It's hard to believe that our oldest granddaughter is seven years old. Seven is a delightful age. They are way past the preschool age, but not yet to the preteen era. They still love to spend time with grandparents and they are old enough to hold wonderful conversations with.
Last Sunday evening Steve and I and Kristen's parents helped Alexis celebrate her birthday at her house. We then brought Alexis home with us and on Monday we had a special day together. We were planning to go to the same American Girl doll outlet that I had taken Lydia to, but when I checked the website for their hours, I discovered that they were closed on Mondays! We were disappointed but soon regrouped and decided instead to go on a buggy ride. I knew they offered them at the Red Caboose Motel and Restaurant which was close to the Choo-Choo barn where we also planned to go so we decided to go there. Alexis was excited about a buggy ride and I was happy that a little (big?) thing like a doll outlet store not being open didn't ruin our day.
We started out the day with breakfast at the Martic Store. Their egg sandwiches are the best! :)
As we waited for our buggy ride we walked around the Caboose Lodge. All the cabooses are tiny motel rooms.
Alexis walking the rails. She was much better at it than I was.
Standing in front of the horse that took us for our ride.
The back of the carriage.
Here we go!
We stopped at an Amish Farm and they brought out refreshments. I hadn't had homemade rootbeer in ages!
We went to Cici's for lunch. Alexis liked the macaroni pizza!
Ready to go into the Choo-Choo barn. I never get tired of that place!
We couldn't pass up a picture with Thomas!
Late afternoon picnic in our park.
Alexis' birthday meal! Delicious!
Smiles from everyone. I love this family!
The best we could do for a selfie
What a fun day. The nice thing about spending special days with a grandchild is that I enjoy it as much as them. Next one up will be Mark in October. He can hardly wait!
Good old summertime! There is nothing like fresh homegrown produce. As you know, if you have been reading my blog, I am not a gardener, but I sure do love to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. From our tiny little garden that we planted, I have harvested an abundance of green peppers. I got enough green beans for Steve and me to enjoy a couple of meals and the same with the lima beans. There is NOWHERE you can buy lima beans that come close to tasting the way they do right from the garden. My four hardy tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes and I have been picking the red ones for the past week or so. It's so nice to have my own tomatoes for my salad that I eat each day for lunch. My only disappointment was that bugs destroyed my eggplants.
We planted plenty of sweet corn and thought that we would have enough for anyone who wanted some. Unfortunately, the deer really attacked it and sadly we did not end up with nearly as much as we expected. We have never before had such deer damage but we are really seeing them a lot this year, even in the middle of the day.
On Monday, Steve's mom, his sisters Doris and Nancy, Kristen, Megan, and two of Nancy's granddaughters came to help with corn. I always dread "corn day" but said afterward that if they want to come every year when I do corn I will never dread it again. They made short work of the corn that we had and we certainly would have been able to handle more. Even though we didn't get as much corn as we had hoped, we all got to take home some and hopefully those that want more will be able to get it from another source.
Yes, they tasted as good as they look.
The pile of corn
Husking
Martina (back facing) and Alexis helped with husking and afterward had a great time playing with my American Girl dolls.
Still husking.
Cutting the corn off the cob.
Kaylene was in charge of cooling the corn.
Megan did the cooking.
Alexis and Hannah were having a great time with the jeep until....
...the boys showed up. Who has the right of way here?
Alexis protects her little sister from the boys :)
It was great to spend the day together and as I said before, they are all welcome to come back next year!
