Movie Time

My first attempt at posting a video. Even the great ones had to start somewhere??

More when I know more.

Sawyer's Return Visit

Thursday, July 11, Sawyer and his parents, Andrew and Sarah, passed through Springfield on his way home to Texas. He was happy with the thought of sleeping in his own bed again, but even more tickled that he got to see his Missouri grandparents again along the way. Here he is in our kitchen dressed in the same onesie his daddy wore when he was 5 months old, the same age as Sawyer in this photo. We were delighted to see what a strong and happy little boy he is and happy to know his parents had a great month introducing him to family and friends along the way from Texas to Minnesota to Missouri.

Smart Marriage Conf--San Francisco

In early July we journeyed to San Francisco to the Smart Marriage conference. Here you see a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our 35th floor hotel room. Below you see that same view as it appeared MOST of the time. It's cool in SF in July (mostly 60s and breezy), which means a lot of fog occurs near the bay in the morning and sometimes all day.

While we were in SF we toured Alcatraz, actually one of our favorite parts of the trip. If you plan to do this, get your tickets in advance as they sell out early and only so many are allowed on the ferry to and from the island. Also, as you can tell from the photo below, you need to dress warmly. I wore a long sleeve shirt, two fleece jackets and ear warmers and found it just about right.

Sunday Afternoon Tea with the Green Girls

Addie was glad to see the sun after another weekend of record rainfall. Only 2 inches on Saturday. Flooding everywhere. Table Rock Lake back up 3 feet from Saturday's rain.

Well, we didn't actually have tea, but anytime you have something to drink mid-afternoon, it's called tea from Alex's perspective. Here you see Addison and Jasmine appropriately attired in their garden party tea dresses on our patio on Sunday afternoon. Much to my delight, they've graduated to dresses since they're both now walking. (Dresses are really a problem when one is mostly moving about by crawling.) We hope this is the first of many, many tea times with the Green girls.

Bower-Baker Reunion

Uncle Minor was named reunion master of all ceremonies. Our FU (favorite uncle) was open to all new ideas even dairy ease. He whipped out many lesser foes in the annual cribbage tournament. Remember it is more than luck. You must pay attention and play those cards.

The Green Girls got right into the beach house and vacation scene. This morning they were sorting through the previous night's celebration leftovers.

Little Sawyer seemed to love the lake and easy living of vacation. Gramma had lots of opportunities to get to know those wonderful grandkids.

It was great fun to spend time with the cousins and their kids. Kristie and Lexi were always ready for whatever the gathering threw at them. They even learned the reunion game- cribbage.

Needless to say some of our best times revolved around eating on the lakehouse deck. The lovey group in the front might have had one to many???

Jasmine Crosses the Threshold

Jasmine and Addison were here for supper last night and spent most of the evening walking or crawling back and forth over the threshold between the kitchen and the deck. Addison is walking and even running everywhere. Jasmine has taken a few steps and is not far behind. At the moment, though, she is very interested in this book about kittens and particularly the meowing sound it makes. You can see her little finger on the "meow button." It's a lot of fun being a grandparent and seeing how quickly the girls are growing and developing.

JB Takes On Sunday School Teaching

Our Sunday School program is trying something new this summer that involves the children moving from activity to activity, versus staying put in one classroom for the entire time. This week and next Paul and I are teaching the lesson. (I prepare and he assists with improvisation and crowd control strategies.) This morning we did the Vine and the Branches from John 15. Although there was lots of "activity," it came off pretty well. It was definitely a team effort and helped tremendously that Paul knew the names of most of the children.