Finnian's Vacation At Grandpa and Grandma's

Finnian finally got his vacation at Grandpa and Grandma's worked into his schedule. He has been looking forward to this all summer but has been very busy with swimming lessons and karate, and birthday parties for friends and so many other activities requiring us to pack lots of things into a few days.

What?! No power steering???

He and Grandpa spent LOTS of time working on Grandpa's "New" truck. Grandpa calls it "barn fresh" - I'll agree with that! Here are a couple of shots of a few lessons on "bleeding the brakes". Isn't the truck a "honey"? Lots of trust going under that fender... hmm, trust rhymes with "rust". (Yea, Grandpa actually bought it this way and intends to leave it as is-just another one of the things I'll never understand).

It takes a lot of muscle and leg to push the brake pedal all the way to the floor.

Then it was on to wood working - another birdhouse - this one a "3 apartment" design. All apartments were numbered and will be ready for new occupants next spring. Its good to have plenty of eye protection-but maybe actually LOOKING at what you are doing might be a good idea too!

Oops! A closeup should be shown of what can happen when you take a hand saw and try to swat mosquitos and gnats....I think the insects came out on the lucky end of this idea.

There were many other activities not documented in photos. There was Perkins lunch, Classic Car show night, pizza in the valley, picking tomatoes for spaghetti sauce, picking apples for making apple pie. Finnian suggested a little ice cream and caramel sauce on top of the pie - he created a winner with that idea. We also made krumkaka ice cream sandwiches - that will be a repeat for sure! Time spent playing with squirming, licking, dachshund puppies, mixed with some quiet reading and playing with cars rounded off the days in Cochrane.

There will be days off during the school year that can be made into mini stays at the "grands" and we'll pencil in next summer's vacation before it gets too busy. Now we'll just file these memories away and look forward to the next stay.

Good luck to Mr. First Grader and Miss Pre-K when they both return to school on Tuesday. Adalia will also be attending State Road School this year, which should make it a little less hectic for Mom and Dad each morning. Remember to always be a friend and above all stay safe!