April Round Robin part 3 of 3 Nebraska

 After being snowed in at Watertown, SD. for a day, we made our way to our Oldest daughter's family.  We thank God for the guidance and protection during our many miles of travel.  It did turn out that April was the month to be away from Rapid City where 3 major snowstorms hit while we were gone and dumped more then 3 feet of snow.  We thank wonderful friends and neighbors for taking care of our snow removal.  

 Once we arrived at our daughters, my husband Jeff could present our youngest granddaughter with a wood stick horse that he had been working on during the winter months.  She loved it and immediately named him "LEVI"    Who would have guessed. I would have thought with the light main and ears and pink rope it might have been a girl horse with a girl name, but no,  it was a "HIM".
  

 We saved the March Birthday gifts to personaly deliver in April.   Wow!  Our 14 yr old grandson got his very own "DUCK DYNASTY" t-shirt.  socks and wait a minute, what was in the socks?

 A "SNARK"  that can be used to tune his guitars and mandolin.  He has become quite the musician and picks up on playing different instruments very quickly.  I know he got that from his Papa Jeff.  

 Next birthday would be our 11 yr old granddaughter.  She loved her new green t-shirt and "CLUE GAME" and also enjoyed the Hula hoop with lights.  Below she poses with her special grand surprise gift from her mom and dad.  She got to pick out special look alike characteristics and order an American Doll.      

 I think she did an excellent job and  YES, she dose look a lot like her.

 Another winter project that Papa Jeff had been working on was repairing this older violin and putting new strings on it.  He figures if they have the instrument, someone will learn how to play it.   She was able to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before we left for home.

 The four oldest grandkids were practicing a lot of piano, getting ready for the spring recital.  

 Here is our youngest grandson trying his hand (or rather his waist) at hula hooping.  He did a great job at it, at one point he even had 2 hula hoops going at the same time.  

 OK, I know it was a little late for Easter but you know Nana's with fun things,  We just had to have a Easter Egg hunt for the kiddo's.  Lots of fun for them and for me.  Each egg had a special surprise inside.

 Some were hid in rather strange places, like the purple egg in the exhaust of the family Suburban.

 This is Rusty cat.  I am not real sure he knows he is a cat.  He certainly enjoys riding in the stroller.  Even being buckled in.  He is our oldest granddaughters cat but the whole family enjoys him.

 Nana just had to pick up a few cute things for the kids at the store.  And yes, even the older kids got something.  Batman Fedora, Ferry princess t-shirt with stripe pants,  The older kids got jeans and sun glasses.  

She is ready for the Concert.  black skirt and white blouse, and boy can she sing!

 I had the great privilege to watch and listen to our 3 older grandkids sing in a home school concert.  It was great, way better then I could have imagined.  It consists of 3 separate choirs with a total of 100 voices or better.   They sounded so good, I would encourage them to make CD's to sell.

 Sporting that new  Batman Fedora. 

 Play time,  We had fun playing  MAKEOVERS! 
   Makeup is always a big hit with little girls.

 Our oldest granddaughter is not only beautiful but she is such a big help.  Here she is helping prepare Cinnamon toast for breakfast while I made the scrambled eggs.  OH,  I don't think I mentioned that Jeff and I got to watch the 5 children while their mom and dad attended a conference in TX.  It was a great time, busy but GREAT.  Mom and dad had lots of notes, charts and schedules all organized and printed out which made our busy schedule a lot easier for both us and the grand kids.

 Would you believe Papa Jeffie just happened to find a pink guitar for our sweet little granddaughter.  She was overjoyed.    She had to have a little patience while he put strings on it and got it tuned up for her.

 This is  TOBY DOG,  he spends most of his time outside.  

 Our grandson trying out his new BAT that he bought.   It looked like it worked quite well.  We weren't able to watch one of his games as they had only started  their practice for the year.  I hear he is doing quite well for his team though.

 OH NO!  Look who found her brothers fadora.  CUTE AS A BUTTON!

 Strings are on and time to try a tune.   Play that pink guitar!

 Papa with 2 of his special girls. 

 Mom helps tie the "white belt" for Ninjutsu.  He and his oldest sister really get into this sport.  I not so much.  It looks to me like it would hurt a lot.  They learn a lot in their weekly lessons

 NOW SHE WOULD RATHER ROLLERBLADE!   It has my vote.

Striking a pose.  

It was a great trip to visit many loving family members. 

Niagara, part 2 of 3 of our April Round-Robin-Trip

We had beautiful weather and roads as we traveled East to a small town of Niagara, ND.  Just a few miles North to the farm that I call home, where I was brought up and raised.  This was the first visit to the farm and to visit my mother since January when my father past away.  It seemed different knowing he would not be there to give me a big hug as he always had in the past.  I am thankful to have had him in my life for so many years and thankful to still have my mother of over 91 yr old.    

Below is the landmark "Red Barn" from our farm.

 HEY LITTLE CALF, AREN'T YOU ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE FENCE?

 Who Me?   Are you talking to me?

 My mothers brother, Uncle Ed came to visit and make some music. He enjoys having someone to play with and we enjoyed listening and singing along.  He has been playing and singing at retirement and  nursing homes for many years.

 He really liked the sound of Jeffs Mandolin so they traded for a couple songs just to see if he could play it.
He did a pretty good job with a few tips on cords from Jeff.

I just couldn't come home without a visit to my dads grave.  Even though I know He is safe in Heaven in the arms of Jesus I wanted to honor him with a cross that Jeff and I made.  I had to tromp through some deep snow to place the cross but I mostly stayed on the top of the snow drifts.

 We saw amazing wildlife. Just at the end of the farm driveway was a dead deer, more than likely "roadkill".  We watched 4 big beautiful Bald Eagles eating on the deer carcass.   We tried very hard to sneek up for a nice picture but as you can see,  they noticed us way too soon and flew up.  Also, notice the heard of deer in the East field. One evening I counted close to 40 deer.  They were there every evening and sometimes even came right up to the yard, picture window of the house after dark.   We also saw many birds and a fat Raccoon checking out the cat dish for leftovers.

My Niece and her husband have twin girls and a 4 yr old boy.  
We only got to see Kenzie and her mom since the others were sick with stomach flu.  She was as cute as can be and here she is loving on her Uncle David.  We did have a fun gathering with the rest of the family.  Below you can see we are all gathered in my mom's kitchen.  It is always nice to get together. My nephew, Jamie, grilled hamburgers and hotdogs.  Everyone brought a salad, buns and desert and we had way too much to eat.    

 More cute calf pictures.  They were very brave to come quite close for the picture.
 Below are more of Jamie's cattle, cows and calves. The bottom picture is a close up of one of the
 cow's getting a drink of cold water. .

 This is what and who you will find most every morning around my mothers table for coffee.  My sister-in-law, Kathy and my first cousin Harriet are a big help and support for my mom.  Jamie is there several times a day and dose a lot to help mom.
  It makes it easier for me to leave knowing she is cared for and in good hands.

   Speeking about leaving,  We were very happy we had taken the 4 wheel drive Tahoe as we hit a snow storm.  We were snowed in at Watertown overnight and until 10 Am the next day.  We were in a wonderful warm Hilton Hotel with a lot of coffee,  tea, hot chocolate, fruit, treats and full breakfast.

 We did need to clean of the Tahoe and shovel a bit before headed South toward Charitys.

 The roads weren't the best but we drove slow, 35 - 40 MPH 

until we got to Sioux Falls and then then conditions got much better.  

The ice did make the trees very full and beautiful.  There was a lot of damage around the Sioux Falls area.

Coming soon,  part 3 of April Round-Robin trip

Round Robin visit in April 2013 (part 1 of 3)

 Our first part of the April trip was North, past Williston ND to the town of Alamo to visit our youngest daughter Melissa, our son-in-law Tim and Grandson Ansir.  This is the most beautiful part of the drive.  

 We certainly enjoyed spending Easter 2013 with them.  After  Easter brunch at the church and a beautiful worship service we enjoyed a nice ham dinner and relaxing day.  This is Ansir with his special friend,  Misty cat.  We also had a blast playing some fun board games with Ansir and some of his friends.  (sorry,  we were having too much fun I completely forgot to snap a few pictures.

 There was special music,  our own little blue grass jam.  You can tell they were having fun.

 We were there for Tim's birthday and Melissa and I had fun planing and decorating his birthday cake.  We used the camping/ survivor theme.

 Normally I take many pictures of their dog's, Rosco and Trixie but this time I got some real good close up shots of their two cats.   Above is Misty who was enjoying playing with a paper bag that we brought.

 These pictures are of Ruby,  she has very beautiful eyes.

 Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday dear Tim, Happy Birthday to you.

 It was nice that Tim could have Tuesday off work.  Even though it was the day before his birthday we had fun celebrating with him, Melissa and Ansir and a couple friends.

The cake and Ice cream was delicious.   We ate way to much for the first leg of our trip.  We had a good time and thank Tim and Melissa for opening their home to us and making us feel so comfortable.