What to do on Mother's Day weekend

Annie and Tanner stopped by on Saturday afternoon on the way to visit friends in the Cities, leaving clothes and pj's for Miles and Westy, who were at Grandma Doreen's house. Dad/Larry/Gpappy had just returned from a motorcyle ride to Ottawa, so Annie took advantage and hopped on for an action photo. Where's your helmet, missy?

Grandma Doreen delivered Miles and Westy after a afternoon of playing at her house. She told us that the boys had managed to do everything they wanted to do, except take a trip to the Gustavus campus. So, that was our destination on a beautiful sunny afternoon. 

First stop was Lund Center to take a look at the basketball court, which is being resurfaced. The wood was completely sanded, there was tape marking the court lines, and the smell of fresh paint was in the air. Miles was in awe of the yards and yards and yards of blue painter's tape on the floor. He must have said, "That's a lot of tape!" at least ten times. Yup, Miles, that's a LOT of tape!

Next stop was the football field. Miles and Westy ran around the entire field after tracing the GUSTIES letters.

Miles collapsed at the end of the run, sunning himself on the letter S while Westy jumped over him a few times.

Our last stop was the hockey arena, but we could only peek through a window because the doors were locked. Workers were busy setting up sound equipment for the evening's Africa Jam concert. It was a disappointment not to go in and look for a zamboni.

While Miles and Westy were doing the athletic field/arena tour at Gustavus, Ethan and Owen were doing the same on Saturday in Spring Valley. On Friday they cheered for Uncle Josh at his graduation in Winona, and had family fun time overnight with Grandma Dar and Grandpa Dean at a motel in Rochester. On the way back to St. Peter, they took a detour through SV.

Here are two Winona State fans tossing the football at Reps Field, the same football field GGpa CReps used to mow with a push mower the night before football games way back when. Beautiful day for football!

 

And here are some Reps descendents in front of the Reps Field sign! All these years it's still strange to see the name Kingsland Knights instead of Spring Valley Wolves.

Charlie, Angie, Ethan, and Owen took a tour of the town, hoping to score some crescent doughnuts at the Spring Valley Bakery. But alas, they discovered this heart-breaking notice on the front door:

Why yes, it DID cause an inconvenience!! It's not time for summer vacation, people!! All was not lost, though, because the A & W was open so C, A, E, and O could enjoy root beer floats. Not the same as crescent doughnuts or snowflake rolls, but still good.

It's Mom's Day weekend, and I got to see two of the three moms in our family in person, and the third one on FaceTime. Okay, I'm a mom, too, but it's the moms of the little cousins who are most important. Thanks to everyone for a day filled with flowers, cards, doughnuts and FaceTime. 

!Me gustan las flores!

Artwork by Hannah

Artwork by Vivian

Kid Snippet

As we were getting ready to leave the doughnut fest at CP and APP's house today, Owen asked in his adorable conversational style, "What are you going to do for the rest of the day, Grandma?" I responded, "I think I might read and then take a nap."

Looking disappointed, Owen said, "Oh, you're supposed to do other things on Mother's Day. At least Auntie Annie got some golf clubs."

Now we are six

Every time I turn around, one or more of the little kiddos is older. This time it's Owen and Ethan. Weren't they just two?

Happy 6th Birthday,  E and O. We love you!

3 x 2 = cute

Three favorite recent photos of pairs of cousins....

 The butterfly chicas

 

 Otown boys with a chalk-art representation of Mommy's schnuggar 

and the hairstyle that camouflages it (Trust me...you had to be there.)

 

Saturday soccer siblings 

 

Grandma Bene, who would be 90

Fun to see these texts exchanged between CP, ESPD, and AG today on the occasion of the anniversary of Grandma Bene's birthday. I had to stop and think, then do the math to remember that she would be 90. I'm so sorry she didn't get to meet the little cousins, because she'd have laughed herself silly over their cuteness and their antics--which is exactly how she reacted to E, C, and A when they were kids. 

So funny that CP remembered the chocolate pop and Elisabeth knew that it was Canfield's DIET chocolate flavor. I tried a sip once...

You're way too generous referring to Grandma Bene's potential demeanor at age 90 as "cute and feisty". Ha ha-- she'd be even crankier than I am!

An April weekend

We missed out on a chance to Skype with two girls who were having a porch picnic on Saturday. Gpappy and I were outside and didn't hear the phone, so the picnic went on without us. Looks like Vivi and Hannah were content to talk to each other while enjoying their lunch. We had a great phone conversation with Vivi today to make up for it, and a quick hello from Hannah.

 

 
The Otown cousins invited us for lunch and play time today. Charlie had to work, so Angie and the St. Peter cousins rode with us. So fun to hear Owen and Ethan read Elephant and Piggy books to us in the car. Owen checked his watch every few minutes to make sure it was in synch with the clock in the car. We always knew what time it was!

The kiddos had fun riding their scooters and other vehicles, playing hide and seek in the house, and searching the neighborhood for fresh worms. They ended up with quite a large collection of the creepy crawlers, some of which traveled back to Bunker Lane with us.

Westy and Miles found worms and also some rocks

Miles and Ethan were the champion worm finders. Ethan added a little sand and grass to his container so the worms would have an interesting environment.

No, they're not eating worms. Annie baked some delicious brownies for dessert. Okay, so the kids who forgot to wash their hands had some wormy residue with their brownies, but that's how it works when you've got a lot going on.

Fun to spend time with Tanner, Annie and Angie today. Charlie, we missed you, but we're confident you were able to give each of next year's Gusties the exact dorm or apartment he or she wanted. That should make for a harmonious 2015-16 academic year for Res Life.   :o)

Grandchild #7

It's not what you think. Our newest grandchild is Flat Miles, who has come to stay with us for two weeks. He showed up in the mail today, ready for adventures. While he's with us, we'll document some of his activities (only the appropriate ones) in words and pictures. Toward the end of April, Flat Miles will go back through the mail to Mrs. Nelson's first grade classroom, where Regular Miles' classmates will share what their flat selves have been doing while out in the world. Regular Miles, we're excited to get to know Flat Miles!

Happy Easter!

It's Easter Sunday. How did April come so fast? 

Thanks a bunch to Charlie, Angie, Ethan, and Owen for Easter brunch at their house today. And to Annie and Charlie for organizing the egg hunt. Hilarious to watch the boys run full speed ahead, often right past eggs in plain sight. I'm just glad no salamanders climbed inside any of the plastic eggs.

Ralph the Bunny happened to send me a note about the egg hunt, in part to remind the kiddos to brush their teeth extra-well tonight. Ha ha!

Here they are, all set with their shoes on and baskets in hand. Grandpappy was as eager as the little guys because he knew there would be candy involved, too.

Here they are again, after the hunt. Time to divide up candy and pick noses. 

Hannah and Elisabeth spent the weekend with Hannah's BFF James, in Colorado. They're back in NC now, and as you can see by this photo, the sisters were glad to be reunited at the airport. 

That's all I've got, but if Angie, Annie, or Charlie send me any other pics, I'll add them.

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I don't ever post two blogs on the same day, but it took me until today to get organized enough to write a short entry about our trip to NC last week. If you didn't see that entry, it's right before this one.

PS: Blogger isn't working so well today, so spacing and alignment on this entry and the last one aren't publishing the way I laid them out. It happens too often, and it drives me cuckoo!!