Last weekend

I haven't had a chance to write to let everyone know about our 4th of July weekend. Rachel had been with Gramma for 2 1/2 weeks and we decided it was time for her to come home. We decided that it would be good for her and I to have some mom/daughter time so I was going up to get her and Mark and the boys were staying here. We thought Mark was going to have to work on Saturday but they closed up instead. We considered me leaving when he got home from work Friday but decided on leaving first thing Saturday instead. (Which was a good choice since he didn't end up getting home till 7:30 p.m. Friday even though they closed at 5:00.)

It was a nice drive up. A little strange being by myself but nice. I pulled in as they were setting the table for lunch. How's that for timing? Actually, I hadn't told them I was coming early so I figured showing up at meal time would assure they were there. Big brother, Pete and Deb had gotten in just a little earlier that morning.

After dinner, Saturday evening, Rachel and I rode a tandem bike over to Aunt Marlene's house for a visit. Uncle Mike got quite a laugh out of the look on my face as we first tried to set out. Not only have I not ridden any bike in quite some time but this was a tandem, the seat was too high, and I was wearing sandels not hardly meant for riding bikes. We made it safely though.

Sunday, we went to church in the morning and Uncle Glen's boy, Phil and his family were there. They were presenting to the junior church about their work in Africa. Even though it was for kids in second grade and under, Rachel went down and watched it. They have a boy, Mark, that is just a year older than her. By the end of the weekend, they were playing around like we all used to on our trips north.

Pete and Deb wanted to learn to make strawberry jam so we spent most of Sunday afternoon doing that. We were just getting done when we got a call from Glen & Jeanette's family that they were ready to decorate the church for a surprise 50th anniversary party on Monday. We went over and helped out. They then asked Mom to come along while they did the food shopping for it. She had wanted to go to a patriotic concert at First Church but went along with them. Rachel & I went back to the house and worked at getting a banner out of Mom's computer. We took a break long enough to test out the new ice cream store at the top of the hill from the house. (It passed inspection!)

Monday it was a rainy morning. It stopped just long enough for us to think it was safe to go to the parade. Then started sprinkling just as the parade reached us. Mom, Gramma, and a lot of the others stayed at the house while Rachel and I went. We were able to find the right "Manning" spot where we always meet up and watch together. The kids came away with plenty of candy as usual.

After that it was back to the house for a quick lunch and then convincing Glen & Jeanette to go to the church. As the open house drew closer, I checked with Pam & Barb about sneaking over before they all came so any early birds would be greeted. They had Rachel & I do that. We then stayed around to help with the cutting of the cake and serving punch. By then it was time for Rachel and I to head home.

I'll have to post the surprises of this week later. Time to get busy around here.