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| We were so happy to hear that our eldest son, Daniel, and his wife Heidi would be coming to visit us for a few days. They arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday , as they came down after work. Most of that day was spent sitting and talking with them, and taking it easy.
 
geranium flowers on the deck and apple bread
 
David and Dan hanging out and talking
Bob had gone in early to work so that he could come home early and spend time with them. As soon as he arrived home we all headed off to one of the local parks to enjoy the view and play around with Daniel's discs.
 
He and Heidi have taken up disc golf recently, as they live right next to a course in their town of Merced, and it is a great group activity. We used this park to practice using the various disks, just using tree, poles, or trash bins for the targets.
It was a beautiful evening. I tried to get some photos as I was enjoying the family. A challenge at times as they were all moving about!
 
Bob and Grandpa throwing discs. Grandpa did fall down once, but it was when making a lunge for a disc. He got a big bruise on his elbow...but thankfully that was all due to the soft grass.
 
Father and two sons...fun to see how alike they are, yet unique!
Brothers! Dan is 10 years older than David. But the little bro is catching up in height. I see how much he has to grow still when next to Daniel.
My favorite shot of the weekend...Daniel, Bob,and David!
Dan and Heidi celebrated their 3rd anniversary in October.
The sky was turning so beautiful with these clouds.
I love being with my family!!
Lining up for the next shot
 
Heidi throws with so much energy and grace! These are her beginning and ending poses.
 
Playing through and under the canopy of trees.
We pretty much played disc golf all weekend...so I will follow with some more on this!
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Grandpa had his first visit to Senior care over the weekend as we couldn't take him everywhere with us. He wondered why he was there but two of the girls there offered him coffee and he went off happily with them. It went well overall, he liked the icecream and wanted to show Bob and David around when they picked him up. He did think that we should just "stick with this operation". I think we will be moving him into live full time this month as we are seeing too much of a strain on David's schooling and sleep. It is a difficult thing to do, though I think Grandpa will be happy once he is used to it, and it is only a few minutes away. We went to the new Doctor's office down here today and that went really well. He just needed a TB test and had his BP and a quick check of the lungs. Everyone is always amazed to hear an 87 year old doesn't take any meds! Grandpa is always very confused when other people are here, and worries about the food. There is always enough so we just let him know that.
Off to have dinner now. Hope you all are having a good Monday! Blessings, Jenny
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On the next day in Colorado, Nick and Alicia both took off work so that we could spend the day together. This was another favorite day, scenery, and time with my family!! We decided to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though it would take longer we decided to drive there by way of one of the Scenic Highways, and it was beautiful, and very scenic the entire trip up.
We stopped to stretch our legs, and make a pit stop at a small town on the way...very pretty with fun little shops. Alicia bought some chamomile to flavor the Gelato at work.
Saw this quaint little church along the highway.
We continued driving until we arrived in Estes Park, CO. We stopped before we even drove into the park because we came upon these Elk.
Many elk were wandering across the road, and into the various yards and fields, so we pulled over to watch them.
We thought this guy was beautiful...
And this big guy literally stopped traffic.
We enjoyed watching the elk in this field, and helped shoo some of the elk away from one of the flower gardens, as the lady that lived here came out and was shooing them away from her home. That was a nice meeting as she told us a bit more about the elk and what it was like living with them.
From here we drove into the park, stopped to talk to the rangers and look at the visitors center, then onto this lovely area.
We ate our picnic lunch next to this stream,below the cascades, before heading into the mountains in the background. We soon had a cute little visitor very interested in our lunch!
 
David was busy climbing around even during lunch!
Alicia enjoying the chipmunk
David
Nick
Water is so restful and melodic as it splashes over the rocks, and lunch eaten out of doors is so welcome!
I always enjoy seeing my boys together.
...and of course our cute couple.
beautiful colors...
We got back in the car and headed up the pass over the Mountains. You can see the area that we picnicked , down below and over to the left. The road we drove up is on the right.
It was very windy, look at Alicia's hair! Very brisk too.
Beautiful views to enjoy off the edge
And this lovely bird. When he would fly it was in a swift zooming and twirling motion, and very pretty black and while wings.
Up and up to about 12,000 feet,and we saw this herd of elk grazing in the upper meadows.
Stopping and looking out at the many mountains and alpine lakes...it was so beautiful.
We hiked up to the top of the area...you did feel on top of the world...or at least this part of the Rockies. It was a very exhilarating feeling. I tried to think when I felt this way before, and I recalled that it is when downhill skiing. I enjoyed this day so very much...pure happiness!
It would be wonderful to come up here when all the wild flowers are in bloom. The Ranger said that was about a month before our August trip. It varies year to year depending on when the snow melts. We still found the meadows beautiful as there were some tiny flowers and so much color in the grasses and on the lichen covered rocks.
The marker telling about all the surrounding peaks and sites.
It was quite chilly, we told Alicia she was being a real Colorado girl in her shirt sleeves.
 
The camera batteries ran out while on the walk and David ran down to the car and back so we could have photos of all the flowers and views. Even our long-legged guy was puffing when he returned at this high altitude. The next day his chest was sore from running at this altitude.
We hoped to see some Marmots on this hike, and finally saw this fellow on the way back down. Can you see him right in the middle amidst the rocks?
A busy fellow putting on a layer of fat for the winter.
David captured the beauty of the rock, grasses, and flowers
We continued down the other side of the mountain. There were beautiful yellow, pink, and red wild flowers along the road in spots, but no where to stop, so we just had to enjoy them as we went! On the other side there is an area of meadows, streams, and the headwaters of the Colorado river. We were told that there were moose sightings along here, so we kept our eyes open.
We stopped here when we saw a lot of people on the side of the road. You can just see the head and ears of the mama moose over the log. Someone else was nice enough to tell us that there was a moose further down the road that was easier to see. They also told us to look for a certain bridge. We were happy for the directions as we would have driven right by and this mama moose who came right out of the bushes!
Here she is checking on her baby, which we saw briefly, but was scared away when a noisy motorcycle drove by.
Alicia was delighted to get to see the moose!
Our last wild life sighting of the day was this osprey nest next across the street from a lake.
David took this shot by putting the camera lens up to his field glasses.
We headed back down the mountains to a quick dinner and off to Nick and Alicia's church. They were both teaching the youth that night and needed to get back!
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A long post...but that was such an enjoyable and scenic day full of wonder!!
Dan, Heidi, and David are off to Six Flags today. They slept at my mom's last night so they could all be rested. Grandpa was up prowling around in the night, so it is good they were not here. I am tired today and achy, but hope to get a few things done during this quiet day sunny Fall day.
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I am one of the youth leaders at our church. I began doing this when my older boys went to college. I had more time and I missed them. Daniel actually was our worship leader for my first 5 years with the youth ministry,even though he was at Biola University, he would come down on Th. nights. We have a small church so our group is small and knows one another well. I very much enjoy the kids, which amazes some people who could not imagine working with teens. Part of knowing I am in the right place I think.
I do believe that teaching children about the Bible and the Lord is primarily the parent's responsibility. Having worked with kids I believe that even more strongly, as I see what a huge impact the culture has on our children, we cannot possibly teach them enough in the few hours a week given to us. We do Bible study in groups with the kids 13-18 years old, on Sundays and on Thursday evenings...and we always encourage the students to do daily study on their own...and we encourage the parents too. Sadly, some only get the teaching when we give it, so we continue on in the work, and pray for the Lord to increase it in their lives.
We also plan fun outings and activities at least once a month. For October the activity was going to a Christian concert. We went to Creation Fest and listened to several bands. The first Christian concert for most of the group.
I posted more pics of our night out at our youth xanga http://bot4aprice.xanga.com
The November activity is this Friday. A trip to Six Flags on Home school day. A great day with small lines, and nice people, as it is closed to the general public. I am hoping to go...right now my knee is still too sore...so I would need it to heal up in the next few days in order to go! My son Daniel and his wife Heidi are driving down to go too, so it is even more of a draw than usual. They will come the rest of the way to our house and stay the weekend. I also like roller coasters...very fun.
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As I have said...my husband LOVES trains. He is a manufacturing engineer by training, had a couple train sets growing up, and has always loved seeing trains. He especially loves freight trains and engines. We can hear and see trains off in the valley off our deck, and he will often go out to look if a freight is going by even though it is quite a distance away. So we just HAD to go to the train museum in Golden, Colorado.
We actually visited here 30 years ago. The museum has grown a lot in the years since we have been there.
 
It was raining when we arrived so we began our tour inside looking at displays about trains and Colorado, we also went downstairs and saw a wonderful train layout. Once the weather cleared we were able to go outside and enjoy looking at trains throughout the property.
I think the "Thomas" trains have influenced me, I can see a face on the engine above, can you? We did think of Shanda's Caleb when we were here.
Bob wanted to meet him.
 
 
I liked to see the old interiors and imagine riding on these trains
They had these mannequins inside the mail car to show how that used to work. While reading and listening to the display I kept seeing them out of the corner of my eye and thinking someone was in the train with us.
 
trying out bunks and seats inside a car
One of the wonderful things about this train museum in the setting, and seeing all these trains set up on tracks outside on a large property backing up to the Colorado foothills.
What can I say?
Bob loved seeing the innards of the trains
He wanted to explore everything!!
This little boy thought David was so nice. He said something like, " you are a very nice big boy, I think I want be your friend ". He wanted to follow Bob and David around and would listen to all the detailed explanations about Trains and parts of trains.
When David took pictures like these, so did the little boy. His mom seemed happy and told him he could put them up in his room.
I was tired and hungry so I went back to the car to pick up lunches for us to eat while the guys continued looking. I finally found them again on the other side of the round house. So many great trains to see.
This vehicle was more like a car, it was a snow plow, and could be used to deliver things between stations.
Pretty red caboose
The turntable
An Engine lined up on the tracks to the turntable
Inside they were restoring this old old engine
Quite a beauty
I loved how this shot turned out...the clouds almost look like billows from the smokestack!
A giant snow blower
 
A lot of fun boy and dad time.
The rope pulled off the bell you could ring...so they fixed it.
more laughter and fun...
For some reason David didn't read this correctly at first...he said "what are loits?", in a sort of English accent. I think he was reading it upside down or something, but for some reason we were just laughing and laughing ;-D
So much to see...I finally got too tired and sat on a bench to draw this scene while they finished off looking at all the rolling stock.
Coors has a huge brewery in Golden. The largest site in the USA. We ended the day with a tour through the brewery.
 
barley and hops
They are big on using everything...no waste. Some of the used things go to cat food and fertilizer.
Giant copper brewing vats.
I am not a beer drinker, but I must say a that the cold sampler at the end of the tour tasted great. They said that beer is best the fresher it is...so this was fresh...straight from the brewery. David had root beer and pretzels!
Bob again loved seeing all the machinery, especially the assembly lines. It reminded me of some of the Mr. Rogers shows I watched with the boys when they were little. He would take us on field trips to various manufacturing plants. Watching the bottles, cans, boxes, and all whip around on the assembly lines was fun.
On the way back to Nick and Alicia's we drove along the Red Rock area again and enjoyed the scenery. We were looking forward to another evening with them!
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Catching up on things here at home today. Will get over to the garden to do some more winter planting. I received the good news that my son Daniel and his wife Heidi will be down to visit next weekend!! ;-D Happy dance!!
Enjoyed a concert experience with the youth last night...but that is another post...how is your weekend going?
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|  Bob and David at the Train Museum in Colorado. I have lots more to share from our trip to Colorado...but no time for that today...other than the fun picture above. Bob and David enjoying each other!!
Bubba is David's nickname with our family. I guess we called him that because he is the youngest, and was always "our Bubba". He is sure growing in maturity, as well as in height...6'1" these days. He is such a help with Grandpa! Today I made lunch, then told Grandpa he really HAD to take a shower. David helped him get undressed and in the shower and made sure he was all cleaned up, shampoo on the head and soap...then helped him get dressed. I took all the clothes and bed linens and washed them up...so everything is fresh and clean. After that David and Grandpa looked at all Grandpa's photos on the dresser. Grandpa loves to look at photo's of his own Mom and Dad these days, and reminisce about when he was growing up in Massachusetts. Now they went out for a walk around the block. Grandpa is going to be tuckered out for sure. I just wanted to say how proud I am of David and what a great guy he is! He got a new book on knots and some paratrooper cord, so he has been amusing himself this week tying lots and lots of knots.
I stumbled on a curb last week and managed to twist my right foot and knee. I didn't even know I hurt anything til the next day when my knee was stiff. Unfortunately, it is hurting still and taking a long time to heal!! My niece, Bri, is bringing me my sister's old knee brace to wear for support because I am going to a concert with the youth tomorrow and need a bit of stability!! I am praying it heals up quickly. I have felt so tired lately...I guess with the knee I haven't slept so well.
Well, they are back and we need to work on Chemistry and History now. Have a good evening! Jenny
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