An Afternoon @ The Retirement Center

As promised, this will be the last post about Meyers D and her Birthday. Everyone has been great about putting up with me posting about all the Festivities/Memories/Photos about her. Thanks! I don't think I normally make such a big deal about my kiddos and their B.Day's, but this was #10...and I happen to think that's a big milestone. There just was lots to tell about this year.

We let the kids get out of school before lunch today so that we could join Grandma Grace @ the Retirement Home for some Birthday lunch. It is quite the palace over there and they get really spoiled at their meals. It's like a sit-down restaraunt, not cafeteria-style. There is a separate menu that changes daily for every meal, and you always get about 3 choices AND a dessert. Today their were three kinds of salad: garden, broccoli/cauliflower & jello. For entree there were: maccaroni & cheese, homemade chicken noodle soup, and roast beef sandwich. Dessert was a choice of tapioca pudding or more jello. Grandma suggested we all have hot cocoa because she drinks it for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I told her she had to do that to stay so sweet!

After lunch we headed back to her suite and my Fishing Uncle showed up, so we had a great visit with him. The boys were pretty fascinated with his finger that had been cut off at the knuckle.

We were supposed to watch the King & I in the Blue Room but they were showing "The Grass is Greener" by Cary Grant. This turned out to be quite boring and not a young-child appropriate movie, but we were there to hang out w/ Grandma and endured right up until about a 1/2 hour before it was over. We really didn't need to find out if Deobrah Kerr would choose Robert Mitchum or her husband, Cary Grant....we're just not too concerned w/ adulterous relationships around here!!

The ice cream parlor was open this afternoon and everyone was quite excited about checking that out. 4 of us had Banana Split ice cream while Max-Ay and Papa D had chocolate. Grandma says we don't even have to pay money for it because they charge it to her room. (Doesn't that mean you have to pay for it....eventually?) She had fun treating us but next time I don't think we'll let her pay for lunch and ice cream for all 5 of us!! She's such a sweetheart, it's fun to see her get such a thrill out of treating us though!!

The kids were just super great at saying hello to the old folks, shaking their hands and even hugging them. Old folks just love little kids, for the most part, and it thrills me that my kids don't duck behind my leg and clam up. They try to give eye contact and speak loud enough for them to hear. It's great practice for them really.

One old gal, I'll call her Thelma, was such a sweetheart. She just absolutely adores kids. She even told my kids that she loved them!! "I just love you," she said. She stopped and talked to us at lunch for a long time. She happened to be in the Blue Room when we got there for the movie, and she followed us into the ice cream parlor. She just couldn't keep her eyes or her hands off my kids! And it was so sweet! Thelma just begged me to bring them back! I hope we see her the next time we are there for a visit.

www.flickr.com