Saturday we traveled to Richmond to visit some of my relatives and celebrate my grandmother’s 79th birthday at a surprise party.  My uncle Joe & aunt Sandy have an alpaca farm so we went there first to meet their newest baby, Annapolis aka “Annie.” 

The boys love feeding the alpacas.

Annie!

All I could think was that poor mama! Can you imagine giving birth to this large of a baby?  Two weeks old! That’s the mother, standing right beside me.  I could only hold this strong girl for about 60 seconds.

No worries, these animals would scatter every time the boys took a step in their direction. They’re very docile animals.

Dexter loved this barn cat, Louie.

We hung out at the farm until we received word that the party planners were ready for their special guest of honor.

Time to go, boys!

Yes, Grandma had her hair up in bobby pin curls like she does every Saturday.  Gotta look pretty for church on Sunday.  Grandma has looked like this for as many Saturdays as I’ve known her, unless she was aware of a special occasion.  I don’t think she cared at all that she came to her party with a kerchief on her head!  I think she looks beautiful! 

It’s funny…the grandkids my age call her Grandma and the little grandkids and great grandkids call her Mamaw.  Not sure when the switch happened… Some people call her Barsie – no clue where that came from.  (She had a sister named Elizabeth who was only known as Tootie, so who knows?)  Hardly anyone calls her by her lovely given name, Arizona.  I always told Ryan if we’d had a girl, I wanted to name her Arizona and call her Zoey.

Lots of fun things for the boys to do at my uncle Kerry’s gorgeous, huge property.  They enjoyed a nice, sloooow go-kart ride (at least while mom was watching).

The birthday cutie opening cards and gifts.  She was so surprised, she just kept saying “I’ve never been surprised in my life!”  Can you believe this was her first ever birthday party?  I guess when you have 7 kids, 14 grandkids, and 7 great grandkids, the attention is always focused somewhere else.  

It was a little too breezy and cloudy for me to get in the pool, but the boys did not hesitate!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

On Father’s Day morning, I surprised Ryan by taking him to First Watch downtown for breakfast.  Oh. So. Yummy.  Afterwards, we went over to the Indiana State Museum for a short IMAX film about butterflies.  We were a few minutes early so we walked around outside for a bit.

Waiting for the show to start. 

Somehow, I abandoned my camera after the movie, but Sunday afternoon, Ryan’s parents came up and I fixed dinner for Ryan, the boys, and Nana and Pop-Pop.  It was a wonderful weekend.  Father’s Day is always bittersweet as I’m missing my own dad, but this weekend was full of family and gentle reminders that I am so very lucky to have all these special people in my life.  

xo,

~C~