Varnell Vacation

Erin and the kids came for a 10-day visit earlier this month. We really didn't do anything special except for our trip to Fair Oaks Dairy Farm and a swimming outing at Columbian Park in Lafayette. The rest of the time the kids rode bikes, rode the Gator, played games, built towers, picked veggies, played video games and just had fun being together. Other than a fever, some vomiting, a stubbed toe, two overflowing toilets and a huge black eye, things went well. It was wonderful just being together making memories.

All the kids plus two cousins who came for a visit

The two Moms, Erin and Beth, joined the picture

Timmy and Daniel hauling logs

Sarah, Megan and Timmy in the Gator

Jeepin

Ryan, Meg and Timmy

A visit with Grandma Mary at Wesley Manor

Sarah with Grandma Mary

Cute! (before the black eye)

Lunching at Fair Oaks Dairy Farm

Timmy on the climbing wall

Ryan and Daniel on the climbing wall

Kids loved riding the tractors

G-Pa flying

Watching G-Pa flying

G-Pa giving Ryan some PPG instructions

Ryan trying his wings

This is hard!

Campfire at dusk

A Little Delay

Right after publishing the blog about the grandkids coming, I ran off to junior high church camp as a counselor. At camp, I developed bronchitis and it only worsened by the time I got home a week later. I have been nursing that issue for over a week now and finally feel that I have it on the run. So in saying all of that, I now feel well enough to get back into the swing of things like blogging.

Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary. Deke surprised me by announcing this morning that he had arranged for a day off work for us to do anything we wanted. So we took off in the early morning and just did what we wanted the whole day. It was glorious to just be together without an agenda or schedule. I guess I have about the best husband in the whole world; I think I'll keep him!

John Mark with G-Pa in the strawberries

Having fun picking and eating

Wow! Free to be kids!

A family visit with Grandma Mary

Playing with old Fisher Price toys on the porch

Excited about cows and dogs and...

Wow, our own Gator!

Whee!

Adorable

A rare, quiet moment for Mom and Dad

Getting washed up after a hard day of play

Guess Who Came to Dinner

Claire Jones (almost 4)

John Mark Jones (21 months)

Jude Jones (10 weeks)

Yep, Mark, Lori and the kids arrived Sunday afternoon and will be with us until Monday when they head to Illinois to spend some time with Lori's family. The kids all have a croupy cough so they have not felt well, but they have been adorable never-the-less. I'll be posting lots of pictures of the family so stay tuned daily.

Handy-Man Honey-Do's II

I didn't include all the honey-do items he accomplished but have given you a taste of what was done. Pam kept saying how grateful she was, but Deke had to remind her that before Dave died, he (Dave) asked Deke to take care of her. He is trying.

Hung a mirror

...and another

Hung a chandelier over the dining room table

Rewired an outlet

Installed floor outlet in livingroom

Rockers in need of refinishing

We took our professional spray painter and made short work out of this job

Installed an ice maker

It used to be a pickled white color. We think this is a little more sophisticated

Installed indoor/outdoor carpet on wooden steps from garage to house

Handy-man Honey-do's

 A week ago, Deke and I took off for Pennsylvania to visit with my sister, Pam, and to help her get settled into her new home. She's been a widow for over 20 years and decided that now was the time to downsize from her large 4 bedroom house. She located on a quiet street with lots of other seniors who are neat, quiet and respectful. They greet each other often, walk in the evenings and look out for one another. My neighbor, Bob, calls this "neighboring."  Her home is just lovely and will suit her well for the next few years.

She had quite an extensive list of "honey-do's" for Deke, so he started immediately to organize and tackle. We drove our van, and it was loaded with every tool in his arsenal to take on any task. He worked from morning to night and managed to complete everything and more on the list. I've chronicled most of the tasks with little explanations to help you visualize the week.  I'll post the remainder of the pictures tomorrow.

Pam's street

Her home

Early morning view from her side yard

In the backyard overlooking the wetland nature preserve

Pristine little path leading to her neighbor's deck

Hung cabinets for storage in the garage

Hung a tool organizer

Vertical storage for both ladder and extension ladder

Organized pegboard

Hung laundryroom shelf

Hung ironingboard and iron caddy

She needed a printer stand so it was finally decided to assemble a little cabinet and stick it in the corner of the laundryroom. Works great!