Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

It was 4:15 when I woke up this morning.  Checking the thermometer is was 70 outside and 72 inside.  That's the warmest morning we've had this year.  Our humidity is at 59% with our dehumidifer running.  

I was unable to get my devotional to come up this morning - a message indicated their server may be down, so I'll try again later.

It was nice to read everyone's blog posts this morning.  I do enjoy them so much.  Even though I haven't met several of you, I feel like I know you from your daily comments.  

At 6:00 we got around to go to the park and walk.  I took several pictures today:

No rain, but the humidity was high this morning and this is what the front window of the car looked like when we walked outside.

What a beautiful sunrise we enjoyed this morning.

Pretty colors.  There was a slight wind - a perfect morning to walk in the coolness of the day.

When Cindy and I were at my friend Renee's house the other day, I mentioned this tree to her.  She told me what it was....a  Gold Tree Lilac.  Sadly the blooms are now gone.

This is a baby robin who was evidently learning to fly.  As we approached he did try to fly, but he didn't make it far.  We kept an eye on him as we walked around the park.  By the time we made our last lap we could no longer see or find him, so I hope he was able to figure it out.

The sun was shining through and brightening our morning!

So pretty!

I love this little evergreen bush.  It looks like falling branches.  Just click to enlarge it for a better view.

My Dad would have been 84 today.  We lost him in May 2008, the day after Mother's Day.  I sure miss him (and my mom).  I miss his laugh most of all.  He really enjoyed a good laugh and it always made me smile.  I'm sad this year as this will be the first year in many (around 40+ years) we haven't celebrated his birthday together with family on or near his birthday.  It started when Cindy and I were first married and Crystal and Jody were still in High School.  Over time, Daddy started to invite various family members and close friends.  We would all go to his house south of Chetopa.  Later he suggested we move it to Oswego Riverside Park as a family reunion, and finally inside at the Oswego Community Center.  He invited family members from both the Blackledge and Duncan sides (his dad and mom's families).  Had we had known our Governor would end up giving the decision making to our individual counties on how they chose to handle any Covid-19 restrictions, we might have gone forward with it.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  At the time the decision was made by my sisters and I, we made the decsion to cancel it a few weeks ago.  It is what it is, but we will have it next year.

We had to take the car to the garage while we are gone and I took a few pictures there.

The trees my friend gave me.

 I was concerned about the trees while we were gone.  We put a little gravel in two buckets, (like the blue one shown) then put water in it just slightly covereing it.  We left the dogwood tree in one, and we put both the red bud and the Japenese Maple in the other.  We will only be gone 3 nights, so hopefully they will do fine while we are gone.  


Dean mowed yesterday and everything looks so nice.   

If you enlarge the picture below, you can see how far back he has been mowing.  He is working on clearing this area so it will be a nice grassy area to our property line.

From the garge to the street.  I hope someday we can eliminate this pole in the yard.

Today is moving day, from Oswego to Wichita - about a 3 hour drive for us.  It's a drive I never tire of as we pass through the Flint Hills between Severy and Beaumont, KS.  We left Oswego right at 10am, stopping only once at Fredonia, KS.  It was kind of strange, as we neared the roundabout south of town, I noticed the city entrance sign, which very nice.  I told Dean I should take a picture of that sign and send it to Joyce, one of our RV friends.  (She grew up in Fredonia).  There is a gas station, hotel and Subway on the east side of the roundabout, and as we turned in there to grab something to eat I received a text - from Joyce!  Talk about thinking of each other at the same time!!  I missed the sign coming in, so intended to take one as we left, but guess who forgot!

If you enlarge this you can see the LARGE flag Fredonia flys on a high spot of their community.  I always love seeing this flag as we drive by.

Bacani Plaza where we stopped on our way to Wichita.

We used our own restroom facilities before heading into Subway.  We both ordered wraps to go, eating them on the way.  It seemed like the drive just flew by today as we were both chatterboxes.  While we talked about lots of things the excitment of meeting our newest granddaughter was evident in our giddiness!  There is just something so special about new birth - a child is one of God's greatest gifts to us.

Random pictures of the Flint Hill area:

This is such a beautiful drive.  

These cows were on the move....must be lunch time.

The grass was such a beautiful deep green!

 As we were near Andover we saw the road work has now neared the I-35 interchange west of Wichita.

It was great to see this road nearing completion!

It was 1:24 when we arrived.  It didn't take us long to set up.  We turned on both air conditioners, then left to drive the short distance to Jarred and Andrea's.  Andrea's parents have had Emerson the past few days.  She was so excited to meet her new baby sister, and she told us all about her.  She is so proud to be a big sister!

Sweet Emmy and her new baby sister Hayden!

Papa holding Hayden.

Dad, Emmy and Hayden

Earlier, Jarred had brought in their mail.  He was looking through it, and told Emerson there is a package for you.  It was from someone Andrea knew through her work.  Here she is modeling her present!

Reading the card that was included

Such a cute jean jacket, with her name!
If you enlarge this picture, take a look at Jarred's shirt - "GIRL DAD"

Modeling the jacket for us.

We stayed for a few hours, taking turns holding sweet Hayden Grace!  She is such a good baby.  After visiting for an hour or so, Andrea went in to lay down and rest for awhile.  Hayden was up quite a bit the night before, so I'm sure she will need it.  We visited with her parents Bill and Diane, Jarred, and of course Emmy.  

Emmy took me downstairs to show me all of her gymnastic moves.  She is doing well and is anxious to go back to her gymnastic classes at the Y.  I didn't think to take my phone downstairs with me, so no pictures of those.

Dad turned on the water sprinklers for the yard, and let her go out and run through the spray.  She had a great time and we enjoyed sitting outside for awhile watching her.  It was very warm and humid today, so we didn't stay out there too long.

Cool and fun time for Emmy in the sprinklers!

Emerson drew pictures for Papa and Nana.  Papa asked her to write her name on it.  It will go on the refrigerator door at the garage.  He has several displays from the kids over the years.  I'm going to hang mine here in the RV on my magnetic wall.  I only put up two panels.  I should have put up four.  What was I thinking; with 16 grandchildren, space is at a premium! 

We were getting ready to leave just as Andrea's sister Kelly and her husband Chris arrived with their 7 month old son, Colin.  That little guy is so happy.  He kind of looked at us at first but in no time he was grinning from ear to ear.  What a cutie!

We returned to Bentley at 5:30.  I warmed up the ribs from yesterday, and we enjoyed them as much as we did the night before.  I think Dean wanted ice cream but I wanted to hold off until tomorrow, and maybe Emerson would like to go with us too.

As much as I wanted to finish the blog last night, I was just worn out between the early morning, the heat and the excitment of the new baby.  It felt good to just set down and rest before going to bed.

We have a few things we want to do tomorrow, so we will get out early to take care of those, then visit Hayden and family again later in the day.