We lit a few more yesterday. One caught fire before it got up. It was a bit scary.  It is so hot here today – in the 100′s. The kids are playing at a nearby park which has a water area.  Really nice.  Chillicothe has some nice parks in town. The train park has a slide and dry area plus the water area.

Both Kaitlyn and Calvin have jumped on these before.  We stopped in a mall and Calvin wanted to get on this.  We were watching him while the older kids were in school.  No fear.  I think having a trampoline at the house has really benefit both children. Calvin and Kaitlyn are developing muscles, agility and confidence.

Just starting the jumps

That’s what Calvin called the museum last year. This year he does say museum. Eric and I took him to the Bloomington, IL Children’s Museum.  Bloomington is a college town and the museum is right next to the Amtrak Train station.  Being the last full week of school it was absolutely full of school children.  Hundreds if not thousands.  But — we got there about 12:30 and the groups all left between 1 pm and 1:15 pm.  So we only had to endure the loud swarms of children for a very short while.  Then the museum emptied to about 20 children.  We had an enjoyable time there. Lisa took the kids last year and Calvin remembered some of the displays.  Calvin enjoyed the climbing ropes. That is a three story sculpture with ropes, sliding or climbing short platforms and lots of outside views.  There is a tractor he was able to sit and pretend drive. Calvin milked cows. We played life size checkers. Water exhibits and lots more.  Calvin and I used to go to the Olympia museum every week last year. Sometimes more than once. We would park at farmers market at take the free purple bus to the museum and back to our parking space. When the farmers market was open we would buy a dinosaur cookie to go for our snack.

Climbing

Painting

Calvin enjoyed painting.  He also liked wiping off his master pieces with a squeegee.

Do you remember being younger than your sister/brother or cousins?  And feeling left out?  Calvin’s preschool is closed for the summer and yet the older kids are still in school.  What can I do mom?  We had the joy of spending the day with Calvin.  We discovered a couple of nice parks in the area today.  For Mothers Day we got to celebrate with all four grand kids plus Lon/Lisa,

Getting ready to fish!

Fun at the park

Heather and Ryan.  Fishing and hot dogs on the grill.  A delightful day.

Celebrating Lily’s sixth birthday.  All the grand children were happy and full of smiles and energy.

Zack

Lily

Calvin

Kaitlyn

Gyros.  We love the gyro.  Eric’s mother is Lebanese and we have enjoyed many Middle Eastern dishes in the years we have been married. Being back here in Illinois we have seen many restaurants that feature the gyro.  Of course, we make our own. This is our cucumber sauce. Turned out wonderful.

I had two tomatoes that made the trip from Las Vegas to Illinois (12 days!). The tomatoes looked their age.  This is the 2nd time I made fresh tomato soup and it turned out great again.  I sauted 1/2 onion chopped, 2 celery ribs chopped, and two garlic cloves. Then I added the chopped tomatoes. I did not skin or seed them.  I added 2 cups of chicken broth and cooked it 20 minutes. Pureed it in the blender. Added salt, pepper, 2 t sugar, 1 small can of tomato paste and 1 1/2 cups of canned milk. Turned out great and I saved the tomatoes!

Tonight we lit four Japanese lanterns. Each child picked the color they wanted.  We started with Calvin, the youngest.  His yellow lantern got caught in the tree in the front yard.  Next was Lily.  We moved to the other side of the yard and her red lantern went way up in the sky.  Zack was next.  His lantern was blue and it also went very high. Kaitlyn chose white and colored a ghost face on the lantern.  She also had a high flying lantern.  The neighbors came out to view the lanterns also.  Tomorrow we get to watch Calvin in his gymnastics class.  It is high paced fun being with the grand children.

We are going to wait out the storm.  We are in a great campground, full power and it’s really pretty here.  We decided to try KS barbeque. Our first day was Oklahoma Joe’s barbeque.  It was a real down home place and the one we liked best. Our second day was at Jack Stacks.  It was a fancier place. The pit boss came and took Eric through a tour of the smokers.  Jack Stacks was voted #1 barbeque by Zagats.  We went to the Harry Truman museum.  All my pictures did not come out.  I have officially switched to Thor’s old camera – new to me and at least it works!  It snow or rain/snow ice mix all night and it’s still coming down.  I don’t think we have much more than an inch on the ground here. The grass is still peaking through.   We have spent the last three winters in Las Vegas.  You can imagine our stock of winter clothing. Actually we have several sweatshirts and I have one winter coat. Eric has a lot of long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts.  And Eric (thanks Deseret) has a top notch winter coat. We do have gloves and hats. But no boots.   When I worked at the range in December at night I would wear two sweatshirts and my winter coat.  And it was still cold to me.  We never had to worry about boots because it didn’t rain and the snow would be in the mountains.  We are staying plenty warm in the RV.  We have plugged in our 3rd heater and with all three heaters running we are comfy.  It is just hard to be here when we are anxious to see our family.

Today is May 2nd.  We are expecting up to 4 inches of snow.  Sitting here in Kansas City watching it come down.