Grandma Gann

My mother's mother's 89th birthday is today. She is one of the loveliest people I have ever known, and up until the past few years she has been my biggest cheerleader and has listened intently to every word I have spoken in her presence. If you know me well, you know what a feat that is, and I so adore being the center of her world if only for five minutes or a half hour at a time. Actually I am happy to share the bright beams of her attention with any of my family.

My earliest memories of Grandma are of me sitting in her lap while she told me interesting stories, shared how she and her brothers and sisters worked and played in her childhood, revealed her dreams, and always gave unwavering proof of her love of me by holding my hand in hers as she talked. I can remember her trying to explain to me that while my sister Anne was older than me, I could one day be bigger than her. I really didn't get it until years later remembering her words. I must have been only four or so. Other memories include the strong scents of her kitchen. Pumpkin pie spices and mincemeat always remind me of watching her baking when I was about five. The smell of mint takes me back to visits to her herb garden. The sound of her laughter takes me back to sitting in the kitchen watching her reading letters that her family or pen pals had sent her. I remember thinking how much I wanted to write letters to people. It seemed to bring such joy to her. Sadly, although I do write a lot, I do not write many letters. And funny that most of the letters I have written have been to her.

As I hit that confusing age of 13 our family moved closer to my grandparents. We would spend time in her garden as I shadowed her, weeded, harvested, and talked about all of her favorite flowers and herbs.  Afterward we would sit around drinking the sweetest sweet tea as she talked with me about things she had read or seen, and she would also give me some of the best advice I got in my life. Like how to make chocolate cake taste good even on the third day (serve it with pudding), how to decide if a man is husband material (see how he treats his mother and sisters), and how to get smarter (read, write, do puzzle and play challenging games like Boggle or Scrabble as often as you can).

I remember snuggling up in the softest quilts as I was growing up, too. I don't remember what happened to the quilt that she made for me, or the one she made for my doll when I was about seven or eight, but I can still picture their patterns and blend of colors. My mother also makes quilts, but I obviously had some gene defect because I have no skill with a needle, let alone the artistry required to be a quilter. I am very fond of the small lovey-sized quilts that my grandmother made for my four oldest boys. Each quilt she created had its own story, its own personality and matched the temperament of each boy who delighted in dragging it around as a cape or wrap, throwing it over a table or chair to create a tent or fort and later to have it draped over them as they napped.   

It has been very difficult for the past several years for me to see Grandma fade from her role as a vibrant, creative and witty spirit as she continues to slip in and out of the here and now. She is no longer at home, and when I go to visit her now, I am ever hopeful that she will find some comfort and recognize me as one of her "folks". I am delighted, ecstatic,  if she recognizes me for me. If I can get a giggle, or even a chuckle out of her, I feel my mission is successful. Even if she thinks of me as one of the neighbors she is so fond of, we have a good visit. January 11, 1921 was a very great day. Dorothy Ellen came to be a part of the world and later became the mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother to a bunch of lovely people I call my family. Mwwaah Grandma, I love you so.

Twenty-two

Rick celebrated his birthday Monday, but we went out to dinner on Sunday as Joe had the day off since he is doing training this week and is on Monday-Friday first shift. The boys enjoyed mussels, salmon, shrimp and scallops along with the traditional Eastern fare.

Birthdays

Raymond and I both share birthdays in July. In fact he was born 3 days after my 36th birthday, and we have been celebrating together ever since. This year, I spent my birthday at the Royal Gorge Bridge and had dinner with a candle lit on my hot fudge sundae dessert. Raymond celebrated his birthday atop Pike's Peak. Now that we are home, we celebrated Raymond's birthday with a get together here at the house for family and friends with cake and ice cream and a few surprises.













Daniel and I at the clock in Royal Gorge Park, July 18th.









Raymond enjoying his birthday donut at the top of Pike's Peak, July 21st.







Bring on the Happy Birthday song and make a wish, Raymond, July 26th.







This is most of the birthday party line-up.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog!! Our Vacation Part II

Sunday marked the beginning of the second half of our vacation. With all of the exploring that we had done, I was determined to slow down the pace a bit on this day. We headed out in the early afternoon to explore the nearby mountain parks. First was a drive through Bear Creek Canon Park. Beautiful scenery is an understatement when describing the views during our drive. Driving on Gold Camp Road was exciting. At a few points we actually drove through the mountains in tunnels. Steven was not too comfortable with the narrow dirt lane we were driving on. There were points that were obviously one lane and others were not more than enough room for two vehicles to pass each other by. Hugging the side of the mountains and seeing the drops into the canyon below made it so worth the trip. After our drive, we arrived a bit lower on the mountain in North Cheyenne Canon Park and we hiked up a trail near Helen Hunt Falls. A park ranger told us a bear had been spotted earlier that day in the canyon, and he had pictures on his camera of a bear in his back yard from the day before. The hike was a bit steep in a few spots and Daniel had to be picked up since his legs were too short to step up.



Here I am at the top of the hike near Helen Hunt Falls in the North Cheyenne Canon Park. The view is looking to the east. As Daniel says, "I can see my house from here."


Joe was disappointed that we didn't see any bears ourselves. I was not. After our drive and hike, we went back to the Ho Jo that served as our base camp, and Joe and the boys swam for a couple of hours in the pool.



Monday was Raymond's birthday, and the plan was to go to the top of Pike's Peak, eat their special recipe donuts and Raymond would open his gifts from us. Last time we went up (6 years ago) we made it to Glen Cove which is about 3,000 feet below the summit. That year we were traveling in the RV and it was not designed to make it to the top of mountains. This time we did make it to the summit.



Daniel at Pike's Peak Summit. The view is to the southeast. And it was literally breathtaking.


Raymond-8, Steven-19, Daniel 4 and Joe at the summit of Pike's Peak. The view is to the east.


It was brisk up there, not quite 50 degrees F and even colder with the wind chill factor. My lungs felt over inflated as I was trying to get some oxygen out of the thin air. We went into the building at the top to get out of the wind and enjoyed the special over 14,000 feet altitude recipe donuts after singing "Happy Birthday" to Raymond.


Raymond also earned his Junior Ranger badge and whistle from Pike's Peak. We went back to the van after briefly enjoying the view, and Raymond opened his gifts. The lack of oxygen and pressure change began to get to Joe and the boys, so we made one last trip into the Summit House, bought a couple of t-shirts, mugs, postcards and a bear with a donut magnet and then we headed back down the mountain. The day before we went up, the Pike's Peak Hill Climb Race was held. Last year, a record was set for 10 minutes and 1 second to the summit, a 19 mile ride with many hairpin turns and steep grades. It had taken us an hour to get to the top and we didn't stop on the way up.

We did stop several times on the way down. Once to play in the snow at 12,820 Ft. El., once at Glen Cove (11,450 Ft. El.) and lastly at the Chrystal Creek Reservoir (9,377 Ft. El.).


When we were at the summit, Steven filled two water bottles with 14,110 Ft. altitude air. By the time we made it down to Glen Cove the were already collapsing with the pressure change. While at Glen's Cove, I filled another empty water bottle with air from that altitude.


Tuesday was our last day in the mountains, and we returned to Pike's Peak. We visited Santa's Workshop at North Pole, Colorado located at 7,500 Ft. El. on the side of Pikes Peak Mountain.

Joe Daniel and Sheila on Sky Ride Daniel and Raymond at the North Pole. It stays frozen 365 days a year.After our seven and a half hour visit at Santa's place, we drove through Garden of the Gods to say good-bye to the mountains and then we headed to Limon for the night. We stayed in a motel there with an indoor pool. Joe and the boys swam until 11:30 our time and then got up the next morning and swam until check-out time. We stopped in Hays for a late lunch/early dinner. Then we drove home and made it in the driveway at about 8:50 p. m.

THE END

Spring Break Begins

Spring may not yet be here officially, but although there is snow falling this morning, I know that Spring Break is here. I think I have more things planned for this week than is good for any one person, but if I get to sleep in a few times, I think I can make it. I will keep you posted.


Today we are going to celebrate Joe A.'s 25th birthday. His birthday was actually Wednesday, but as he works the evening shift, today was the first day we all have off work. I think we are headed down to the Rain Forest Cafe at the Oak Park Mall. We did the T-Rex Cafe last year, and he wants something different that his little brothers will enjoy.

Joe L. is in Missouri for the annual spoonbill fishing trip. The season run starts today, and he and a few buddies are fishing in the cold rain. Fish stories are to come, I am sure.

This school year I took over as the Math Club sponsor at my middle school. Yesterday, I supervised the Math Club's Pi Day Celebration after school. Pi is used to represent the irrational number you get when you divide a circle's circumference by its diameter. It is often estimated as 3.14, thus March 14th is Pi Day in the Math World. The Math Club members had decided to have pie--in fact they had a pie tasting contest. Wow, I never guessed that kids would get so excited about baking/making pies. A few kids brought in store bakery bought, but most of the pies were made by the kids, some with very little help from their families. The kids voted for their three favorites and it was a close competition for the top five spots. In the end the winners were French Silk in first, pumpkin in second, chocolate pecan in third, cherry in fourth, and lemon meringue in fifth. Not surprising is that the homemade pies rated highest and took all the top spots. I bought a 20 question electronic game for the top winner and all the students won Frisbees (the first Frisbees were pie plates thrown in a contest/game in Connecticut, and were made by the Frisbee Company). I think we will do this again next year with much more going on, now that we have lived it once. LOL

Happy Birthday Daniel!

It's Sunday and Danny's 4th birthday. It is a busy weekend. Yesterday he went to Zonkers in Olathe with both parents, some brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. The four younger kids amazed me with their stamina. They were all ready to stay longer than we did. We topped the evening off with a trip to Pizza Street, one of Daniel's favorite restaurants.










Today we had cake and ice cream at the house and Daniel opened his presents. He did not want to do it a day early, and was very happy with the nice gifts he received and the chocolate cake.

Birthday & A Family Day Out

For Joe's birthday we went out to the Legends to eat at IHOP and then spent some time at Cabelas. Later in the afternoon we headed to shop (and walk) at the Great Mall of the Great Plains.

Joe and his older brother Marty who caught up with us during the middle of our outing

All 5 boys at Cabelas

Here are

Joe and the hunting buddies viewing big game.

Sheila and Richard

Danny and Joe- our youngest and our oldest. Danny was pretty puny during the first part of our day. He seemed to recover by the time we hit the mall in the late afternoon.

Staying Connected

My brother, sisters and I at the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday in July 2006.

I have set a goal in my life over the past several years to work hard to stay connected to the important people in my life. And a couple of years ago my one and only brother suggested that we take my younger sister out for dinner on her birthday. My older sister and I agreed that it would be a good idea. We did a night out at the Melting Pot on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. We were there for hours enjoying the fondue and the chance to get together, just the four of us. Needless to say, we had a lot of catching up to do, we remembered how much we enjoy each others company, and I suggested that we repeat this for each of our birthdays. So we did. Although it is difficult sometimes to set a date where we all four can get away, we do, and I think we are closer now than we have been for years.
Last night we got a late start, but still managed to get out in the frigid January night to continue the tradition. My older sister's birthday was in late December, but this was really the first weekend that we were all four free and healthy. My sisters and I usually meet at my mom's house and then we all go together to pick up my brother. Last night was no different. My brother lives close to the Legends in Kansas City and we ate at a new restaurant there called Grandma's Chicken Ranch. They have good food and serve it family style. We had tried to go to the Irish Pub that had been in that building previously. The second time we actually drove there, and it was closed down. We ended up doing Italian food that night instead. Last night my older sister and I both had the grilled chicken, my brother had the chicken fried chicken and my younger sister had some kind of a cheeseburger. They served a bowl of salad, and a basket of biscuits and cinnamon rolls as the first course, and then the main course was served along with a big bowl each of green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. Not bad. Soon into the meal we discovered that they would have karaoke set up that night and the stage area was very near our table. We left just as it was starting up. Good timing in our minds. The next sib birthday will be mine in July. A long time to wait, but we will get together again. Maybe not just the four of us before then, but we have many more kid and family birthdays and holidays to get together in the mean time.