People's Choice, evening walks, 92nd birthday, grandchildren fun

Last Saturday after our camping-in-the-yard adventure we spent the evening at People's Choice Festival in Boalsburg.  It was a perfect evening, warm with enough cloud cover to keep it from being too hot.  I missed having my camera (it was at Sam and Jenn's where I had forgotten it the weekend before).  So it was back to cell phone pics.

As we strolled past booth after booth, Austin just had to stop at the one where the vendor had a Rubik's cube he'd been playing with.   Austin offered to solve it for him.  He stood there like this for at least 15 minutes!!  The vendor understood his obsession - he himself had already solved it four times that day!

And he did it!!

Hunter was most fascinated with the pinwheels.

So many choices of food!!

We sat at a table in a tent for a long time eating and listening to the band in the next tent - the Original Drifters.  Look them up!  They were the real thing and they were SO GOOD!!!

Hunter did "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" with Grandpa.

And examined his own hands for a while!

I got a plaque for my dining room wall at one of the booths.  Isn't it great?

On Sunday afternoon Dick and I went for a drive to check out some campgrounds.  We were surprised when we got to an area about half an hour from here that had one Amish farm after the next.

On Sunday evening we babysat the boys over at Anthony and Lori's.  After the boys were in bed I sat on their screened-in porch for a long time and watched the sun set and listened to the fountain in the pond below and the birds and frogs.  Truly a slice of heaven on earth.

This was a slower week for me.  No Wednesday church because of VBS, so less music prep.  I actually walked three evenings this week.  I enjoy walking through our community so much, so I don't know why I don't do it more regularly, other than not being able to fit it into my schedule.  Hopefully I got myself jump started this week.

On Thursday I had a rare day of no obligations or appointments, so I decided to take a trip to Losers Music in Lebanon to pick up my choir Christmas music order.  I used to always order my choir festival music from them when I taught, and I like the discount they offer for ordering in the summer, so I still order from them since it's close to Sam and Jenn's.

After I picked up the music I went to see Dick's parents.  It was his dad's 92nd birthday!

Doesn't he look amazing!  Still has the twinkle in his eye!  So on his 92nd birthday he had worked in the morning!  He and Arlene volunteer at a thrift store each Thursday morning, and 92nd birthdays are no reason to take off, in his opinion!

We sat and ate watermelon and cherries and laughed and talked for over an hour.  I showed them the video of my siblings singing the other Sunday, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Dick called his dad to wish him a happy birthday.  I wish he could have been there too.

He still has a beautiful vegetable garden!  What a guy!!

Then I went to Sam and Jenn's for the evening and night.   Sam and Jenn went grocery shopping while I played with the kids.  Sammy has gotten interested in magnets and motors, so he showed me some of his things.  

He also played a game with me that he had made.  He had a whole bunch of pictures he had drawn and with each picture he had a question for me - all of them about himself.  Like "Do I like sports?"  "Do I like chocolate?"  If I got the right answer he would making a "ding" noise.  If I got it wrong he would make a "buzzer" noise.  Isn't he something?

Bianca has a tomato plant and was proud to show me her first two ripe tomatoes.

How I love this precious face!  Gotta love the sweetness for the short minute it lasts, because there's a whole lot of sass behind it, haha!

Sammy was also having fun with a flashlight.

After I had read them a bunch of books and Sam and Jenn had returned home, he wanted to do a color show for me.  So I took a video.  You gotta see this!  Right in the middle of his show Bianca came running from her bedroom to say goodnight.  She hugged and kissed Sammy's back, then hugged and kissed my belly, announced that she was going to bed, and off she went.  She just cracks me up.  No time for fluff in her life.

Sammy, on the other hand, needs a bit more fluff. (-:

This morning I left their place at 9:00.  I cooked at Anthony and Lori's this afternoon and stayed till they were all home.  Keeping up with Hunter is a whole new adventure the past couple of weeks.  He is into EVERYTHING!!  Even trying to open doors, trying to turn the washer and dishwasher on, he has figured out how to turn the volume of the TV up, WAY up!  Of course with his endearing smile all the time. 

My heart has been heavy all day as the news from Portland is difficult.  After finding a place in a good skilled nursing facility, as I mentioned last Saturday, Martha needed to be taken back to the hospital by mid week.  Both Jeremy and Mike have important work travel, so Mike's sister is there for now.  

And again, wanting to end on a happier note, here is a video I took the other Sunday morning.  I finally got it uploaded to YouTube after I got my camera back.  This set was over 13 minutes long.  The trio sang two songs, "If That Isn't Love" and "He Giveth More Grace."  All the siblings sang the choral version of "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" and "While the Ages Roll."  We also introduced ourselves. 

I had my camera sitting on the front bench and I started the video right before we walked up, so you get to watch us parade up and down, haha!  Enjoy!