A Day of Rest and Fun

We had lunch at Grammy's and Pa's house this afternoon.  Lunch included dessert.

Julia found my memory tiles and asked if I would play with her.

Grammy joined us in Go Fish.

Somehow people found my pictures.

After lunch, the resting part of Sunday kicked in.  The truth is, a child borrowed my camera, and I found this picture on my memory stick.

Will, home for the first time all weekend, joined in the fun.

He even won a few games.

Mexican Train came out.  I won again.

Then the instruments came out.

A lot happened this weekend, but none of it involved a television.

Ben and I were really impressed.

Listening and participating was a family activity.

Sirius thinks he's a member of the family.

He's also Dave's biggest fan.

Will flawlessly played a very complicated piece of music.

And then, all of a sudden, it was time to say good-bye.

Tropical Storm Patricia

Papa Ben and I are having the best time, even though a tropical storm was in the area yesterday.

Julia couldn't wait for it to arrive, so she ran in the sprinkler.

This is how she dries off.  With the storm bringing a lot of rain, we were pretty much housebound for two days.

But if Patricia brings lemons, we sure made lemonade.

Dave and Sirius picked up Papa Ben Friday morning from the hotel.

They attended an event in Baytown.  It was so special that they both shaved.

Afterward, they drove by the house we rented when Davy was born.  Ben's boss was in Aruba and he asked us to take care of it.

After that, they drove by the first house we owned.  A tree used to be on the far left.  It was cut down after it fell on our house during Thanksgiving of 1975.

I remembered a picture of Mom and me on the front porch.  A lot has happened in the last 40 years.

While Ben and Dave were gone, I made cookies.

Julia played hookey from preschool and helped me.  Nathan enjoyed the fruits of our labors when he got home.

No adult made any attempt at all to ration the cookies.  We ate them non-stop for two days.

In fact, and I literally mean "in fact," some of us had them for lunch the next day.

Carolyn made my favorite pizza for dinner on Friday night.  Will had it for breakfast on Saturday before he left to take the ACT.

Dave made ice cream.  But it had to freeze overnight.  Dang.

Friday night, we played Mexican Train.

This game brings out the best in all of us.

However, winning is the most fun of all.

Saturday morning, Melanie was waiting for me at 5;50 when I arrived.

The two of us made bagels for breakfast.

Carolyn warmed the plates in the oven while she made eggs.

Efforts were made to ensure that breakfast would be a fine meal.

Julia knew someone was making a special surprise for me.

Yes, it's true.  Warm plates in the oven meant I had to have a silver napkin ring.

That was Melanie's idea.  I am sure Mom approved.

The bagels, of course, were fabulous.

No breakfast is complete without Dave's hot chocolate.

I didn't eat my bagel this way, but it appeared to be delicious.

That afternoon, a lot of things happened.  For example, homework.

Music practice.
Meanwhile, the rain poured and poured.

Football.  Fortunately, BYU won.

A friend in the ward actually built this mask for Matt.  The jaw moves.  Matt and Dave made the gloves.  There are a lot more parts, which they worked on Friday night and Saturday.  This isn't for trick or treating.  The costume is for a special event.

A little Studio C happened.

Will passed through the house for a few hours.  I believe this was Monster Minecraft.  I didn't believe them when they said it was homework.

We played a lot of Memory.  It's fun to cream me.

As they get older, or maybe as I get older, I'm much easier to beat.

But I do win on occasion, and I'm pretty obnoxious about it, too.

Mexican Train is one of my favorite games.  I won this round, too.

Will joined us for a few games, but he left before dinner.

Of course, dinner was butter chicken.

The kids know how to make fancy drinks.

Tornado warnings blurting on everyone's phone, including mine, really rattled me, not to mention several discussions of contingency plans.  But by dinner, the storm had moved on, and the need to console Grandma had passed.

We enjoyed Dave's gormet ice cream.  There are toffee bits in there.  This is Melanie's bowl. Mine was already empty.

Nate got tired of beating me at memory tiles, so he beat Grandpa.

Julia, however, was happy to win all evening.