I made my final trip to Peoria to see the grandchildren before I
begin my drive to Arizona. I had signed up to be the Mystery Reader in
Drew's first grade class and had a ball doing that. Drew was very
surprised that I did this! During the week the teacher would read a
"clue" from the mystery reader and the kids try and guess who it might
be. He thought several times it might be grandma but all the other
first grade children thought for sure they knew who it was so he started
second guessing himself, according to his teacher. My final two clues
kind of sealed the deal for him, I think. :-)
I had
planned to come home last Monday but they didn't have school on Columbus
Day so I stayed and watched them and left on Tuesday instead. It was
hard saying good-bye to them, knowing I was going so far away! But, I
fly back for Thanksgiving and then Mark and I are flying back there
together on Dec. 28th and spending a week so that will certainly help!
Mark
has been busy trying to harvest. Due to our very awful growing season
they are having a hard time deciding what fields are ready, which are
still too green, etc. Our yields have so far been disappointing but not
unexpected. Huge ponds drowned out from too much rain last spring to
NO rain after that leads to poor yields. The life of a farmer....
I
plan to leave for Omaha and Matt next Wednesday. I will spend the
night with him and then leave early on Thursday for my longest stretch
of driving, around 800 miles. Ugh. The second day is shorter and I
should be at our Phoenix home by 2 p.m. on Friday. Sharon is flying to
Phoenix on Saturday so I will arrive just in time to pick her up at the
airport. I look forward to spending some time with my sister.
Hopefully we will get to do some mountain hiking.
I had a grand time with my three grandchildren and here is a video and pictures to prove it. :-)
Drew and Kayley gave Ryan gator rides
They dearly love their neighborhood park!
Ryan learning to slide with dad
We spent a lot of time at this park!
Another trip to Costco and this time Kayley wanted in on the posing
Drew's pose?
This looks like a pose!
My sweet Kayley
Drew and the peaches
Lots of time also spent on this huge pile of dirt by their house. Drew is certain he found some dinosaur fossils here.....
is Drew?! After a game, we went to Costco. While Megan and Kayley were busy shopping, Drew wanted to have his picture taken at various Costco displays, just for fun. We did have mindless fun! :-)
Andy had to go to Australia for work so I decided to head to Peoria and help Megan with the kids during his absence. I helped get them to practices and other obligations. I know Megan appreciated having a helping hand with her three little ones and I was more than happy to do that! It meant some quality time with my grandchildren before I head back to AZ for the winter.
We did lots of fun things while I was there. A visit to Tanner Orchard on a beautiful Sunday was great fun, so much fun that I took Drew and Kayley back the following Wednesday because they had an early school dismissal. Tanner has lots of stuff for kids their age.
Our two days at Tanner Orchard in about one minute:
I also was a chaperone for Drew's field trip one day. It was fun and
very educational for the first graders, BUT, it was unusually hot that
day! Those six year olds were pooped by the time 2:00 rolled around.
This sixty something gal was a bit pooped, too!
Candle making around a fire. The fire did not feel great since it was about 90 degrees outside!
A hay rack ride!
Learning all about living in the 1800's
Lunch and water!
I was also able to attend three football practices and two games for Drew. These boys are so cute to watch as they run around trying to get touchdowns and pull flags. I will brag here and say that I saw Drew get 3 touchdowns. He has never had a flag pulled in a game yet when he gets the ball. He is obviously a lot speedier than his grandma!
I spent a lot of time with Ryan and took lots of pics and videos so I put them all in a video.
