Grandparents Camp 2012

Why are all these colorful kids on the beach?

Why do grandma and grandpa look so happy?

Even their grown children look ready for fun!

Why, it's time for Grandparents Camp 2012 with lots of beach fun to celebrate our 45 years of marriage: Games,

kite flying,

jumping in holes,

building sand castles,

and boogie boarding.

There were even indoor activities to keep out of the noonday sun to prevent sunburns: making balloon hats and animals,

playing carnival games

and playing card games,

making shell animals

and wallets,

listening to Aunt Kim's stories,

watching Uncle Randy's yo yo tricks,

eating treats,

and, of course, singing family favorite songs such as the "Ole Black Sow," the "Titanic" and the "Preacher and the Bear".

We also did mud bogging,

four-wheeling,

and golf carting.

Some tried their hand at archery.

We picnicked on our new land,

played games,

and sat on cars to tell jokes and watch the sunset.

We also made videos.

Here's the fun video Uncle Eric made the last day. Of course, the guests of honor for the week were the new babies born this year: Sarah,

Owen,

Tatum,

and Oliver (still in momma's belly!)

The highlight of the week was Wendy and Daniel's wedding on Thursday.

Here we all are at the yacht for a 3 hour breakfast cruise up and down the Intracoastal Waterway at Palm Coast.

Does anyone look hungry?

After the delicious Southern breakfast buffet (the biscuits and gravy were wonderful), there was dancing...

and cake eating.

Then we were off to the Orlando Temple for the wedding at 4

in the room behind the shining window.

Don't the parents look proud?

As do Wendy's brothers and sisters.

What a great way to end Grandparents Camp 2012. For the first time, everyone in the family, including spouses, was there. Thanks Wendy and Daniel for bringing everyone together.

Wendy is married!

Wendy and Daniel were married June 21 in the Orlando Temple.

Gardening delights

You know how we are always fixing up the house to make things a visual delight. I just finished redoing the deck by the pool. Jammie suggested that we stain it so the new boards will blend in with the old. I think it looks great. Thanks, Jammie, for the suggestion. Rob put a top on the trampoline so it looks like a gazebo. Mom's flowers look great. Notice that the food towers are now filled with flowers, herbs, cherry tomatoes and other delicious things. Can you spot the cantaloupe, zucchini, corn, and beans? Here is the tomato and California pepper patch. (That's what they call green peppers in Hungary.) We have lots of oranges. They'll be ready in December and January so we'll have lots of fresh orange juice. Can you see the bee pollinating the cumquat? Of course, all this great food grows best with compost. Here are Rob's compost piles and compost barrels. The fence is loaded with grapes that should be ready in August. The problem is that the squirrels eat them faster than we can pick them. Hasn't mom done a great job with the flowers in the front? Here is what will great you in the entryway--flowers and herbs.

Green Acres is the place for me!

Why are these people out surveying property in Flagler County?

Is this the new dream home for Thompson adventure camps for the grandchildren?

Nope, that's a gag picture to tease you. What they are doing is surveying these 30 acres of pasture land in Flagler County stretching to the trees you can see in the south a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is the look eastward towards the road. Notice how the trees hide the road and the neighbors. You feel like you are isolated in the middle of paradise.

In this look to the west can you see the Florida mountains?

Right now there are no buildings, just acres of wild blackberries. They ripen between Mother's Day and Father's Day so Grandma picked two gallons from our new land to serve in two weeks at Grandma's Camp baked for the grandkids in Blackberry Buckle. Yum, yum.

The sunsets are spectacular. Can I see a ghost horse foreshadowing the future?

How do you like this panorama view from south to west to north? We just have to add the horses for country girl grandma, a pool for city boy grandpa and of course a house filled with beds for visitors. I don't know if we'll have Arnold the Pig visiting to make our Green Acres adventure complete.

Dragon Infestation

Some people have caterpillars, slugs, bees, birds, or salamanders in their flowers. We have dragons, at least dragon Bryce!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Who is this pretty girl smelling the flowers?

It's Ella with her dad Rob getting ready to leave for the Daisy Scout Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance.

Grandchild 24

Randy and Chrissy's new boy just arrived today. No name yet. Doesn't Momma look great?

P.S. His name is Owen Ronald Kannas (ORK for short)!

Florida grandkid update

Here are Rob and Jen and family with their sunhats on ready to go exploring.

You can't see two month old Sarah very well in the sun, so here is a closer look inside the house.

It looks like Victoria has her mouth guard on and is ready to play softball.

Mary's mitt looks bigger than she is!!

How's this for a slide into home plate?

Practicing making totem poles is a great way to cool off afterwards.

Even grandma is joining in the fun with Stephen!

Grandchild 25 coming

Sopron elevator update

Tibor, one of our faithful English students in Sopron, just sent us an updated picture of the last big project I had for the Sopron Branch in Hungary: a lift or elevator to make the church on the 3rd and 4th floors (2nd and 3rd if counting Hungarian style) more accessible for older members and those with various aches and pains. I'm sure you remember that a bakery and a bank are on the first two floors.

Home again

After three weeks of visiting relatives out west while dodging blizzards and tornadoes, we made it back to the beautiful wildflowers of Florida, just in time for me to talk in church.

Detour

As we drove through Kansas on the way home, the radio announced that we were heading into a major tornado outbreak from Kansas through Missouri starting on a line from Salina to Oklahoma City and moving eastward along the route we usually take to Florida. We decided that since we hadn't seen Wendy's engagement ring yet, we'd detour southward through Salina and Okalahoma City to Houston. The tornadoes touched down everywhere just after we went through.

Here's Wendy's ring...

and here are Daniel and Wendy posing with three of the new grandchildren we'll be getting this summer--Lucy, Reuben and Joseph. (The teddy bear is sitting in for a daughter who was at a school function.)