It's May, It's May, the crazy month of May!

We flew to DC on the 30th of April to see Julia's May 1st play.

                                                            I think she was a bunny. :-)

RJ had hockey on Sunday morning. 

He is one of those kids on the ice!
We went to a nearby church afterwards.

Julia's volleyball team played at St. James

I think she was the only one 

on her team who could hit the ball!

We visited Gonzaga College High School

where RJ will be a freshman next year.

We met the president while we were

exploring the grounds. He said there

are 4,000 students at the school.

St. Ignatius...founder of the Jesuits.

The visiting Bishop talked for an hour
in a freezing cold church, and then he
smiled for pictures after Confirmation

on May 6th.

Sara's friend Hillary was RJ's sponsor.

Her son Logan was confirmed in their

church the previous week. Hillary 

and Logan visited our farm a few

years ago.

St. Agnes stands in front of the church.

The kids go to St. Agnes school.

While we were flying to Iowa on the 7th, the

Bueckers family was at a track meet

watching Caiden and his team win it all!

Trina left a car at the airport for us,

so we could drive to their Crescent

house where we were staying.

We flew to Cedar Rapids on the 7th

and went to the Pella Tulip Festival

the next morning. First, we took

a tour around the town. Two large

industries there are Pella Windows

and the Vermeer company that

makes balers and other ag equipment.

Next, we walked down to the bakery

to stand in line to buy goodies. Friends

from our Texas park who live in Iowa,

LeeAnn and Richard, met us there. 

After lunch in the local cafe, 

LeeAnn and I went shoe shopping. :-)

The famous Vermeer Windmill is

still working, but they weren't 

grinding wheat the day we were there.

Inside is a five-story museum

with Dutch artefacts and history.

I learned the The Netherlands is

composed of a group of islands,

each with its own dialect and customs.

Most of the tulips had bloomed early, 

but there were still some late-bloomers

around the town and at the museum here.

The volunteer is explaining how 

the mill on the top floor worked.

We watched the parade from the top level of the windmill!

After the parade, we stopped for

some "sarsparilla"...yes, that is the

correct spelling for "sasparilla".

My father used to order it by the

case from somewhere near Boston!

Google this...they rent it for a

variety of events. This was Tom

and Trina's home until a year ago 

when they moved out into the country.

Ana and the girls came down for Caiden's graduation

party and also stayed at the Crescent house.

 Afterwards, we ordered pizza and shared 

some fun family time. On Mother's Day after church

we had burgers and salads at the country house.

Chicken eggs were incubating when we were

at Doug and Sara's, but the eggs didn't

hatch until after we left! Julia has three here.

I think RJ is holding nine baby chicks! 

Home on the 12th!

Caiden's graduation was on the 17th.

We watched it on our computers,

and I took a pic from mine. 

 

Fooling around in April

Siblings at the Harlingen airport on April 2nd,

just before Kathy boarded to head north.

Well, I got third and won a quarter,

but Shirley was last and got 35 pennies.

Hmmm...who was the real winner?

Ana and the girls at church on Easter.

Tom & Trina's family and some friends on Easter.

Jimmy & Kelly's Easter gang!

Doug and Sara took the kids skiing at Whistler

for Spring Break. This is the best picture

Sara sent of Doug and RJ on Easter!

Sara and Julia's Easter photo! 

Easter potluck dinner at our Texas park.

I went for dessert first!

Sixty residents came to the

clubhouse to eat a ham, a variety

of sides and salad and desserts.

Caiden likes to run around in circles! :-)

These pretty little weeds get mowed down.

The jellybean is for size comparison!

Sara, Doug, and the kids stopped to visit

cousins John and Val after their ski trip!

On the 12th, we went to the Basilica

in San Juan for Mass with Jerry,

Dennis and Nancy.

Sanctuary inside the Basilica.  After Mass

we went to El Rancho Grande for breakfast.

The Mariachi band provided music during the service.

Jimmy and Kelly with Matthew and Grace

(all dressed up) before the prom.

Grace, Luke, and Matthew

Matthew, a junior and Grace, a freshman,

with their dates before the Prom.

On Thursday, the 16th, Bob wanted to go to 

South Padre Island to ride his bike. I drove

up to Clayton's to read until he got there.

The signs are en route going north.

I was going to sit on the beach,

but it was so windy the sand was

blowing all over. I decided to stay

on the upper deck so I could move

into the shade when it got too hot.

Excitement the night of the 19th. Power went out in the park

around 9:40 p.m. We went to investigate and found out

that a teen driving a pickup was going too fast on the

frontage road in the rain, spun around and knocked

over the power pole.  All kinds of emergency vehicles

came. The repair crew cut the pole in half, lowered

the top half to fix the controls, and the power 

came back on around 11 p.m.

Today, the crew is trying to get the pole out of the ground

to replace it, but it's in so deep they are having trouble.

That's Bob talking to some of the crew members. The crash

knocked down part of the fence around our park, too.

Since there is no more pickleball, 

dominoes, bingo, cribbage, or

game night, we went to the movie

theater yesterday to see this!

It was kind of like ET for adults.

Bob found this 24 inch Coral snake in the grass

near some stored campers. It's in a jar in

our mobile home now. yay 😬

Went to South Padre Island with Jerry and Wendy

on Thursday. Under the walkway to Clayton's

deck, we had a "bird's eye view" of chickens,

and this turtle.

The spring breakers are gone, so very few people

on the deck, and a few on the beach enjoyed the weather.

The long runway is being extended, and maybe next

year we will sit out there to enjoy the view.

When Jerry finished his errands, we went to the 

Padre Island Brewery where the guys ALWAYS have 

to order oysters before we order our meal.  The owner, 

Mark, is from Minnesota and we enjoyed a visit with

him on our final trip before leaving Texas.  Of course,

we had to stop at the ice cream shop in Port Isabel,

so I could get my mint chocolate chip scoop!

George and Great-grampa George on April 23rd,

the Feast of St. George!

On the 24th we flew to Cleveland, and the next morning

left bright and early for Maria Stein, Ohio.

Here, in the motherhouse of the nuns

we found over twelve hundred of relics of Saints

that were sent to be preserved by the German nuns

in the Diocese of Cincinnatti.

Some immigrant clothing.

The chapel still used by community members

Back in Cleveland, we found the Sanctuary Museum

that cousin Chuck told us to see! This was actually

more interesting than Maria Stein because of the

variety of relics, statues, and religious articles.

It is located at 127th and Madison

in the old St. Hedwig church, 

and is owned by a young man

whose family were parishioners.

Monstrance from Poland

Some of the architecture from another church.

I think all these saints were in

the St. Hedwig church.

St. Joseph and many relics preserved here

Statues from local churches that had closed.

One of many statues of Mary

Monstrance from Czechoslovakia

Statues in the courtyard

Stations of the Cross in the courtyard.

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