Normal Days, Service, Music, Changes...

Monday, April 20th, it seems I am learning to sleep in a little later. This was always Claude's forte. Not mine. Monday I was able to sleep in a bit later. This is something my body must need because it is not my normal pattern. Watching this as I age. Aging is an interesting process.

I started my day with my treadmill walk. I am enjoying watching Northern Exposure as I walk my 30-minutes each day. 

Claude had errands to run and wanted me to go with him. This is another bonus of retirement. It was around lunch time so we started our errands with a biscuit run. With me doing my intermittent fasting diet, we can't do this for breakfast. I was very happy Claude is supporting me and waited until lunchtime for a biscuit run. We followed that with picking up his prescription, getting the car washed and ended with a grocery run. I find it interesting that Claude will go in an pick up somethings and not others, leaving them for a later visit. I would be inclined to go once and then not go any sooner than I have too. Another area in which we are different and compliment each other. 

I found a fun thing while grocery shopping. When visiting the Tyler's, Nissa had mini-Hostess cupcakes. Claude loved them. This one of his favorite sweets for a treat. We usually have a box of the big Hostess cupcakes in the house for him. I found the mini's at our Kroger and Claude was happy to have them placed in our shopping cart. Yum!

When home, I sat down and did the Relief Society birthday cards for May. They are not ready and tagged for the day they should go in the mailbox. 

I had been a bit concerned about Jake's birthday gift. I asked him for a suggestion of something he really wanted and would use. He suggested a gift card to REI, a store that specializes in outdoor gear. Jake really likes this store. They have a place on their website where you can purchase a gift card and then set a date for it to be delivered. Before we went to Michigan, I did all that and set the delivery date for April 18th, Jake's birthday. I received an eMail notification from REI on Jake's birthday showing they delivered his gift card to his eMail. Usually Jake responds when he receives something from us. This was two days after his birthday and Jake had said nothing. I had contacted him on his birthday and asked if he wanted a birthday pizza. He declined. He never mentioned anything in this interchange about the gift card. I sent Jake a text on this day and asked if he got his gift card in his eMail. He did not. Odd. I had the purchase eMail and the confirmation of delivery eMail. I gave him those dates. He finally found the eMail in is trash container in his eMails. So happy I was prompted to contact him about his. He was very happy with his gift and will add it to some credits he already had and find the item he wants to purchase. Whew! 

Claude made us comfort food for dinner. Macaroni and cheese with tuna and peas mixed in it. I had asked him to crush up potato chips for the top. He forgot about that. I said nothing and enjoyed my comfort food dinner. As we were finishing, Claude remembered the chips. He felt so bad. Love his heart. How ungrateful would I be that he cooks and lets me know what he is cooking if I complained about a lack of potato chips on the top. What a first world problem!!

Tuesday, April 21st, every morning after I wake up, I weigh myself. I keep a diary of my weight each morning and the foods I ate that day. My understanding is you should not weigh yourself every day. Phffff on that!! I do not come unglued if my weight stays the same or goes up a little bit from day to day. I am watching for a steady, slow weight loss. Having this data in front of me each day helps me to stay on task and stay committed to this diet. I walked my treadmill again this day. 

A good share of my time this day was communicating with Katelyn regarding temple clothing for her and Drew. They have set a date in August to go through the Detroit Temple. Claude and I agreed to purchase their clothing as their birthday presents this year. I believe I gave her all the information she and Drew need to make their choices. I broke the information into three areas and sent it that way. It is wonderful to be able to do this for them. We will travel to Detroit and go through with them. 

Claude had a really good eye exam. Yeah!!

I was able to get more done on Joel's afghan for his Christmas present. He is going to love being covered in orange, his very favorite color.

I checked in with Kris and Cordell to see how things were going for them. They have put a ramp in so that Cordell can get in and out of Kris' home in his wheelchair. He is working very hard at PT to be able to walk a bit again. He has had Parkinson's for a very long time. I so admire is determination to keep up and about as long as he can. So very happy Kris is there to be with and care for him. Love these two.

I also made arrangements with Bailey for attending her Friday concert.

Wednesday, April 22nd, Claude had a visit with his audiologist. He was told to bring me as they would do a hearing test that I need to participate in. Basically, they have me talk to him to be sure he is hearing will with the hearing aids. Turns out, they didn't do that test. The simply tested his hearing aids as they are about to go out of warranty. Then they set us free. 

Now, my agreement with Claude was I would get a burger for doing this with him. Us and burger, right?! After the audiologist, we went to 5 Guys and had a great meal together. 

When we got home, Claude laid down for a nap. My tummy turned bad. I would spend the rest of my afternoon taking it easy. Not sure what is causing these tummy issues. 

In the evening, I received a call from Kitty Lloyd. She lives down the street from us. She is a member of the church. She is almost 84 years old. She had skin cancers removed from her legs. The one on her left leg healed up okay. The one on her right leg did not. It appears to be a deep cut and it had formed infection over the top. She needed a ride into Lexington to see her doctor to figure out how to treat this. Kitty lives with her daughter. Her daughter usually takes care of these things but she had to teach in Louisville on Thursday and couldn't take Kitty. The request was to see if I could get Kitty to her doctor and home. I assured her I could. Her daughter sent me a map of where the office was. Turns out it is in the same area of medical buildings as my shoulder doctor. If felt good to be asked to help and be able to say yes.

Thursday, April 23rd, I took Kitty to Lexington. Oh my! It was like caring for Papa again. I told Kitty as we left her home that I did have a map and knew where I was going. I did not know the name of the building, but I was sure she would remember it once she saw it. This set Kitty on a quest to find the name of the building and its actual address. She was on the phone the entire 30 minutes we were driving to the location. At one point, she had an office on the phone that was not even remotely connected with who she should see. She was asking them for the doctors phone number. She did have the doctors name. I simply kept driving and told her at one point that the Harrodsburg address the gave her was not correct according to the map he daughter gave me. I got to the building on the map and it had Dermatology on the name of the building. I was sure this was the place. We went in and, sure enough, it was. They declared Kitty's leg to be infected. The cleaned out the wound and prescribed and antibiotic for her to take orally for four days. Then I drove Kitty home. I asked if we should stop and pick up her prescription. She assured me her daughter would get it for her. My heart got out to the daughter. I have been in that position and any help is greatly appreciated. 

Claude cut the grass. Then we enjoyed the beauty of our back yard as we sat on the patio with a nice breeze. This is one of life's best joys. The lilac tree is in bloom so I brought lilacs in and put them in a vase in the kitchen. They filled our little home with that sweet lilac scent. Oh My Goodness!!

Claude and I walked around the house and I found my clematis and azalea bushed in bloom. Isn't spring wonderful? Soon the irises, Lucifer plant and peonies will bloom. Yes!

Claude and I finished the fourth disk of Season 8, the final season, a few days before. As we were watching the 4th disk of Season 8, Claude commented he was sure we saw this before. Now, I cannot even guess how many times we have watched Castle. We saw some out of order episodes while in Michigan. As the 4th disk finished, we noticed on the home view at the bottom of the screen it said "Season 6, Disk 4". Hmmmm... Claude took the disk out. He was clearly labeled "Season 8, Disk 4". We checked the cases for each season. Clearly we were now needing the 4th disk for Season 8. Claude found me at my laptop making sure I had paperwork to back up purchasing this full set of Castle episodes. Then trying to figure out who to contact. They were purchased and delivered by Walmart through another party. Claude came in and looked over my shoulder and said, "Could you simply order a disk that is only Season 8." That was surely much easier than trying to talk with someone or correspond via eMail or snail mail to get a replacement disk. So I did just that. I ordered another Season 8 and it should come Tuesday. Thank you Claude for lightening my load.

In the evening, I had our April Relief Society Activity. It was Pizza and Bunco. I was over at the church at 6pn to help Rita Thorn set up. Then I went to Little Caesar's to purchase the pizza. Never played Bunco before. It was an easy game to learn and we had fun playing and moving people around after each round. Good evening.

Friday, April 24th, we devoted to a trip to Campbellsville, Kentucky. Bailey would have her final concert that we would attend. The Concert Band and the Wind Ensemble would both perform. Bailey plays in both of these groups. I contacted Bailey and suggested we have a meal with her when we came. She was very happy about that idea. Being the kind person she is, she suggested we have lunch so we could leave right after the concert. We agreed to meet her at Noon at Gosser on Campbellsville University campus. Bailey chose lunch at McCallister's. This is a favorite for Claude and me. 

After lunch, we took Bailey back to her dorm so she could prepare for the evening. This left us with several hours to kill. Bailey suggested a lake she had been to with friends. We drove there and found a place to park in the shade. We rolled the windows down, let that nice breeze waft over us. Claude put hs seat back and got a little nap in. I played on my Kindle. It was a wonderful afternoon.

When it was near time to head back, we left a little early and went to Cook Out Burgers. I enjoyed a peach shake and Claude had a chocolate shake. These were really small cups of ice cream. You truly had to eat them with a spoon. Then we were off to Ransdell Chapel to find our seats for the performance. 

The music selections for this evening were all movie themes. Bailey sat on one side of the stage for the Concert Band who played first. Then she moved to the other side of the stage for the Wind Ensemble for the last half of the show. We sat on the side for the Wind Ensemble. We had a great view of Bailey. 

Bailey getting set for the Concert Band performance and the Concert Band warming up. 

These are Bailey moving to the other side of the stage for the Wind Ensemble performance.

To be done before you perform...rehydrate, quickly check for text messages, and give your grandparents a thumbs up that you are ready to play your heart out. 

The Wind Ensemble. Bailey is on the end playing a French horn.

A final selfie before we said goodbye. Love this girl and her love of music. What a treat to get to enjoy such excellent music. Would love to post videos but the are too long. 

We had a little rain on the way home but not too back at all. 

Saturday, April 24th, we talked about how we wanted our Saturday to go. Claude wanted a down day with movies and lots to eat. I told him I could do that but I nee3ded to walk my treadmill and clear pictures from my phone first. He agreed and used that time to clear a few things off his desk before we slowed down for a lazy day at home. 

About those picture, I use Google on my phone. They let you use 15GB of memory for free. When you go over that, it is not free. I do not automatically save my pictures to Google Photos. At least, on my last phone I did not. It seems this new phone is doing that when ever I take a picture. After taking all the videos of Bailey playing, Google Photos was giving me their warning that I had until May 26th to purchase extra storage or I would not have access to Google eMail. Yike! I did get all the current pictures onto my laptop and also found a way to delete some things on Google Photos to lighten that load. I still haven't figured out how to set Google Photos so it doesn't automatically save my pictures. I will work on that. Whew!

Time to curl up in my recliner and enjoy an afternoon with my guy as he envisioned it. It could have something for lunch so I had a bowl of Great Grains cereal. Then my tummy went haywire again. It would bother me all afternoon. So grateful I was home and could feel bad in the comfort of our home. I was able to get the body of Joel's afghan for Christmas finished. Now I have six rows to make the border. He is going to love being wrapped in orange, his very favorite color. Claude made a new soup that is beaten with one of those funny mixers. It reminded me of the cream soups we would get on a cruise ship. We will keep that recipe and use it again. 

Sunday, April 25th, I was full on Relief Society. This was the Sunday to take roll. That is a full-time experience for me to be sure I get all the sisters recorded. Then I conducted Relief Society. Finally, I was happy to get back a questionnaire for the Spotlight. Yeah!! Good Sunday at church.

We had Burger King for lunch. Claude got his nap. I cleared the DVR a bit. 

Claude had a meeting with Brad Manwaring. Claude has been the Stake Communications Director for several years. It is time for a change and Brad Manwaring will take that calling in a few weeks. Brad came over to pick Claude's brain so there is a smooth transition. Claude assured Brad his personality was better for this calling. He also assured Brad he should make it his own and the way he wanted to handle things. This is all a relief for Claude. He has been feeling very burnt out. Changes in callings at church is not a bad thing. It helps us grow in other areas. To celebrate, we went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. 

Claude participated in his final Zoom meeting with the Kentucky Communications Council. Then we settled in for the calm, quiet evening we so much look forward to and enjoy. 

Back to Kentucky Normal...

Wednesday, April 15th, it was time to get back to 'normal'. I walked my treadmill and then spent most of my day in Sandiland. Laundry was done from our week away. And the list goes on. 

In the evening, I had a Relief Society presidency meeting via Google Meets. I do love these presidency meeting over the internet. The main purpose of this meeting was to select talks to serve a Relief Society lessons May through October. We also covered our upcoming Relief Society activity, the Mother's Day class, and reviewed the sisters. 

Thursday, April 16th, I started my day on the treadmill. I must say it is more difficult to begin my day with this intermittent fasting diet. Normally Claude and I would have a bowl of cereal together or go for a biscuit in the morning. He now struggles having cereal without me eating. I call my handful of medications my breakfast. Very odd for a girl who grew up with a mother who repeated stated the breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Now, I don't have it. Yike!!

Claude and I each got an eMail from Jensen/McKay Travel about a trip February 2027 to India and Nepal. I usually delete their eMail but this one caught my eye. I read it and saved it. It really appealed to me. When Claude and I were talking, he mentioned receiving that eMail and he was very interested. You know something is right when we both have that good feeling at the same time. We decided to book that trip. I went to my laptop while Claude napped and booked the trip for us. Yeah us! We will not travel out of the country this year but are sure we will next year.

I found a cover for my new phone. I had Claude check out the information on Amazon. Then I ordered a new cover as well as two more solar lanterns for the yard. 

I spent the rest of my time updating all the things that come with selecting the next six months of Relief Society lessons. They are on the Gospel Library app now so the lesson for the week will show each for easy access. I updated the spreadsheet with the links to the lessons as well as full names for the speakers. Then I copied this to information to the Conducting Form for the next six months. I also managed to get my new phone synced to my laptop. 

Friday, April 17th, I was able to complete the Blog entry for our Michigan trip. All pictures were labeled while on the trip. Yeah me! 

I walked my treadmill for working at my laptop. There I entered the May through October Relief Society lessons, who teaches and who conducts to my cellphone.  Then I focused on paperwork for the India/Nepal trip. I went through the eMails. I printed the receipts for the trip and the insurance for Claude. I made a grid and filled it in. I saved any documents we were no accumulating to a file on my laptop and set up a file on my laptop for pictures. I took a screenshot of the cover picture for the Jensen McKay eMail and cropped out the picture. Than I sent that to our family of Facebook to see if any of them could guess from the pictures where we were going in February 2027. Andie got it right. 

All this time Claude was defrosting the freezer in the garage and changing the air filters in our home. He does that at the time of General Conference in the Spring and Fall. Then he said we needed a date.

We went to Applebee's. For Christmas, I gave Claude gift cards to three restaurants. This was a kind of selfish gift from me. It means we will go out to dinner together. One of the gift cards was for Applebee's. I tried something different this time. They had a bowl that was half-full of rice and half-full of an oriental salad with blackened salmon on top. Yum. Very good meal. 

Claude was having trouble with his phone not giving the addresses of his contact. The contacts were there but only their name and phone number. I tried my phone and found a little 'i' in a circle. When I touched it, all the other information on the contact came up. Claude had the little 'i' in a circle but it did not react when he touched it. We went to the AT&T store and they checked his phone and said it appeared the contacts did not completely transfer. They thought he would have to reenter all those addresses. By the time we got home, Claude was able to get the contacts to display address and other information. He would spend his evening going through and cleaning out his contacts. 

We filled my car with gas and went through the car wash. Nice date for this evening. 

We were both ready to go home an veg out. We  had a quiet, well-earned evening at home.

Saturday, April 18th, was a rainy day. It was a good thing we planned to be home. Not a fan of paddling around in the rain. 

This day we had two birthday. I posted them on the family Facebook page in two posts:

Birthday #1 Today:

Happy Birthday to our youngest. Jake Christensen keep on hiking and climbing. You are a joy to us. We admire how you are crafting your life to make the most of your talents and interests. May you have a great day and a year full of new adventures. Happy Birthday and Love Ya Bunches!!

Birthday #2 Today:

Kenndi Roper decided to be born on Uncle Jake's birthday 3 years ago today. She is a mighty mite as evidenced by her love of painting with two hands. She is sure she can do anything her older siblings do. We love this little nugget bunches! Happy Birthday to Kennedi Roper!!

I did my treadmill walking first, then my shower. Now, I was ready for my day. 

Later in the evening, Katelyn posted about Kenndi's birthday. I got these pictures from that post. We got her the roller skates. She loves them. So happy to see Raelyn helping her learn since Katelyn has a broken wrist.

I decided this rainy day I would not spend a lot of time (though I needed to) in Sandiland. Instead, I read a book that Jake loaned me. It is titled "Christian Apocrypha Series, The First and Second Gospels of the Infancy by Jesus Christ. Thomas, James". I had shared with Jake about ready "The Book of Enoch". He knows my enjoyment of these kinds of things. The book is a very easy read. There is a Prologue to the First Gospel. Then there are two translations of it. One is from the Greek and the other if from the Latin. These two translations are basically the same thing with some differences. They are both about the childhood of Jesus. Not sure I agree with all the purport. But I did enjoy the reading. Then there is a Prologue to the Second Gospel. It has a very long title: "The Second Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ: The Protoevangelium of James: The Birth of May the Holy Mother of God and Very Glorious Mother of Jesus Christ". Whew. It is translated from Greek. It starts with Joachim and Anna and their inability to have children. Then they are blessed with Mary who would be the mother of Jesus. Again, a very interesting read. I am happy Jake loaned these two books to me. He is a good son.

My next project was to crochet a complete skein of yarn into Joel's afghan Christmas present. I managed to do that by the end of the day. I now have three skeins of yard in the afghan and think I will only need the other three skeins of yarn I purchased. There were only six skeins on the shelf at Hobby Lobby. The pattern called for 8-9 skeins. But, it is for Joel and he is not a full sized human yet. I really wanted to know if I needed to get more yarn. I can order it through Amazon but I didn't want any left over yarn. Now I am pretty sure I don't need to do that. 

Claude recorded Ben Hur. We would watch it in the evening. I find this amusing. We always found it amusing and a little frustrating that Bonnie only watched old movies. When Claude would go and visit her, she would start an old movie and then go to be and leave him to watch it. Now Claude is recording old movies. Honestly, I would not have recorded this movie or the Ten Commandments. They come out at Easter each year. Claude did record them and they were enjoyable. 

Sunday, April 19th, we had a good Sacrament Meeting. Jenny Squire gave a really good talk about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. 

Claude was again frustrated with his new phone. His home page was set up in a different way and now how he had it set up. Again we compared his phone to mine and mine was working differently. They are exactly the same kind of phone except his is black and mine is purple. Eventually Claude figured out his downloading the Adobe app was what caused the problem. He deleted that app and all was fine. 

We went to Jimmy John's to get lunch. I had enough points that we got a free sandwich. Love it when the points reward you.

I sat down to do this Blog. I start by making sure all my pictures are in the camera file on my cellphone. I looked there and had no pictures albums except camera and download. All other pictures were gone and my trash was empty. I remember emptying my trash but I did not trash my other albums. I have one for each of my kids and my three oldest grandmonsters and another for Relief Society. Ugh. I was able to copy and paste a few pictures from my laptop into my cellphone albums. Having a new phone to get used to is a mite frustrating some times. 

I did not sleep well during the night. I spent that time getting some information about tourism in Washington State. That felt good to begin looking at it. 

Not sure how the evening will go but I know it will. Ha Ha!!

Michigan Bound..

Monday, April 6th, we did final preparations for our trip to Michigan. For me, that included walking my treadmill one last time, stopping the mail, correcting an error in being able to access my Blog, finishing the Blog for the previous week, wrapping gifts to take with us for upcoming birthdays, packing and stacking all extra items on the dryer for loading in the car, doing my fingernails, clearing the DVR and crocheting. Whew! Sometimes it feels like I don't do a lot. Then I write it out and it seems like I did do a lot. 

Claude spent his day going to PT and the cutting and trimming the grass. This has become and all day project for him. 

We had dinner at Arby's. Claude got a French dip sandwich. It had some slippery cheese on it and the roll had been cut in half but the meat inside had not. It was an awful mess. I simply picked up the tray and took his sandwich to the counter. I showed it to the cashier and asked if he could cut through the meat so Claude could actually eat his sandwich. He gave me a plastic knife. I thanked him kindly and returned Claude's sandwich to him. He was able to make it work. He will go back to the regular French dip sandwich and never order this version again. 

We curled up to watch Castle for the evening. I used the time to shift from Samsung texting to Google Messaging. Samsung has been notifying Claude and me that they would discontinue Samsung texting by July and to go ahead and make the change. It worked just fine. 

Tuesday, April 7th, We left for Michigan. We started with a stop a Bojangles for biscuits for the road. Claude keeps track of the mileage we drive on each trip we take. He was able to see it is actually 2.8 miles to Bojangles from, our home.

This was Todd's birthday (our son-in-law). I posted this on our family Facebook page: "Happiest of Birthdays to Todd Tyler!! Enjoy your day because tonight we will arrive and who knows what that means to your future. Lee's Chicken for sure! Everyone join me in saying Happy Birthday to Todd! Love Ya Bunches!!"

On this drive to Michigan, we stopped at the Pilot in Rochester, Indiana. This is almost exactly half-way when we drive this way to Muskegon. I have been walking 30 minutes each day on the treadmill. That would not happen for a week. While Claude filled the car with gas, I found a nice circle I could walk inside the Pilot station. There was a donut shop inside and ladies sitting together having coffee and a donut were very amused at my antics. Lots of smiles on each lap. 

I was able to read the letters I receive from the missionaries and read a Come, Follow Me lesson. 

We arrived in Muskegon at 4:30pm. We went to Lee's Chicken to get dinner for the Tyler's and us. AI a very kind girl with bright pink hair and her guy were sitting on the bench waiting for their order. We placed our order and stood to wait. This sweet girl and her guy got up and motioned for us to take the bench. I assured her we had been sitting for about 7 1/2 hour and standing actually felt good. Then she commented that her grandmother had a hard time standing for long periods of time. She didn't want us to have any issues. She did get that all out but realized as she was saying it that implied we were old enough to be her grandparents. I assured her we appreciated her thoughtfulness. She was quite talkative and we had a nice conversation before our food was ready to go. Cute moment in time.

We headed to Holton and the Tyler home. Nissa and Todd were just getting home from work. It was so nice to settle into their guest room, put on comfy clothes, and curl up to watch TV with them and have our chicken. We would enjoy many quiet evenings at Tyler's this trip.

Wednesday, April 8th, started a longer visit than we normally do. This was to enjoy Spring Break from school with the Roper children. We had something special to do each day for four days.

Usually Baby, the Tyler's dog, stays in a pen outside during the day. This winter, Nissa and Todd changed that and let Baby stay inside while they were at work. It was a particularly brutal winter for them in their part of Michigan and they really didn't want to leave Baby outside through it. Baby is not used to someone being the house when Nissa and Todd are not there. Normally, she would come bounding into the guest bedroom and jump on the bed. That is what we expected. That is not what happened. We didn't see or hear from Baby as we moved around and got ready to leave for the day. As we were leaving, Baby got out of Nissa and Todd's bed and came into the living room. I asked her if she wanted to go outside. She cowered and went into the kitchen and walked around the island and looked at us with her ears back. We told her we loved her and left the house. We did not take her outside. 

Our first visit was breakfast at Bob Evans with Aubrey and Mike. We had a nice breakfast and caught up with each other. We would give Aubrey a painting kit for Nelson. We had a painting project for this days activity. Claude purchased wooden butterflies, one for each great grandmonster. I collected all my paints and some paint brushes. Since Nelson wouldn't be there, we made him a kit with his butterfly, some paints and a couple of paint brushes. Aubrey would give it to him for us. 

Then we were off to the Ropers. Poor Drew works a shift where he sleeps during the days. This Spring Break was hard on him with all the family home when he usually slept. Bless his heart, he wanted to be a part of the visit. He would come home, sleep as bit, then get up for our activity that day, then take a nap before going to work. 

We would paint butterflies with the four Roper kids. We set them up at the kitchen table with a butterfly each, a paper plate for mixing their paint colors, and each wearing an old t-shirt of mine. They had fun creating a butterfly in colors they loved. 

Joel was totally into mixing colors. He was fascinated with picking out a new color and then watching as he blended it into the other colors. As he did this, his paper plate was filling with color that got darker and darker the more color he mixed in. At one point, it was only Joel and Emelia at the table. Emelia commented on how dark Joel's color was getting. Then she looked at me with this 7 year old eyes and said, "Joel has a dark soul." I thought I would lose it right on the spot. 

Claude had a dental appointment before we came. The dentist was giving out chapstick with their logo on it. Claude picked up one for each great grandmonster. It was great fun for them. Kennedi really got into putting it onto their people's lips. Great Grampa Claude was a super champ and let her have her fun. After applying the chapstick, Kenedi would raise hear arms in the air and say a triumphant, "Ta Da". 

Raelyn talked Claude into walking with her to the creek near their home. She came into the kitchen to tell Nissa what she and her Great Grampa were going to do. Emelia heard and wanted to go. She was sent to get a coat and shoes. Then Kennedi wanted to go. Drew bundled her up and went along. Joel had no interest in going. He stayed an entertained Katelyn and me. I took a picture as"T they left and felt it should be titled "The Fellowship of the Walk". Aside of Kennedi falling into the water, everyone had a great time. 

Before we left, we scooped up everyone and drove to McDonald's for dinner. Emelia and Raelyn are so happy they are big enough to ride with us in our car. These kids expect at least one McDonald's run when we visit. After dinner, the Roper's headed home and we headed to Holton.

Nissa fixed rice and roast beef for dinner. I totally enjoyed my bowl of rice with some butter one it. I do love rice. 

We settled in for our second quiet evening in our stretchy clothes. The entertainment was really not funny. Claude downloaded a pdf file on his cellphone. It had a virus in it and it took hold of Claude's phone. It simple had advertisement after advertisement for virus software popping up on his phone. He spent as much time as his phone battery would allow trying to run Norton virus software to try and clear his phone. Nothing worked. He was able to figure out that all his apps worked. They were simply interrupted repeatedly with the ads. The ads made the battery run down really fast. Ugh!

Thursday, April 9th, we left Holton at 9:45am. We were to meet them and drive to the Grand Rapids Airport. We had to first clean out Drew's car and fill the right rear tire with air. Then we were off to the airport. Emelia and Raelyn would ride with Claude and me. 

The purpose of going to the airport was to pick up Ramon, their exchange student from Spain. He had been with other exchange students on a trip to New York City. Katelyn made signs or the kids to hold. I took a picture of the kids but failed to get one of Ramon seeing them. Silly Moi!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is building a temple in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We drove by to see the progress. You can only drive by, no stopping.

The activity for this day was The Children's Museum in downtown Grand Rapids. We played till Kennedi and Joel were done in. Let me just state here that we had four adults and one Ramon (junior in high school) and it took all five of us to shepherd these four children. 

Katelyn took this picture of Claude and me walking back to our car from the museum. We are cute!

It was time to have something to eat. We decided to drive out of Grand Rapids toward home and find something along the way. Claude spotted a Taco Bell in Coopersville. When we asked the kids about dinner on Wednesday, the girls all chose McDonald's. Joel wanted Taco Bell. He would get his wish this time. After dinner we parted ways with Claude and me heading to Holton and the Ropers back to Muskegon. 

The funniest comment of the day was Drew asking Katelyn how Claude who is quiet, married me who is not quiet. Happy Katelyn shared that aside comment to me. I got a chuckle.

Claude and I stopped at Whispering Pines when we got to Holton. That is the Amish Market. We got bread, cheese and cookies for us and for Jake. This time...I got all bags!!

We would enjoy another quiet evening in Holton. 

Friday, April 10th, we were to meet the Ropers at their home at noon. This allowed us to sleep in a bit. We had rain through the night. So it would allow time for the skies to clear and the air to warm up a bit. 

This was Todd's day off. He was home with us in the morning. Baby was up and had a ball in her mouth to give to Claude to play with her. Then Todd came in. Baby conflicted. She wanted to play ball with Claude but she wanted to see Todd also. She stood there looking back and forth with the ball in her mouth. Yep, she was conflicted. 

We headed to the Ropers about 11:30am. It is about 30 minutes to drive from Holton to Muskegon. We followed the Ropers into downtown Muskegon. We were going on a Mastodon Scavenger Hunt. We tried to do this in November when in Muskegon but the weather did not cooperate. This time it was cloudy and cool but that was okay for hiking around downtown Muskegon. 

The Muskegon Museum has a full mastodon named Moxie inside. Outside there is a statue of Matteus the mastodon. In addition to Matteus, there are 19 other mastodons hidden in downtown in historic buildings or main businesses. I had printed out the sheet from the museum with all the names of the mastodons and hints as to where they were located. I also printed out the list of the locations of each mastodon. Armed with these tools and Drew's help, we managed to hike around and find 10 of the 20 little mastodons. I went into this thinking the hidden mastodons were the size of the Matteus. They were NOT. They were about the size of Claude's fist and they were hidden. Several times I had to go inside a place and ask exactly where their mastodon was hidden. The librarian asked if I wanted to bring the kids in so they could see the mastodon from the window inside the library. I assured him I did not want to bring these four bundles of energy inside. He smiled and gave me directions as to where to look outside. It was good to have the kids outside and looking around them. Emelia became my pointer when I took pictures of our finds. 

Matteus, Muskegon Museum of History & Science, Katelyn, Kennedi Emelia, Raelyn, Joel, Drew.

Monet Gardens, Raelyn on Bridge.

Michelle, Hackley Hume Historic Site.

Maximus, Train Depot.

Mort, Muskegon Heritage Museum of Business & Industry.

Malcolm, Trinty Health Arena, Emelia.

Molly, Frauenthal.

Joel & Raelyn with musical toy on street.

Micah, Culinary Institute, Emelia.

Mitchell, Hackley Public Library, Emelia.

Margo, Muskegon Museum of Art, Emelia.

Maisie, Hackley Park Stage.

Meghan, MCC Sturrus Center.

After our adventure, we went to Slappy's Slaw Dog & Sandwich Shop. It is a new place in Muskegon and Claude was sure hot dog would be a fun different meal for our time with these great grandmonsters. The food was delicious. The Brioche buns were very, very tasty. 

Time to head to Holton and the Ropers to head home. It was a cool day temperature wise and then made it better for all the hiking around. We were all tired when done. 

When we got back to Holton, we learned that Todd sold his red canoe. Someone would come by that evening to see it and pick it up. Todd had participated in an auction and purchase a new canoe that was an upgrade. His bid was about 1/3 of the value of this new canoe. He sold the red canoe for almost what he paid for the new canoe. A very good wheeler-dealer. He was a happy guy. Nissa, Baby and he will have lots of fun this summer in their new canoe.

Nissa made spaghetti for their dinner. I had a small bowl. It was delicious. Feeling wiped out, I was grateful for an evening that was quiet.

Saturday, April 11th, we had the morning to ourselves. It was Nissa and Todd's Saturday to work. We opted to get our showers and take a ride into Fremont. We would stop at Wesco and pick up a gift card for Paul, then on the Burger King for a very light something for Claude, then we stopped at Meijer to pick up some groceries for Paul. It was nice to be out on our own for a bit. I had not realized how much I was missing that time with just Claude and me. 

When we got back to the Tyler's, Claude took a nap while I redid my nails and crocheted on Joel's afghan for Christmas. To my surprise, I felt sick and hurled. I was grateful all this happened when we were at the Tyler's.

Nissa and Todd got home from work just as we were leaving. Todd had a hard day and was very frustrated. It was a good thing we were going out for one last outing with the Ropers. 

We picked up Paul at his apartment an drove to Pizza Ranch. The Ropers would meet us there. We all had a good meal. Love Paul's heart head had three plates of food, three coffees and three teas plus dessert pizzas. Happy he had good food. After dinner the kids played in the arcade for a while. 

Kennedi used the tickets she won to get a turtle that you squeeze and it sticks its tongue out. 

Before we left, I got a picture of Claude and me with Paul and one with Katelyn. I forgot to do this with Aubrey the first day. I have asked her to help me remember next time we visit. 

When we were all finished, we drove Paul back to his apartment. We gave him his gift card, a few groceries and a few dollars for his pocket. Life is tough for him right now. We do love him and want to support him a bit. 

Back to Holton we drove to get in stretchy clothes and have another quiet evening in Holton. In the evening I found this on Facebook. It is a sign showing how you pronounce the names of cities in Kentucky. Cute. 

Sunday, April 12th, was a day dedicated to spending time with Nissa and Todd. They fix a big breakfast on Sunday morning. Claude ate with them. I did not as I was trying to stick as close to my intermittent fasting diet as possible. Claude would take another nap. His Sunday nap is always the best. To help that, it was a rainy day. I finished crochet a skein of yarn into Joel's Christmas afghan present. Todd smoked a brisket for dinner that was superb. It was a lovely, quiet day at home. 

Monday, April 13th, we were up and out the door early. We were going to Chelsea to meet with Jake. We took him a couple of items from storage to go through. We also took him the cheese, bread and cookies from the Amish store. Jake chose the Mexican restaurant for dinner. His birthday would be in a few days and we wanted him to have a meal wherever he chose. We had good food. Drove back to his apartment and sat in the car and talked until he had to go into be ready for work. Good visit with Jake. 

We decided to drive to Vandalia, Ohio to stay in a Quality Inn for the night. We usually stay in Chelsea over night. Our favorite hotel is being renovated. This helped us to try going a bit further down the road before we stopped. It is about three hours to Vandalia from Chelsea. The purpose of this is to make driving through Dayton and Cincinnati and crossing the bridge into Kentucky not be during a rush hour situation. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel which was right next to our hotel. It worked out very well and Claude feels he likes doing our drive home from Chelsea better doing it this way. Thus goeth the lesson!

The television in our hotel room didn't work. Usually I would go to the front desk and ask to get it fixed or give us another room. We were settled in though. We opted to play on our Kindles instead. Claude was running reels through his and he turned up the volume and pointed it so I could see if I wanted to watch. It worked out just great. 

Tuesday, April 14th, we slept in a bit. Then we showered and hit the road. The drive went well. 

 

While visiting the Tyler's, Todd shared his interest in watching a television show about police and car chases and arrests. One was actually from a driver going from Cincinnati over the bridge in Kentucky. The driver actually started the chase in Indiana. He had a tire completely blown off the driver's side front. He still kept going. After he crossed the bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky, there is a big hill you must climb. Todd predicted that would be his undoing. Todd was correct. His car simply could not pull that hill after all it had been through. So...as we drove from Ohio into Kentucky over the bridge, I decided I should video the process and send it to the Tyler's. It was cute. I narrated the search for police cars, the density of the traffic and the sign showing we safely made it into Kentucky. The Tyler's got a kick out of it.

Our first stop was the AT&T store. We were going to replace Claude's phone. They were able to clean the virus off it. Claude picked out a phone. They gave him $900 credit for returning his old phone. This meant he only paid $400 for a nearly $1300 phone. I asked if I would get that much credit on my phone. He checked and I too could get the same deal as Claude. We decided to upgrade my phone to a phone just like Claude was getting. He would be black. My would be a purple color...of course! Now we had a toy to play with while we watched television in the evening.

We stopped at Jimmy John's for a sandwich for dinner. Then on to our home. We unpacked, brought in the mail, and curled up the relax in our own home with Castle on the television or the evening.

This was a good trip. Made lots of memories. Grateful for safe driving and hugs from our family.