William said "I miss you, Omi" and I had promised to visit as soon as I could. I had also promised to bring Buddy. Two promises!
With James being on his Camino in Spain I had to drive the whole way (500+ miles) by myself. Well, no, not totally by myself. Buddy the bunny was in the passenger seat ... buckled in. I decided to do it Wednesday April 20th.
The welcome center showed of a southern quilt ...
... and flowers.
I had told William I would come Thursday. Helen hat printed a calendar page for him and marked my arrival day. Now he could mark of each day. She told me his first words when he woke up on Wednesday: "Today is Wednesday. That means tomorrow is Thursday. That means Omi comes tomorrow." Ah, love that guy!
Because it was Wednesday and I had made it in good time, I met Helen and William at their church. When I walked in and he saw me ... "Wow, you where coming tomorrow. You came today"
I had promised Helen that we would go to Paducah KY on Friday ... the area where we lived for about 30 years. It was quilt week, always a special time in Paducah with Grace Church luncheon on Friday and the Lace Exhibition and Demonstration at the church too. I founded the Heartland Lace Guild many years ago and was looking forward to see old (like in time knowing) lace friends and church friends.
I picked Helen up at 7:30 am and we stopped half way for a little breakfast.
We went to the church first. You can see all lace related and all quilt pictures from today IN THIS BLOG!
It was disappointing that there was no Grace luncheon this year and only a lace day. Many lace friends missing and of course none of the church friends since it used to be buzzing with friends working for the lunch.
Helen and I visited Opa Heinz in the Memorial Garden though.
The bench had been donated by us and the plaque was in both of our fathers' names.
The Easter mobile in all its glori.
Name tags for everybody in the congregation. I love it. There were two places because the members by habit come into church different entries.
And then the quilt show where we had a couple of hours (see blog mentioned above) and then decided we needed a break. Lunch. And who was standing next to us in the line? Lori is the wife of Andi who was in James' work team ... way back when.
Eventually we got around to the lunch. Sooooooo Kentucky.
Back to the quilt show. And there was Mary. Fun.
Again, all the quilt pictures are on the other blog. Here is Helen though buying a little gift from us for a mutual friend who likes batiks. Needs to be mailed later.
I almost got in deep trouble. Time had run away from us and we were supposed to meet friends for dinner at 5:30pm. Sara and Barb were waiting for us but luckily we were not too much delate. We were pretty much the first customers and almost closed the place down. Talk talk talk. Good old days.
After that to Barb's house were Helen and I spend the night. Forgot about pictures in the evening but next morning the cat checked out my bag. That cat would take all the loving you want to give and more.
Treated Helen to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then we quickly popped into Hancocks because Helen needed something. Met two more friends and Justin the owner. Loved all the quilts hanging. Gave you more ideas. Do we really need more ideas?
Back home by noon on Saturday. Helen and I were unanimous. We had had a great time!!!
Later in the afternoon Helen, William and I met to go to the Earth Day Festival in Centennial Park. There were all sorts of stands/booths but the science ones caught William's attention.
Rocks, rocks, rocks. Fossils and dinosaur footprints.
This was all about solar eclipses, the power of the sun and things like that.
VIDEO! Unfortunately it's upside down but I am sure you can handle it. It's short.
These gadgets measure sugar contents. William tested 4 different jars of baby food. Do peas have more sugar then sweet potato? Very interesting.
Helen knows a new place. Special treats. Paletas = Mexican popsicle
I had promised William he could spend the night if there was no school next day. So he did. He is so good. We had a great time.
Sunday ... We took our time waking up.
I just love it when he wakes up, sits up and gives me that beautiful smile.
Didn't make it to the service. But we did make it to Sunday school where we met Mommy. We went our seperate ways afterwards but William had "junior milers training" later. Thanks to the GPS I found it.
First some stretches. Then the children were "sorted" by age.
The "training" really happened while playing games. Helen has found again a great opportunity for William to participate in.
And yes, I have some videos:
It was very hot in the afternoon sun but much fun. It was all about having fun.