August 14, 2008

• A lot of these photos are mostly for the extended family to see.

  
  

  Also, if anyone is interested, if you click on “videos” above you will find two other videos I took.  One is a little longer version of the girls practicing.  The second one I took on Tuesday, before we left for the motel.  This was the last time we were together.  As you will see, I am still not sure how to work the video mode of my camera.  Couldn’t remember how to turn it off!  It is over 2 minutes long, so those of you with dial-up connections may not be able to see it—I don’t really know.  Many of you who have done videos say you hate your voices.  And when I listen, I think you all have beautiful voices.  Me, though, I REALLY hate my voice.  It is so high and grating, and I have an awful giggle!  Anyway, the cast of “characters” (and they really are that!!!) in this video include “little” Kenny, Greta, Judy, Jacob, Jeff and Ken.  I wanted little Kenny to talk, because at 11 1/2 his voice is starting to change, and he is growing like a weed, and wanted our local kids and grands to see and hear him.

  
  

  Anyway, on to the pictures.

  
  

  This is Ken’s brother, Warren, and his wife, Doris.  They live in Chippewa Falls, near Eau Claire—about 4 hrs.from us, on the way to Minneapolis.  Warren has a collapsed lung, and also has cancer.  He has lost a lot of weight, but still has his wonderful disposition.  He had pancreatic cancer a few years ago, and had successful surgery.  He put weight back on and was looking good.  This winter he developed a MRSA staph infection, and we almost lost him.  He started coming back from that ordeal, when his lung collapsed, and they found cancer again.  He has had chemo, and may have to have more.  Knowing him, we were surprised he decided to do this, but he said it isn’t for himself, it is for his 3 grandkids—-so he and they have more precious time with each other.

  
  

  

  
  

  Warren loves poppyseed filled doughnuts—especially those from one of our stores here in town.  So we ordered a dozen and took them to him.  We had lunch with them, and Warren enjoyed the doughnuts for dessert.  Doris remarked that it was too bad their son, Keith, was on the road—-he would have loved them, too.  Not two minutes after she said that, there was a semi pulling into their side driveway.  Keith was home.  Then, just before we left, another son came by on his motorcycle.  Klint lives near Green Bay.  So we got to see two of their four sons.  Was great. 

  
  

  Here are Klint (who has his own construction business) and Keith, the semi driver.

  
  

  

  
  

  Then, of course, I had to get  picture of the two cane-wielding brothers.  A good friend of Warren’s carved his beautiful cane for him.  Ken’s is from St. Vinnie’s resale shop!

  
  

  

  
  

  Sat. night we had a nice relaxing evening at the motel.  Sunday, we finally got to see the kids.  The first picture I took was a profile of Judy.  If you remember, she is due the 24th of this month.

  
  

  

  
  

  They are living several miles out in the country.  Jeff’s friend has some acreage there.  The friend uses the property mostly for recreation.  Several of his siblings keep RV’s there, and often spend weekends there, so you may see other RV’s in the pictures or in the video.  They have picnic tables set up in one area, along with a big fire pit and a hammock in amongst the trees. This area is set up on a hill, and has great views.

  
  

  This is standing at the back of the bus, looking west.  The main road is waaay down at the end of the road you see—about 1/4 mile away.  The closer road is a shorter area road, which has almost no traffic at all.  I am standing about 1/2 way down the driveway.

  
  

  

  
  

  I turned around and took this picture looking up the hill to the bus.

  
  

  

  
  

  Off to the right of where I am standing in the above picture is a large metal building, and behind that is another wonderful view, which I show below.  Wouldn’t mind a home sitting here with this view—-in the summer, that is!    Jeff and Ken are walking around, looking at the property.  This is looking southwest.

  
  

  

  
  

  Sunday evening Judy made lasagna for dinner.  Haven’t had that in a couple years.  Yummy!!  Then back to the motel.

  
  

  On Monday, Hannah came by with her new boyfriend.  First time we had heard about him or seen him.  She had gone to school with Ed for many years, and he was always just a “pal”.  He is also a good friend of grandson, Jordan.  Since Hannah and Jordan were sharing an apartment until August, Hannah and Ed have been seeing a lot of each other.  He had been wanting a relationship that was more than “pals” for quite a while, but she thought the idea was “weird”—he was a childhood friend.  She finally gave in to the idea, and they have started dating.  He is a nice guy.  He joined the Marine Reserves, and has just finished boot camp.  It was hard to get a serious picture of him.  He says he has always made goofy faces in photos.  I wore him down, and told him I was going to keep taking pictures until I got a good one!!!

  
  

  

  
  

  After this, Mindy came and the girls rehearsed.  You have seen that video.

  
  

  That night was the dinner party at Jeff and Judy’s friends’ home.  Linda is italian and LOVES to entertain.  Very friendly and outgoing. I really liked her.  Here she is putting on the finishing touches to the dinner.  Grilled turkey was the main dish, and it was delicious!

  
  

  

  
  

  Meanwhile, down in the basement, the Packer game was on the TV, so everyone was congregated there.  That also just happened to be where the bar is!   Roger is a liquor distributor for the LaCrosse area, so he has a VERY well-stocked bar.  Anything and everything a person could want to drink. 

  
  

  Some of the group. 

  
  

  Grands Kenny and Jordan on the left, son Jeff behind Emily in red (Jordan’s girlfriend), Roger, our host,  is hidden behind Emily’s right, Mindy is half hidden by Judy in front, Ken on right.  Jacob is mostly hidden behind Judy on the right.

  
  

  

  
  

  When Jacob was working at Olive Garden, he was a bartender for a couple years.  So he was the bartender for the party.  He made me a “virgin” Mojito—since I cannot have alcohol with my meds.  Very good.  Jacob is the one in Chiropractic college.  He just moved to San Jose, CA at Christmastime.  His classmates there have nicknamed him “Davenport”, since he transferred from the chiropractic college campus in Davenport, IA.

  
  

  

  
  

  Emily and Mindy

  
  

  

  
  

  Emily and Jordan—-she is a beauty, and so sweet, too.  We hadn’t met her before, either.  Jordan has joined a community singing and dancing performing group, and that is where he met Emily. Jordan stays sunburned all summer.  He works outside, and burns despite constantly using sunscreen—hence his red face.

  
  

  

  
  

  On Tuesday, our last day there, we had a relaxing day by the bus again.  Barbecued in the evening.  The kids took their cat along on their travels, and Mocha has adjusted very well.  But they discovered she picked up fleas recently.  So, on Tuesday they had to shampoo her for the second time.  Got rid of most of the fleas the first time around, but still found some on her, so had to go through it again.  Any of you who have cats, know that 99% of them become wild when you try to introduce them bodily to water.  No different for Mocha. 

  
  

  In the pail.

  
  

  

  
  

  Working the shampoo through her fur thoroughly.  She looks like a drowned rat!!

  
  

  

  
  

  Poor thing was so traumatized that she slept for the rest of the day.

  
  

  Drying the cat off, and relaxing and visiting.  Jeff was working on a project while we were there.  See the car hauler trailer in the middle of the picture?  Jeff bought a motorcyle while they have been here, and he needed to figure a way to haul it.  They have their bicycles on the front of the bus, and the car is hauled behind.  Don’t know if you can see it, but near the hitch of the hauler he put a cross piece that the motorcycle can sit on in front of where the car goes.  Wish I had taken a picture of the motorcycle on it just before we left. 

  
  

  

  
  

  And, finally, a family picture of the ones that were there at the time we left.  They had wanted to get a family picture at the party the night before, but Hannah had to work until 10, and Jordan had to leave before that.  So they were going to try again on Wednesday—-but we were gone by then, so we couldn’t get one of all of them, either.  I hope they managed to get one.

  
  

  Judy, Jeff, Gretta (14 1/2), Jacob (24 1/2) in back; Kenny (11 1/2) in front

  
  

  

  
  

  They wanted us to stay another day, because the girls were going to perform Wednesday night at a bar in LaCrosse.  But they were not going to perform until 9:15, which was too late for Ken, and the bar allowed smoking, which I would not have been able to handle.  So we didn’t stay. 

  
  

  They will still be moving to Nashville in October.  We pray things go well for them there.  This weekend they will be performing up near Hayward.  Then Jeff and Judy will move down near Richland Center in preparation for the baby’s birth. 

  
  

  That is it!!  Had rain off and on all the way home on Wed., but that was fine.  Since we leave so early in the morning, we didn’t have to worry about driving into the sun—it was cloudy all the way.

  
  

  Hope I haven’t bored you all.  I did warn you beforehand that this was mostly so the family could see the pictures!!  lol

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Oh, by the way, Ken is out right now looking at a motor home he saw for sale!!!!!

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 1:25 pm
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