Zimwit Reunion, Hunter’s birthday, our last semi-normal week

"I did not have time to do my Wednesday update, and now we’re on the way to a fun few days down home. So I’m going to try doing this post from my phone."

I wrote the above on Thursday as we were driving toward Lancaster County, but I soon discovered that Blogger is apparently no longer compatible with an iPhone.  I could not figure out any way to add pictures.  Do any of you successfully use the Blogger app on your iPhone?

Anyway, I now have an enormous amount of catching up to do here.  I'll start with a picture I took on Thursday, March 5.  I had helped with picking up the boys and was on my way back home when I saw this beautiful sunset and the reflection of it in the puddles in the foreground.  Obviously this was before Daylight Savings started.  There is no longer a sunset at 6:13 PM thankfully!

On Friday, March 6, I saw a recipe online for Gingered Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Stew with Lentils & Kale.  I knew that would be something that Anthony and Lori would love, so I proceeded to check my ingredients.  I do not have a pantry, so all my flours and sugars, etc are in a lower cupboard which is quite deep. I need a better system, because things I do not use all the time tend to get pushed to the back and forgotten. I dug all this stuff out of there looking for lentils.  No luck!  But I did discover some really good stuff down there!  Now I have this picture to look at if I have any questions, lol!  

As it turned out I did not have lentils, but I had soaked beans in the freezer that were leftover from my ham and bean soup a few weeks prior. I did not have kale, but I did have fresh spinach.  I did not have coconut milk because I apparently picked up a can of coconut cream by accident one time.  However, the stew turned out absolutely scrumptious and I will be making it again.  

That evening I also made a layer salad and a pan of peanut butter rice krispie treats for the next day.  

On Saturday, March 7, Dick and I and Austin hit the road for Lebanon County right after Dick got off work at 12 noon.  We were going to the annual ZimWit reunion at the OnFire Youth Ministry building in Myerstown.  (For any new readers, the ZimWits are the combined families of my late dad and my stepmother. We are the Witmers, they are the Zimmermans, thus the ZimWits!) We always take Austin with us because he loves shooting hoops in that big gym.  He's getting so tall and handsome!

We were there early enough to have lots of time to chat with Grandma Mary and others in the Zimmerman family before the meal.   Here she is with one of her adult grandsons.  Everyone loves her so much. 

My sister Mary Ellen played Dominoes with Austin and Aiden (Doris's grandson).

Around 5:30 they called us all to order.  The food and the servers were ready and waiting.  Several of the Zimmerman brothers gave the pre-meal announcements.  Nothing they ever do is without a huge dose of humor.  I love them so much!

During the meal and afterward the good conversations continued.  

My stepbrothers Marvin and Gary are pictured below with their wives, Bev and Julie.  Roy is pictured with one of his little grandsons.  Jay (whose wife Crystal passed away last summer) is pictured talking with his nephew.  And Doris and I are pictured with our grandsons.  I really don't think I ever smile except for pictures.  Almost any time someone snaps a picture of me unawares, I have that awful expression on my face.  I just hate it.  

I did not have a picture of my stepbrother Carl, so I'm posting one that Mary Ellen took.  Carl and his wife Mae always host us at this youth center where they are involved.  Last year Carl organized a scavenger hunt (for quarters!) in the gym.  You better believe that Austin remembered that and asked Carl if he was going to do that again.  When you start giving money away you can't just stop doing it, right?  Here's a picture of Carl organizing the kids in order of age with Marvin's help.  

It was a really fun evening, but of course a late one, especially because of the time change.  

On Sunday morning (March 8) we went to our service at GBRV (of course having no idea it might be the last Sunday morning service for a while!)  We went home to nap afterward instead of going to Calvary's service.  I also made another layer salad.  

Later in the afternoon we went to a playground where we knew that Lori and Anthony and the boys were.  It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  I took a walk with Hunter and we had fun looking at our tall shadows.  

Then we went to Anthony and Lori's place to celebrate somebody's 4th birthday!  Four years old!  What precious memories we have of Hunter's birth and babyhood.  Every day now I have such adorable pictures of him in my Facebook memories from 2016.  

It was a really fun evening with friends from their small group.  

We loved how, when opening his gifts, he would get stuck looking at the books and forget about opening the other gifts until reminded!

The next morning (March 9) when I came out of our bedroom at 6 AM there was so much light across the floor outside the den that I thought someone must have forgotten to turn off the lamp above the computer.   But no!  It was the moonlight flooding through the window!  I don't remember ever seeing that before!  An hour later there was another beautiful sunrise. 

It was a gorgeous warm Monday, and I went for a walk enjoying the sight of the tree tops against the cloudless blue sky.  

That evening Lori sent me a picture of their family up in Dick's hunting shack.  She said it was so peaceful, and I knew that I really want to go up there sometime.  

It was Spring Break at Penn State, which meant Hunter's daycare was also closed.  So on Tuesday (March 10) he came to our house.   He wanted to stay long enough to get to see Grandpa, so Lori came for him early evening.  

Here's a video of him reading "But Not the Hippopotamus."  Sorry I didn't position my phone very well for it.   For some reason the book comes with a magnifying glass which he loves to use.

There was another beautiful sunrise on Wednesday morning, March 11.  

I went to Macy's that day to pick up a top I had ordered online.  I soon found out that they no longer do in-store pick-up because they are closing soon.  I said, "Well, I got an email that it is ready to be picked up!"  I checked my email and discovered it had been delivered to a Macy's in Ohio!  While I was there I looked around for quite a while, feeling sadder and sadder.  I have loved Macy's in the years since we live in this area.  It was so empty.  I don't know how many times I said to employees,  "This is so sad."  Each one of them agreed that it indeed was.    This mall has lost all four of its anchor stores - JCPenney, Sears, Bonton, and now Macy's.  

As I drove away there was more news about the coronavirus and its impact on schools on my radio, and I felt even sadder.  I was thinking, "Wow, if everything has to be done online we better hope there won't be a cyber attack!"    

By the way, I DID get that top I had ordered!  I had to make two phone calls to the Macy's in Ohio, but I finally convinced them to mail it to my house.  And it has arrived.  

That Wednesday evening we had our weekly Lenten service at GBRV, and again, we had no idea it would be our last service there for a while.  I had already cancelled choir practice for the next evening due to the little vacation Dick and I would be having for the rest of the week.  

But all that is for the next post!