Three Birthdays, a Baby Blessing, Fireworks and Loads of Fun in Texas

Adri, Lissa and Tyler have already posted many wonderful pictures on their blogs from our family gathering in Texas (minus Garrett and Krystal's family), so I'll just post some photos that I don't think were on their blogs and that weren't already in our "Introducing Grandchild #8!" post from August

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It was quite an accomplishment to get the picture below of Kent and me with the five grandchildren, where they were all looking forward and no one was crying!!

Lissa treated Kiera and me to see "The Little Mermaid" in Houston. It was Kiera's first play.

Lissa's best friend, Lindsay, also joined us to see the play. It was cute and well-done.

We were able to attend Kiera's and Savannah's combined "Frozen" themed birthday. Lissa had done a great job of making it special.

Lissa even ordered life-sized cut outs of Elsa, Anna and Olaf.

I thought this was a sweet picture of Adri's girls with their Granddad Carson.

This picture makes me happy, because it shows how thrilled Sophia is with her little sister.

Here's Granddad out with the Stinson girls on their bikes.

Uncle Tyler and his posse on a walk to the park.

Andrew went swimming for the first time and seemed to mostly like it.

 The cousins had to move their swimming into the tub when the weather got stormy.

I always like to see a grandchild at the piano!!

The three girl cousins having a tea party.

We watched the fireworks (and lots of lightning, too) on the 4th of July after Tyler, Rachel and Andrew went back to Colorado

Our attempt at a photo when we went out to eat at "Sweet Tomatoes". Sophia and Savannah decided not to cooperate.

Baby Grace sleeping in the German baby buggy that Adri slept in when she was a baby.

You can see Adri didn't have nearly as much hair as Grace has!!

I stayed in Texas long enough to be there on Adri's birthday. She wanted a cake with layers of crushed Oreos and cream cheese, chocolate buttercream, and covered in ganache, which I made for her.

It was YUMMY!!

Wild and Wonderful West Virginia

We're having some adventures this year now that Kent's schedule allows him to take every other Friday off.  His personal travel agent--me--has been finding fun things to do within driving distance of home. 

 At the end of April we went to West Virginia for a two-overnight trip, Thursday and Friday nights. (we're always home to go to church in our home ward on Sunday.)

 We mostly went to West Virginia to do two things:  tour the underground bunkers that were built in the late 1950's to accommodate the US congress in case of a nuclear attack, and to see the New River Gorge Bridge.

The bomb shelter bunkers were built under a very ritzy, upscale resort in White Sulpher Springs, called the Greenbrier.  

 We took a tour, but photographs weren't allowed in the bunkers.  They did NOT look like the photos below, this is just what the hotel ABOVE the bunkers looked like.  You can read a bit more about the bunkers at this link:  http://www.greenbrier.com/Activities/The-Bunker/Bunker-History.aspx

 We had lunch at one of the hotel restaurants before we went on the bunker tour.

 Then we walked through the hotel oohing and aahing over how nice it was.

 The tour of the bunkers was very fascinating.  They were practical and not at all luxurious.  The walls were made from concrete several feet thick.

The next day (Saturday) we went to see the New River Gorge Bridge.  As the sign says, it's the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere.  I believe when it was built in the 1970's it was the longest in the world.

We drove across this bridge to get to the visitor's center, since it's a part of the National Park Service.

 On the internet I found out about a tour that allows people to walk on the cat walks UNDER the bridge, so I signed us up to do it.

 Of course we were secured with harnesses for safety, but it seemed pretty safe if you were careful.

 Here's a view down from the bridge to the New River below.

 A better shot of the harnesses, and a view of the cat walk behind us that we'd just crossed over.  Nice that they had harnesses that matched Kent's shirt.

 You can see that the trees didn't have leaves yet, but it was a perfect day weatherwise.

I took a picture of this poster in the tour company office to show the height comparison of the bridge we walked under compared with other world landmarks. 

After we walked under the bridge we drove across the river on a lower bridge to get the shot below.

 We had a good time and we're glad we spent some time in wild and wonderful West Virginia!

Grandma Time in Colorado

I flew to Colorado to visit Tyler, Rachel and Andrew during Spring break. Tyler had to work some late hours while I was in town, but Rachel graciously entertained me while Tyler was at work.

 At almost nine months old, Andrew didn't have any teeth, but that didn't stop him from feeding himself baby food!!

     We took a walk to the park, where Andrew practiced his standing skills.

 Andrew is mostly a happy and easy-going little guy, who's very photogenic like his mother.

 We did lots of fun outdoor activities, like visiting the site of this mansion built out in the canyon.

 The following two pictures were taken in Manitou Springs, at the foot of Pike's Peak.

 Manitou Springs was a picturesque little town.

Rachel and I went walking with Andrew at the Red Rock Canyon Open Space.

 One morning when Tyler was home we went to a park along a stream, and Andrew had fun on the playground.

 The weather was comfortably warm, but you can see the leaves hadn't come out on the trees yet.

 Andrew loves to ride on his daddy's shoulders.

 Andrew checking out the shoe shelf and trying to look innocent about it!

It's always delightful to visit our children and grandchildren in their homes. I had a lovely visit and enjoyed getting to know Rachel and Andrew better.