Golf, Dads, Potties and Papas

Father's Day 2020:

Nathan spent the beautiful weather weekend at his favorite place, The Fox Hollow Golf Course. Saturday he golfed in the Stockham Tournament in tribute to his good friend, Delmar Kliewer. On Sunday he played a round with his parents followed by dinner at our house.

Jentry was cruising the country with her dad and exploring the mountains in Colorado and Utah.

Mason spent three nights at Papa and Grandma's house in Orleans. Papa helped him make a wooden Jeep, fly a kite, check on the cows and watch a live motocross race. He also got to spend some time with the Hamiltons at the ball field and swimming pool.

"Look at my BIG bubble. It looks like a mask for coronavirus."

Tucker and I spent some one-on-one time potty training. He worked hard to earn those M&Ms but we had a successful start.

I am so grateful for all the wonderful men who surround us with love.

When I Think About My Future

This week Jentry has been attending Anne of Green Gables Camp at the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island. Each morning we rise, dress, eat and hit the road by 8 am. We make a quick stop to drop Tucker off at daycare and then Jentry, Mason and I head west. Mason has been watching movies in the back seat while Jentry and I visit up front.

Jentry has been gone to her dad's the past three weeks, so it has been so great to catch up with her again. At home she is usually off doing her own thing, so I am grateful for the one on one time we have been getting. We talk about many different things but yesterday she said something that I knew I wanted to capture.

I pray that her excitement for life remains all the days of her life.

Camping Adventures

Last month, Mason's soon to be 1st grade teacher sent a letter to introduce himself along with a summer challenge list. One of the items was to campout in your backyard.

Mason lit up with excitement and wanted to set up the tent immediately.  I quickly slowed him with the fact that the nighttime lows where still much too cold to be camping overnight.

I promised that as soon as the nightly low was 65 or more we would make it happen. Since then, every morning, Mason has asked Alexa to tell him the weather.

Last Wednesday was the day! Low of 68 degrees, no wind and no chance of rain. Perfect!

I set up the tent, blew up the air mattresses, dug out the sheets, put batteries in the flash lights and prayed that he would choose his father to sleep with him.

Prayers were answered and Nathan was the winner of the all inclusive one night sleepless stay in the buggy backyard. Surprisingly, Nathan showed quite a bit of excitement which is not the usual. They were going to make some father-son memories.

We grilled burgers, chatted around the firepit, and then Tuck and I said our goodnights. God speed!

Mason's makeshift headlights

Then the clouds grew darker and the wind whirled. At approximately 10 PM the unforecasted storm was upon us. I peeked out the back door to see if the crazy campers were still in the tent and found them safely waiting out the rain in the garage.

The lighting was relentless and nearly an inch of rain fell but it finally lifted and the campers came inside to continue their campout in the mancave.

Two days later, Mason finally got to sleep the entire night in the tent. He said, "It was awesome and I slept great!" Nathan said, "I slept like one would expect to sleep in a tent."

Memorial Day a Different Way

Another year, another Memorial Day, another trip to Harlan County, but this one was not quite the same.

For starters, the planting season this Spring was fast and furious followed by a week of rainy weather. This combo allowed Nathan to enjoy the 3-day-weekend with my family for the first time in forever.

And then there was the Covid-19 cloud. This nasty virus has changed many plans including our traditional attendance at the Memorial Day service in the Stamford cemetery.

BUT...Covid can't cancel our family fun. We had all been looking forward to this weekend for months and it certainly kept my spirits up during the long weeks of March, April and May.

How great it was to travel out of the county, chat with new people, shake a hand and HUG!

Anna and Jentry had fun "testing" everyone for the virus and Tucker was an exceptional patient.

Papa, Grandma and Tucker received the green shirt memo and Tucker convinced grandma to drag out every vacuum she owned.

We got participate in the Orleans cruise night and take a spin in the '32 Deuce Coupe and '54 Jeep Willys.

Grandma gave us a private tour of our relatives' graves in the Orleans cemetery. There are more than I was aware!

The kids had so much fun playing together we couldn't even convince them to go to bed when it got dark.

We surprised mom and dad with flowers, cake and Sapphire gin for their Sapphire Anniversary of 45 Years. 

Chad and Kelly took the 4 oldest kids to the Sandy Channel for an afternoon of kayaking and fishing.

I stayed back with Tucker and got to mow the lawn. Man did that bring back some memories. It has been a long time since I maneuvered a mower around the old Republican and Walnut street sign. Tucker enjoyed checking out all of Papa's antique yard/farm art.

Mom recently updated the guest bedroom in their basement and informed Kelly and I that she was no longer able to foster our baby dolls. She said it was time they went home to their mothers. 

Papa took the boys for a 4-wheeler ride along the river. The had a blast tearing through the mud while I enjoyed the peaceful river views of  the place I'm lucky to call home.