ST. LOUIS TRAIN TRIP

We were all up early this morning to head for the Union Station in downtown Kansas City. When we arrived at the station, there were lots of people waiting to get on the train. Many were headed for Chicago and St. Louis. At about 7:10 a.m. they called over the loud speaker for our group(neir/susan lanker) to board. It was quite a walk to the last passenger car on the train and we had 26 seats in the back of the train.

Above we are waiting to board the train

We were all in our seats

We were able to turn the seats around this time and the little ones made their home between the seats. The kids watched movies on the computers and some played games on their computers.

We had a lot of fun on the train and the grandkids were busy all the time. Their favorite place was the snack car and the drinking fountain.

Above we are on our long walk to the motel. It was very hot and and we walked about a quarter of a mile.

CELEBRATING TWICE AS MUCH

Today Phil and Meredith will celebrate their birthdays together. Phil is 42 today and Meredith is 6.

Phil is a super son-in-law, a great husband and Dad. We thank God for bringing him into our family. We trust you have a wonderful birthday Phil.

Meredith was born on her Daddy's birthday and is such a delightful young lady. She has a wonderful smile and keeps the action going. We love you Meredith and we wish you both a very Happy Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

BEAUTY SHOP

Today we decided we could not wait any longer. Mom's beautician is in the hospital and so Mom's haircut was cancelled 2 weeks ago and rescheduled for yesterday. We received a call that her beautician was still ill so Mom decided she would take her chances and let me cut it. I used to cut our daughters'(4) hair but have gotten a little rusty but thought I could handle it. I did have to get some new scissors though because the pair I used on the girls chews more than cuts.

We went to a shady spot in the back yard and trimmed enough hair to make a wig for a child. I think Mom was a little worried that I was chopping too much but I assured her it was fine. Then we went inside and shampooed and set. She sits outside for her drying process. Then we combed it out and she looked in the mirror and acted shocked. That of course makes me feel good. Looks pretty nice if I do say so myself.
I love you Mom. Love to be able to help you.

CAMP GRAMMA 2010 A SUCCESS

Our "Camp Gramma 2010" has come to an end and we had such a wonderful time. Yes, it was wet, wet, wet and looked like a lot of our plans would have to change but we were flexible and made other plans. The boys stayed in the garage at night instead of tents and the girls were in the basement. The boys did not have the luxury of air conditioning but they really didn't complain.

Our group at the beginning of Camp Gramma

Below is a gym where we took the kids to play the first day. They also went out on a football field and played kick ball and several tried to kick a field goal.

Brooklyn just couldn't last through the evening meeting after all the activity of the day.



The trampoline was used a lot when there was free time in the back yard.





The kids always love the zipline and had to be encouraged to stop.



Every year the grandkids want to go to the bridge over highway 61 & 30th to see how many trucks they can get to honk for them.



We had a few little ones that we really didn't want in the big pool so we had a kiddy pool for them. (do you think they had enough things in it)





On Tuesday morning they went fishing with Grandpa.





Tuesday afternoon we visited a nearby farm and the grandkids were treated to horse riding, wagon rides, feeding the goats, chasing the chickens, and they had snacks for the kids which I think they cleaned up all of them. It was a special time.

Raegan was afraid to ride the horse alone so Gramma rode with her.(It's been 35 years since I was on a horse last)

We visit the Rolling Hills Zoo & Museum near Salina on Wednesday morning.

They had a tram that we rode on all around the zoo.

Here we all are at Kids Country at the zoo

When we left the zoo, we went into Salina to visit the grave site of Great Grandpa Tucker. The grandkids had lots of questions and wanted to put flowers there.

Then we came back to Hutch and ate dinner and then got the kids ready for church at Berean and they shared some verses and singing for our church family.

We came back to the house after church and had our meeting by the bonfire. Some kids shared and we sang and then closed with prayer. We roasted marshmallows and helped the kids make smores.

It was such a fun time and now camp gramma is over and we are already looking forward to next year.

CAMP GRAMMA PREPARATIONS

Today we had about 3.5 inches of rain and that isn't exactly what we needed just before "camp gramma" so we are working with plan B right now. Our back yard where the tents were going to be is a swamp right now.

We have moved all the vehicles out of the garage and will turn our garage into a dorm for the boys and grandpa. Uncle Roger is bringing some padding for the cement floor to make the boys a little more comfortable. The girls are going to head for the basement.

Brooklyn and Hudson were loving the water along the street(Brooklyn does not like the fireworks)

Rog and Julie are vaccuming the garage(don't see that very often)

We were trying to get the pipe cleaned out that drains the water from the back yard and the kids were enjoying sitting in grandpa's truck to watch.

Brooklyn and Hudson have been great buddies all day.

John was trying to get some of the clutter out of the drain pipe.

VERY BUSY DAY

Our day started out at 6 a.m. this morning to head for the Sterling Freedom Run to run a 5K. It was a pretty large crowd. Several from our church ran as well(above you can see Josiah, barefoot runner - got first in his age group- Sarah, Anthony and most of the Stange family)

Susan, Brendon, Caleb, and I all survived the muggy weather but we did have fun.

Coming in to the finish line

Then we came home and decided we should go check to see how soon the corn would be ready. We discovered that it needed to be taken care of today. So the next 5 hours were spent picking and shucking and silking and cutting and blanching the corn to get it ready to freeze. God gave us about 50 quarts.

Thanks to Dorothy and Susan for their good help.

Then we finished our day at the Freedom from Darkness prayer meeting.