....and summer sweetens all to me." - James Russell Lowell

July 20 * Granddaughter Shelby celebrated 17 with cheesecake 

July 21 * All mine. Chocolate shake at Steak n Shake with Shelby and Elijah and Neil. Can't believe they didn't want one.

July 21 * West side of town

July 21 * And on the east side of town, the sky painted a different picture

July 23 * Destruction of living room floor still in progress

July 23

July 23 * Retired, when he's not destroying the living room floor

July 25

July 27

July 27 * Knox red-faced from some backyard baseball practice

July 27 * He's done

July 28 * Lunch at Zaxby's with Grandsons Elijah and Knox and daughter Kelly

July 28 * Cousins. Knox is the little brother Elijah never had (picture by Kelly)

July 28 * After lunch, these two amused themselves dancing to Just Dance 3 on the Wii. I think the Just Dance videos are up to number 50 these days, or some such. But they had a great time.

July 28 * That thing I look forward to every summer. Finally got one. Large. Second shake in a week. Worth every big fat calorie.

July 30 * Elijah. First day of school. But not really. It was a two hour day for him. 7th grade already.

July 30 * Knox went to school for about an hour to find his classroom and meet his teacher. 1st grade this year.

July 30 * Shelby is a senior this year. Still can't wrap my little brain around that one.

July 30 * My grandpeeps. How they've grown! I need a pause button.

July 30 * Ice cream treats at the Lazy Cow Creamery. First day of school, and all. But not really. Good excuse to get ice cream, not that we need any excuse, mind you

July 31 * Making progress. Honest.

July 31 * Knox's first (real) day of 1st grade

July 31 * Shelby's first full day as a senior. Chaotic she said.

July 31 * Elijah's first full day of 7th grade. He refused to let me take his picture again since we did all that yesterday. So this will have to be his official first day of school picture. 

"That beautiful season the Summer! 
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; 
And the landscape 
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood."
-  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"People take pictures of the Summer, just in case someone thought they had missed it, and to prove that it really existed."
-  Ray Davies

Children's children are a crown to the aged ~Proverbs 17:6

Enjoyed lunch at Steak n Shake with Grandpeeps Knox, Shelby, and Elijah today

Treated ourselves to the decadent rolled ice cream at Crepe and Cream

Knox and Grandpa and Elijah are all about the video games. And baseball. 

Shelby + Happy Place

“Excuse me if I have/some place in my mind/where I go time to time.” ~Tom Petty

Good Day with GrandPeeps

                       

WHO'S HAPPY TO BE AT OCHA? WE ARE! WE ARE!

Our fave Thai food restaurant, Ocha, is open again after being closed the past two months while the owner visited Thailand. Another fan of Ocha once remarked that this is the only business he knows of that can close for two months and then reopen and pick up right where they left off and never lose a customer. We're happy to have them back, as is the rest of the town, apparently, since the line at lunch was out the door. Sure did enjoy the rice and spicy chicken. Grandson Knox opted for Wendy's chicken nuggets. He must have been hungry, too. I think he stuffed about three of them in his mouth at once [see his pic below]. Welcome back, Ocha! We missed you!

With luck, it might even snow for us. ~Haruki Murakami, After Dark

No Snow Snow Day! Blue sky. Sunshine. 42 degrees. School is out [I don’t pretend to know why]. Grand peeps Shelby and Elijah are hanging out with their Aunt Kelly, Uncle Kerry and Cousin Knox today. We all met at Steak’n’Shake for lunch. Kelly had coupons! Neil ordered this monster hot dog with relish and hot peppers and other stuff all over it. He claims it was good.

Grand daughter Shelby had chicken fingers/strips and grandson Knox enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich, although what he really wanted was ice cream.

Son in law Kerry ate half his dark chocolate shake before his burger and fries made it to the table.

Hey, Kelly, put down that phone and eat your lunch!

Grandson Elijah has decided that he’s going to be brave and try new things when it comes to food ~ such as this steak burger with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg on top. He actually ate that thing. At first, he wanted to try a burger that had jalapeno peppers on it. We talked him out of it for obvious reasons ~ hot peppers are hot! Then his grandpa offered him a jalapeno pepper off of his hot dog and told him to take just a tiny bite. Much to everyone’s surprise and horror, Elijah popped the whole pepper into his mouth and started to chew. He was OK at first and then his eyes started to water and his cheeks turned a flaming red. He couldn't get to his cold drink fast enough. Laughed at him until we cried. I love these snow days with my peeps! It’s all good.

CHEEEEEESE!

Grandson Knox wanted to sit in my lap today at lunch [at Ocha, our fave Thai food place]. I was pleasantly surprised and gladly shared my space with him. My other two grand peeps, Shelby and Elijah, were both Granny’s-the-one-to-go-to types when they were his age. With Knox, his Grandpa is THE go-to grandparent. And I am seriously OK with that. It thrills Neil to death to be that person. So I was happy he wanted to sit on my lap for a while today. His mom took our picture and Knox was glad to say “Cheeeeese!”

EVER LOVIN SATURDAY {WITH PEEPS}

Lunch at Wendy’s today with grand kids Elijah and Shelby after Elijah’s basketball game. They are staying with us overnight while their mom and dad celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary at a cabin on the lake this weekend. We’ve had fun hanging out today, watching Harry Potter movies, eating doughnuts, and being lazy bums. That’s what Saturdays are all about, so I guess we’re doing it right.

West Side Deli

Neil and I had lunch today with daughter Kelly, son in law Kerry and grandson Knox at West Side Deli, located appropriately on the old West Side of town in a narrow hole in the wall with industrial strength décor that’s pretty cool. They had already tried it and liked it, so we gave it a shot. The menu states that it’s “A New York-Style Deli”. I’ve never been to New York, so I’ll have to take the menu's word for it. They serve up an array of choices ~ soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps, hot dogs, a burger or two and other goodies like chicken parmesan, flatbread pizza and fettuccine alfredo with chicken. It's a bit pricey, but then it's not McDonald's, so there you go.

I enjoyed the turkey and avocado wrap [safe choice] and macaroni salad. [FYI~the glass of beer belongs to son in law Kerry~honest] It was a huge meal I could have easily shared and still been filled up [especially when you’re used to Slim Fast for lunch].

Grilled cheese for grandson Knox, served up with a big helping of Thomas the Trains. Thanks, kids, for introducing Neil and me to somewhere new [which we never do]. It was fun. Maybe next time the meat and three won’t be so crowded. And now I can say I’ve been to New York. Sort of.

EVER LOVIN SATURDAY

Grandson Elijah [in the blue shirt closest to the basket] played his second Vision Basketball game today. He has become a really good player. He shoots. He scores!

Grandson Knox had fun hanging out and watching his cousin play ball.

Elijah played hard as you can see by his red face. He scored a lot of points. The two teams tied the game 24~24.

My sweet grand peeps ~ Shelby, Elijah and Knox

Had to snap a picture of this beautiful sun shiny blue sky day ~ temperature close to sixty with a coolish breeze ~ that sunshine felt like heaven after being in the deep freeze the past week

We enjoyed lunch together after the game at Momma Rosa’s ~ the pizza was extra delicious today.

We not only enjoyed the yummy food, but we were also digging the music they were playing in the restaurant ~ classic oldies from late seventies and early eighties

Hello, it’s me! Gratuitous selfie. Sure did enjoy spending time with my peeps today! Happy Saturday, everyone!