Fun Days

Laurel and the kids came on Wednesday evening and we had two fun days together.

Grandma and Ashley "doing our hair".

 On Thursday morning we went to Estevan to help Howard celebrate his birthday.  We got there just in time for the weekly church service at St. Joseph's Care Home.  Local churches take turns leading these Thursday morning services. Faith Lutheran provided the service that day.  We enjoyed Pastor Bob's leading the singing accompanied by his guitar.  Howard enjoyed singing the old familiar hymns.  "In the Garden" and "How Great Thou Art" were ones that he knows well and even sang the tenor part for some of them.

After the service we headed over to DD's Gourmet Buffet, just across the street from the hospital. We teased Dawson that it must be his place as his initials are DDD.  They had something for everyone and the boys were happy to find such things as wings, spagetti and meat sauce with chocolate pudding for dessert.  Howard enjoyed a macaroni salad, meatballs and gravy, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, buns topped off with pudding for dessert.

Dawson Diekrager's gourmet buffet?

Then we went back to Howard's room where he had a rest.  Laurel took the kids over to a nearby spray park, a perfect place on a warm day.

Fun at the spray park
St. Joseph's in the background

Todd and Kristy called so we had a good visit with them.  Todd is taking a course in Kristiansand, three days this week and then five days next week.  Kristiansand is on the southern tip of Norway while Kristiansund is farther north on the west coast.  It's confusing to have two cities with just an a and u distinguishing them.

When they came back, Laurel and the boys were off to the DQ to get birthday treats for all of us.  Howard had his usual vanilla milkshake!  Soon a nurse wheeled Aunt Viola in.  She had just come back from attending a party for Irene Halvorson at the Estevan Regional Nursing Home.  Irene's 90th birthday is in January but that's not a good time for family to travel so it was decided to have a party for her in August instead.  Lilah and Lawrence Daae also joined us after Irene's party.  They are such faithful visitors.

Enjoying a DQ treat on his 76th birthday

Ashley was played out and fell asleep leaning on Howard's footstool.  I'll have to add a picture of that as you don't often see someone sleeping in that position!

We headed back to the farm before Howard's suppertime and watched a Veggie Tale movie in the evening, after Dawson mowed grass until it was almost dark.  Eric found a golf ball so was able to practice with his clubs for a bit.

Eric practising his golfing skills

Dawson hard at work

Today we took in a fun day in Crosby.  Main Street was roped off for sidewalk sales, free hamburgers and hotdogs, and three large, fun, bouncy houses that the boys really enjoyed.  The kids each picked out a Beanie Baby for $1 at Crafts 4 U.  Sweet little Ashley picked out, of all things, an ugly looking rat named Tiptoe!  She dropped it in a puddle of water on the street so ended up with a drowned rat, to make things even worse.  We didn't have cameras along to Crosby but I asked Laurel to take a picture of Ashley tonight with her drowned rat.  He'll look better when he gets washed and dried but Grandma still isn't impressed with her choice!  I bought ten much cuter ones to have for gifts or in Christmas Child boxes.

Ashley with her "drowned rat".

I didn't do a lot of shopping but spent quite a bit of time picking out Hallmark cards at J Co Drug Store.  They were clearing out some of their cards -15 for a dollar.   I came home with 45 cards for $3. Usually one card costs that much!  Some of you might get "real cards" for your next birthday instead of e cards.

I got out the canner and did 8 pints of peaches after Laurel and the kids left. ( I'll post a few pictures for you tomorrow, Holly.)

Now the Rider game is on.  Do you think they can win this time?