A Visit From Bemidji

They're off!  It was The Great Plate Race of 2010.  The nieces and their kids were visiting from Bemidji. They'd been to the nursing home to visit Grandpa and stopped in to see us too.

The plate race was the natural outcome of a lunch on styrofoam plates. With lunch gone, it seemed like a good idea. One of the less-better ideas proposed was to float the plate with a flower on top. I didn't want a flower floating on styrofoam any more than I want a pink flamingo in my garden. The plate race was much less threatening. :-)

It was great to see the family. It had been at least four years since we'd seen some of them, and soon one of the families will be headed to Costa Rica again.

It's a tiny garden pond, but you can see the whitecaps that developed with all that hot air blown to try to change the course of the floating plates! ;-) Just kidding, Amos.

Looks like it was a draw. Only the spectators won.

That would be their mothers and I. :-)

Girl in a tree?? How can it be??

This probably won't be her mom's favorite photo, but I thought it was so cute!! I think it was wintergreen gum she was showing us. :-) You'd have to work a lot harder than chewing gum to make a face like this look anything but adorable!

Just before they left, I was able to get a group photo. I love the flute. For her mother's, auntie's, and cousins' sanity, I'm hoping she didn't practice on the trip home. :-) And there, in the back row, we have Rudolph. Great antlers! ;-)

Hopefully, we will see the family again soon. It's a fun group. I love giving the kids grief. They are so bright and so kind to put up with my silliness.