Homecoming weekend at UNL

Jason came in last night around midnight and at 4.30am he and Jacob went hunting.  Jacob is rather careful about his hunting and showers with special soap that takes away his human scent and washes his hunting clothes in special soap to take away any human scent.  Jason, his brother, does not seem to do the same things so I wonder about how successful they are at hunting.  This is bow season here in Nebraska so I guess the deer are safe.

We took Lyla to her swim class at the YMCA and saw her bobbing around in the pool with the other children.  I am sure she has gills because she swims like a fish.  Oliver tried out the climbing wall and was hooked up pretty good by the lady in attendance.  He got half way up the wall and then came back down.  Not too bad for a 6yr old.

We came back to the house and picked up Ethan and off we went to the goodwill store for their 99cent sale.  We took the three children and it was a total circus there.  The little kids and Bill took turns wearing a skull mask and running around the store trying to scare each other.  The store is loaded with clothing that people have donated.  I am amazed at the amount and range of clothing that they had in the store.  It begs the question of whether  people lost weight and donated their big clothes or gained weight and donated their now little clothes.  Nevertheless, there are lots of pieces of clothing that have been donated to Goodwill and so they have the 99cent sale in an effort to reduce the amount of stock.  I wandered down the other aisles and found pieces of Heartwood Acres figurines and other figurines from home party type activities, loads of tumblers and dinnerware and cookware that speaks of people who have graduated to prepared meals and do not cook for themselves any more etc.  Oliver found two swords from a Star Wars outfit and he was happy as a clam.  He still had them with him when we went to McDonalds for lunch and he left them in the maze at the McDonalds so we had to stop our exit from the parking lot long enough for him to race back in and retrieve his swords.  We were late getting to McDonalds because two tractor trailers had a rear-end collision and it closed down a couple of arterial roads.

 We then took Ethan to his gymnastics class.  He is quite good at doing the activities that they ask the boys to perform.   They have quite a few girls doing gymnastics there and most of them are really skinny and very young.  The new uniforms for a meet arrived and they are filled with sparkles and spandex.  Not the kind of outfit that people my size should wear in public that’s for sure.  But then I do not see any 68 yr old gymnasts performing in the Olympics anyway.  So I said as much to Sara and she found a lady in Germany who is 86 years old and still doing gymnastics.  Totally Amazing, but I still do not think that spandex and I would be a good match.

Sara went out to Little Cesar’s and got Pizza to feed bill and the children while she and I went to the church to attend the Women’s Broadcast from Salt Lake.  We heard from the newly called President of the Relief society and her two counselors.

 President Eyring, of the first presidency of the church, spoke about his daughter and the problems that arose with her pregnancy and of the visiting teaching companion who felt inspired to go to her house.  Unbeknownst to the companion, his daughter was having problems with her pregnancy and needed to be taken to the hospital immediately.  The baby was delivered by cesarean section at a little over 1 pound weight.  The Relief Society President of her ward organized the sisters of Relief Society to take care of the small children at home while the mother went daily to be at the Neonatal unit to be with her new baby.  Pres. Eyring used this as an example of the commitment to service.  I think I will have to go online in a few days to be able to read the talks and be able to absorb more of what was said.  During the talks it is hard to hang onto each thought as it is presented but to read the text allows me time to internalize what was said.

When we came home the children were still up and having a blast with Poppa.  The football game was on TV – between Nebraska (Go! Big Red!) and Wisconsin…….being played here in Lincoln at the stadium.  As we watch the TV they show an overview of the stadium and it is one sea of RED with one patch of white which was the Nebraska Band.  This is the homecoming game and they won 30-27.  I guess Bo Pellini gets to keep his job as head coach – the team is now 4wins and 1 loss for the season.  Jacob went to the play but we had little hope of seeing him in that mass of red shirts.  Of course, with so many people now wanting to get out of the stadium and drive home, we won’t see him for an hour or more.  It is said of the Nebraska football games, that the stadium is the largest city in Nebraska on game night.

Friday in Lincoln.

This morning at 2am the fire engines came blaring their horns and sirens along with the rescue truck.  It appears that the young man across the street was having heart trouble again.  That is too bad because he is very young to be having heart trouble but we must remember that he is around 300-400 pounds weight and that will have bearing on his problem for sure.

This morning we went to Walmart to get the car greased and oil changed.  The Walmart we went to is out on route 2 – and is east of here but again my direction finder is not too good and it surely seemed that we were traveling west when in fact we were going east.  I suppose if I lived here I would be able to better get my directions straight.

Lyla decided to go to school today rather than stay with us here at home.  She was saying that they had new uniforms at the pre-school and she wanted to go today to try them on.  We have no idea what she is talking about but I guess we will find out when she comes home.  Jacob left for school at 6.30am, Sara left about 8am, I left with the boys around 7.40am and Bill had the house all to himself for a short period of time.

Oliver told me, I love you more than the black that is behind the stars in the sky.  Guess he loves me a lot.  He gave me a drawing of a big heart.  He really is a sweet little boy.  Last night he crawled into bed and even though we carried him into his own bed, he came back in after a while and slept there the rest of the night.

Tonight was birthday celebration night.  We had a pork loin dinner with glazed carrots and a salad.  Then we had birthday cake and candles and ice cream.  We then gathered in the living room and opened presents.  We gave clothes to the kids and no toys at the request of Sara.  After the presents we piled into the car and off we went to “Lost in Fun” which is an amusement place for kids.  There were kids running to, jumping from and in, and falling off or over in every direction.   The noise was deafening.  Oliver and I played air hockey and he is totally vicious at this game.  He beat me hands down.  We put money in the basketball game machine and my high score was 42.  Ethan said he could beat that so I put money in it and he got 8 points.  So much for being Macho….but when you are 10 nothing is impossible.

I am totally tired tonight.  I managed to squeeze in a visit to the quilt shop and to the bead shop.  How cool is that?  The quilt shop has had to put its “throw out table” inside the store due to the complaint by the hairdresser who just moved in.  She moved into the same area that used to house Weight Watchers.  I thought I would go to WW to see what kinds of things they have these days but I was disappointed.  The Scrapbooking place has branched out to now include swanky looking purses and shoulder bags.  I find it hard to connect scrapbooking with shoulder bags and glitzy purses……but that is what they have now.

Our time here is running out.  Jacob asked us to be at his graduation when he gets his fancy  hood and gown outfit for his PhD.  It is to be on December 9 – one day before Ethan’s birthday.  I had not planned to come back to Nebraska till next spring – not crazy about being here in a snowstorm.  Not crazy about being anywhere in a snowstorm.

Thursday activities

Special Thursday activities.

Today we did something different.  It was very different indeed.  We all got up late and the waffles that I made for the children disappeared quickly – it had to be so because the boys needed to be at school before 8am and it was already too late to walk them to school.  We opened the bottle of Maple syrup from Maine – Jacob’s present and jealously guarded item on the menu – and then the fun began.  Jacob had an appointment with Novatis regarding a position at that company for research and development.  He is very interested in this job and he is also very interested in going to Germany for a post doc. experience.  Sometimes you have to make a choice between two very good things and it matters little what you choose because each choice is a good choice.  So Jacob left for his whole day of interviews with the powers that be at Novatis. Sara, Lyla and I took the boys to school.  They bounded out the car and ran as fast as they could to the school building.  They were not late – they just do this each time they are driven to school.

Lyla was insistent that we go to her school and meet her teachers and see what she does each day.  We did not think that we would get that opportunity because Jacob usually takes her to her pre school.  So Bill, Sara, Lyla and myself went off to the University pre School and nursery.  It is a babysitting service run by the school for the students in Child Development and Family Relations major to try out their skills and learn on the job.  When we walked in, we had to register.  I told the receptionist that I was a new student who had failed “building blocks 1” and needed a refresher.  As we walked through the building, and they have a whole building devoted to this major field of study, there was a room where they had tiny babies, then in the next room there were children who were a little older and so on.  Lyla goes to the pre-school section.  She was insistent that she show us everything in the room and she is quite proud of the whole situation.  She used to go to the pre-school at the Nature Center but the hours there do not coincide with the hours that Sara has to work.  The program at the University of Nebraska works well and keeps Lyla safe and happy while Jacob is in his program and Sara is at work.

After we left Lyla and her pre-school, we went to Target to shop.  Our goal was to get clothing and necessities for the upcoming birthdays.  It was fun shopping for clothes for the boys and for Lyla.  Of course we had to make a stop at the St. Louise thrift store.  It is one of the best organized thrift stores I have ever been to and it is where I purchase my stainless steel bowls for my kitchen.  I love stainless steel bowls.  I found two more this trip and I found three for the trip out to Maine when we visited the St. Louise store on our way to our mission.  If there is one thing in my kitchen that I think I cannot function without, it is the stainless steel bowls.  They clean up well and are pretty much indestructible.

We left St. Louise and headed for Lazlo’s.  This is an iconic restaurant in Lincoln.  They have two locations – one in the Haymarket and one just off route 2.  We had a nice relaxed lunch together and then brought all our Target purchases home and Sara got ready to go to work at 2pm.  She was able to get the morning off to spend with us.  We followed her in our car and we got a private tour of the high school where she works.  It is a very nice building and houses 2,000 students.  We saw the pool which is the pride and joy of the school, and 3 of the gyms that they have there.  In one hallway there are pictures of all the outstanding athletes that have been at the school and the retired jerseys of the students who were picked up by UNL for the football, basketball and baseball teams.  In one case there were a lot of trophies that the school has won and I kidded Sara that the school seems to be also very good at Quidditch.  She took us to the library where she introduced us to all the staff there.  One man has had the opportunity to live in Japan and at one time did speak Japanese but not now.  We left the school and found our way back to the house.  We walked over to Saratoga school and picked up the boys.  While we were at Sataroga, we were able to see Mrs. Shadek who was Ethan’s first teacher in this school.  We walked the boys home and then prepared for dinner.  Tonight we had Taco Salad.  I guess Lyla loves sour cream because she ate most of the contents of the sour cream container.

Ethan had two activities he could attend this evening.  One was a Pack meeting for scouts and the other was the skating party for the Saratoga School.  He chose to go to the skating party.  Lyla had skates on and was toddling all over the place and falling down and getting up as if nothing had happened.  Oliver had his skates on and off  a number of times and spent seemingly even times with running ‘skateless’ with his friends and also skating with his friends.  Ethan did well at skating with inline skates but he had a serious crash and may end up with a black eye as a result.  We put him to bed with some ibuprofen and he refused the ice pack.

Bill and I drove over to Russ’ market and bought some ice cream and root beer for root beer floats for the snack for the evening.  I also bought some powdered donut holes that the kids have loved in previous visits.  I love being here with the children and will really miss being with them if they go to Germany.

Our stay at Nauvoo, Illinois.

 We are just leaving the Nauvoo Temple.

 Looking from the Temple steps towards the Mississippi river.

 Sculpture of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum depicting their exodus from Nauvoo heading towards Carthage, Illinois where they were martyred.

 The Nauvoo Temple.  It faces west across the Mississippi

 this is the sculpture by D.J. Bawden that depicts the first vision of Joseph Smith when he saw the Father and the Son.

 the legend on the base of the sculpture that states "this is my beloved Son, Hear Him." in answer to Joseph's question of Which church should he join. 

 The model of the first baptismal font that was in the original Nauvoo temple.  It rests on the backs of 12 oxen, and is used for baptism for the dead.  1 Corinthians 15:29 states "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all."

 Bust of Joseph Smith by Avard Fairbanks.

 Bust of Christ by D. J. Bawden.

 Bust of Joseph Smith by D. J. Bawden in which the death mask of the prophet was used as well as forensic reconstruction to do this sculpture.

 bust of Hyrum Smith - made from the death mask of Hyrum and forensic reconstruction.

 the wagon we rode to see the village of Nauvoo.

 One of the small houses in the historic district.

 another of the small houses in the village.

 a prairie schooner used by the pioneers to leave Nauvoo and go to the west.

 Another view of the Prairie Schooner.

 the Prairie Schooner on a barge that was used to float the wagon across the Mississippi river.

 this is the place where the road meets the river and is the closest we got to the Mississippi river.

 American Lotus growing in the Mississippi.

 It is hard to see, but in the middle of this picture is a blue plastic drum that is used by the Canada geese and ducks to lay their eggs in.  there are small animals that eat the eggs if they are laid in nests on the ground.  the blue drums are a safe place to lay the eggs and not get them eaten by predators.

 this street was the one used by immigrants entering old Nauvoo. the house at the end of the street is now privately owned but when the immigrants were coming into the city they were welcomed there.

 this was Joseph Smiths house - it was used as a boarding house to take care of the incoming members.

 Just one of the many trees that was showing beautiful fall colors in Nauvoo.

 a view of the Nauvoo temple from a distance.

 the beautiful horses that hauled our heavy carriage around.   Bravo! Horses!

 this tree is bright yellow in foliage and is in the parking lot of the visitors center.

 these large leaves caught my attention.  The gardens of the visitors center were spectacular.

 In the Brick yard listening to the explanation about the bricks that were used to build homes in Nauvoo.  The Mormons has been driven from Nauvoo by 1847.

 One of the planters on the street of Nauvoo.

 Looking back towards the historical part of town.

 Billboard in front of the restaurant where we ate lunch.

first Free Day

Today was our first day of “kick back and relax” time for the past year.  We did laundry – Oh Joy! And then we walked the children to school and went back over later on to be there for their lunch time and then walked back over to  pick them up after school.

 Lyla decided she wanted to walk over with the boys but pooped out when we got to the school and so I had to piggyback her most of the way back home.  She talks constantly and a lot of the time I do not know what she has said.

We have a tradition  that takes place when Grandma visits here.  This tradition is for Grandma to take each child one at a time to the gas station up the way from here for the child to choose out a few things that they would like.  The limit is three items.  It is interesting to see what they choose.  Ethan chose bagged candy.  Oliver chose cookies and cakes and Lyla chose three small candies.  It is a special time for me to spend with each child.  Sometimes we don’t talk much and sometimes we do but it is special time and precious time to be with each one of my wonderful grancdhilcren.

Sara has a website that gives meal plans for the week and a shopping list for the week.  Today was Ravioli with squash and a green salad on the side and Water melon for dessert.   I spent time preparing the food and got it ready for her for when she came home and just as we were sitting down, Jacob came in with his brother in law for dinner.  I am really glad that we had enough to go around because the recipe was supposed  to only feed four and we fed 8.  Her kitchen is humongous compared to the one in our last apartment…….and she has enough pots and pans to be able to turn out a good meal.

Tomorrow Jacob has an interview with Novartis and he is hoping to land the job.  He said “it would be nice to stay here.”  I think that I would really miss traveling out here to Nebraska to visit my grand children if they moved to Germany.

When we were in Maine, there was a joke between Anne’s son Alex and us over teeth etc. and he gave me a chattering mouth of teeth as a joke.   Well, this wind up toy has really had a work out with the kids and also Jacob has wound it up a few times.  I have yet to take a picture of the kids with the chattering teeth and with Moose.

We are trying to arrange a big birthday party for everyone who is having birthdays this fall – Bill, Lyla, Oliver, Jacob – all birthdays are within 2 weeks – from  29 September to Oct 13. But we need to celebrate Ethan’s birthday Dec. 10 and mine on Nov 30.  Sara is the odd one out with her birthday in May.

It is both an exciting and terrifying time for us – We are leaving the protection and enveloping experience of a mission  and entering the terrifying world of the upcoming election fights and TV commercials and Christmas Sales and thanksgiving and Christmas parties etc.etc.  It was different in Maine and it certainly will be different when we go home.  I get to set up a household once more and I also get to buy new clothes……I left most of them in Maine and cannot fit into the ones I left behind.  How great is that?