92

 Wednesday morning started off rather cloudy and chilly.

                                    This is August and this is Kansas.

Usually we are having 100 degree weather!  Not in the 60s!  I LOVE it!

-Dad as a baby-

It was Dad's 92nd birthday and we had a celebration!

We had planned to have an outdoor picnic but it was too chilly!  Ha!

Luckily I had reserved a room just in case of rain.

 Linda, Gracie and Dave came down from K.C.









Linda tends to have her eyes closed in photos.
Just like Mom.







"Keep them open, Linda!"

See?  This is last year on Dad's 91st birthday and I told Mom to keep her eyes open because the photo prior to this one, her eyes were closed.  And she really opened them big!

Last year.  We celebrated with Mindy, but Mindy is in Denver this year.  Boo hoo.

We gave Dad some gifts.

A pillow for his recliner from me 

(his last one got lost so I sewed him one with a Japanese print

 and I asked them to iron his name on it)

Some chocolates from Dave's and some salmon from Dan in Washington!

The girls made pictures for their great-grandpa Pete.

Linda brought a delicious lunch for us! 

"Were my eyes open?" asked Linda.

Good thing for digital cameras where we can check right away!

I do not miss the camera 35 mm film days!

 Linda also brought a cake for Dad!  Already cut up and put in cupcake holders.

 "I love you" he told her.  So sweet!

 The girls wanted to go for a walk.  

We asked Dad if he'd like to go and he said he would.

Jackets - in August??

It did begin to warm up a little and we took the jackets off, 

but it was such a very pleasant day!  

Hardly any wind.  Again - Kansas??

 We took turns pushing the wheelchair.

The girls called the horses over.  Last time we had sugar cubes, but since this was an unexpected trip, I didn't bring any.  I will need to begin keeping some in the car!

 Look at Dad's smile!  I wonder when the last time he saw a horse up close was!

 

Gracie, meet a horse!
The girls have given names to each horse...Diamond, Chocolate, Brownie and Caramel.

The girls thought that Gracie was getting tired and needed to be carried. 

Claire learning to jump out at people and "boo" them!

Dave suggested the girls get a ride on the wheelchair.

 We took Dad past their old place.  Hard to see someone else living there now.

 What a fun day we had celebrating Dad's special day!

The rest of the week

The rest of the time with Claire was just delightful.   Being 3 years old, I thought that it might be a little more traumatic for Claire with her family being gone to the Dominican.













The family had a great time - although sometimes very hard - spending time with their friends, encouraging them in their adoption process.

But Claire did well really.  So grateful for answered prayers on both her behalf and for the family.

I took her to visit her great-grandpa Pete.  

She loved pushing all the buttons to go in and out of the building!

We went to parks.

And to the post office to mail Aunt Mindy a birthday gift.

She helped in the kitchen

We spent a day at the zoo

She LOVED the gorillas!  She really loved the dark hallway jungle area.  So funny to me because her older sisters were so afraid of it and for a time would NOT go to the gorilla area!

 

 "I want to hug a tree"

As she petted the lamb, she sang "Mawy Had a Witto Yamb"

and "Baa Baa Bwack Sheep"

She did lots of finger painting and also some stamping.  She thought she'd like to have some lipstick and stamped her lips!

 Such a fun girl!  Thank you, Jill and family for letting us have her for a week!  I know you had a lot of re-training her and unspoiling her after you came home!