Lots of wildness this last week. Lots of fun around here at the same time. Mark's folks called on their way home from their RV trip to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. We were delighted to be on their way home. I went over the campground and visited with them in the camper on Thurs am. We met Mark at Rib Crib for lunch. When we got back to our house, we had a stranger at the door--my brother, Dave, from TX. So it was a houseful!!
We enjoyed hearing all the RV tales of the senior set. They greatly enjoyed the Iowa countryside. They hit several cool museums near Davenport and Decorah. (Dad showed us his pictures on a slideshow.) They were surprised that I knew about Luther College and the pretty Eastern Iowa scenery. I would love to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum at Burr Oak. Sometimes the tales of the eldery border on scary, but they make it fine. It must have been a sight to see the 8 of them rambling around the Mall of America. (Only John and Faye are super mobile--at least one of the other 3 couples has a cane.) Their MOA highlight came afterwards--they took the lightrail downtown Minneapolis to a huge farmer's market. They were so delighted to wander around on a beautiful MN fall day and get fresh veggies. They all said that they found the best corn of their life. (Another fact that I already was aware of---eating Uncle Les's corn every summer from Northern Iowa totally spoiled me for life.) The were pleased to find the locals very friendly, one lady gave Faye her seat on the lightrail. Dad got to wade across the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca. It was alarming to see the picture of 300+ lb Uncle Gene crossing on a rock footbridge. If he would have fallen in, he'd still be there--no crane could get him out, he'd be a permanent fixture there. :)
The Stinnetts left the next day forging across MO in spite of tornados in between our house and theirs. That left us with Uncle Davy, a mini tornado himself. The girls LOVE to play wild with him inside and out. We call him the Troll from the basement, b/c he sleeps down there with MUCH snoring and pillaging. He is always foraging for something to eat or looking for something--similar to my dad in years gone by. :) We took him to a Truman football game. Unfortuately we were playing the #2 team in the state and lost 63-15, BUT more importantly the band was AWESOME and Hannah enjoyed our cheering. lol
Saturday was a gorgeous MO fall day. We went to see Cars at the $2 theater. We do the best we can to see these current flicks---it only came out in June. But we all liked it. When we got home we had the news that my uncle in Denver was having a health crisis and not expected to make it thru the weekend. This caused a flurry of family phone calls sharing info and plan making. Then Sun am Mark's little sister calls that Dad took Mom to the hospital at 5:30 am with chest pains. YIKES!! So we were glad to get 2 rounds of good news when we got home from church. Uncle Arden had rallied for the time being. Mom had an angiogram and was fine. Crazy times! Dave was delighted to help Kat finished a HUGE map project that she had forgotten about until 7 pm on Sunday. argh! Good thing he was here to help, this SuperMom was not in a mapfriendly mood.
The highlight of the weekend had to be the revival of my mom's oatmeal cake. I started looking for the recipe when my brother, Michael turned 50 last March. Mom always made it for his b-day. We hadn't had in over 10 years, prob longer. Thankfully, Pat copied Mom's recipe years ago and had sent it to me. She had made it since M's b-day. So I made one and sent it to Michael since Dave was headed that way. It was so good!! I usually don't chose anything over chocolate, but this cake is TOPNOTCH!! So glad I only save 2 pieces for later, or I'd have been standing at the pan with a fork. After all the drama of the weekend,a cake of comfort food would NOT make my jeans comfortable at all.
Yesterday Dave went to Michael's. I ran errands and tried to catch up around here. Kat had 2 volleyball matches last night. She served 4 straight points in the first game and 2 in the second. Pretty fun. I'm off to get my hair reblonded and my fingerprints taken so I can sub at the school. They finally called me to come to orientation in Oct. I was hoping my application was lost for about 2 more months. lol. But I'm excited to get started. Some Xmas $$ will be handy.... Beautiful day here in KCMO!!
4 comments:
It sounds like you guys have been busy, but it is always fun to have family for a visit. Are you going to the Couple's Retreat with Mark or is he going by himself. :-) I hope to see you guys there. It should be great fun for all.
Tawno--
C U there! :)
Oatmeal Cake....oh, so YUMMY!!! I made it a month ago for church supper and it was a HIT. I didn't want to tell them the name, though. I was afraid, they'd hear and go, "OOOHHHH!" You know that you can eat it for breakfast, too?? ha!
I'm glad your health traumas had a good ending and that you enjoyed your loved ones.
Enjoy the subbing!!! Love ya.
Thanks for posting to the guestbook--we've been away to Chincoteague Island (about 4 hours from here and a favorite of our family) and it made this hard anniversary more bearable.
I hope Mark's mom is doing well, and your Uncle Arden. Best to your brothers and sisters . . . amazing how long it has been since we all played a game of spoons together.
I make Aunt Gloria's buttermilk pancakes at least twice a week . . . the recipe is written in my mother's handwriting, but is definitely Aunt Glo's. Nancy still makes snickerdoodles from her recipe--do you ever make kringla? Am I remembering that right?
Karen
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