Ode To Mimi

I love Mimi! During the 2 weeks my family was here it was so much fun to have her up. The kids loved spending time with their Mimi and she was so much fun to play with, they wanted to do everything with her.  

Mimi drawing with Eben and Jasper on the driveway with chalk. I think she's making an apple tree.

You've seen her on the jet ski in my previous blog, but I have to show her jumping on the trampoline too. She was such a good sport!

I had to take Buggy, Nonnie and Mimi with me to Zumba. Because I LOVE it! I wish Aunt Sherri could've come too, but she came later. Here's Mimi grooving to the Latin beat. Shake it, Mimi!

Mimi and her rejuvenating cucumber treatment. Those kids can wear you out, you gotta take a break when you can!

Painting the girl's room pink.

At the zoo! Bubba loves Mimi. He really got to know her on this visit and now all of the pictures he draws are of "Mimi, Bubba, Mimi, Bubba"

The very talented Mimi - holding Opal in one arm and playing baseball with Kivi.

Mimi was so helpful, here she is trimming the hedges. And here's Bubba trying to help Mimi with his little scissors.

The beautiful princesses at Kivi's birthday party.

Thank you Mimi for coming up and spending time with us. We miss you -  come back soon!

CA Weather for our CA Crew

My family stayed with us through August 17th and the 2nd half of our time together was lots of fun too! We spent a lot of time enjoying the lake, cause it was HOT! Lots of jet skiing and swimming and playing in the sun.

This is my favorite picture of Peter and Jasper, they have the same funny look on their faces. Bubba loves the jet ski! He even makes his food, forks, play-dough and blocks into jet skis so it's funny that he has this non-plused expression.

My little sister, Buggy, became known as the flipper after this incident with my mom. She got all gutsy and brave all of a sudden and tried to do tricks, which ended up being flips - and dumped it.

Even Mimi got out there and showed her stuff. She kept throttling it and then letting go, full power, no power - It was hilarious! But she did it, and we were so proud. Go Mimi!

Nonnie and all of her grandbabies. 

My mom, Mamacita, Nonnie - They're all the same person. I have a thing with nicknames - I like them. She hates them. That's what you get when you try to name your kids names that have no variant I guess.

All of the swimmer girls on the water trampoline (that doesn't bounce) and one boy.

We played croquet and Mamacita worked us. I think it had a lot to do with the professional stance she was using.

All the ladies went out to "High Tea" at a little local place in Lakewood. High, hot tea. We almost melted. The food was good, but there were no fans and being a complete Washingtonian I almost died.

My cousin Brian, Aunt Sherri's son, was able to come down for an evening with his cute girlfriend. We went racing and although Peter got first, because he had one more lap than me - because I had to stop (GAS was squirting all over me! Turns out that's normal. ???  I thought I would blow-up.) I still got the fastest lap time. So I considered myself the winner, which we debated for a long time. But, in an effort to be a humble (ha) wife, I will now accept that my husband won the race.

After dinner that night, Eben and Kivi excused themselves from the outdoor deck table and went inside to play. 1/2 an hour later they annouce that the "show" is ready so we all sit back and they parade around the table in the lovely princess dress-up clothes that Kivi got for her birthday. Guess it's time to get Eben a dress-up box of his own, I mean, with BOY stuff in it.

I just like this picture of Poppie and Eben.

One of the last nights they were here we had fondue. It was on Buggy's list of things she wanted to do. It was a long list - we didn't get to do all of them. But eating melted chocolate -we can do that.

We had so much fun with our family. Thank you all for coming up and playing with us! We love you!

Papa Day

August 11th was the first year we didn't have Papa here on earth to celebrate his birthday. So we celebrated Lyman Roy Whitney's birthday, by having Papa Day! We did things Papa would've liked the whole day. First, we had a Papa breakfast:

Eben and Peter making the banana pancakes - Papa's favorite! I think they're disgusting, to make it worse he would put peanut butter on them, but hey - only for you Papa.

Bubba was our Papa mascot. He looks a lot like Papa anyway, but dressed in the white t-shirt with the pulled up sweatpants, a Papa hat, paintbrush in one hand and golf club in the other, I think we got it just right. Way to go Bubs!

Everyone eating our Papa pancakes. Oh yes, and that's white Karo's corn syrup. That's what our family has always put on pancakes, french toast, or waffles - call it crazy, but it's good. I think it's a Whitney thing.

Next, we all went on a walk to clean our road. Dawning the appropriate safety gear and grabbers we headed out in search of trash. Something Papa would've been proud of. He loved helping others and making his community a better place. And he definitely did a good of instilling those values in his children and grandchildren.

Our plans were to go miniature golfing because Papa loved to golf, but I ruined them by falling asleep on the couch and everyone just left me alone and let me sleep??? So Peter built a railing for the stairs up to the mother-in-law. Which is something Papa would also have been proud of, since he loved to use his hands and work and help out with projects, although his usually involved painting. I think Mamacita and Mimi covered that area by working in Kivi and Opal's room on the other days.

We finished off the day with a trip to Super Buffet in Dupont. For anyone who hasn't been there and likes Chinese food - it's a must. There is tons of food and it's really good! If Papa had been with us, it would've taken him 4 hours to eat it all - he was the slowest eater ever! But he would've loved it - except for the screaming Jasper part, I think he cried the whole time. 

Anyway, it was a good day and fun to have my family up for the occasion. It was a great way to pass on the memories of Papa to the kids. We know that if Papa was still with us he would've had a good time. But we could never beat the partying he's doing now in heaven and I know he would choose where is now even over being with us! 

We love you Papa! Give God a big hug for me!