Family. I love family. I don't always like the long drives to get to the family, but I love it when I get there. We came up Friday night to Kentucky to visit my parents for the long weekend. My dad retires in December and they will be moving, so they had a few handy-man projects for Kirk to work on before putting the house on the market. Plus, we just wanted to see them, so we came.
I think I already mentioned that we didn't roll into their driveway until super-late Friday night, so that day was shot except for some late-night visiting. We woke up early Saturday morning so that the guys could get busy on the house. This house that they live in has never had overhead lights, except for in the bathrooms and the kitchen. So for the five years that they've lived here, they've been dependent on lamp light...nice ambiance, but very dark. I actually prefer cavelife, so I was perfectly fine with it. But, with them looking to sell the house, they decided that overhead lights would probably help the sell of the home, so they enlisted Kirk to help install ceiling fan/lights in all the rooms. Whew. Big job. They got up, headed to Lowes for supplies, and worked until dinner time. After a lot of trips up into a very hot attic (I just heard about it....I wasn't going up there for anything!) and a few pounds of sweat later, the lights were up, and now the house is very bright. I had to turn the new lights out, they were hurting my eyes!!!! Their house looks totally different now.
While the guys were illuminating the house, Mom and I took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. I thought we were going bowling, but I was informed by Tate that Chuck E. Cheese was the "more funner place." So, the kids won. We spent $25 dollars for coins that allowed us to walk out of the door with 2 fantastic wristbands, 2 squishy spiders, 1 broken spinning top, 2 suckers, and 3 Airheads. I refused to eat the pizza there, so made out well by getting to eat at Steak-n-Shake. I love their milkshakes so much, and the bacon cheeseburger wasn't too shabby either...and the cheese fries. Oh. Be still my heart.
We were lazy last night which suited me just fine. We watched a lot of Fox News, loving the coverage of McCain and Palin. So excited about that. Although our moments of jubilee over the ticket news were shadowed by all the coverage on Gustav. So praying that our neighbors on the Gulf Coast don't have to relive the horror of Katrina. So scary.
Today my dad was at a small church about an hour or so away doing one of his drama presentations. My mom and dad have a ministry called Living Portraits in which they dress up in costumes and portray various historical figures. They've been doing it for several years (Dad is reading over my shoulder and says, "12 years almost") and have a host of characters that they recreate. Anyway, dad was all souped up in full costume for his presentation and asked if we would join him.
Dad was on the program at 1:30, and there was a lunch beforehand. We got there in time to eat good ole' backwoods Kentucky cookin'. I was especially fond of the blackeyed peas; Kirk said the chicken-n-dumplins' were slurpalicious. After gorging ourselves on homemade goodness, we headed up to the service for dad's thing.
We had some good ole' singin' and then dad was up. He did a good job. Although I think he always does a good job, and I'm not just saying that because he's reading this as I type it. LOL! Kirk fell asleep during his presentation though....not good son-in-law stuff. He's blaming it on the ceiling fan projects from yesterday....yah, okay. Me? I was stuck trying to keep the children contained in the pew. We traced our hands, drew family portraits, and talked about how thirsty we were (well, them, not me).
I think I already mentioned that we didn't roll into their driveway until super-late Friday night, so that day was shot except for some late-night visiting. We woke up early Saturday morning so that the guys could get busy on the house. This house that they live in has never had overhead lights, except for in the bathrooms and the kitchen. So for the five years that they've lived here, they've been dependent on lamp light...nice ambiance, but very dark. I actually prefer cavelife, so I was perfectly fine with it. But, with them looking to sell the house, they decided that overhead lights would probably help the sell of the home, so they enlisted Kirk to help install ceiling fan/lights in all the rooms. Whew. Big job. They got up, headed to Lowes for supplies, and worked until dinner time. After a lot of trips up into a very hot attic (I just heard about it....I wasn't going up there for anything!) and a few pounds of sweat later, the lights were up, and now the house is very bright. I had to turn the new lights out, they were hurting my eyes!!!! Their house looks totally different now.
While the guys were illuminating the house, Mom and I took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. I thought we were going bowling, but I was informed by Tate that Chuck E. Cheese was the "more funner place." So, the kids won. We spent $25 dollars for coins that allowed us to walk out of the door with 2 fantastic wristbands, 2 squishy spiders, 1 broken spinning top, 2 suckers, and 3 Airheads. I refused to eat the pizza there, so made out well by getting to eat at Steak-n-Shake. I love their milkshakes so much, and the bacon cheeseburger wasn't too shabby either...and the cheese fries. Oh. Be still my heart.
We were lazy last night which suited me just fine. We watched a lot of Fox News, loving the coverage of McCain and Palin. So excited about that. Although our moments of jubilee over the ticket news were shadowed by all the coverage on Gustav. So praying that our neighbors on the Gulf Coast don't have to relive the horror of Katrina. So scary.
Today my dad was at a small church about an hour or so away doing one of his drama presentations. My mom and dad have a ministry called Living Portraits in which they dress up in costumes and portray various historical figures. They've been doing it for several years (Dad is reading over my shoulder and says, "12 years almost") and have a host of characters that they recreate. Anyway, dad was all souped up in full costume for his presentation and asked if we would join him.
Dad was on the program at 1:30, and there was a lunch beforehand. We got there in time to eat good ole' backwoods Kentucky cookin'. I was especially fond of the blackeyed peas; Kirk said the chicken-n-dumplins' were slurpalicious. After gorging ourselves on homemade goodness, we headed up to the service for dad's thing.
We had some good ole' singin' and then dad was up. He did a good job. Although I think he always does a good job, and I'm not just saying that because he's reading this as I type it. LOL! Kirk fell asleep during his presentation though....not good son-in-law stuff. He's blaming it on the ceiling fan projects from yesterday....yah, okay. Me? I was stuck trying to keep the children contained in the pew. We traced our hands, drew family portraits, and talked about how thirsty we were (well, them, not me).
After Dad finished up, we loaded up in the car and went to a Civil War park that my parents often do portrayals at. It overlooks the Mississippi River and has some cool cannons and other Civil War historical stuff. It was really nice. We got some good pictures of the grandparents with the kids, and let the kids climb around on the cannons for a bit. 
My parents with Keaton, Sawyer, and Tate
My dad (Poohpa) with Sawyer and Keaton
My mom (Grammy) with Tate
The boys crawling on a cannon
Because we were super-hot and super-tired we headed back for home. So, here we are. Mom just made cheeseburgers (yum!) and the guys are vegged out in front of the TV ("Dirty Jobs" marathon, I think). My dad and Kirk are getting ready to take the boys to the new Star Wars movie that is out, and that will mean that Mom and I get control of the remote. It's the little things that excite me!
We are having a great time with the family. I'm dreading the drive home tomorrow. Yuck. I hate wasting days in the car. I'd rather stay here and just be with my parents.
1 comments:
Sounds like you had fun! Sorry I missed it this time. Kevin had music duty while I had nursery duty this morning... fun stuff! Love the pictures! i want a copy of the group...email me one!
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