Grandparents and Dinosaurs

My grandparents are hilarious.  Over the weekend all four of them were at our house, being super grandparent-y.  If you don't know what that means, it includes talking loudly, repeating seemingly hilarious stories we've heard before, asking us if we've had enough to eat, and generally being slightly clueless.  Adorably clueless.  

Grandpa Jerry (Dad's dad) and Grandpa Austin (Mom's dad) were sitting on the deck, probably discussing manly things like various construction projects and health problems.  And politics.  Both Austin and Jerry love to talk politics, even if they have no idea what's going on.

They also never manage to smile for a picture at the right time.  Both of them only smiled after I had put the camera away.  They're awesome.

Since all four grandparents were present, we had to take a picture with them.  I hate being in pictures.  Spencer doesn't mind, but we rarely get a good picture of him anyway.  

So Jerry, Betty Lou, Dee Dee, me, Austin, and Spencer all lined up amidst the jungle of ferns outside and waited for my mother to take our picture.  The dogs were running around in there, too.  They kinda knocked Dee Dee over once.  Whoops.

Today, Spencer and I find out Austin and Dee Dee went shopping.  For cell phones, a laptop, and something for "The World Wide Web".  Of course, we had to go over to their house and help them figure out the new technology they had no idea how to even plug in to its own charger.  They're precious.  Dee Dee has had the same phone since Motorola came out with its very first Razr.  Yeah.  That long ago and it still works.  Austin has never been allowed to have a cell phone because he misplaces everything.  Keys, glasses, combs, change, the cordless phone, his garage door opener, EVERYTHING.  We were just a little surprised Dee Dee allowed this phone until we looked at it.  It's fool proof.  I'm not too worried for him.  They'll figure it out, and now they can email us from the cabin.

On a completely unrelated note, I have started putting toy dinosaurs in the ferns around our house.  I decided the golf ball "dinosaur eggs" needed a guardian, so there is a little brontosaurus lurking in the plants. 

I'm still trying to decide where to put the velociraptor pack once I glue the head back on one of them.

Waiting for Dee Dee to figure out Twitter,

-Erika

Memorial Day 2011

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!  Every year during Memorial Day weekend my mom, brother and I head up to Fort Snelling National Cemetery to visit my dad's gravesite.  He was a captain in the US Army Reserve when he died four years ago.  

We don't do flowers or anything outrageous, because Dad would probably smack us in the back of the head if we did.  We usually have a picnic and enjoy the weather while we're up there, but it was chilly yesterday.  And we were still full from brunch that morning.  

Grandma Betty Lou and Grandpa Jerry, my dad's parents, were up visiting from Phoenix, so we invited them along as well.  They hadn't been up to the cemetery since Dad's funeral, so it was nice for them to see his gravesite.  

We had a nice time, as we normally do, wandering around and seeing all the other service members buried at Fort Snelling.  

It's always so pretty up there, even in the winter.  The white headstones are so stark against the green, it's hard to remember it's a cemetery sometimes.

There is always a Memorial Day service where the Governor speaks along with a Senator or two.  We went one year, but we decided it was too crowded to enjoy being there that we usually avoid going on Memorial Day anymore.  It's still wonderfully majestic whenever we make the trip, though.  

Happy Memorial Day!  Thanks to everyone who has served.  Now go hug the closest service member.  They'll appreciate it.

-Erika 

Prom 2011

My former high school's prom was a couple weeks ago.  I didn't go, because that's weird.  I did take pictures for my brother and his date, though.  He graduated a year ago, so he went with a friend of his, C.  It rained all weekend, like any typical Spring day in Minnesota, so we didn't get to take any pictures outside without my brother's hair being ruined.  He's such a diva.

They're cute.  Or C is, and Spencer is a dweeb.  

Told ya.  Dweeb.  It was fun, even after I remembered how crazy parents of seniors in high school are at school functions.  I had fun trying to be unobtrusive and failing at times.  Apparently most students' older siblings aren't as cool as I am when it comes to hanging out with high-schoolers.

Yep, no one look at me.  Ever.  I'm just the weird one in the corner.  I always am.

Spencer even dragged his friend Zach into the mix, because one of C's friends didn't have a date.  Spencer and Zach have been friends since kindergarten.  Zach is only slightly more normal than Spencer.  

See?  We're not the only crazies in town.

Ladies, I am so sorry you had to deal with those two all night long.  C, your dress is fabulous.  

-Erika

I'm back!

I'm back.  My grandparents are here this weekend, so this post will be short.  All four of them are currently in the kitchen, talking about health problems and grandkids.  And more home-improvement projects around mom's house.  The weekend has been shaping up to be a great one so far.  We're going to brunch and a picnic at Fort Snelling National Cemetery tomorrow.  Memorial Day Weekend always culminates with a picnic for us.

This morning at breakfast the grandparents who are staying with us pulled out their day-of-the-week pill containers, complete with six different pills each.  

Betty Lou told me what they all were, but I forgot.  I'm surprised she can remember what they all are.  

Last night Betty Lou brought out the little Coke tin with both hers and Jerry's night pills in it.  I'm gonna have to have her write a list of them all so I can remember.  Also, the fruit rooster made an appearance after dinner, too.  He's weird.  

I still remember Betty Lou making up little sandwich bags of all the pills she and Jerry take daily.  She made them up in advance for their long hauls before they retired from truck driving.  At least they've upgraded to day-of-the-week pill containers.   

Up next, Prom 2011!!!

-Erika

Moving Day

Well, it's official.  We moved.  Saturday was the Big Move Day, including a large moving van, two trucks, a van, and my old car.  We had everything unloaded by 2 o'clock, and nothing broke.  Overall, the day was successful.  I still haven't unpacked all of my clothes yet.  That prospect is slightly terrifying, but I'll work through it.  My mom and I have almost everything in the kitchen organized and put away.  We'll see how long it stays organized.  

I need to share several things from Saturday with you.  If and when you decide to move all of your belongings (including large pieces of furniture and appliances), try to avoid having any type of engineer help you.  My grandpa helped us move, and he's an electrical engineer.  We had one of his friends help, too, who is also an electrical engineer.  Both of these men needed to oversee every part of our move, especially getting our large couches out of the basement.  This usually led to a lengthy discussion about how to move said furniture and whether we needed to take a railing or two off the wall.  It was fun to watch the first time it happened.  My mom got rather frustrated, though.  I just giggled and kept the dogs out of the way.  

Another bit of advice: if one or two of your movers has a bad back or bad knees, tell them to stay as far away from the action as possible.  Especially if they are they type who needs to help all the time.  They'll just get in the way or injure themselves more.  You'd think this is obvious, but it needs to be said.  There were some problems when Fabian tried to help move furniture.  We had to give him some pillows to carry so he wouldn't get in the way.  It worked out in the end, though.  

We all ended up sore and tired by the end of the day, but we're finally living in only one house.  The dogs are still a little confused, but they'll figure it out.  They're adorable.  They followed the furniture in and out of the house all day on Saturday.  I'm sure they didn't want to be left there all alone.  They only got a little muddy from the rain.  

They're great.  Unless you have to drive them somewhere with both of them in the front seat of the car with you.  That might not have been the best choice, but whatever.  No one died, so it's all good.

Enjoying the new house (finally),

-Erika