Slightly Altered

Sometimes it is just too hard to resist . . .

I could not resist putting these young and old shepherds in a Bethlehem field.

I could not resist putting beautiful Mary and contemplative Joseph in a stable.

I could not resist putting all of the characters in one cast picture.

A Together Day

What do you do with an anniversary of a death? A wife lost her husband, kids lost their daddy, Grandpa lost his son, and siblings lost their brother.

We packed eight of us into a seven passenger car and went to watch a ballgame. I had such a happy heart seeing Grandpa with the kids.


It was a relaxing, beautiful, splendid day.


The kids and adults enjoyed each other and cared for each other.


There was a spirit of camaraderie and joy and peace.


We ate lots of ballpark food.


There were home runs and a few fireworks and our White Sox won!


I believe that Andy would be pleased with our together day.

One of my hubby’s favorite songs came to mind today.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

The Whole Truth of the Tooth Hole

What do you think?

A future in dentristy or politics or drama?

Walking Tall

Anyway you look at it, the Willis Tower in Chicago is impressive.

Steven impresses me. He is helpful, responsible, kind, loyal, sincere, and hard-working. I am delighted to spend time with him.

When walking with Steven, I try to stretch up and make myself as tall as possible. At age 14, he is 5’11 ½” and growing.

My prayer for Steven as he continues to tower over many others in stature is that he will also continue to walk tall as described in
1 Timothy 4:12:

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Great Ride on a Beautiful Day

The photo is blurry. It could be because we were just whizzing along so fast or . . . maybe not.

18.1 miles
1 hour, 49 minutes, 53 seconds
Average speed: 9.9 MPH

No Falls

No, we did not beat any records but we had a great time. We rode the bike path from Morgan's home in Geneva to our Wheaton home. The entire trip took us 2 hours and 5 minutes because we took a couple of rests and had to wait on traffic now and then to cross a few busy highways and because of skipping stones which was more dangerous than we anticipated. I hit Morgan with a rock the first time--thankfully no harm done. I got a little better with practice but Morgan excelled.

Morgan kept me entertained. I especially enjoyed hearing all of the songs that her singing group at school is practicing for their first concert. We met an entire Cross Country meet on the path. Morgan serenaded them as we rode along. We rode by of an outdoor wedding. It was a perfect day for a ride.

Thank you to our SAG (Support and Gear) crew member, Grandpa. He chauffeured, driving me and my bike to Geneva for the ride and then later accompanying me to take Morgan home. He fueled us on Barones pizza following our ride. He was also a great cheerleader.

Biking makes us feel so good--thankful and happy and blessed. Does it get any better than this?

A Boston Marathon in Four Days

Grif and I did a Grandma Day on steroids from Monday-Thursday in Boston.

We had a great time.

Grandpa was in Boston at a convention and had a large complimentary room. I did not think the spacious room should be wasted on one person. Grif and I redeemed some miles tickets and went to keep Grandpa company — sort of.

Fourteen year old Grif was sure that there would be absolutely no problem getting his ten ounce conditioner and toothpaste through the airport carry-on security. He told me in no uncertain I-know-what-am talking-about, how-can you-possibly-believe-otherwise terms but he did refrain from saying the stupid word that one was a gel and the other a paste so neither were liquids. I guess he was right as both items passed right through both Chicago and Boston security. Even Grandpa who travels every week was wrong on that one. You must know how hard it was not to secretly alert the security scanners just to prove myself right. Grif and I are cut of the same like-to-be-right cloth—even though not we are not blood related.

Grif and I are not natural travel companions.

On an airplane, I like a seat on the aisle.
Grif likes a seat by the window.
I like to sit together.
Grif could probably care less about that.
It worked out well for us . . .
On Monday, during the day, on the way to Boston, Grif sat by the window, I sat in the middle seat. On Thursday night, our plane left at 8:30 p.m., Grif sat in the middle, I sat in the aisle.

Grif told me that he was mostly interested in taking the trip with me for the plane ride.

I was primarily enthusiastic about the history of Boston and the surrounding area.

Grif explained that he is not that into history. He likes living in the present and doesn’t believe all that stuff about learning from the past.

I thought Grif would like a bike ride tour—doing something active.

"No, not particularly."

He liked the tall ship ride because he had forgotten how nice it is to relax on a boat just drifting out to sea.

Grif was enthusiastic about having a TV right across from his bed, reminding me that his main interest is electronics.

Grandma, that would be me, was disinterested in TV but concerned about Grif’s interest. Hubby had all of the “Adult” channels blocked but
even so . . .

Grif forgot his wallet, his school ID, his swim suit, a hat and a jacket.
Grandma brought much more than needed.

Grif did not need a wallet, a school ID (that I asked him to bring in case we needed it at the airport or for fares into some venues but there was no need) a swim suit, or a jacket (the weather was warm even at night.) He did miss his hat but was fine without it. I did not use much of what I brought.

We I found a half-price swimsuit that looked twice Grif’s size. Grif insisted that it was fine. I coerced Grif into a dressing room and stood outside and waited briefly, ridiculously hoping that Grif would show me how it fit. I was astute enough not to ask. Grif emerged quickly stating that it fit fine and so it was purchased.

Two days later, I coerced Grif into going swimming by saying, “I bought you a suit and I want you to use it at least one time.” Also, I was pretty sure that Grif had not showered or washed his hair while we had sweated through Boston and thought the pool was a lesser request than a shower. And so he accommodated me by trying the pool, but really, Grif did not need a swimsuit, I should have trusted him more, I am pretty sure that a shower would have been just as entertaining for him.

Grif likes to stay up very late, or early depending on how you count time. He is a self-proclaimed insomniac that absolutely cannot fall asleep at night. I like an early bedtime, around 10:30 p.m., and generally fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

I like getting up in time for the complimentary breakfast.
Grif loves sleeping in the morning.
We figured it out though.

I got up for the free breakfast and brought back a few items that I thought Grif might like. Then I opened the shades and said “Sure” to the maid cleaning our room and Grif woke up. He ate, with no complaints, cold dried-out pizza from the night before and then we were off to explore by the early hour of 10:30 a.m. each day.

I love to take photos and record my trips. One time Grif showed a bit of interest and told me to take a picture of this statue with its hat. He thought it was comical.

Other than that, he appeared oblivious of the camera but was aware enough to duck if I pointed it in his direction. I felt like the paparazzi as I furtively tried to sneak a photo of him here and there.

I love walking everywhere and do not mind a few distractions or back tracking between destinations. My feet and my legs never got sore nor was I ever stiff the next day. Praise God for that and I mean that seriously. Obviously that was not so for Grif’s still growing body.

I would have been glad to take a swan boat ride because we were in Boston. Grif thought not.



I asked him to indulge me if the line was not too long.
It was.


Honestly though, Grif was an easy and pleasant traveling companion. He is very low maintenance in the clothing, shoe and food departments. He never once asked for a souvenir or if we could please go shopping. Shopping and souvenir hunting are also way at the bottom of my favorite things on vacation. We had some serious and some amusing conversations and some quiet stretches. I was delighted.

We agreed on most things.

We both liked the Duck Tour. It was informative and fun.

And we would both definitely like to return to the Museum of Science. It was fascinating. We especially enjoyed the Mathematica exhibit and I really enjoyed the exhibit of George Washington Carver.

We saw two IMAX movies, one called Thrill Rides and the other was Whales but I may have nodded off a bit during the last movie.

It was fun eating lunch as we looked over spectacular views of Boston, Cambridge, and the Charles River.

We both enjoyed Fenway Park.

I gave Grif no choice about attending a baseball game. I wanted to see the historic field and the Green Monster. Even though neither of us is a fan of either team, I thought it was a great game. We both liked the old ball park and we both love ballpark food—almost a different food for each inning but we showed a little restraint.

We both liked figuring out the subway and found it quite easy to navigate.

We walked the Freedom Trail because I just thought we should do that and we enjoyed the tour of the USS Constitution or Old Ironsides.

Grif likes routine, the familiar and dislikes change. He says that he is not normal for a teenager because he is a deep thinker. He is thankful that God gave him such a good mind. It makes both of us wonder how to turn on and off the switch in our brain sometimes. I was glad for the brief moments, we were able to travel together and talk about navigating life as well.

Before the trip Grif told a friend on FB, “I have to go to Boston next week.”

I’d like to believe that it was better than he expected. He graciously told me a couple of times, “I’m really glad that I came/went to Boston.”

That was a perfect finish for me.

Precious Faces of Summer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer . . .

I am so proud of Morgan. She overcame her fear of bees
and worked with Grandpa in two beeyards for four hours.

Ryan: "Do you happen to have any bad ones to tame?"

Seamus—our "professional" biker

Jackson the kneeboarder, high diver, water wonder . . .


Lilly the boat driver and so much more

Two sweetest: the oldest and youngest

Great Grandma (94 years) and Allie (6 weeks)

Jacob--swinging high--the truck man

Hale--his face tells all.


Grif--seeing life from another perspective

Yay! White Sox in first place at the All Star break.

Jessica--fisherman, cayaker, expert tuber


Steven is our best skier--Gets up on one ski
Sorry the picture doesn't go with the words.
It is hard to get a good ski photo from the beach.
Steven is a jack of all trades.


David--the baseball, basketball and football player

Kent--the Leader of the Pack
In so many ways . . .

Kent went on a two week canoe trip this summer.

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here.