Mini's in Motion...Again

It is Spring Break time.  Usually Scott County, where we live, is one week and Oldham County, where the Mini's live, is the next week, or vice versa. This year they both fell on the same week.  And, April came much faster that I thought.  We had talked with Andie about a possible plan for the Mini's to come for a visit during their spring break but nothing was finalized.  I was here in my home thinking I had a full week before April when my phone rang.  It was Andie wanting to confirm their visit.  It seems as soon as school was out on Friday, the Mini's asked her, "Are we going to Ma & Pa's or are they coming here?"  Then I realized I did not have that week I thought I did, I better get Papa's bills paid, I better prepare for the Mini's to invade and step up my game of getting things done.

We settled on the Mini's and Andie coming Sunday evening, March 30th.  They would stay Sunday and Monday nights and leave Tuesday. That was the plan.  However, Andie got a very bad migraine Sunday and could not drive.  Plan B, they would get up Monday and leave for Sadieville. Andie did send me a text Sunday evening that said, "Bailey came up to change for bed and 'love on me'. I told her I was sorry my head hurt. She patted me on the head and said, 'That's ok Mom. Maybe your head can hurt some at Ma and Pa's. Then we can stay longer.'" 

They stopped in Georgetown on their way to Sadieville and picked up Tiny and Papa to bring them out to visit. Bailey was beside herself that they got to bring Tiny in their car.

I love this picture of the Mini's with Papa. More because of the expression on Tiny's face. She is his entire world. She dominates his attention as it is just the two of them in the apartment all the time. I have noticed over the years that, as much as she loves the Mini's visits, she also gets very jealous of the attention they get. In this picture she looks like she is just perplexed that someone else has her spot by Papa.

The Mini's brought the movie 'Frozen' to show to Papa.  So we paused in our day to watch the movie while I fixed lunch and they ate it picnic style in front of the movie.

After the movie it was time for some 'outside' time.  The day was beautiful and a good one to be out and about. The Mini's love going to the bridge into Eagle Bend and playing on the islands that are sometimes there.  There had been a rain storm and their island was very soggy with water but that did not deter the Mini's from enjoying their outing.  Papa even said he would walk down with us. I told him I would bring him in my car if he wanted but he insisted on walking. He strolled along at a leisurely pace and chatted with Andie the entire walk there and back. We found a place at the end of the bridge where he could sit to watch the kids play and not have to walk down that slope to the creek.

Bailey set to exploring and Hayden set to finding the perfect rock to chuck into the creek. Somehow throwing rocks in water never gets old. 

As I have driving in and out of Eagle Bend, I noticed what appeared to be a hub cap in the trees.  The interesting thing to me is it would have become lodged in the tree branches during one of our flood.  It showed just how high the water can get in Eagle Creek.  I mentioned to the Mini's that there was a hub cap in a tree.  Off Bailey and I went to find it.

Can you see it in between the branches with Bailey looking on?  The creek is below and a little higher than normal. This is below the dam so the creek is pretty shallow right here. Bailey was intrigued to say the least.  That object needed to come out of that tree so she could touch it and know what it was. She set about finding a pole to dislodge it.  Hayden came down the creek and found us and he also set about looking for a pole.  Bailey found a cane pole of some kind. Hayden found a tree limb that seemed long and sturdy enough to dislodge the object.  As we were standing there, I could tell it was not a hub cap but I didn't know what it was.  The Mini's started calling it hubba bubba.  I guess that is derived from hub cap.  They each took turns with their respective sticks standing at the edge of the ledge and trying to push the object with their sticks so it would move.  Andie and I watched to be sure no one got to close to the edge and fell down that ledge into the rock and then the creek.  Bailey finally gave her cane pole to Hayden and with one final push he dislodged the object and Bailey ran down the hill to pick it up.

It turned out to be a piece of one of the roller things you store a garden hose on.  Behind this wheel was a thick spoke. What a treasure for the Mini's. They lugged that thing home and it stayed in the living room and kitchen the remainder of their visit.  In addition they brought home their respective poles. Building memories folks, building memories.  Trust me, we don't need a broken hose holder or two long sticks but we can build all the memories we can possibly fill into a day.

About the time the Mini's successfully retrieved their treasure we knew it was time to get Papa back to the house. He had enjoyed the walk and watching the antics of the Mini's but he was clearly worn out.  Andie came up with an excuse that she needed to head back to the house to go to the bathroom.  She would go on ahead and get her car if needed.  Papa said he could walk it.  Eagle Bend is not a flat subdivision. And the last little bit of the walk is all up hill.  I stayed to play with the Mini's but they quickly decided they would head for home also. We caught up to Andie and Papa and all trudged on home. I kept looking back to make sure Andie and Papa were okay.  Papa seemed oblivious to the difficulty of the walk until the final hill.  I told him I would get my car and come back for him.  He said he wanted to try it. He kept walking slowly and telling his same stories and Andie kept listening and responding appropriately until he made it home.  He was beat and said, "That hill was steeper than I thought!"  Understatement.  We got him a root beer and nestled him in his spot on the couch with his foot rest.  The Mini's went in search of Pa (Claude) to be sure he knew of the treasures they brought back to his house.  Fortunately, Pa understood we were building memories.

Claude had a meeting in Georgetown and Papa was ready to head for his comfortable chair.  Claude took Papa home, the Mini's set to playing and Andie and I had a visit before making dinner.  It was a nice quiet evening on our hill in Sadieville.

Tuesday morning, April 1st, I slept until 7:30am.  When I got to the living room, the Mini's were quietly waiting for the older people to wake up.  I set to preparing breakfast.  

Andie brought some boiled egg molds.  This child of mine does love anything to do with food art.  The egg molds were in the shapes of flowers.  You hard boil a large or extra large egg, peel it while it is hot, place it in the mold and close the top over it.  It sets for a few minutes and, when you take it out, the egg is in the shape of the mold, in this case a flower.  I only had medium eggs. It worked but it would work better with a larger egg.

Claude covered our shift at the Family History Center. We would enjoy a leisurely morning at home while Andie gathered and packed. Then we would head to Papa's apartment. Hayden brought is Leonardo Da Vinci costume to perform his Wax Museum sketch from school.

We got to Papa's driveway and Hayden quickly put on his costume.  Then he rang the doorbell and entered Papa's apartment in costume.  Papa had a surprised but happy grin on his face. His toothless face.  He really doesn't wear his dentures at home anymore. Hayden did his performance and Papa was so happy.   Papa said, "When I was that age I could never have memorized all those words."  Hayden's response was wonderful. He said, "That is one of the nice things about ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). It helps me to memorize and learn lots of details."  Love that he recognizes there are benefits to his Autism.  Very positive.

The Mini's think Papa's apartment is a pretty cool place.  Bailey took Tiny outside and played under the pine trees and over the hill in Papa's back yard.  Then it was time to have a jam session with Papa's musical instruments.

Our big outing for the day was to be at the Lexington Arboretum. We said our good-byes to Papa and headed to Lexington. The Arboretum is next to the Lexington Stake Center where the Family History Center is located.  Pa would join us as soon as he finished his shift. We took the Mini's to the Arboretum last fall. They loved it then. We came prepared this time with towels so they could dry off after playing in the stream. Turns out there was no water running in the stream.  I am sure with our late winter and temperatures often in the teens they were just waiting until they were sure it would not freeze.  The Mini's found lots of other things to do at the Arboretum and we stayed until they closed at 2pm.

Andie and I were amused at the determination the Mini's have to stand with their fishing poles at the pond as if they will actually catch a fish. There are no fish and there is no bait. But they try nonetheless.  Bailey is using a scrub board (these were used in my childhood). Hayden is grinding corn in the one picture.  It was good outing on a beautiful day.

Pa treated us all to lunch at 5 Guys. Then the Marx van headed back to LaGrange. Another spring break for the records.