Vickki called us Friday night and asked if we would  come up and entertain the boys for the weekend.  She and Glenn didn’t feel good and needed a break.  They’d been at the hospital for a few days earlier in the week because Ben was sick.  He’d been running a high fever.  The docs determined he’d had a viral infection.  Vickki been holding Ben for days and hadn’t had much sleep.  We took off the next morning for Etown.  After stopping to talk to Granny a couple minutes, we went to Vickki’s to pick up Ben and Sam.  We decided to hang out at Granny’s for the afternoon.  For lunch we got a couple pizzas.  Sam ate his piece with no problem but Ben only wanted the pepperoni after he’d stripped off any little bit of cheese or sauce attached.  Then he started saying “More meat!”.  I ended up stripping about eight pieces, mining for meat.  Since Ben only wanted pepperoni, I told him that the ham was light colored pepperoni and the bacon was dark colored pepperoni.  He ate both with no problem.  He was ready to get off an IV and back to regular food.  Sam decided this all looked fun so he started the “more meat” chant too.  We ended up with a lot of picked over cheese pizza.  After lunch, Diane, John and Eric came for a visit.  Sam smacked his head so he had a good cry while I hugged him and then he fell asleep on me.  That was really cool!  In the meantime, Ben played with Granny for about an hour cutting pieces of paper.  Once Sam woke up, Eric took the boys outside to play.  They all had a great time outside.  Once we had the boys worn out, we took them back to Vickki’s.  She had a nice, restful day and appreciated our baby sitting capabilities.

We stayed at Granny’s that night and then picked the boys up around noon the next day.  Sonny’s family was staying at Vanessa’s on the way back from IL so we took the boys up there.  Matt and Angela came over too so we had most of the family at Vanessa’s.  Vanessa, Angela, and Al made us some great snacks so we munched, talked, and played all afternoon.  I taught the kids how to do the dying cockroach and how to play pile on.  I got pretty worn out but it was loads of fun.  We had another great day hanging out with the family and then took the boys back to Vickki.  She and Glenn were feeling a lot better by then so we had a successful weekend.  We went back by Granny’s to load some stuff and then headed home for TN.  Mission accomplished.

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We arrived at Sonny’s in mid-afternoon.  (Sonny and Tara needed someone to watch Trae and Savanna during their National Guard drill weekend.)  The kids got back from school shortly after that.  They gave us big hugs and kisses.  That made the trip worth it right away.  Tara got home an hour later and then made us a great supper.  We sat around talking for awhile and then broke out Rock Band (a video game where you can play guitar or drums or you can sing.)  I got to play and sing but I wasn’t very good.  It’s harder than it looks but is big time addictive.  You find yourself saying “Just one more song.” for a couple hours.  I had a lot of fun with my bandmates – Trae, Tara and Savanna.

We always take Trae and Savanna shoe shopping so we took them out the next day to eat first at Wendy’s.  Then we went to the mall in Warner Robins.  No luck finding shoes there so we moved on to Shoe Carnival.  Trae found some sneakers he liked and Savanna found a pair of boots.  Mission accomplished.  We went back to the house and watched the kids play video games.  When Tara got home she made us another good supper.  Then we talked and had another Rock Band session.

Sonny was working the night shift but got off early so he was awake most of the next day to hang out with us.  We all stayed at the house.  Trae wanted some Zaxby’s chicken wings so we got a bunch for lunch.  Once it warmed up in the afternoon, we all went outside to play.  Savanna showed us how she could ride her bike and I showed her that I could ride it too.  Then we played a little basketball with Trae.  Sonny showed us around his Man Cave (garage).  Later, we all went back inside to watch football and play video games.  Tara brought home some pizza for supper so we ate and talked some more.  A friend of Tara’s came over so we didn’t have a jam session.

The next day we drove back to TN.  We had a great time hanging out and playing with Sonny’s family.  Our whole trip was fun and we got to see the whole family.  What a great family!

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We drove to Etown on the 12th and stopped in to talk with Granny and Diane a couple hours.  Then we went to Matt and Angela’s apartment in New Albany.  Vanessa and Al met us there.  We all went out to supper at Qdoba’s where they have huge make-it-your-way burritos.  After supper, we went back to the apartment to talk for awhile.  We also met Matt and Angela’s girls – two ferrets.  They’re kind of cute in a ratty kind of way.  I guess they like to grab stuff with their teeth and then go hide whatever they’ve grabbed.  Remote controls, keys, etc. can disappear pretty quick.  All the kids were doing fine and we enjoyed visiting with them.

That night we went back to Granny’s.  The next day we picked up Ben and Sam at Vickki’s.  She suggested we take them to an indoor playground like a McDonald’s might have.  We drove all over Etown looking for one and finally found a small playground at Chik-fil-a.  The boys had a great time climbing the stairs and sliding down the slide.  After that, we took them back to Granny’s and played outside most of the afternoon.  They crawled under bushes, climbed trees, raked leaves and played in Pops’ truck.  Diane came by to hang out with us.  We old folks had a great time watching the kids play.  Once we had the boys dirty and exhausted, we took them home to Vickki.  They didn’t last two minutes in the car before they were sound asleep.  While at Vickki’s, Valerie and Layne came over to see us.  We all played and talked some more.  It was great getting to see everyone and to play with the kids.  We stayed that night at Granny’s and headed for GA the next day.

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Dave put together a great trip for Mom and Dad to Europe.  He provided them with book that laid out every step of their journey.  That was pretty cool.  They flew into Prague and then drove to Germany where they spent a few days exploring.  Dave and Ann then met them to go on a Danube River Cruise.  I think they started in Vienna, went down the river to Budapest, and then back to Vienna.  They all had a great time and saw a lot of neat stuff.  They thought the cruise was really nice and kind of high class for them.

Missy found out she’s going to have another baby, her 4th.  The due date is April 17th.  Cole wants a brother, Makayla wants a sister.  We hope everything goes well and that Missy and Phil have a healthy, happy baby!

Vickki arrived with the boys on the 16th.  We had bought a couple Big Wheels for Ben and Sam so they jumped right on them.  The boys legs were a little too short to reach the peddles but they sure could make the Big Wheels go by using their feet on the ground.  At that age, kids think things are cool even if they don’t work quite right.   The next morning,  the boys rode their Big Wheels down the sidewalk out to the main street and then they decided they wanted to walk to the park.  Papa had to carry the Big Wheels back to the house while I walked the boys to the park.  The short walk took a long time because the boys had to keep stopping to watch the traffic.  They love watching trucks, cars, ambulances, or whatever goes by.  Then we had to inspect a creek we passed.   In the meantime, Neil got the car and drove to the park so we’d have a ride back.  We spent about an hour at the park climbing on everything and sliding on all the slides.   The phrase “one more time” was used quite a bit.  In the meantime, Vickki got to relax at home by herself.  Dexter, Stephanie, Ryan, Norma and Bubba stopped by later that night to see Vickki and the boys.  Ryan had just returned from China and was sporting a beard.  Ben and Sam didn’t know what to think of that.

The next day, Neil and I took Ben and Sam back to the park.  After playing on the playground for awhile, we decided to take a walk.  We came to a steep bank and I asked the boys if they knew how to roll down hill.  They didn’t know what I was talking about so I showed them.  That got some serious rolling started.  Sam caught on quick and was rolling pretty fast.  Then he started laughing.  It was hilarious listening to him.  By then, I’d gotten dizzy and nauseous from rolling so I had to stop and start taking pictures.  I made a couple little videos that you can see on the video page.  Once everyone was dirty and dizzy we decided to walk around the park on a track.  At intervals along the track are signs telling what kind of tree is planted there.  The signs flip up and have a little knob on them.  Ben found out right away that the knob could be unscrewed.  So he proceeded to unscrew each one we came to.   To make things fair and to avoid a meltdown, Sam got to screw the knobs back on.  I think we came across about ten of the signs.  Needless to say, it took awhile to get around the track.  People were setting up a Halloween trail so the boys got to see some ghosts, witches, mummies, etc.  Once we’d made the circuit, we played some more on the playground.  Vickki got a lot of alone time that morning and Papa and G had a great time with the grands.  We couldn’t stop laughing at their antics.  All this led to a long nap.  We played some more that night and then Vic and the boys had to go home the next day.  It was a great weekend and we really had a lot of fun with the boys and enjoyed talking with Vic.

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Matt went to Chicago for a seminar on scanning.  He works for a company that stores records in caves under Louisville.  A cave acts like a climate controlled building.  The company also scans the records so they’re available digitally.  Matt’s job is to sell storage space and scanning to people or companies who may need that service.  He’s been doing a lot of traveling to learn more about the job and to go to seminars.  So far he’s been all over Kansas, to Missouri and to New Orleans.  He’s pretty excited about what he’s doing.

Tara got two tickets for Sonny’s birthday to the Notre Dame/Stanford football game.  Sonny drove to KY on Thurs. to see his mom.  The next day he went to New Albany to help Matt celebrate his birthday.  They took off early Saturday morning to go to South Bend.  On the way, they toured what used to be Ft. Ben Harrison to see our old house on the circle, where they lived when they were age 10 and 12.  It’s expensive civilian housing now.  When the boys got to South Bend, they had seats in the end zone next to the tunnel where the Notre Dame players enter and leave the stadium.  Most of the touchdowns were scored in that end of the stadium so we got to see Sonny and Matt on TV every time there was a point after attempt.  That was pretty cool.  When the players ran through the tunnel, Sonny and Matt high fived them.  At the end of the game, the players threw gloves and sweatbands and stuff into the crowd.  Matt caught a glove that he sent to Trae.  That was even cooler.  Notre Dame won and Matt and Sonny had a great time.  We were really happy for them, especially Sonny.  He’s been a rabid ND fan for a long time.  We’re glad he finally got attend a game and even better that he got to go with his brother.

Aunt Peg arrived on the afternoon of Sep 23.  She had driven in from Columbus, OH and was pretty tired when she got here.  After a good night’s sleep, we took her to the lake.  It was a beautiful day so we sat in the breezeway and talked with Dexter and Tammy.  Aunt Peg was surprised at how big the barn was and what a nice setup we had.  When we got back to the condo, Aunt Peg and I played cards for awhile.  Later, we decided to have a sundae supper and got ice cream sundaes for supper at our local dairy restaurant.  The next day, I took Aunt Peg on the tour of Paris.  She got to have her picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower but declined a pic with the big fish (Paris is the home of the World’s Largest Fish Fry and there’s a big fish on sign stating that fact as you enter town.).  On the way home, we picked up some barbecue plates at Trolinger’s.  I also got Aunt Peg a fried pie since she’d never had one before.  They’re not exactly a NY staple.  Aunt Peg really enjoyed the pork barbecue and her pie.  Later, we played some more cards.  On Friday, we toured Paris Landing State Park and then had fried catfish buffet at Cindy’s Restaurant.  Aunt Peg fell in love with the black eyed peas and had them instead of pie for dessert.  I thought that was un-American!  Next, we toured Dover and Ft. Donelson (a Civil War Fort).  Aunt Peg learned some new things about the Civil War and was satisfied with the day.  On the way home we decided to drive through Land Between the Lakes a little way so she could see what that was like.  We stopped at the Bison preserve to see the bison (buffalo).  There was a foot bridge over to the fence where the buffalo were standing.  You’re probably not supposed to go near the fence but we did anyway.  A calf came over and Neil and Aunt Peg petted it and let it lick them.  Meanwhile, a big old bull came up to the fence and gave me the hairy eyeball.  Neil told me to get closer for a good pic.  Yeah, right!  The bull was scary and had a huge head.  I figured if he decided to charge through the fence to attack us that I only needed to be able to outrun Aunt Peg.  Since she was walking with a cane, I think I was in good shape.  The bull would have gotten her first while she tried to whack it on the nose with the cane.  After all that excitement, Aunt Peg decided to leave early the next morning, so we took her photo in our hallway studio and sent her on her way.

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Tara runs with a high ranking crowd – a Colonel and a Brigadier General.