So I was going through some old pictures of the house I was raised in and a flood of emotion came over me. It's not about the house, the house was fine and I enjoyed my time there, but these emotions were prompted by the pictures of all the memories of the times that my kids spent there with my parents. A lot of their childhood memories involve happy times with their grandparents. They spent countless hours playing with their grandma and going for walks to the park. There was little that those kids could do that could get them into trouble with their grandparents. They dried grapes into raisens they made countless walks with grandpa to camels cave only to reward themselves with icecream upon their return. They loved to go fishing and camping with their grandparents and it didn't matter if they were going next door or across the country they knew they would have a great time if grandma and grandpa were involved. Jocelyn loved to play "Old Maid" but poor thing always lost but that's ok she didn't mind. All 3 kids traveled from Sioux Falls to Utah while we were packing up to move home but grandma and grandpa didn't bring them straight home - no! They took the scenic route through the bad lands and then to Yellowstone. We invited them on nearly every fun family adventure we went on because the kids always had more fun if the grandparents were with us. We went up the Oregon Coast when Wayne took his boards and we went crabbing. The kids remember the crab that bit on to grandpa and wouldn't let go! Or how about our trip to Disneyland. The kids wanted to ride with the grandparents from CA to Vegas. No sweat till Wayne took a wrong turn and my parents ended up with the kids in Vegas at circus circus for hours waiting for us. This was before cell-phones so they just had to hope we would catch up with them. In this picture of the house you'll see Tyler up on the shed roof helping grandpa re-roof the shed. This was just about the time we had to ask my dad to please stay off the roof when no one is around to keep an eye on him. Seriously! You can see the beautiful cabinet work he did in his old home on Custer. He refaced all of his kitchen cabinets. It's funny what a little run in with bad health can do to one's hobbies. He and mom moved into that beautiful new home with a beautfiul wood shop and he's not made a single thing since moving there. He says the move came about 10 years to late. He has taught me over and over again that it doesn't matter how much money you make or how important you are, time waits for no one! I remember once many years ago my mom told me when she was going to Hawaii for the first time - Oh Shell, don't wait til you can afford it, or til your thin enough or whatever because by the time you think you have everything you need in order to go, you're old and wrinkley and it just doesn't matter. Make traveling with your family a priority while you are young. Wayne and I have taken their advice and we have tried to squeeze in family vacations wherever we can. They may not be elaborate but they require us to spend quality time together and I think that's what my parents were talking about. So kids, all those trips to Powell, that's what it's all been about so I'm glad you've enjoyed them as much as we have. And this trip coming up to Disneyland, though I hope not to lose any of you like my parents lost us, I still look to build lots of good memories that you can one day write about and laugh!
It took a few minutes for Emma to get the hang of the licorice thing. First she just played with it and hit herself and others with it but then she discovered she could suck on it and it tasted yummy. Before long (really like 2-5 minutes) we went from a red vine to a soupy red slime. We had it everywhere, but dang it was fun. Thanks to my friend and office pal Susan because clean up was undoubtedly a two person operation!
I shouldn't be laughing but this was so dang funny. There really wasn't much of a clean spot left on the poor little thing. She was really happy until the clean up started.
Seriously, look at that smile!
