April 19-17 (Whew)

Whew. Where does the time go anyway? We've had a great week of celebrating the life of the NOG. When last we talked, Bruce was at the condo working all kinds of projects. He accomplished everything he wanted to get done. Sunday morning he worked until 3:10 a.m. He grabbed a couple hours of sleep and drove back to the city in time to jump in the car with me and head for Topeka. On the way over there, I was driving along loving the CTS. It felt like I might be exceeding the speed limit a little. HELLO!! I was going 95 mph but it honestly felt like about 72 or 73. I can't wait to take it to South Dakota. Anyway we were going to Topeka because Alex and Joy were involved in their church's Hymn Festival Worship service. The members of the church selected their favorite hymns from each of the seasons and they were sung in the Hymn Festival Worship service. Joy (our daughter-in-law) was the soloist on "My Lord, What a Morning" and she did a beautiful job. Alex played his trumpet in the brass trio. I wish I had a recording of the service so you could all listen. After church we had lunch at Wendy's and came home (at a much slower speed than on the trip out). Bruce drove. (He's such a party pooper sometimes). We changed our clothes and went straight-away to our friend Kari Swan's house for April birthdays - Marilyn Bottrell is April 22: Bruce is April 24 and Dale Brandt is April 27 so Kari has us all over for a yummy dinner. Somehow I missed getting a picture of Dale. Do any of you recognize Donna Rinne? The gal in the peach top is Carol Brandt. Monday was back to work for both of us. Did I mention that I hate getting up in the morning? I know we were busy Monday and Tuesday evening but I can't remember what we did. Wednesday was Professional Administrative Assistant's Day. YAHOO!! The Air Traffic Manager took all the administrative help to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. See if you can find the boss. I had the lunch portion of the Chinese Chicken Salad. Good thing I didn't have the dinner portion! Thursday was the day the NOG turned into the RONOG - Really Old Nice Old Guy. I took BBQ and all the trimmings to Bruce's staff for lunch. Feeding 20 is nothing compared to the crowd at Quail Run. The staff decided we should make this a birthday tradition. This is Michon, Bruce's lead administrative assistant and her son Manuel. Is he a doll or what?? Chowing down in full force! The RONOG and his cake. After work we met up with about 20-25 friends at Austin's Bar and Grill to continue the birthday celebration. We hadn't seen Wayne and Joyce Gregory for a long time so it was fun catching up with them. Lorraine Hisel was assuring Bruce that he would survive the big six oh! Donna was having a great time giving Bruce the business. Note the blue bag in the bottom of the picture. Bev Henning used the dog poop bag to wrap Bruce's gift. How appropriate because the gift was the energy drink inside the blue Koozie. The Koozie says "I don't need the internet because my wife knows everything". I thought Bev was my friend. ): While Bruce was busy hugging the women Melissa was busy working on Bruce's gift. Alan Hisel and David Farrinton were "helping" Melissa. Abby and Beth were keeping Bruce occupied. Melissa tied several balloons to a square basket and presented them to Bruce. Inside each balloon was a clue as to what Bruce's birthday gift would be from the kids and me. Bruce popped the first balloon and read the clue: These vehicles can serve no use until we can guide them. I had rather now find a medicine that can cure and asthma. --Dr. Samuel Johnson The next clue: The ________ seems to stand still in the air while the earth flies past underneath. --Alberto Santos-Dumont. George Bush did this at age 81. I have known today a magnificent intoxication. I have learnt how it feels to be a bird. I have flown. Yes I have flown. I am still astonished at it, still deeply moved. --Le Figaro 1908 Champagne toast anyone? An envelope and shirt will be involved. The best way of travel, however, if you aren't in any hurry at all, if you don't care where you are going, if you don't like to use your legs, if you don't want to be annoyed at all by any choice of directions, is in a ____________, you can decide only when to start, and usually when to stop. The rest if left entirely to nature. --William Pene du Bois, "The Twenty-one _______" And finally: May the winds welcome you with softness. May the sun bless you with its warm hands. May you fly so high and so well That God joins you in laughter And sets you gently back into The loving arms of Mother Earth. ----The ____________________ Prayer. Bruce cried as he read the prayer and we all cheered. No, Snookie, he's not jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. He is going on his first hot air balloon ride. He may choose from a sunrise flight followed by a champagne breakfast or a sunset cruise followed by a champagne dinner. He gets to take a guest of his choice and he says it is me. I'm so lucky. Melissa and Bruce following the revealing. Abby Farrington brought her beautiful baby boy and he liked Amy: Bruce and Amy:

The party was over and it was time to go:

Saturday morning Penney's delivered a new mattress and box springs, dresser and two night stands. The rest will come later. Saturday afternoon Bruce and I went to the Melting Pot for more birthday celebrating. Amy gave us a gift certificate for helping us move and we enjoyed it to the max - spinach and artichoke fondue, salad, steak, shrimp, chicken, salmon, pork and then bananas foster fondue with all the trimmings. We were stuffed so we walked all over the new Kansas City Power and Light District. We stopped at Sprint and got our phones straight so I now have the new Palm Centro with my phone number (913-706-3786) and Bruce has the old phone with his number on it (314-800-4024). By now it was time to go to the Barry Manilow concert at the Sprint Center. He might be 65 years old but he knows how to put on a show. It was fabulous. The kids got me two tickets to Barry Manilow for Mother's Day. Have you started to notice that we have great kids?? Well, we do.

Last night I had a nightmare I just have to share. I was back in the school building where I went to elementary, junior high and high school only this time I was a teacher and guess who was the principal? Jeannie Budd, the manager from Quail Run. All night long I was getting called to the office for a chewing. There was also all kinds of food preparation going on and I just couldn't get it right no matter how hard I tried. At one point I was running around Sam's Club like a wild woman looking for that one last item I needed for the next party. Does that sound familiar to anyone besides me? I woke up in a sweat and was I ever thankful that it was only a dream.

This morning, Bruce, Amy and I went to Topeka for our youngest grandson, Michael's, confirmation. After the service the whole family went to Alex and Joy's for a delicious lunch to celebrate Michael's decision to devote his life to Christ. A perfect ending to a perfect week or maybe it was a perfect beginning to another perfect week! The only problem is that I once again forgot the camera.