Call Me Grandma Daisy

    Our oldest grandson is now 27 years old with a son of his own. When Steve was little I asked to be called Grandma Daisy. I know that some grandparents think their grandkids are the most special, cutest, smartest, and most likely to save the world. I have never felt that way, however, I sure am proud of all 11 grandchildren and think baby Little John (aka Brydon) is the sweetest great-grandson ever. We also have 2 nieces and a nephew that are like grandchildren.     
   Let me back up a bit and explain my family. I was married to John D, had 5 kids who blessed me with 11 grandchildren. Bruce and his first wife adored, pampered, and mentored their nieces and nephew. So when Bruce and I met in January 1998, we had a readymade family.
   The grands are scattered from TN, MN, SC, and here in MO. We were very excited when MN Ginny came to Rolla, MO for college. Last year Steve and new wife Amanda moved from TN to Springfield. Let’s see, that makes 7 living near us now.
   Our SC family seems so far away, but they are good about emailing, calling, and posting photos on Facebook. Grandpa gave them a telescope a few weeks ago, sure wish we were closer to them to explore the skies together. Maybe later in the summer we can visit.
   Alan is our oldest son and lives near here. It doesn’t seem possible his daughter is on her own, in college with a job. Patrick is our baseball star. This year he is again pitching on an American Legion team, we will be going to his games starting in June.
   This brings me to the last 3 grandchildren. Son Terry lets us spoil Billy, Johnny, and Miss Jaclyn. Happily they live close enough for us to attend school plays, band and choir concerts. We cheer them on when their play sports. We even go to Chuckie Cheese for birthday parties. We love it! Everyone has such busy lives, so these are special events for us. Next month we are going to take them to Branson for a day.

Now a word about Grandpa Bruce- he is the perfect Grandpa.

Updates

   Updates have been cancelled because of lack of updates, full story following naps.

   Seriously folks, that’s about what is happening in the Crim house, nothing to report. A few days ago I started writing a story, making notes really. I thought some wonderful exciting event would happen that could write about. Since nothing has happened I’ll post the notes as is.
   Bruce is watching a mom and pop wren build a nest in the little birdhouse. He has binoculars ready to get a good view when one of his little feathered friends is coming in and out. This has been going on for over a week, and Bruce think Minnie Wren should be laying and nesting anytime now. The one Bruce think is the daddy, aka Mighty Wren, will wait patiently on the flag bracket nearby. For the story about this birdhouse, click here.
   May has been rainy, with some storms coming through. In fact a tornado came through the area this week destroying several buildings southwest of Springfield. Nothing as bad as OK had though, feel so bad for everyone there.
   We are proud of four young family members who are graduating this month. Two nephews are graduating from high school, congrats guys. We are especially delighted for nieces Betsy and Emily who are graduating from college with degrees in accounting. These young women accomplished this while working, also each have a young toddler. (Talk about working 24/7)
   Lost file with oogles of images on it, could have sworn they were on here somewhere. Wonder where???


Note to self: start note taking for next blog a.s.a.p.

Birthday Celebration, The Food

Part 2, All We Can Eat.
   A big part of a birthday celebration trip is eating, not that any of us would go hungry. Shirley got us off to a good start with coupons for McDonald’s new frappes, yummy and very cold. Shirley had also fixed us big “goodie bags” with various snacks for our rooms.
   The first night we ate at the Paula Deen Buffet in the Harrah’s Casino. Bruce and I had been there before, first time for the others. There are plenty of selections and varieties of dishes to suit everyone tastes. Of course, it’s not polite to keep count of how many times people go back for more, but I think Georgia was the winner. One neat feature is beside a few of Paula favorite dishes are recipe cards.
   Special meal number two was lunch Thursday at The Café Marie in Tunica, MS historical area. The atmosphere is delightful, very welcoming. The food prepared by Chef Walt was fantastic. Bless him, he even made special orders for us, most places will not do that. The guys had Shrimp Remoulade Stuffed Avocado from the salad menu, so pretty as well as delicious. The best part of the lunch was the excellent service, even getting Jack fresh lemon slices for his water.
   Our last birthday party was at the Blue and White Restaurant in Tunica. This old fashioned local place opened in 1937 as a café, filling station, and Grey Hound bus stop. This is definitely a must do when in Tunica. I took time to look around at the newspapers articles and old pictures on the wall, it was a history lesson. One of the café’s specialties is homemade doughnuts. Of course, we got some to go; they were individually wrapped in blue and white checked paper.

   Besides these birthday party meals together we all ate separately also. Bruce and I like the diner at the Hollywood Café. The waitresses wear poodle skirts and the juke box is blasting old rock and rolls tunes.
   Coming home to my peanut butter sandwiches was hard to do.

Birthday Celebration, the Trip

Part 1, Tunica here we come!
   Finally, after a month of planning we were ready to leave for the great Tunica, MS birthday trip last Wednesday, April 28. My sister Shirley drove in from KC, got to our house about 8:30am, and we pulled out by 9. The Otts were leaving from their house in Ozark, leaving a bit later than we did. I am not sure who was the most excited to get going, but we were definitely a cheerful group.
   Our first rest stop was in a West Plains, MO McDonalds; also, Shirley had coupons for frappes. Georgia called shortly after that, they were 15 minutes ahead of us. Now how did that happen? Down 63 Highway we went, round a curve, down a hill, round a curve, up a hill. (I try to keep my eyes closed and stomach calm during that 30-minute stretch.) In Hardy, AR we noticed a car like Jack's ahead, could that be them? Shirley called and sure thing, we had caught up with them.
   The rest of the trip was a laugh a minute. Shirley and Georgia were on the cell phones making sure each car knew what the other was doing. Jack had Bruce take the lead since we go to Tunica more often, besides Bruce knows how to get through Memphis.
   Because we were using coupon deals in Bruce’s name, he had to check everyone in at 3 different Tunica casinos/hotels. Shirley stayed at Harrah’s, Otts at The Resorts, and the Crims were at the Hollywood Casino.
   We played for a while, and then went to Paula Deen’s for dinner. That story will be in Part 2, All We Can Eat.