SHI BLOGS TOO

My kids visit me.

I spent all day Monday preparing for the arrival of two of my kids and four grandkids. It was going to be hot that day so I put the big roast in the oven by noon. I was thinking that they would be arriving sometime around 4:00 or 5:00 P.M. As it turned out Julie called me and said that they would be leaving Port Orchard around four or five o'clock! I told her not to stop to eat, that I would have dinner ready for them when they got here. "Eat snacks," I said over the phone.

Then I waited, and waited until they finally pulled in the driveway at 8:20 that evening! Boy, were they all ever hungry by that time, too.

I had everything all ready for them. Top sirloin roast with potatoes and carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, sliced tomatos, and black and Spanish olives. We all sat down and enjoyed our dinner over alot of loud talking about the trip up to Grandma's house and the hot weather. They were all wanting to know where the nearest lake and park was so that they could go swimming while they were here. I told them about Baker Lake which was not too many miles away. So they looked up GPS's on their wireless electronics and got the maps and miles. How neat! Those little handheld "devices" sure can come in handy.

After dinner Matt and the boys immediately started setting up their big tent to sleep in.

Then later the kids and Matt watched a movie while Julie and I talked. The TV went off at midnight, but the house did not settle down until after 1:00 A.M. I could hear comings and goings from the tent to the bathroom off of my utility room.

The next day was a scorcher. It got so hot in the house I had to turn on the AC. It wasn't long after lunchtime was over when they all piled in Julie's Trailblazer and headed out to the lake for a swim.

I stayed home to catch a nap and cook spaghetti dinner.

Three hours later they were back from the lake. They were all raving about what a great time they had. The lake was clean and clear and they loved it! The only thing they didn't love was the mosquito's that dive bombed them from the lake to the car! My granddaughter Alex got bit by a deer fly and she was red and swollen from the bite. They had taken some OFF with them, however.

Somehow, that did not deter any of them from going back the next day for another dip in that beautiful lake.

I stayed home on Wednesday, too, to catch a catnap and fix chicken tetrazzini. That's a dish that I had never fixed for them all before, and none said they had ever eaten eat either. It was a hit with every one of them!

Later on while they were all outside playing badmitten, I noticed a message blinking on my phone. I hadn't heard it ringing because the TV had been blaring away. It was Ron calling from a payphone with a local area code I recognized. He was on his way home a day earlier than expected.


While I was flipping through the phone book trying to figure out where the call had come from, Julie pops in the front door and yells "Mom, Ron's home!"

I told her,"yeah, he left a message from a payphone so I figured he was close in the area."

"Well, Mom he's here right now!"she exclaimed. I looked at her and I saw my "little girl" Julie again.

I walked out to the garage and he had just climbed off of his motorcycle. He looked so tired. I gave him a great big hug and told him how glad I was to see him, and that he looked so good. He had ridden over 1,200 miles through two states for four days. I helped him carry his gear into the house. The kids followed us in one by one to greet him. Standing around the kitchen counter he reached into one of his bags and pulled out a bag of big Rainier cherries for the kids.

Julie later told me that she watched him dismount his big bike very slowly and very slowly inch himself to a standing position. He was ready to get off of that bike a day early for sure!

We were all tired that night and ready for lights out at eleven.

Next morning I fixed a big pancake breakfast for all of us. The kids were soon packing up to leave. It didn't take them long to get that big tent down and on top of the car either.

Before they left I wanted a picture of all of us. We all stood in front of the birch tree and Ron took our picture. We had a great visit and hugged and kissed goodbye.

Then off they drove down our road waving goodbye.


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My son Matt and grandson Kody
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the kids at beautiful Baker Lake
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Alex
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Mother and daughter
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Michael
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Michael, Kody and Kory

Kory, Kody, Matt, me, Julie, Alex, and Michael
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Waving goodbye