Tuesday, June 30, 2020

“Sometimes, the sun sets earlier. Days don’t last forever, you know..." Marie Lu, Champion

June 1
Searching for the marshmallows in the Froot Loops
Bubble time
Whip that bubble wand hard as you can
Swinging with the bubble wands
June 4
Pretty scenery out where daughter Holly lives
They'll be moving to a new house soon
Another Bomb Pop kid in the fam
June 5
Holly sent me this pic of her beautiful calla lilies
Her dad gave her the bulbs years ago
She said they've never bloomed like this before
June 6
They checked out an ice cream shop in Livingston that makes all sorts of milkshakes with candy and other goodies served up in a Mason jar you get to keep -- the shakes looked awesome, but the verdict was "Meh" and not worth the trip
June 8
Out in the country
June 9
Churches of Christ Disaster Relief -- set up in our church gym since March 3 when the EF4 tornado plowed through here --  finally closed up shop
This huge room was wall to wall, top to bottom full of donations that came from all around the country and given away to any and all victims of the tornado.
Everything that was left was either boxed up and stored to give away later or donated to other local organizations that lend a helping hand to anyone in need.
June 10
Frankie can't catch a break even when he's trying to eat

Smokey doesn't escape her cuddles either

June 12
Ready for battle

Swinging with brother Knox and box o' Bubble Guppies

Guppies are her faves right now

June 14
My sister Jane and me at church
Our congregation finally returned to worship service in our building
Phase One -- masks are mandatory with physical distancing (every other pew)
The service has been shortened along with how many hymns we sing
It's really not fun singing with a mask on but we survived

June 14 is Flag Day USA
Love the stars and stripes

Finally got to eat at El Tapatio for the first time in months
Love me some chips and salsa

Ella discovered that El Tap cheese dip is everything it's cracked up to be--Yum!

June 18
She runs. She falls. Got the skinned knees to prove it.

Since son in law Kerry works weekends, I snapped an early Father's Day pic of dad and kids

June 19
Cats make the best pillows
Whether they want to or not

Ever since she's noticed bees, she's become an avid bee hunter and spotter

Our callas are in bloom

June 20
Early Father's Day dinner at Bobby Q's

Son in law Jerry with his two kiddos Elijah and Shelby
We went ahead and took Father's Day pics early too since the forecast called for rain on Sunday and this family was busy packing up their house and preparing to move the first week in July

Grandpa Neil (or Papa as Ella calls him) with the grand peeps
Shelby, Elijah, Knox, and Ella

Daddy and daughters Holly and Kelly

"A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way."

June 22
She had fallen asleep
And then somebody sat on his car horn at the nearby intersection on their street
Where's the mute button when you need one?

Picking a clover bouquet

Neil has rebuilt the motors on three remote controlled cars/trucks that have been sitting around for more than a decade and got them up and running.

They raced them around the backyard and made a lot of noise. I'm sure our neighbors hated us for it, but the guys had fun until they wrecked them.

Ella was a bit freaked out with all the noise

Awesome clouds

June 24
Trampoline fun

She's wearing big brother's shoes
Why do little kids invariably put the shoe on the wrong foot?

They enjoyed the sidewalk chalk
Ella scooted her little bum across my 'masterpiece'



Meanwhile, Kelly was zipping around on Knox's scooter

Awesome sunset

June 25
Shelby and Elijah spent the day with us and brought pup dog Charlie
They had to be out of the house while it was being shown by the realtor to prospective buyers

Lunch at Panda Garden
We wore disposable gloves to handle the serving spoons/tongs, and they had physical-distanced seating. It was a better experience than I thought it would be.

Knox and Ella joined us while their dad ran some errands
They're watching Spongebob--the great equalizer of all ages

Ella is a little intimidated by her cousin Elijah to the point where she couldn't even look at him

So he just sat there beside her and struck the same pose

Bee spotting

These two are buddies

Bizzy

June 26
Can't help thinking of my mom. They were her fave.

June 27
Her mom painted her fingernails ...

... and toes
Oh those cute baby toes

June 28
We had a gully washer with some hail

June 29
Morning stroll

Shadow selfie

Honey Nut Cheerios
Breakfast of champions

June 30
Shelby and Elijah spent the night with us last night
Dinner (Cheddar's) and a movie ('Aliens')
They were packed up and had just got in the car to go when they got the green light to stay for lunch.

To be as tall as he is, he's such a little brother

June 30
End of an era
Our local newspaper, founded in 1903, a daily paper except for Saturday, will cut their print edition to three times a week beginning in July. Today was the last paper carrier delivery--you know, where they fling your paper out their car window as they speed by your house and who knows where it will land. From now on, the paper will be delivered by the post office. This newspaper--as all print media plus brick and mortar businesses--has been hit hard by the negative economic effects of the virus pandemic. Print media has been on life support in recent years anyway. The virus was the final nail in the coffin. Our paper has been available online in a limited format for several years, but now they will expand their digital footprint and pray all the hard copy subscribers will follow them online. Even though I'm a fan of hard copy, I will support this digital effort.
But I'll miss playing hide and seek with the daily print edition somewhere out there in the Liriope.
Today it landed in plain sight.
Where's the fun in that?

“End the first half with vigor; start the second with tenacity, and stay focused to the very end!” 
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah