How are we going to celebrate?

Since all the kids are graduating with higher education degrees, we decided that we were going to celebrate by going to Disneyworld for an entire week! We leave next Tuesday (the 26th)! We can hardly wait. We will be staying in a pirate room at the Disney Resort "The Carribbean" The rooms have beds in the shape of pirate ships, there is a crow's nest for the kids to climb in. We have never stayed on the Disney resort before, so this will be a real treat! And yes, Grandma has purchased pirate "stuff" and has all kinds of wonderful things up her sleeve! Aunt Stephanie has helped Grandma figure out what to do, when how, and where! Just wait until you see the picture of all of us at Animal Kingdom with Safari sunglasses and visors! We will be the laughing stock of the entire park, I'm sure. Our son says "not on your life" will I get him in Safari glasses - well, let's see!

Our concern about this trip revolves around Stephen as he has been having alot of arm pain. He is back in rehab again and we are afraid that he will have to have another heart cath and another stent. It is our hope that the blockage is from a gas bubble that has not worked its way out from Open Heart Surgery. We are doing rehab to eliminate all possibilities before they do another surgery. He also has a slipped sturnum that could be the cause of his great pain and his arm tingling. We are still going to Disneyworld. But you may wish to pray for Steve, for strength, for wisdom and patience.

What Parent could be prouder?

This year has been the year of Higher Education Degrees in our family. The first celebration took place a few months ago, when Sara's husband, Chris, graduated from Virginia Tech Med School and as an officer in the Navy.

Kendra, Jason's wife, graduated from Ball State with her masters in Journalism. She did not go to her graduation exercise, but she definately has her diploma. Kendra teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University journalism and she loves it.

Then May 10th, Stephanie's husband, Daniel, graduated from Duke University with a Master of Divinity. They have been appointed to a little United Methodist Church in Marion Indiana, called Christland UMC and will be moving back to Indiana in mid-June.

May 18th, Jason graduated from Notre Dame.

It was an interesting year for graduation ceremonies at Notre Dame as President Barak Obama gave the commencement address. As you all know, the controversy around his coming stirred alot of press coverage. We were prepared for all kinds of rioting and demonstrations, but actually once we got on Notre Dame's campus, we did not see one sign, one protest or anything.

During the President's speech, there were 4-5 interruptions with people yelling about babies being killed and the president supported abortion. It was a highly volitle situation as Notre Dame is a catholic school who is very vocal against abortion. There was security everywhere. The interruptions only lasted a few seconds before the hecklers were escorted out.

Spring from a man's point of view

Well, Steve read the blog the other day and said "Hey, this carries my name (mostholyrev) and you write about "girl" stuff. I don't think of mushrooms, flowers, circuses or anything of the sort, when May rolls around, I think of Race Car Driving! So, on Mother's Day, mind you, we went to Indianapolis to the Speedway and watch the pole time trials - just to usher in spring from a man's point of view!

Jason, Kendra, Kinsen and Jaybin actually invited us to go with them, so being a "mother", this arrangement suited me well also.

We ate Tenderloin sandwiches that were as big as a large frisbee. (I know, not heart healthy, but since we were ushering in Spring from a man's point of view, we had to eat Man-sized, deep fried, tenderloin that was smothered in mayonaise!) The kids ate corn dogs (or as Jaybin said "that's a good hotdog on a stick"!

I got to experiment with my new camera. I tried to get pictures of the cars, so here is the car picture I took to "usher in Spring from a Man's point of view!

Now, on to the better pictures - (from a woman's point of view anyway!)

Then around 4:00 we made our way to the big-top to see the circus. It truly was nostalgic. The owner of the circus was a member of the Ringling family who wanted to preserve the big-top and side shows of an era gone by. There were tents set up with side shows; there were tigers, horse back acrobats, clowns, trapeze artist, jugglers, balance masters, trained dogs - the show lasted 2 hours. Then to add to the nostalgia, the circus only sold circus peanuts, drinks, cotton candy, circus coloring books, and face painting. It was a lovely time and I'm really glad that Jason/Kendra allowed us the joy of experiencing it with our grandkids.

Grandma's ready to party!

The circus is coming to town! I read it in the Kokomo Tribune. I hear that the circus is making its debut with an old fashioned parade followed by the elephants putting up the big top! Now, this sounds like a party to me. So, I call Jason and Kendra to see if they want to share their children for a day! So, we picked up the kids at 7:30 pm on Tuesday evening; they spent the night and we got up bright an early to see the parade and the novelty of seeing the big-top go up by elephant power! What a treat. I have heard stories of the circus coming to town, but never actually have experienced the nostalgia of it all until today.

Here are the workers and elephants setting up the big-top.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love spring. Mushroom hunting, Robins building nests, baby Canadian geese waddling across the road, lush green grass, gardening and flowers! Yes, my flower garden is beginning to come to life once again. The yellow daffodils, jonquils, and early red and yellow tulips were lovely this year. I missed getting pictures of them. However, the later tulips are blooming right now, along with the bleeding heart and the lily of the valley. This morning I saw a hummingbird at my nectar feeder, so Spring is officially here in my mind! See how I planted short tulips right alongside tall tulips? cool . . . huh?

Mushrooms Everywhere!

Boy did I have fun hunting mushrooms today! My brother told me that he had hundreds of mushrooms at his house, so I took off today and went to Leiters Ford to hunt them with Jon. I thought when he said there were hundreds that he was stretching the truth, but when I walked into the woods I was simply amazed. There were mushrooms everywhere... well, after I got my "mushroom eyes" on. They are really hard to see. They look just like the leaves. Look at these pictures.