Visit from the Grandkids

 On June 26, Arne and I spent the night on Amelia Island, off the coast of Florida near Jacksonville. The following day we drove to Georgetown, SC to spend the night as our granddaughters, Kadin and Gracie, would be joining us on Saturday for our drive back to The Villages.

Here's an outline of our time together:

Sun June 29 - Church, Sam's Club and swimming

Mon June 30 - Swimming

Tues July 1 - Camp Villages Air Guns. The girls did well  and Kadin shot her rifle standing up, which Arne said is much more difficult, hit the bulls eye 7 out of 10 tries.

Afternoon phone call with a Medium, who connected with my dad and Lisa. Tuesday night, I took the girls to see "Heaven is for Real."

Wed July 2 - Girls painted T shirts and decorated frames with Lisa's jewelry. Swimming

Thurs July 3 - Gracie complained of pains in her stomach and ate next to nothing. After dinner we all went to Lake Sumter Landing for Scooter the DJ. Market night canceled due to rain so we didn't stay long.

Fri July 4 - Gracie still not eating. Went to Brownwood to watch special music and entertainment for Fourth. Went shopping. Kadin bought two wood blocks for her room "Queen Police"

Sat July 5 - Gracie still in pain so I took her to Urgent Care. Doctor said not appendix or gall bladder. Possibly gastritis...or homesickness?

Sun July 6 - Gracie and I went to church. Took girls to BB practice. Gracie still not feeling well.

Mon July 7 - Gracie and I spent afternoon at Urgent Care. They did blood work, ultrasound and another test but found nothing. The girls were supposed to make pizza at a pizzeria but we had to cancel. We did go to Lake Sumter that evening to watch Petrina perform. She is a favorite of the girls.

Tues July 8 - Took Gracie for another test. Picked up a rental van. Gracie's pains seemed to be subsiding. Daddy will be here soon. :-)

Drove to Orlando where we picked up Erik and Jeffrey. There plane was 40 minutes late and we waited almost 1 1/2 hours for luggage due to lightning. We drove to Daytona Beach where I had rented a two room unit at Sun Viking Lodge. We didn't get checked in until 11:30 PM. Arne had decided to stay home. He gets nervous with the kids around the ocean.

Wed July 9 - Kadin woke up early and climbed in bed with Gracie and Jeffrey. I was pleasantly surprised when they all fell back to sleep so I took a long walk on the beach. Afternoon consisted of swimming in the pool, boogie boards in the ocean and playing in the sand. At night, Gracie found us this delicious Chinese buffet. Jeffrey wanted to play miniature golf, which we did, and for the next five days he said he wanted to play dinosaur golf.

 

Thurs July 10 -  Another long walk on Daytona Beach. More swimming and boogie boards. In the evening, we went on a boat ride which included dinner before hand. The kids saw many dolphins.

Kadin thought she was on the Titanic.

This is what Jeffrey thought of Titanic.

Fri July 11 - Checked out of hotel and went to Ponce de Leon lighthouse. This is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and second highest in the USA.

 

Jeffrey made it all the way to the top and here is on way down.

Sat July 12 - Swimming at the Villages. Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

Sun July 13 - The girls went with me to BB. Arne, Erik and Jeffrey came about 30 mins later and stayed for 1 1/2 hours. Must be fun watching old ladies play ball. :-) For dinner, we went to a Japanese Steak House in celebration of Gracie's upcoming birthday. She turned 12 on the 18th.

Waiting for the chef.

Mon July 14 - Arne took Erik and the kids to a model train show. Then I took the girls to their favorite bling store and to Sam's Club for a frozen yogurt. Evening was spent packing. I gave Gracie one of my suitcases as she had so much stuff that her suitcase was coming apart and couldn't take the strain.

Tues July 15 - Took Erik and family to Orlando for their 11 AM flight. Returned the rental van and then headed to the nail salon for mani and pedi. Sheets and towels can wait to be laundered. :-)

Lisa's Back in Iowa

Memorial week-end, many family members gathered at Mark and Marla's farm to say good-bye to Lisa. Saturday evening we remembered Lisa through a slide show and the sharing of memories, followed by a steak dinner. Sunday morning, May 25, we gathered around the gravesite for a short service. Ron Moore read a poem, Erik read from two cards we received from co-workers of Lisa's, Amazing Grace, The Lord's Prayer and Benediction by Arne. I passed out white rose petals for everyone to place in the grave after Taylor had lowered the urn into its final resting place. The petals formed a beautiful white "blanket" around the urn.

Lisa Swensen Reagan

Lisa Swensen Reagan, 50, of Mesa, Arizona, passed away on April 5, 2014.

Lisa’s wishes were to be cremated and buried with her grandparents, Stan and Mary Kalkwarf, Dayton, Iowa, with whom she and her mother lived in 1966 while Lisa’s father was in Viet Nam. A dinner remembering Lisa was held in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 10. Her burial will be May 25 in the Dayton, Iowa Cemetery.

Lisa was born March 12, 1964, in Quantico, Virginia, the daughter of Arne and Sharon Swensen. She lived in Schaumburg, Illinois until 1979, when the family moved to Arizona. Lisa graduated from Chaparral High School, Scottsdale, Arizona and attended Arizona State University. She earned an MBA from University of Phoenix.

Lisa worked for the state of Arizona in the 1990’s and was later involved in planning for educational facilities. She was on the board of Council of Educational Facility Planners International and co-founder of National Center for Learning Environments.

Survivors include her parents of The Villages, Florida; brothers, Erik Swensen, Los Alamos, NM and Aaron Swensen, Jerome, AZ; sons, Aaron of Mesa, AZ, Nicholas of San Jose, CA, Daniel of Mesa, AZ and Taylor of San Jose, CA; one grandson; three uncles, Larry Kalkwarf of Rockwell City, IA, Kevin Kalkwarf of Stratford, IA, and Carl Swensen of Chicago, IL; two aunts, Marla Swanson, Dayton, IA and Janice Moore of Osakis, MN; as well as many cousins.

Memorials may be sent to Sunshine Acres Children’s Home, 3405 N. Higley Rd., Mesa, AZ 85215 or Treasures 4 Teachers, 1230 W Southern Ave, Suite 105, Tempe, AZ 85282.

National Senior Games

Wednesday, July 24, I flew to Cleveland, Ohio, to play basketball in my first National Senior Games. I wish I had heard about them before moving to The Villages but...better late than never!

Thursday we walked to the Convention Center, about half a mile from our hotel. Very convenient, as we were playing in old Public Hall which adjoined the brand new convention center. After registering and picking up our "goodie bag", we walked around "The Village" which every Olympics apparently has. There were many vendors, all health or sports related. We were given 12:30-1:00 to "practice." We pretty much just shot and dribbled to get used to the temporary court. There were four half courts with baskets facing alternating directions.

Thursday afternoon we went to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, about the only touristy thing in downtown Cleveland. I must say downtown Cleveland, with Lake Erie nearby, was much nicer than I had anticipated.

R & R Hall of Fame

One of my favorites - Ricky Nelson

Another fav 

Pool play for the 65-69 age group began on Friday. Since three of our best players were still playing softball, it was up to four of us to play today's games. At 11 AM, we played a team from Maine whom we beat and I scored half of our 32 points. That might not sound like many points but we play half-court with two 12-minute halves. It's a running clock except for last two minutes of each half. At 3 PM, we beat a team from North Carolina, making us 2-0 with one game to go in pool play. I played all 48 minutes today...at 71 years old! Woo hoo!! In case you're wondering, you can play down in age, not up. My teammates were all under 70.

Friday night we went to the Q Arena, home of the Cavaliers and once upon a time...LeBron James. This was called Celebration of Athletes, and Scotty Hamilton, former Olympic skater, was master of ceremonies. He was actually very entertaining. The event made us feel proud just to be a participant.

Saturday was a good news, bad news day. We had our full team but our last game in pool play was against the Celadrin Tigerettes who were going for their eighth consecutive gold medal. They have a corporate sponsor who pays all expenses and expects them to appear in much PR. They were on GMA and Fox & Friends plus others. There are many You-tube videos of them. They also have two players who play very rough, even dirty. My player stood on my foot, Instead of crashing to the floor, I grabbed hold of her, getting called for a foul. I actually stopped the game in the first few minutes and told the ref I wasn't going to play like this. She took us both aside and talked to us. Mary claimed I had pushed her in the shoulder, which I didn't, and proceeded to push me hard in the shoulder right in front of the referee! Mary did get some fouls called after that but not enough as far as I'm concerned. They beat us the second half so we were 2-1 in pool play.

                                  My teammates. #3, 4 & 5 are from Conn, played in three previous Senior Games.                                      #3, Julie, is our "coach." She's taught me a lot. To her right is my roomie, Jeanne.

 We had to wait an hour while officials set up brackets for medal play. We were seeded 8 out of 18 teams. The top 8 teams went into the AAA bracket and remaining 10 went to AA. Tigerettes were seeded 1 so we had to play them again at 1:00. I was not looking forward to going into the lion's den again. We played tough until the last couple minutes when teammates intentionally fouled trying to get possession. They sunk all their free throws so that didn't work. We were now in the loser's bracket as it's double elimination. We won our 3:00 game so were still a go. Saturday night I felt really tired. It'd been a very rough day. We joined two teammates in the hotel restaurant and then went upstairs to "crash."

Sunday at 10:00, we played a team from Texas. We had been told they had two 3-point shooters so that was our focus.We led the whole game as we shut down their 3-pointers. In fact, I actually blocked one attempt. I was as shocked as she was since I was only trying to distract her. It seemed to work because she didn't attempt another. They did get within three points near the end of the game but we held on to win by 4. Our next game wasn't until 5 PM against Colorado. I  don't know if it was the long wait or if my body was just tired, but I didn't play well the first half and told Julie to take me out and give Carol a chance. We were behind 23-12 at the half. I played better the second half but had waited too long to go back into the game. We lost 31-27, putting us in 4th place and no medal. :-(
So, Minneapolis in 2015!!

Monday, we watched the Tigerettes beat Colorado. We really should have beaten Colorado but the thought of having to play the Tigerettes a third time wasn't a pleasant one. The Tigerettes now faced a team from Tennessee. The Tigerettes had practically noone cheering for them. Tennesee played a really good game, not rough, and won by a substantial margin to become the National Champions. They deserved it!

Tennessee with their gold medals and Tigerettes with their silver.

 I was shocked when Mary from the Tigerettes came up to me after the awards and said she'd like to keep in touch. She told me I had really good moves and they would  like me to consider playing with them. I told them I haven't heard anyone here speak good of the Tigerettes. One of them said it's because they've won so many gold medals. I said no, it's because of your rough play. They believe everyone plays rough. Anyway, they asked me to think about it. Mary said it is a big committment because of all the PR events. I really didn't have to think very hard but waited until Wednesday to email Mary. I told her I'm staying with my present team, who've become good friends, and I can't make the required commitment at this time.

My friend and roommate, Jeanne.

Jeanne and I got up at 4 AM Tuesday for our 6:50 flight home. We had a layover in Nashville and we noticed all these kids in our waiting area. They were a group of 46 seventh graders going on a "before school" trip to DisneyWorld. I jokingly asked where they go when they graduate from 8th grade. I was told "Belize." They didn't know where that was so I told them they had two years to find out.

I decided to check on whether or not this flight was full. Not only full...but overbooked. When told they might need volunteers to go on another flight, I talked to Jeanne and she said "Let's do it!" So we were given $459.30 to fly to Raleigh and then Orlando. We had a seat between us on both flights and only arrived 2 hours later than original flight. Well worth the $230 apiece. :-)

Almost forgot! I came home with a souvenir...a mallet finger. It doesn't hurt but without support, the top portion of my right hand ring finger droops. It was injured when I tried to intercept a pass and the ball hit end of my finger. Went to hand specialist on Friday. He said it's soft tissue damage and I need to wear this splint for 8 weeks. I should be able to play pickleball and golf...no basketball. Wasn't planning to play BB for 2 months anyway so all is good. :-)

View of sunset over Lake Erie and R&R Hall of Fame from our 12th floor hotel room.

Time Flies!

My last post was two months ago and so much happened in the past month, I decided to finally post it...better late than never! I seem to say that often.

My granddaughter, Gracie,  had her 11th birthday on Thursday, July 18, and I sent a belated birthday card via Priority Mail. :-(

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY,  GRACIE!! 

 

June 19, Arne and I drove up to Savannah, Georgia. There had been lots of pieces of rubber on the highway. I know why some trucks have 16 wheels! We were about to turn off I-95 onto I-16, which goes to the city, when a truck in the left lane threw up a chunk of rubber. Arne pulled over to the side of the road and we saw damage to our left front bumper and hazard light. This trip had just cost us an additional $500, which is our deductible. I just had the bumper recoated the week before after we hit a dog crossing the highway the year before...another $500. Needless to say, I lowered our deductible so now we'll probably have no more comprehensive damage.

We spent two nights in Savannah and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a fabulous dining experience at The Old Pink House. Service, food, ambiance...it was perfect!

On the 21st, we drove to Jekyll Island, Georgia, for some time by the ocean. The weather wasn't cooperative as it rained both days. We enjoyed visiting the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and learning all about sea turtles.

June 22 was our 50th wedding anniversary and I had made reservations in the Grand Dining Room of the Jekyll Island Club. This was a huge disappointment, especially after our experience in Savannah.

Arne grew this flower and had it sitting by my sink when we returned home.

June 23, we drove to Orlando to pick up Kadin and Gracie. Since we had some time before their flight, we went to the Apple store where I dreamed about a new Macbook. The girls' flight was 20 minutes late because Southwest had overbooked and noone wanted to get off the flight. Since Kadin is 12, I didn't have to pay the $50 per child for unaccompanied minors. She was to look after Gracie.  :-)

Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes

I had signed up for the Camp Villages activities they requested. On Tuesday, they "starred" in a movie which was themed Rock Party. Wednesday, they made a cute Memory Keeper. Thursday, I took them on a golf cart scavenger hunt. We thought we came in first but another cart beat us and we decided they must have left before we were told to. :-) Friday was Water Relays in the AM and Bingo in PM.

In their "Rock" Movie

Saturday the four of us went to the Gypsy Gold Farm near Ocala. We heard an interesting history of Gypsy Vanner horses and then got a tour of the farm. These horses are beautiful! While poor Gracie wasn't feeling well and sat in the car for part of the morning, Kadin loved seeing the horses.

Sunday was church, lunch at Brooklyn Bagels and then basketball practice. Monday, the girls went to art class with Arne. He said they worked intently for a solid three hours.

Tuesday we had to pick up a rental van as there were going to be six of us. We dropped our car off at a collision center for repair and then drove to Orlando where we picked up Erik and Jeffrey.

 Jeffrey was so much fun! We couldn't get over how well he spoke, in long sentences...and knew what he was talking about. He loves the water, so swimming every day. Late Friday afternoon, Gracie noticed poop in the pool. Seems Jeffrey had filled his diaper and it was floating away. I told the manager of the rec center and the pool was closed for 24 hours. Fortunately, there are other pools to which they could go on Saturday.

For the Fourth of July, I had a short program about the history of Independence Day and a dinner of hot dogs, sweet corn and watermelon. We then went to Sumter Landing hoping to see the gator we had seen the week before. No luck, just turtles. We took a boat ride on Lake Sumter and then headed for the car just as it started to rain. At home, the girls had sparklers and some other "fireworks" which they set off on our driveway. We saw a fireworks display in the distance but nothing like their cousins experienced in Peoria, IL.

Sunday, we got everything packed so we could head for Cocoa Beach directly from church. We got to CB around 3, checked in and soon headed for the beach. Jeffrey had no fear of the ocean. I watched him while Erik took the girls out to ride the waves.

On Monday, we went to Kennedy Space Center. A week before, the outstanding display for the space shuttle Atlantis had opened. Atlantis was moved into this building in November and eight months later they had a building which not only showed off Atlantis but had dozens of displays and simulators related to the history of the shuttle program. We didn't get to see it all as the kids were getting antsy to go back to the beach. Arne and I added on to our tickets so we could go back another time and enjoy all the exhibits at a "grandparents" pace.

Tuesday, July 9, Erik and children flew back to New Mexico. He said it was a long flight since Jeffrey couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to sit by his dad or his sisters. These 2-year-olds!

Some pictures from the grandkids visit...

Yummy!

Kadin with a Gypsy Vanner

Jeffrey loves video games as much as he loves his sister!

The OFFICE

Kadin with her feet on my counter! Not to mention, she has my computer!! Did you get permission, young lady?

Here she is again. Are you starting to see a pattern?

Three Generations of Swensens

Listening to music on the Square at Sumter Landing.

Gator seen in Lake Sumter

At newest Square "Brownwood", we were interviewed by radio station.