Service Award and Family Time...

Whew, a long time since a Blogged so there is a LOT to catch up on. This entry will cover the Monday - Wednesday before we left on a road trip and the Michigan/Chicago portion of our road trip. 

Monday, April 15th, was a preparation day to leave our home for a week long road trip. Laundry, ironing, and polishing off the first leg of our Route 66 drive. I had a good talk with our friend, Betty Dixon. She is moving along nicely with her move from Virginia to Iowa. Claude got the yard mowed, edged and blown clear of debris. He loaded some boxes of books to take to Jake. And he had a dentist appointment. Lots of good things accomplished by both of us this day.

Tuesday, April 16th, we attended the Governors Service Awards. This was the "Faith Based Service Award" given to the Lexington Kentucky North Stake of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

When we returned home I posted to the Stake Facebook page the pictures with this comment: "The "Kentucky Governors Service Awards" were presented today in Frankfort, Kentucky at The Foundry on Broadway. Pres. Rex T. Holt received the Faith-Based Service Award given to The Lexington Kentucky North Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The third picture below has the details of what was accomplished to receive this award. Attending this awards ceremony from the Lexington Kentucky North Stake were Pres. Rex Holt, Pres. Eric Blakemore, Claude Christensen, Stake Communication Director and his wife, Sandi Christensen, Stake Communications Secretary, Samone Ratcliff, Stake JustServe Specialist, and her husband, Steve, and from the Coordinating Council for Communications, Assistant Director Terri Fiet. We are grateful to all who have participated with these service projects in 2023 and look forward to a banner year in 2024."

Wednesday, April 17th, we packed our bags and our car in preparation for an early departure on Thursday. 

Thursday, April 18th, we left our home about 6:30am in hopes this would help with rush hour traffic in Cincinnati and Dayton. While driving, I posted for our birthdays that day on our family Facebook page:

     "Can you believe it? We have two birthdays to celebrate today. 

    "First, Jake Christensen is to be wished Happy Birthday!! I love this picture he took of him and Orange Kitty. Jake posts excellent videos of his life. We look forward to each one. We are on our way to Chelsea now to have a birthday lunch with our son. Happy Birthday, Jake!! Enjoy this next trip around the sun!

     "Second, Miss Kennedi Roper made her appearance on this fair earth one year ago today so she could share her special day with her Uncle Jake. How cool is that!? Kennedi is a Mighty Mite. We will see her Fri and celebrate her special day Saturday. Happy Birthday to the Great Grampa Charmer!!"

Jake's response was that Kennedi was a scene stealer!!

We made it to Chelsea and knocked on Jake's door. You see, Jake had asked us to try this so that his orange kitty would react as there is never a knock at his door. We knocked and orange kitty ran right out the front door to the yard when Jake opened the door. 

We took Jake to Valiant's for his birthday lunch. Then wandered down to another store for a jerky treat for him to take home. We had ice cream for dessert at the stand in Chelsea. It was such a nice lunch that I completely forgot to take any pictures of Jake and us. He loved his birthday T-shirt. It was a Van Gogh Starry Night background with a Tardis in the front. I am having fun with these t-shirts this year.

We spent this first night of the trip in Chelsea at the Comfort Inn. This is our favorite of the two hotels in Chelsea. 

Friday, April 19th, we hit the road with a target time of Noon in Muskegon. We would meet Paul, Rachel and Phoebe at Bob Evans for lunch. This would be our first meeting of Phoebe. She is our 6th great grandmonster. She is a precious bundle. I did not get to hold her. With my arm not being strong, I didn't want to risk dropping her. It was wonderful to get to meet this newest member of our family.

After lunch, we went to see Nissa and Todd at work. We decided to go on out to the home for the afternoon. We would spend three nights with them. We were able to get our luggage and things into their guest room and relax for a few hours. Then we headed back to Muskegon in hopes of having a bite to eat at The Pita Place. Alas, it now closes at 3pm. We went to Jimmy John's instead. 

In the evening, Raelyn and Emelia had their first soccer games. They play on different teams. Katelyn is the assistant coach on Raelyn's team and the coach for Emelia's team. Joel gets to shepherd the three kids that are not playing. The strength of being a young parent. I know Claude and I did these things. But it seems so much more when it is watched from our age looking at these young parents. Bless them for all they do. 

The Ropers came to visit over Easter so the kids remembered us really well. Raelyn and Emelia are old enough to always remember us and want to come for a visit. Joel is getting closer to that. Kennedi just turned one so she really won't remember us between visits for a bit. 

Raelyn's game had already started. Joel was managing Emelia, Joel and Kennedi. Joel proudly showed me his hand full of change. He had some pennies and quarter and nickle and some dimes. He would  put them in the grass and look for them. He would put them in the cup holder on his folding chair and play something else for a bit. Then back to hiding his change. For all of that, he really kept pretty good track of his change. 

Drew had them sitting on the line for the edge of the field. Joel would grin and put his hand inside the field. Eventually it got the best of Joel and he ran onto the field. Drew ran with Kennedi in tow and picked up Joel to get him off the field. 

Then it was time for Emelia's game. Now, this Raelyn's third year, I think, might be her fourth. Raelyn is getting the feel of the game and learning to play more aggressively. Emelia is at a much younger level of play. She was guarding the goalie. While doing this, I noted several yogo poses and some ballet kind of twirling. She did run around a lot and assured me she almost kicked the ball once. So cute to watch that learning curve. 

Grampa got some Kennedi duty allowing Drew to chase Joel and keep up with Raelyn. Raelyn showed us her progress in learning to do hand stands. I remember doing this at her age and into my teens. Not any more!!

We headed back to Holton and a quiet rest of the evening with Nissa and Todd.

Saturday, April 20th, we started with a 10:30 brunch meeting with Aubrey, Nelson and Mike. Mike is Aubrey's significant other. Nelson gave great hugs and knew us. He sat by me through breakfast and we chatted and videoed him singing along to music. After breakfast, we took Nelson to the car to give him Jake's baseball and glove. I showed Nelson a picture of his Uncle Jake and told him he was Nissa's (Ma) younger brother. Nelson was overjoyed when he opened the bag and found a realy baseball glove and ball. 

We drove back to the Tyler's to get into our Sunday duds. The afternoon was Raelyn's baptism and confirmation. Only grandparents were invited to keep the numbers managable. Several members of the congregation also attended and participated. Claude did the baptizing and confirming. I gave a talk on baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Claude and I were so very impressed with how Raelyn's composure during this experience. As we walked in the church, Raelyn came up beside me and said, "I'm really nervous." I assured her that was very normal and an okay feeling to have. She is normally a hyperactive young lady. This day, she sat quietly and listened intently to everything that happened. We were very happy she seemed to understand the importance of the covenant she was making. 

I used these pictures to start my talk. The first is my father baptizing me. The second is Nissa, Raelyn's grandmother, on her baptism day. Claude baptized Nissa. The third is Katelyn, Raelyn's mother, on her baptism day with Claude, who baptized her. I wanted Raelyn to see this history and to know her great grandfather had the authority to baptize her. 

After the baptism and confirmation, we went back to the Roper's home for cupcakes. These were to celebrate Kennedi's 1st birthday and Emelia's 5th birthday as well as Raelyn's baptism. Only our family was there for this. Before the festivities began, I made sure to get pictures of the family with Raelyn on her baptism day. 1) Raelyn, 2) Claude & Raelyn, 3) Claude, Sandi & Raelyn, 4) Drew, Katelyn & Raelyn, and 5) Todd, Nissa and Raelyn. 

Then I asked Raelyn if there were any pictures she wanted on her baptism day. Bless her Sweet Heart, she simply asked for pictures of her with each of her siblings. 1) Raelyn and Emelia, 2) Raelyn and Joel and 3) Raelyn and Kennedi. 

Time for cupcakes. Since this was Kennedi's first birthday, she was given a 'smash cake' to herself while the rest of us got cupcakes. 

Others didn't fair much better in their cupcake eating. But they were delicious cupcakes and much enjoyed by everyone. Emelia is definitely the daintiest eater. 

Time for presents. Raelyn recieved gifts for her baptism. Nissa and Todd gave her money to get pencils and notebooks for her new scriptures. Claude and I gave her the scriptures with her name embossed on them. 

We gave Emelia and Raelyn soccer registration. So they each got a soccer ball on their birthday to remember that. Nissa and Todd got Emelia a bow and arrows. We got Kennedi and picnic basket with foods in shaped to go in the basket. Nissa and Todd got her a set of cars in a trailer. Joel was very happy with both of these toys! It was great fun watching Todd teach Emelia how to use the bow and arrows. Sunday afternoon the Ropers went to the outdoor hockey rink. In those pictures was one of Emelia taking her bow and arrows to play with outside. She is a bow and arrow kind of princess!!

After this fun, we went back to Holton for another quiet evening with the Tyler's. How we love this time with our daughter and her hubby. 

Sunday, April 21st, we started our day with Baby coming into the guest room. She doesn't normally do this. But this morning she was right up on the bed by Claude. She was rooting between the pillows. It was comical. 

When the Roper's visited over Easter, Raelyn had a talk with Claude and asked him if, when we came to Michigan for her baptism, would we please go to Church with them on Sunday morning and then take them to McDonald's after. It seems we started a tradition and she wanted to be sure it was a tradition. Claude assured her we would do that. So we went to Spring Lake to go to church with the Ropers. We attended Sunday School class with Drew. He kept Kennedi so that Katelyn could take care of her responsiblities in Primary. Usually Katelyn has all four children. She felt very liberated by having the older three in classes or the nursery and not having Kennedi on her hip. We entertained Kennedi with my sunglasses. She had picked up dropping them and then saying "uh oh". Not sure where she learned that and Drew said he had not heard her say it before. At McDonald's she enjoyed playing with my cloth face mask I keep in my purse. My sister, Junie, made this for me. It is a great quiet toy!

After McDonald's, it was tiime for Adult Swim. Back to Holton and into very comfortable clothes for the rest of the day. Todd cooked steaks on the grill. We totally enjoyed this time with Nissa and Todd. 

Monday, April 22nd, it was time to hit the road again. We donned our DePaul University Gramma and Grampa t-shirts for the day. Nissa took this picture of us before we left her home.

We were off to Chicago to visit Hayden at DePaul University where he is attending college. It was a delight to see our grandson again. We missed him coming at Easter as he got sick. 

He took us on a walking tour of the main campus in Lincoln Park. I only took a few pictures. Inside the Library are some beautiful stained glass pieces. Hayden also showed us where he plans to live next year on this campus. We were impressed with the picnic tables in the quad. They each have a solar panel on them with charging stations for the students. Very Clever!

We were to have lunch with Hayden. We walked to the restaurant. Hayden went to the counter and told them we had a reservation. Hayden made us a reservation. How cool is that?! We were able to sit outside to eat. Such a beautiful day. We enjoyed an appetizer of potato skins. Then we ate Caesar salads and pepperoni pizza. Delicious meal. 

Time for Hayden to teach his aging grandparents to ride The 'L' into Chicago. DePaul University also has campus space in The Loop and several of Hayden's classes are there. Each student is issued a pass to ride The L for an unlimited number of times. This allows them to live in the Lincoln Park area where all the student life really is but get to their classes in The Loop in Chicago.

We went to the station and purchased our tickets to ride all day on The L. A look at the transit map below lets you understand very quickly why it is called The Loop. All the line of The L meet in downtown and form a Loop from which you can change easily to any other line. Hayden made sure were were riding the brown line as it stays above ground. I wanted to see what I could of the city as we rode. 

We got off The L at the Adams Street station. Hmmm...my antennae went up. We were going to start our Route 66 trip (next Blog post) and we wanted a picture of us at the Beginning of Route 66 sign. It happens to be on Adams Street. I told Hayden and he said he was sure that was where we would be. As we walked off The L, sure enough, there was the sign. Hayden took our picture. How fortunate to now not have to drive into that Chicago traffic madness to find the sign! Hallelujah. 

 

These pictures were taken of DePaul University space in The Loop in Chicago. The first is the building where Hayden attends classes. He wanted to direct movies. The second is the room at the bottom of the stairs. This is a gaming room for on-line gaming. Hayden started a club of gamers and this is the room they use for this club. It is currently under renovation. 

We got back on The L and headed back to the Lincoln Park campus. Time for ice cream. It was delicious. Then Claude and I headed to our hotel and Hayden headed to his dorm room to do his homework. It was a great visit. So happy when Hayden now talks about school, we know where he is and what it looks like. Great visit with H.

We were very happy with our visit with family to begin this trip. Meeting the newest member, celebrating birthdays, baptism and confirmation, quiet time with the Tyler's, learning to ride The L. It was all just great.