Fun Stuff

Soccer Fun!

Wesley is a soccer-a-holic!  He plays year round, indoor and out,  he refs, and he coaches!  It’s fun to go to his indoor games, except that they are often so late at night.  I have asked myself, what kind of people are willing to play soccer at all hours of the night.  But I know, it’s Wesley!  It was not a surprise then that while Kenny and Becky were home, Wes invited Kenny to play at one of his games.  I think this one began at 9:30 so it was doable!  Turns out that sometimes even people that play at night don’t show up to play at night.  The opposing team was short quite a few players.  So Kenny and Wesley ended up playing against each other. 

This is Kenny, Tim Pine, and Wes.  Poor Kenny, not only a little out of shape, he was not used to the high altitude he left behind.  He was winded!  Oh and did I mention that this is a co-ed team?  Tim gets to play with his wife, Carrie!

Fun game, fun times. Nate and Patrick Pine showed up at the end of the game.  It was great to see all these young men together again.  They have known each other since Wesley and Tim were in the toddler nursery together!!  My heart thoroughly enjoyed watching them catch up!

Wesley, Kenny, Nate, Tim and Patrick

Tea Time Fun!

Wesley and Kenny had planned a day of skiing together.  It was a perfect opportunity for Becky to join us  girls for our Christmas Tea.  We went to the Briarwood Inn in Golden.  It was a fun afternoon and an opportunity to enjoy time with Becky.

A second Daughter!

Sherry, Becky, Mom. Robin and Jo

Robin and Jo, I love these two a lot!

Church Fun!

We now attend a different church than where the kids had grown up at.  Our current Pastor was out of town over Christmas and his fill in was Jeff Musgrave, the Pastor from our past church!  What fun for Kenny!  Pastor and Anna also got to meet Becky for the first time.  Again, I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with people who have blessed our lives!

Becky, Kenny, Jeff and Anna Musgrave

Family Dinner Fun!

Before Kenny and Becky returned to FL. Wally had to smoke some ribs for them! We had Mom and Dad and Jo join us for dinner and a last visit!

(Sadie managed to snag a bone and enjoy the ribs too!)

Yep, we had fun times!!

Holiday Muddle

Well let’s see, where do I start?  I’m sure Thanksgiving is a distant memory to most people and we are quickly coming up on Valentine’s Day.  I just saw this little quote from a project on Pinterest, “Christmas is down but love is in the air,” and I thought wait a minute!  Christmas is over for me but it is not “down.”  All that to say,  I’m sharing about Christmas!  Please, don’t try to understand!  What I can tell you is that I very much enjoyed our Christmas this year…a whole lot! 

Wally even got into the spirit a bit an decorated the tree in front of our apartment/the office.  We had several added activities like every Christmas, but I do not recall having the added stress. We had a fun Christmas party with our Sunday School class and did a little candle light caroling.  JoEllen had just come home and she came along with us. 

We also had a first ever Christmas Open House for our Bible Study Fellowship Leader’s group.  I went on my own since Wally was hunting.  (Actually on his way home with a nice cow Elk at the time. I won’t share any hunting photos while reindeer might be on some people’s mind!)

I suppose the highlight was that Kenny and Becky came home this year.  That also meant that we saw a lot more of Wesley than we normally do.  It was fun having the boys together again and I remember laughing a lot! 

For some reason that I now have a hard time remembering,  Wally and I kept saying we wanted to make sugar cookies.  I do not know when the last time was that I actually mixed up dough and cut out and decorated sugar cookies. I’m not sure what Wally and I must have been imagining, but I do recall why it’s been so long since we did this…they are a lot of work! 

I think I tripled the batch because I wanted to give a plate of cookies to each of our gate guards over the Holiday shift.  I thought we’d never finish cutting cookies out, but I did not want the laughter to stop!  I laughed so much at the boys that night!

Kenny and Becky also have a sheltie named Bella.  We sort of wanted her to come along, but it was so expensive!!  They missed Bella a lot and Sadie was the happy recipient of all their attention!

These photos are Christmas Eve with my family.  We had a nice photo op of the girls, but I guess we did not do family pictures this year…we need to work on that Robin!  And of course, one of my greatest gifts year round, Mom and Dad!

I used to take a picture every Christmas morning of the kids by the tree.  That’s harder to do in our apartment where we are short of space and sometimes of kids! So here is just the kids on Christmas morning…

One thing I love about Christmas gifts is the wrapping, so  I just had to share the exquisite gift wrapping of our gift from Wesley!

And with that, I can now say Christmas is “down”!  I hope I have not put you all in the Christmas spirit…since it’ll be a few days until it rolls around again! 

Mountains

This past Sunday I was driving to church…alone.  Wally was finishing up plowing and shoveling from a fast two inch snow storm that came through overnight. It was our second storm already and followed a week of record breaking low, low temps for November.  It felt like deep winter, but my heart warmed as I drove to the west, the foothills were gorgeous covered in the fresh snow.  Then I had a warm memory hit me…a memory of driving toward these same mountains this summer with the grandkids in tow.  Ben and Andrea had been in town and I kept telling Nolan and Elaine (mostly Elaine), “We’re going to go the mountains!”  The day of our outing finally arrived.  We started out with Elaine and one of the twins in our car.  Ben and Andrea followed behind us.  The mountains seemed so far away and little ones don’t really have a sense of time and distance.  About thirty minutes into the drive we were winding around Coal Creek Canyon.  Elaine’s excited voice sounded from the back seat, “Grandma, look we are at the mountains!!”  “Yes!” I replied, just as excited that she noticed!  After a few minutes of staring out the window she asked, “How much does it cost to come to the mountains?!”  Thankfully that pleasure is just a tank of gas!  That is where the warm part of memory ended.  Because after that we had about two hours of…Elaine: “When are we going to stop?”  Me: “We’re going to keep climbing higher and higher until we reach the very top.”  Elaine: “Do you mean that very top over there?”  Me: “Yes, way, way over there.  We are going to keep climbing higher and higher!”  Repeat!  Quite a few times!  The problem with Colorado mountains is that it does take awhile to reach the very top, but it’s worth it when you do.

When we reached Estes Park took the River Walk into the shops.  We spent time enjoying cotton candy (I love being a Grandma!) and salt water taffy and letting little legs run and stretch!

Then we got back in the car and journeyed on, climbing higher and higher!  Along the way a herd of elk was spotted and those New Yorkers jumped out of the car and went running across the tundra to get a closer look!

At last we were at the very top!!

We had a little picnic and photo shoot.  This is a great shot of the kids…not sure what the parents were doing! 

 
But then here’s a good one of the parents, and typical of the kids!  It’s hard to believe Nolan was smiling and looking at the camera…rare!

And here’s a very young set of grandparents!!  Life is good at the very top!

August Anniversaries

In August we celebrated the anniversary of several things in our lives. I’ll start with the “youngest” and move upward.  We marked, rather than celebrated the first Birthday of Sadie!  I know there are a lot of dog lovers out there and I would not describe myself that way, but Sadie would never believe that!  She is pretty spoiled!  And I did actually think about throwing a party for all the doggy lovers in our community, I just had a time crunch!  We really enjoy having Sadie…except for her barking!  We’re working on that though.  She has a fun personality and never ending limit of play!  She has been welcomed by the residents of Polo Club North…we’re pretty sure they like her better than us!  She has been given countless toys and stuffed animals, one woman ordered her a leather collar with a brass plate that has her name engraved on it, people drop by the office and ask to take her on a walk and whenever we go outside, she heads for the guard house for a treat!  She definitely has it made! 

August 13 was our third anniversary of coming to work here at Polo Club North.  I cannot believe it has been three years!  I still remember the exact moment that Wally phoned me to tell me we had been given the job.  We had already been through the application process and another couple was chosen.  And I was so relieved!!  A week later us girls were at our annual Tea outing and we were taking the photo below when the phone in my pocket rang.  Wally asked if I were sitting down, because the other couple backed out and we were being offered the job.  I responded with “I’ll have to call you back in a minute, I need to smile for this picture!”  That is a true story!

It has taken me every bit of the past three years to settle into our new lifestyle.  There have been so many changes and so many difficulties and so many evidences of God’s grace.  It is those evidences of God’s grace that actually confirms for me that this is exactly where we are supposed to be.  When I walk down the stairs in the morning and enter the office, I no longer have the feeling that I am entering the Twilight Zone, so that’s progress!  But Wally and I do keep saying that we need to start writing a book because many of our experiences seem like they are an episode from the “Twilight Zone!”

Over Labor Day, Wally and I went to Oklahoma to visit his Mom.  It was a nice visit…despite the humidity.  We did nothing really but chat, a little shopping, and I think we got Grams hooked on Downton Abbey.  We went to church together, which we had not done in a long time.  On the way to church, we went to the graveyard to visit Pop’s grave.  August 25 was the fourth anniversary of his passing from this life to his eternal home.
 

August 14 Wally and I celebrated thirty-three years of marriage.  I cannot even believe that it has been thirty three years!  I mean, that makes me seem like, so old!!  On the inside, I still feel like the young thing that said “I do” to a motorcycle ride about thirty-four-ish years ago.  I always consider that our first date.  Wally and I had been exchanging letters for a couple of months.  The high light of the week was when the phone rang late at night, (you know, when the long distance rates dropped.) and Wally was on the other end.  Then one day he just drives up on his motorcycle and surprises me!   He had gone home to Indiana and was riding his bike out to California where he was stationed with the Air Force. 

We rode up to Estes Park and over Trail Ridge Road.  We got to the visitor’s center at the top, and that was as far as we could go because there was a wall of snow that needed to be cleared from the road.  So we had our picture taken and rode on home. 

This past spring Wally wanted to take that same ride again…a “then and now”experience.  I kind of think of it as “we were so skinny then and we are getting old now!”  But then I guess that was the idea, to grow old together!

Recently I saw this little quote and jotted it down…”Love isn’t found, it is built.”  I think I can agree with that.  Because long after the thrill of a long distance romance has worn off, what would I have?  But building something together, that lasts as long as we last! 

Happy Anniversary to Us!

The Grands Visit

Two weeks ago I was looking forward to having Ben and Andrea visit…and all the grands!  Now I can hardly believe they have come and gone!  They came to be part of  the Mission’s Conference at Beth Eden Baptist Church across town.  We knew it was going to be a full schedule at the conference and that we would have to share them.  We picked them up at the airport and had them for one night.  Then off they went.  Sunday evening they presented their video of  church planting in the Bronx.  We took my parents and Jo and went over for the Sunday night service.  The following Sunday night, Ben preached at the close of the conference and we all traipsed across town for that…and brought more family along!  Interesting thing about going into a strange church….you are not strangers.  You are brothers and sisters in Christ, likeminded.  To find we had old friends and acquaintances at Beth Eden was just icing on the cake!

The first afternoon together we took a walk around the neighborhood.  The kids were very much into walking Sadie.  The twins were very much into moving!  We had a couple of close calls near the edge of the pond when we went to find ducks.  I do have to say, Sadie was the best dog.  She never did snap at the kids…even when they were in her food dish.  She played keep away and chase with them…I think she thought we had brought her home a new toy, or four!

We did get to snag Elaine and Nolan for a couple of days.  And of course they love to go out with Grandpa in the golf cart!  We had a good time.

 
I did kind of forget just how low to the ground toddlers are.  I don’t think I have bent over so much in a long time.  One night Wes came by and we all went to get a burger together.  Elaine was squirming pretty good in her booster and Grandpa had to get on her not to move or she would fall!  Not more than ten minutes later, she head planted off the booster right into the floor!  A couple more things I forgot about toddlers, they cry loudly in public and everyone looks at you like tortured the poor child.  And then just how badly you feel because they are hurt!  As I was trying to comfort her I said, “Elaine, that’s why Grandpa wanted you to sit still”  and between sobs she replied, “I wasn’t moving, I was rocking!”  Free ice cream sundaes for her and Nolan did help a bit.

Elaine is very much into “helping” with whatever you are doing.  And Nolan is very much into doing what Elaine does…and adding some spice to the activity.  So we filled the bird feeders together, we fed the dog together, we watered the plants together, and we made spaghetti sauce for dinner together!  Elaine is a non stop talker, so I heard about all the things she helps her Mommy do.  I loved every minute of it!!  Elaine is also into “set ups” with her toys.  She takes it kind of serious, and she likes to use all the toys.  She has an interesting negotiating strategy with Nolan.  Nolan, however,  does not take too much and his strategy is to knock over her set ups!  

Now just  take a look at the work to put all these little people in place.  Not to mention the imagination of a horse and carriage in  a castle tower.

One day we were supposed to meet Andrea at the zoo as one of the activities the mission conference was providing.  Since Jo is home, I invited her to come along.  The day was very rainy…and the zoo outing was cancelled.  So my parents and Jo just hung around with us to enjoy the great-grands!  Nolan loves puzzles and I still had a bunch that Wally had made years ago.  Nolan was not stumped by any of them…even the backwards number puzzle.  Turns out Jo is pretty good at working a puzzle herself! 

On Wednesday, it was still cool and drizzly but we went to the zoo.  I always like to go when its cooler because the animals are active.  We had a great time!

I tried all day to get a picture of all the kids together.  That is a tough job.  But finally, in Tropical Discovery, I was successful!

^{Grandkids are just Grand!}