurant in an old building. It always has great food.

When we were driving home we went through Midway so we stopped at the bakery and purchase some sweets for the house for the next few days just before the bakery closed. It was a nice outing and we enjoyed a quiet evening waiting for the Ropers to arrive. They did but it was after midnight.

Friday we expected Shannon to arrive. This is Claude's niece. She and her new hubby live in Pennsylvania now and this would be a great opportunity for Shannon to she her Gramma. She and Bonnie are very close. Katelyn was looking forward to visiting with Shannon as well. Well, we all were looking forward to it. But, Shannon ended up not being able to come. He hubby is in a very intense residency program and trying to combine 3 years into one year. She opted to stay and support him. That is a good sign of a new marriage working well. We missed seeing Shannon but truly appreciate and understand her need to not make the trip.

Friday, Raelyn would relearn the fun of playing in great Grampa and Gramma's house. The toy closet was opened, the train was set up with a simple track, the clock in the dining room had a chair put in front so she could press the button and have music whenever she wanted. The possibilities were many. We totally enjoyed watching this little Mite use all that energy in her work, which is play.

Saturday was the first day of September. And...it was a Cross Country Meet for Bailey. We had a little time in the morning before driving to Shelbyville for the meet. Again, Raelyn showed her inner Bailey as she took up residence in our closet. Both the girls love to play in the closet. Bailey was known to set up entire tea party in there. Raelyn enjoyed a peek-a-boo game with me.

We gathered up everyone, put the car seat in my car, and headed out to Shelbyville in two cars. Parking was over-the-top full. Claude found a spot on the lawn at a corner. I ended up down the road in front of the elementary school. Bailey sent Claude a text that she saw the Jeep. Michael came walking around and found the Jeep about the time the Roper's and I walked back to the Jeep. We popped open the umbrellas and hunkered down through a brief rain shower. Andie arrived with Joyce and Hayden. Joyce is Michael's step-mother. She had come for a visit with them.

The Mini's had fun getting reacquainted with Raelyn.

And Bailey prepared to run her Cross Country.

While we found a nice spot for Bonnie to sit so she could witness a lot of the run.

Then, we were all watching and cheering our Bailey on as she made each turn of the run that we could see. The grueling part for me was the finish. They had to run UP a hill for the last bit of the race. Ugh!!

Andie got this great pictures of all of us (except her) after the run.

The Marx family invited us to their home after the run for a brief visit. This meant the Mini's would get a little Raelyn time. Otherwise, they would not have seen her during this trip. These three kids love each other and it was great fun to have time with the Marx family.

After the 90 minute drive home we were ready to unwind.

Sunday, September 2nd, I was off to play the organ for Church and then visit with Papa. Claude made breakfast for our guests and they all hung out together at the house. Sunday evening we introduced Raelyn to Hayden's pod bed. How many years since someone used this bed??? I posted the pictures in a text message to Andie and the Mini's so they would know how much Raelyn was enjoying it. Bailey said, "She can pass it down to her children." Such a generous cousin.

Monday, September 3rd, was Labor Day. I do not have one single picture of Labor Day. Goodness. What was I not thinking? Claude put as brisket in the smoker. I went in and picked Papa up at the nursing home about 10am. We had a lovely day watching pictures of our Baltic Sea Cruise on the television and eating and relaxing. It was a good day.

Tuesday the Ropers would head home. But first we gave Raelyn the fairy wings that Bailey out grown and wanted her to have. I put them on upside down...but this didn't stop Raelyn from totally enjoying them.

And the Ropers were off in the afternoon. They timed their departure so they would be in a certain place to have a certain kind of hamburger along the way home. Clever kids.

Wednesday was a rest day for Bonnie. I had a meeting with the nursing home about Papa. They are supposed to do this every 3 months. Papa has been there almost a year and this is my second meeting. I stressed my desire for him to have a bed by a window. I stressed that I asked for that when we arrived and at the previous meeting. There was almost an audible groan. But they known I am serious about that bed by a window for him. We covered his near deafness and the issue with the Stop sign on his door. I did make the point that I did not understand that, if someone was observing this exchange,  why they didn't nip it in the bud before it got to the point they said they witnessed. Glen asked if they could honor Papa at the Hall of Fame they do each year. I assured him he would like that very much. That meant I spent Wednesday evening writing up the words to go with his picture so I could get them to Glen on Thursday morning.

Thursday I visited Papa one more time in the morning. I took him two treats to eat while we would be gone. I would not visit him for the next three days.

Thursday evening we visited the Marx home one more time. Joyce was gone. Just Claude, Bonnie and I with the Marx family this time. Michael would be home briefly before going to referee a soccer game. We ordered pizza from SteveO's for dinner. Claude and I picked Bailey up after her cross country practice and then picked up the pizza. She was pretty firm in telling Andie she only wanted to be picked up by someone that doesn't reside at her home! I told Bailey that I really thought Raelyn was also going to be 'savagely quirky' like her teacher said she was. Bailey was so happy about that. The Mini's would play their band instruments for us. Then we got some family pictures.

Friday we hit the road for Michigan. Time for Bonnie to visit with that part of our family tree. We drove to Chelsea to meet Jake at his apartment at 3:30pm. I realized as we drove to Chelsea I did not bring my antibiotic ointment for my nose. It is supposed to stay covered in this stuff all the time, never get dried out. I told Claude I could use Vaseline. Claude drove us to the CVS Pharmacy in Chelsea before going to Jake's. Bonnie needed a ladies room. There was not one in CVS. Claude said he would take her to McDonald's. We drove back to McDonald's only to find it's parking lot full of heavy equipment and the dining room completely boarded up. They are remodeling. The drive-thru was open but you could not enter the building at all. Okay. Claude drove through the parking lot and out the exit and turned to go back to the gas station that was across the street from CVS. We agreed we would use the facilities and then purchase drinks for each of us for the trip from Chelsea to Muskegon. We entered the gas station and, wouldn't you know it, the men's room was closed with big crates in front of it so no one would use it. Ugh. I kept watch on the ladies room door so Claude could use it instead. That done, we had just enough time to get to Jake's by 3:30pm.

Off to Muskegon we drove. We had a major slowdown in Grand Rapids. I-96 was completely closed due to construction. Jake and I pulled out the Google Maps on our phones and directed Claude to another bridge over the Grand River, then back to I-96. Nissa and Todd were at work. They live about 30 minutes north of Muskegon in Holton. Nissa and I started texting as we got close and we agreed we would all meet at Russ's for dinner before going to their home. That was a great choice.

Saturday Todd would have to work but they found someone to cover for Nissa. Nissa was up early and off to Aubrey's to pick up Nelson for the day. We would enjoy this little nugget all morning. We did pause to make a run to the Amish store not far from the Tyler home. A lot of food purchases later, we returned to Nissa's so Nelson could get his nap. Here are a few pictures of Nelson playing.

After Nelson's nap, we were off to the Pita Place in Muskegon. All of Nissa's kids and their families would join us. One big table later we were all enjoying a wonderful meal together. 

We then drove behind Port City Automotive where Nissa and Todd work to take some family pictures. 

We took a few more minutes to play with the little ones. First we let Nelson open the birthday gifts Claude and I brought him. We will miss his birthday and Aubrey wanted him to open the gifts in front of us. This little one understands tearing paper to get into a gift.

A few pictures of playing with the great grands...

Then it was back to Holton to rest for the remainder of the evening. One picture of Nissa and Todd on their property.

Sunday morning we all met at Daniel's for breakfast. It is a restaurant close to the Tyler home. Everyone was there and it was delightful. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and pointed the Buick toward I-96 again. We would drive to Chelsea and drop Jake off at his apartment. Then we would check into the hotel and some of us would take naps. I read my Maeve Binchy novel. Jake sent me a text when he woke up and we all met at our hotel and walked across the street to Wendy's for a light dinner. Then back to our hotel to sit and visit for a bit more that evening.

Monday morning Bonnie, Claude and I ate a light breakfast at the hotel breakfast bar. Then we headed back toward Sadieville. We stopped for dinner in Florence, Kentucky at Chipotle's. Yum!!

Along the way home we passed some interesting cars. We are sure they are test cars for a model change or a new kind of car. We were fascinated with the thing coming out of the car window and going to the tire. These two were going south toward Ohio from Michigan right close to the border of those two states. In Ohio we would see one more that was just black but had the same contraption on the back wheels. 

We took Bonnie to the airport yesterday morning. It was a good visit. 

Now, Jake has flown to Texas to be the Plus 1 for a friend. They will go to Bracken caves and watch the 'bat tornado'. How cool is that? You can only go if you are a member of the Bat Conservatory. This young lady is and has asked Jake to come as her guest to observe this really unique experience. 

We are traveled out for a little bit. Great to be home. The house is very quiet with only the two of us rambling around in it. We are getting back into the real life groove again. It is always nice to get those breaks.