Lots of Grandkid Pictures

Tuesday, Aug. 12th - Tuesday, Oct. 7th

8 weeks with our grandkids, camped in their driveway.  It just doesn't get any better than that!  Mom and Dad get to work on remodeling projects on the house and other stuff they want to catch up with and we get to play all day!  Dawn bought them sports equipment, little basket things to throw and catch balls with.  But being true princesses, they found a better use for them.  Check out their creative high heels.

It's a new performance every day, sometimes a dozen new performances every day!

The nectarine assembly line.  Six boxes of them.  Hilary washed and sectioned them.  Grandpa pulled the sections apart and spread them out on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.  I covered them with more parchment and carried them up and down the stairs and stacked them in the freezer.  And the tasting girls gave their periodic approval.  It was a two day project, but the freezer is now full of bags of nectarines.

A peach of a pair!  Oops, that's nectarines.

We did a little field trip to the Capitol and then went to the park for a picnic and playtime.

Just a couple of Grandmas feeding the babies.

But I don't want to take a nap, Grandma!

I'm not sure if it's Grandpa they love or just the videos on his phone.

Visiting Mabel and the other horses at a friend's house before we went to the Country Club to swim with friends.

Another day we went to Spring Meadow Lake at the state park right in town.

So cute!

Sweet sisters!

Working on one of those home remodeling projects while the grands (both young and old) play.

Monkeys at the playground.

Grandpa calls her the serial squeezer!

But she's the best little Momma!

Cozy Cuddlers!

Busy Teenager!  One of the few times our #1 Grandson was home long enough to catch a picture of him.  

Taking the family out for Jeff's birthday supper.

Singin' in the rain, Just singin' in the rain.....

I think we men are outnumbered, Gramps.

Hey, isn't anybody gonna' play with me?

Hurry up Grandpa, so I can beat Grandma up the big slide!

The birthday girl can barely see over all the presents!

Oh look, new purple princess shoes,

And fairy wings and a new wand!

Both girls opened their presents since their birthdays are only two days apart, and exactly one month before Grandpa and Grandma's.  Needless to say their Frozen gowns and crowns were the biggest hit and they couldn't wait to put them on!

Elsa and Anna, they look just like them, don't they?

They looked a little worried when Dad started messing their ice cream cake up with candles and lighting them.

They got even a more worried when it looked like Carter was going to blow out the candles before they got to!

Showing off a little of their birthday loot!  Check out the purple and pink gloves and crowns to match their high heels and ballet slippers.

And the matching ruby red slippers like Dorothy. 

Decked out in some of the new birthday loot.

Putting sprinkles on the second cake that will go with us to the motel for a little swimming party.

We took the girls out for a little swimming party on Tierney's birthday

She and her friends had lots of fun!

Tally, on the other hand, was not quite as sure of her swimming buddy.  After pizza and cake we took all the kids home for a slumber party and Mom and Dad stayed at the motel.

We took the girls to open gymnastics a couple of times.

They loved it.

They are such monkeys!

If they can find anything to climb on, swing on or somersault over....

they are there!

Climb the wall and....

and just fall backwards into the foam pit!

The Queen and her entourage.

We walked over to campus and sat up on the hill to watch the Carroll College Homecoming half-time performance since Jeff was participating.

He was on a team in the bed races again this year.  They are in the purple shirts right behind the ROTC team that won.  They have to carry a mattress with someone on it from one end of the field to the other.

Grandpa decided to wash the RV before we hit the road again and the girls thought it would be a great opportunity to put their swim suits on and have a little fun.

The other Grandma and Grandpa arrived the evening before we left.

Looks like they will be in good hands and I'm pretty sure we could both do with a little rest, but we will surely miss them all.  It will be at least six months until we see them again, but we won't miss the cold and snow.  We will be heading down through Utah to Arizona.

More in a few days about Utah.  Snowbirds on the wing.

Tarra

Grandma Clem's 80th Birthday Party at Lake Elsie

Monday, June 30th - Monday, August 11th

Monday evening we arrived at my little brother and sister-in-law's lake place (Claude and Jodi's) for an extended visit.  We had been planning a surprise family reunion to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday for almost a year and she didn't have a clue.  On Wednesday night (July 23rd) Dawn arrived to spend a long weekend with us at the lake.  We had said we were going to have a Jamaica Party that weekend.  Then our kids and grandkids arrived on Thursday evening from Montana.  Mom was very surprised and just getting acquainted with the newest addition to their family. 

Meanwhile, we had just had a very big wind storm that afternoon and Morgan's tent with queen size air mattress in it had gone airborne, and flown all the way across the small lake behind us and gotten hung up in the reeds.   

When the wind went down in the evening, Claude launched his little duck boat in the ditch across the road and went to retrieve it.

It took a while with his little 9 HP motor to tow back the water logged tent, but his trusty dog, Gunner, couldn't wait to swim out to meet him when he got near.

Once he got it close to shore, it took a group effort to drag it out of the water and back across the road to the yard.

Kind of heavy!

A little soggy and one broken pole, but otherwise in pretty good shape.  It should be dried out in time for Wee Fest next week, Morgan!

When all that excitement was over, my brother from Ohio arrived.

He just came walking into our RV where we were all visiting wearing a Jamaican hat and dreadlocks, and Mom was just laughing, wondering what kind of nonsense we were up to now.

She looked at him three times before she said, "Oh my God, it's Gary!"  

She was totally shocked that they had come all the way from Ohio.

And Tierney was scared of that weird old man with the funny hat and hair!  I can't imagine why?

Me having a little fun in the lake with my granddaughters. 

Grandpa John and their Dad watching them play in the water.

Their latest addition is a little foster boy they got when he was two months old.  He's an easy baby, cute and lovable and we all adore him.

Great-grandma Clem playing in the water with Claude's grandson, Braylon.

Saturday arrived and it was time for the big surprise party.  The grandkids put up pictures of Grandma Clem at the beach, fishing, kissing a dolphin and zip-lining in Jamaica last January at Brooke's wedding.

Someone came in the camper and said, "Grandma, could you come out here a minute?"

She came out the door and was just flabbergasted to see her brother, Adam, and his wife from Billings.  We were all flabbergasted, as none of us knew they were coming.

My three brothers with Adam and Joann.  Dewey, Gary and Claude.  What handsome Jamaican dudes!

Then a few of her lady friends from Milnor arrived.  And then her favorite fishing buddies from Lisbon.  It was just one surprise after another for her.  Later in the afternoon,  Mom's niece, Karen, and her husband, George, showed up from Billings.  Another total surprise for all of us!  It was so wonderful all the people that showed up.  Mom was so happy to see everyone!

Claude said, "I hope she doesn't have a coronary!"

Lacey brought out the birthday cakes, the big one with the Jamaican beach scene for Grandma and a smaller one for Gary's wife, Maelinda, whose birthday it actually happened to be that day.

Thank goodness we didn't put 80 candles on it for her to blow out!

Lacey entertaining the old folks.  What a good hostess!

My girls and son-in-law.

Robbie (Claude's son-in-law) having cake with the kiddies.

More of the clan on the patio down by the beach.

Braylon taking the girls for a ride in his car and Connie and Gary Martin's grandson.

Hold on tight.

Oh no, the girls are gonna' drive!

Yeah, they'll probably need a push.

Family fun at the lake.  It just doesn't get any better than that!  Thank you so much Claude and Jodi for hosting all the festivities and for letting us stay for so long and making us feel so welcome!  We really appreciate it.  When our kids got back to Montana, Carter had gotten an old car from someone that was named "Tina".  So Tierney decided to name the family Tahoe, "Elsie".  I think that says something about how much fun she had at Lake Elsie!

It was really fun for Gary, who probably hasn't seen the people from Billings for over 30 years.

Adam and Joann came back for Sunday brunch, so we had a nice visit with them before they left for home.  What a great weekend!  

The next week we went back to Sioux Falls to have some work done on the RV.  While we were there, we made a quick trip down to Iowa to visit friends and relatives.  Thanks to Bruce and Gerry for all your hospitality again.  We saw friends, Bob and Elva, in Greenfield and John's cousins, Ralph and Patti, and cousins, Virgil and Louise, in Des Moines.  On Saturday we drove out to Lake Panorama (northwest of Des Moines) to visit friends, Earl and Cindy, at their summer camp spot.

On our way back to Sioux Falls on Sunday, we stopped in Ruthven, Iowa to visit John's Aunt at the assisted living place, and his cousins, Denny and Kathy.  I took this picture kitty corner from the assisted living place there.  I wasn't quite sure what to think about this, if they were trying to make a statement or what?

We went to Hu Hot for supper with Dawn.  Then we headed back to Claude and Jodi's lake place on Monday.  We left the following Sunday, August 10th, to head for Montana again.  We stopped in Valley City to pick up a used car for my Uncle Tony.  I drove it to his place in Lewistown, Montana for him.  We spent the night visiting them and left for Helena on Tuesday.   He just had open-heart surgery about a month ago and is looking and feeling pretty good. We will be in Helena about two months, then heading for Seattle, Portland and California.

Happy Trails,

Tarra

P.S.

Family videos below.  My first attempt at videos.  Didn't turn out very well.  Audio didn't come through, but I thought some of the family might like to see them anyway.   I have a couple of better ones, but they must be too long, because the blog wouldn't take them.