Happy Birthday Barbara

Well, it took a little doing, but we finally celebrated Annette's Mother's 90th Birthday. She was released from the hospital on Thursday and placed in an extended living home. She has a nice room and it is a beautiful building. We have a friend whose wife is there with alzheimers. She is happy doesn't remember much of anything. He told us that the staff was great and that he did some volunteer work there each week. We are now in the getting ready to go phase of the trip. We are looking forward to seeing Dixie on the 27th. We will be in Topeka on the 28th. We had a very scary incident occur last night with Jim, Kathleens husband. He and a riding buddy had stopped here on their way back to Wenatchee from the BMW rally in Redmond, OR. When they were about 15 miles north of here a wind shear hit Jim and blew him off the road. He was doing about 65 and he was able to walk away from it. Good clothing and helmut made the difference. He's stiff today and probably will be for a few days. He spent the night here. He has a few cuts and bruises, but he should mend OK. We thank the Lord that he is with us every step of the way. We'll see you soon.

Aren't Grandkids Fun?

We were at Kathleen's on Sunday and Grandma got to make cup cakes for Zmo and family. Jim was on a bike rally near Mt St. Helens. He arrived home in the late afternoon. It was very hot and the pool on the deck was used by people and animals alike. We had hamburgers on the grill and enjoyed the time together. Our plans got a little changed this last week. Annette's Mom was placed in the hospital early Thursday morning. We are taking everything day by day. The Birthday party for this weekend has changed. We are not sure what it will be like. She should be released from the hospital tomorrow. She probably will not be able to come out, so we will go into town to celebrate. We will know more tomorrow. We have also decided to cut back on the trip. We will be in Topeka for the Reunion, but will probably go right back home after. Kathleen and Jim and Zmo leave here on August 14th for Germany. We felt that with all that is going on, we should be close to home. Hopefully we will see those we planned to stop and see later. We are looking forward to the trip, but also know that things could change at a moments notice. See a lot of you soon.

The Fourth of July

It's that time of year again. We had 58 golf carts in the parade this year. As you can see, grandma is getting the goodies from the drivers for Zmo. She had quite a day. Time in the pool with Grandma and Cindy and then time in the pool with Grandpa and then out to the street to watch the Golf Cart Parade. This is becoming quite a show. All are decorated and most throw candy to the kids along the route. Zmo also had time to try out the new flower pot. All in all it was a wonderful day. We had ribs on the Traeger and good wine to go with it. What can get better than that. The wind was blowing so the evening fireworks were cancelled. It was too bad, but we have so much fuel on the ground it's better to be safe than sorry. Today was our big Firecracker Scramble and my team finished one shot out of the money. That's about normal. Annette's mother is turning 90 on the 17th of July. We are hosting a party for the kids and hope to have good weather, good food and good vibes. We are starting to plan for the trip to the reunion. We hope to get away from here about the 23rd or 24th of July. We will probably take four days to get to Topeka. We will stop at Dixie's on the way and maybe see Gary and Nancy there. We will spend time with Gary and Nancy on the way home. We are looking forward to seeing many friends along the way. Kathleen will leave Stuttgart tomorrow to fly home. Jim will pick her up in Seattle. She spent the Fourth in Brussels for a conference. We are looking forward to seeing her. We know they will be very busy this summer seeing old friends. I think they have to be back in Stuttgart in mid-August.