Wordless Wednesday Vacation Part 3

 

Wordless Wednesday: Vacation Part 2

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: New Jersey Vacation Part 1

 

Palm Sunday Gospel Dessert and NJ

 I was up in NJ, visiting Mumpy and Pa (my parents) this weekend, but I got back Sunday afternoon.

Between unpacking and whatnot, about all I had time for was this palm sundae.

This year the kids insisted on putting a bowl between their palms and the ice cream, but I was ok with that.

Klenda went with me to NJ, and we all had a lovely time!

 We had fun hanging out with Mumpy and Pa, listening to stories and playing games.

 We looked at family pictures and we watched birds and fish on the lake.

We saw some of these (uncommonly beautiful) Common Mergansers.


 Most of the daffodils that we had planted in the fall were blooming, and a few of the perennials were coming up.

It's funny, between the higher altitude and the higher latitude, they are about 3 weeks behind us in Spring.

And of course we got to pray together and talk about spiritual things.

It was such a lovely time!

Christmas in NJ

My sister got  my mom the sock monkey hat

 It was the first Christmas I spent with my sister in years! She happened to be home helping our parents this year instead of in North Dakota.

 We had a ton of fun, despite the fact that I had gone all out on the llama theme this year before I realized my sister (who was traumatized by a llama as a small child) would be there.  Oops.

And, speaking of traumatizing, the Emperor and I received matching inflatable T Rex costumes for Christmas!

Here we are, terrorizing my mom. 

I know it just looks like she's taking pictures, and laughing hysterically, but I can only presume it's terrorized laughter!

My sister thinks this was the most bizarre Christmas present she'd ever seen, however I also received the following three items.

 I'm not saying I didn't like and enjoy these items (I can't get enough of that mug!!), just that I'm not convinced the T Rex suit was the most bizarre.

Wordless Wednesday: Early Fall in NJ

NJ Trip

 Finally got away to see my folks in NJ this past weekend and I brought my mom this fine war llama.  I mean it's a llama in shining armor- who wouldn't love that?!

I think I mentioned that my mom kept sneaking sheep into my car every time I visited her, so the last few times I went up, I kept sneaking her this llama.  Unfortunately she almost always snuck it back in my car before I left.

You might think, "Why don't you just check your car before you leave?"  Because she's VERY GOOD AT HIDING THINGS! 

Anyway, she loved the llama and actually kept it, so I figured I'd won this round.  Silly me!

Halfway through the weekend I found this creepy sheep stuck under some large fragile objects (in my car) that would be a huge pain to unpack.

Well, at least I knew what she was up to.

In other news, my dad had a really nice retirement party.

They gave him this cool poster and this neat carved wooden plaque.

 And this clock. I know clocks are a traditional  retirement gift, but this one is pretty special: it's built into a landmine! 

Do I need to say the mine is inert?  It is.  It's a clock, not a time bomb.

Anyway, I got to spend some time with my dad going through lots of special stuff in the house.  Not bombs or fuzes, more personal stuff.

It's always fascinated me that my dad had such an interesting and creatively challenging job, but in his spare time he spent a lot of time making things.

Now I recognize that he was making art, really.

 This is a piece of plaster that he poured, then carved into a bas relief.  I presume it's some historically accurate soldier.

He was always reading history and poetry, and making things like this.  He made an astonishingly beautiful copper etching that was a replica of a Medieval knight's sarcophagus.

He also carved wood, did pottery, wood and metal working- a little bit of everything.

My mom also did pottery, macrame, weaving, sewing and other stuff.

 That's all besides their work raising kids, helping people, and doing a ton of work on their "fixer upper" house.

 It's really not surprising that both my brother and sister became professional (if part time) artists: there was a lot of creativity going around our house!

This is a recent painting my sister did that I just love!


 And my mom continues to creatively surprise me. 


24 hours after I got back I discovered that she had stashed a second creepy sheep in my car!!

Seriously!  It's not like she's sneaking them into my huge van, this is the teeny tiny car!

How is she even doing this!!??