It Was a GRAND Time!

 

It was a GRAND time with our GRANDS! Just how many activities can you pack into a few days? We did our best to find out. Kinley and Brooke came to visit last week. We met Jill, Eric and the girls in Salina to start the whirlwind week of activities. 

None of us had been to The Garage, a fairly new automotive museum in Salina, so that was our first stop. Jill was able to use The Sunflower App to get their whole family in for free! If you're a Kansas resident and you haven't checked out The Sunflower App, you should. It offers free or reduced admission to more than 115 sites in Kansas as a learning opportunity for Kansas kids. What a deal! 

Of course, there were fantastic cars and trucks at The Garage.

When I saw the 1942 one-ton Dodge wheat truck, I told Randy he needed a photo. The truck was on loan from the Kansas Flywheels Museum, also in Salina. It had been purchased by Arnold and Theresa Swanson in Holyrood in 1950 for hauling wheat to the local grain elevator at Kipp. Neither of us drove anything quite that old in the harvest field.

Besides the automotive history represented, there were several interactive areas for the girls.

They used virtual reality to "paint" a truck door. (Their dad and grandpa had a turn, too.) I missed getting photos, but there was also a welding simulator.

Kinley tried "driving." She admitted it was a little tough to see over the steering wheel.

Grandpa, Brooke and Jill raced pinewood derby cars down a race track.

After saying goodbye to the parents, we took the girls to Salina's Center for Theater Arts to see their production of "Finding Nemo Junior."

Grandma couldn't resist a downtown mural in Salina with a couple of her favorite things - music and sunflowers ... and, of course, two cute girls.

While we had a great time in Salina, our time on the farm was packed to the brim, too. We took the girls fishing at the pasture on the Ninnescah. 

 

 Brooke was brave and touched the worms.

Grandpa said it was OK to use his jeans to wipe off dirty hands. We didn't catch any fish, but we enjoyed the evening anyway.

Jill had signed them up for swimming lessons at the Stafford Pool. (Thanks Candi and Michelle!) Grandpa was their chauffeur most days. That explains why there are fewer photos from those outings.

One day after swimming, he took them to the Stafford golf course for a little putting. Again, it was the only photo.

We had an outing to visit Great Grandpa and Grandma Moore.

The girls helped with the 4-H foods judging at the Stafford County Fair. Even though our days as 4-H parents are long gone, I still serve as the superintendent for foods at the fair. The girls were troopers. They helped me set up the day before.

And they also were great assistants during the foods judging and clean up. Kinley got to reunite with a friend from 4-H camp last year. Ironically, Kinley and Reagan were in the same cabin. Jill and Reagan's mom, Holly, were team demonstration queens back in their day. We certainly made a lot of pretzels and yeast rolls. So it was fun to continue to build that connection.

Kinley entered nine photos in open class. I'll talk about those more in an upcoming blog post. 

 

But the county fair provided some other activities and fun ... and a LOT of heat! The girls dressed up for Spirit Day. 

The Extension interns gave kids an opportunity to decorate their own tie-died t-shirts.

Grandpa put Brooke's name on the "tallest sunflower" entry. It got a blue. (Of course, it was the only entry, but a blue is a blue!)

Salina isn't the only town with a mural. Before church, I had the girls pose in front of this Stafford Main Street mural.

They also got to visit a new local establishment, The Frosty Bean, for a Frozen Trojan, soft serve ice cream topped with slushy

Thankfully, Grandpa didn't disappoint, and we had one kitten for the girls to admire.

They ended up naming it Muffin.

For our movie night, Grandma had to work in a little bit of nostalgia. I served the popcorn in tin bowls that I brought home from my Grandma and Grandpa Neelly's house. So they ate out of bowls that had belonged to their Great Great Grandparents!

Just how long did it take for a Grandma and Grandpa to recover? Well, we're about to head to join the girls and family for the Shawnee County Fair. So, ready or not, let's pack a few more days full!