2016 Week 38:

Friday, as part of our Victory Acres CSI share, I  picked strawflowers.  Hopefully these will dry nicely as I was told.

Saturday was Kristie's birthday, and Sam, ever thoughtful, planned a getaway for them. The three younger boys arrived in the afternoon and stayed overnight.
We went for a walk down the road. I let big brother Elijah go on his own to walk around Taylor campus, while the little guys, each with their own bag, kept busy picking up trash, and I just tried to keep up with them. They don't walk. They only run or hop!

Sunday we celebrated two birthdays. Diane preferred the regular/normal birthday song.

And Kristie, the crazy Koch-family rendition.

Photos by Karen Koch

Monday, when I walked out the front door there were still sweet reminders of the day before on the driveway.

Tuesday, Skye and his friend started working for Grandpa, cutting up some of the many fallen trees in our woods. He seems to really enjoy wielding the chain saw. A couple times, though, he needed Grandpa's expert mechanical skills to fix some problems.

Michael has had so much on his mind to do with the upcoming PhyXTGears move to a new and bigger shop, so I am very grateful for the boys help.

I've watched a couple posted videos of the progress being made at MadJax, the team's new home, and every time I'm amazed at all the work that Mike has done to design and plan the entire layout. No wonder he wakes up at unearthly hours to keep working on all the decisions, diagrams, purchasing lists, etc. etc. And he has had many meetings with electricians and others in charge of this project.

He still goes to the Red Barn on Wednesdays. The Pottery room has been well attended. Thankfully a couple of Taylor students are helping regularly now.

There is comfort and satisfaction in structure and routine. My neighbor and I enjoy an hour together every Friday, always so much to talk about. This week we also explored a new shop very close to the cafe where we meet.

Saturday was full of surprises. Two grandsons had sports events at the Muncie Sportsplex that started at the same time. We watched Malachi run cross country and then took in the last half of the soccer game (Elijah #31).

After that we decided to stop by the James Dean festival in a nearby town for food and fun.
We reminisced about the times we were vendors there and concluded that this year it was far more crowded and there were many more old cars.

Canyon coral '57 Chevy like the one Mike learned to drive in.

Those memories and the '50s music must be what prompted us to ride the Giant Wheel!

Then we saw this scary poster!

Needless to say, a very fun day!

Then we heard from friends who visited Serenity at Art Prize and posted photos!

And I posted all our Walk n Wander photos--21 bronzes by Seward Johnson!
Take the virtual tour and let me know which one is your favorite. I may send you a little surprise!