Jake Visits...

Friday, September 13th, Claude went to Cincinnati to attend a funeral. Claude is the Chair for Bluegrass Tomorrow. The President of that organization is Rob Rumpke. His father passed away. Claude attended the funeral. I didn't go as I needed to visit Papa. Claude sent me these two pictures of the Catholic church where the service was held. It seems balloons from a former function had made their way to the ceiling. Claude thought they added a nice touch to the service. He brought the program for the service home. I thought the poem that was printed on a card was nice.

That evening the Boy Scout troop to which Hayden belongs held their annual Spaghetti Dinner. Claude and I drove over to attend this. As we drove, there was a major amount of traffic. Granted, it was a Friday evening. But this seemed like a lot more. Turns out there was a wreck in Frankfort. We got past that snarl and then hit more thick traffic. This turned out to be a fire on the side of I-64. It appeared someone tossed a cigarette out their window. Since we haven't had rain, the grass was very dry and caught fire. There was one fireman with a pack that blew that stuff to put out fires and he was spraying the side of the road to kill the fire all by his lonesome. 

We finally made it to the spaghetti dinner and found Hayden helping out at the dunking booth. We learned that as you get more senior in the scout troop, you don't have to work the dining area. You get to go outside and help with the different booths. We enjoyed our dinner very much. 

When the dinner was finished, they sell the left over food. I purchased a large container of the left over sauce and a bag of the rolls. Claude and Bailey placed bids and watched carefully to be sure they maintained the highest bid. We ended the evening purchasing two crocheted items for Katelyn's little girls for Christmas, gift cards to Red Robin and Hometown Pizza, four filet mignon steaks from Crestwood Meats, four tickets to Keeneland and two tickets for a dinner riverboat cruise in Louisville. A personal best. But all are items we will use. It was a good dinner and we left to get home before Jake arrived.

Jake would arrive near midnight Friday evening. 

Saturday morning we let Jake sleep in a bit. I got up early and went for my visit with papa. Jake and Claude came in and met me at the nursing home at 11am. There were kids doing a car wash at the nursing home. I alerted Claude and he came in and had them wash the Jeep. It seems the new bars Claude added to the top of the Jeep to carry lumber home from Lowe's will not go through the car wash. Having the kids do the washing of the Jeep was just what Claude needed. 

Then the three of us left Claude's Jeep at the nursing home and got in my car to go to the Kentucky Horse Park. It seems Ms. Bailey had a cross country run there Saturday. We enjoyed watching our Bailey run. 

Claude took us to Blaze Pizza for lunch. Then we stopped at Kroger and bought barbeque ribs. Then we headed home. Andie and Bailey would join us for an overnight visit. The weeks tired feeling caught up with our fair group and I heard Andie say as she noticed Jake dozing, "My brother inspires me to take a nap." Then I looked in a bit and she was covered and ready for a nap. At this point I heard Andie say, "We should have Nissa here to nap with us!" I took this picture and sent it via text to Nissa and shared that Andie felt Nissa should be with us. Nissa responded that she was resting in her chair at her house! 

Sunday morning (15th) Claude and I went to Church. After Sacrament meeting, we went to the nursing home to pick up Papa and bring him to the house. We would have a nice visit with Papa. Andie and Bailey left in the early afternoon. I took Papa back to the nursing home about 4:30pm. Then Claude and Jake and I enjoyed a nice evening together. We call this time 'Adult Swim'. 

Monday morning I visited Papa. Then returned home. Claude and I had reservations at Berlin Resort in Ohio for Monday evening. These were made before Jake made his arrangements to visit. Jake told us to keep these reservations. He really wanted this trip to be very low key so he could get some writing done. Quiet time would allow this to happen. So we left Monday morning and drove to Berlin, Ohio.

The purpose of this quick trip was to check out a potential site for a family reunion next year to celebrate Claude and my 50th anniversary. We had a possible place but I received a Groupon for the Berlin Resort and felt strongly we should check it out. We checked into the Berlin Resort and were given freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies. This is one of Claude's favorites. We went to our room and settled in. Then we were off to walk the grounds. 

One of the neat things at this resort is the Children's Village. It has smaller buildings in a row that children can enter and play. Amazing.

The resort has a lovely back lawn with this Children's Village at the bottom of the hill. There is also a coy pond with little water falls and a bridge over it. There are two putting greens. There is a patio with two fire pits. It has a racquetball court and a basket ball court. There is even a walking path behind the Children's Village. Lots of places to enjoy being together as a family outside.

Inside there is a salt water swimming pool, whirlpool, and 26-seat theater. If we had rain, we could truly enjoy ourselves even indoors. 

Monday evening we tried a local restaurant, Berlin Homestead. The food was quite good. We also found Blackberry Cider for sale here. We purchased a jug to bring home. When I was a child, my parents would make a trip out west each year. While on that trip, Papa would find this Blackberry Cider and bring some home. It was not a common cider and it was delicious. Finding it in Berlin brought back memories. I thought it would be fun to give Papa a taste from his past. I have taken two glasses in to him at the nursing home since getting home. It was fun to see him enjoy it so much.

Tuesday morning we met with a sales person after having breakfast. She walked us through some of the other room types in the resort as well as the theater and the conference room. We gave her a list of our room needs for the family reunion as well as the dates we wanted. The next day she sent us the rates. We agreed to them and she has sent us a contract. We will be having our 50th Anniversary family celebration at Berlin Resort. 

Claude got me back to Sadieville in time to get in to visit Papa. Jake and Claude met me in Georgetown for dinner. We took Jake to Broussard's for Creole/Cajun cuisine. 

Wednesday morning (18th) I was back at the nursing home to visit Papa. Then we were off to take Claude to the airport. It seems there was to be a cousin's reunion of the cousin's on Claude's mother's side of the family on Thursday. Bonnie asked Claude to come. Jake assured him he should go. So, we were taking Claude to the airport with a stop at Smokey Bones for dinner on the way to the airport.

Thursday (19th) would be my last full day with Jake. I asked him on the way home from the airport how he envisioned his last full day of vacation in Kentucky. Jake wanted to write in the morning at a place in Georgetown. Then have lunch. Then spend the afternoon writing at our home. I took Jake to Georgetown and dropped him off at the place he wanted to write. I picked up Papa and took him to the park by the creek during this time. We both picked Jake up on our way back to the nursing home. This gave Jake and opportunity to tell Papa goodbye. Jake and I went to McCallister's for lunch. Then home and Jake would write while I posted old family pictures to an family Facebook page for my Mother's side of our family. I cooked a dinner for the two of us. We had a quiet evening of watching television and Jake packing up during commercials. It was just delightful to have this last day with Jake and him filling it as he wanted.

Friday morning (20th) Jake left at 8am. He had a ticket to a concert by the Cincinnati orchestra. He would attend this on the way home. 

Jake had a good vacation. Even with all the things we had to work around. It was good to have him here. Love this young man.