Mon., 4/22/24, Caught up on laundry, watered inside plants and outside plants, grass has gotten greener and thicker, plants have grown, Melissa and Bruce brought Vader’s dad and grandpa over, plus Badger, went to get a car wash, to Sam’s Club and to Meijer

These pictures are in reverse order again.  Don’t know why it does that sometimes.

  Bill with Ollie, Vader’s dad, and me with Quake, Vader’s grandpa.  Such nice dogs.  

Melissa holding Ollie and me holding Quake’s leash.  So glad Melissa and Bruce stopped over to show us Vader’s relatives.  No wonder Vader is such a nice, smart dog.

Bill took this picture of all of the dogs

Kenzie sent me this cute picture of Rehvyn at 4 most.

Travis and Rehvyn

New plants did well while we were gone.

The new Clematis has a blossom already.

Grass sure got thicker where we planted grass seed

Got a hummingbird feeder that suctions to the kitchen window

New garden sign from Aldi

I hung the two bird houses today

Hung a new hummingbird feeder.  Bill put the bird feeder somewhere, but I can’t find them

New Oriole jelly feeder.  Nice and big.  Can stick oranges on the ends too.

New oriole feeder hung up too.  Hope they come fast!

Bill went for coffee with Charlie.  I got up when he did, and we made the bed together.  I went outside right away and watered the new plants.  I was happy to see a blossom on the clematis.  The new garden looked so nice and no weeds in it yet.  I will put preen down tomorrow.  I drank a protein drink, then went to Menards to get some new oriole and hummingbird feeders.  Found some cute ones.  When I got home I made food for the birds up and hung the feeders.  I’m watching to see when the first ones come.  

I put some more summer things out day.  I also did all the laundry from our trip which amounted to two big mesh bags full.  Somehow, Kit Kat snuck in and I found her laying on Bill’s side of the bed.  I promptly got her and put outside and told her she was an outside cat.  When Bill got home, he mowed the yard.  I was reading my Bible when he came in.  He washed his hands and came in and started reading too.  Melissa called to see if she and Bruce could stop over and show us Vader’s Dad and Grandfather before their owner picked them up today.  They are very nice dogs.  They stayed and visited on the deck for a while, then went to the park to walk the dogs.  After they left, Bill started the lawn mower, and got it put away.  I started burgers on the grill, and when he finished he sat outside and took over.  I cooked fried potatoes inside, and made green beans.  I told Bill the burgers were just the way I like them and he told me the potatoes were perfect.  The new stove does cook things much better and more even.  When we finished eating, we went to take the car through a car wash.  We got to our corner and I saw someone in a van like Melissa’s wave.  I told Bill, but he said that wasn’t a vehicle like theirs.  I don’t think he saw it.  I tried to call Melissa to see if it was her.  She didn’t answer, but called me back later and said it was.  She was taking Jack to his Fencing class.  He was the one I saw waving.  Funny how we can be so happy seeing each other and waving.  Our windshield was filled with bugs from traveling.  It was so nice to have it nice and clean again.  We went to Sam’s Club and I picked up some bread, then we went to Meijer and got our Olipop drinks.  They were on sale, so we got 20 of them.  We came home and put things away, and Bill went outside and covered the grill.  Kit Kat got in again.  I was outside calling her and couldn’t find her anywhere. When I came in the door, there she was in the family room.  I promptly removed her again and told her she was an outside cat.  We relaxed in our recliners and I did my blog.  

Sat., 4/20/24, Ate breakfast at the hotel, went and packed bags and bixes for Feed the Starving Children, went to lunch at The Freight House, walked througvsime nice shops, walked the bridge from Minnesota to Wisconsin, went for ice cream, rested, played games and snacked in breakfast room

Ready to get instructions to fill bags and boxes for Feed the Starving Children.  

Silly Brian with his hairnet over his face to cover his beard too

 

When we were done , she told us how to clean up our work area.  They we so organized and we had so much fun! Jim, Ralph, Ron and Jay walking in the background 

Our whole group

The information about the amounts we did today were in the board in back of us.  It was for all of the groups during our 1 hour and 45 minute time to work. So amazing how many kids they feed and how many countries they help.  

Two white vehicles ahead of our car is part our group arriving in Stillwater

Bridge that goes from Minnesota to Washington.  It used to be the main bridge in town until they built another one and now this is just to walk over. 

Me, Linda, Jim, Brian and Carrie

Carrie and Linda

Our goofy CMA friends we were with 

We headed to an ice cream place and Bill was driving.  The group in Jays van called and told us Bill turned the wrong way.
  Bill still followed what our GPS was saying and we got to Norman’s ice cream first, but they said they had got there so we left just as a bus full of Track team kids came in.  Then we saw our group, so pulled back in.  We had to wait for all those kids, but they were nice kids and talked to us lots.  They only had outside seating so it was a little cool , but not bad as long as the sun stayed out.

Bill, Jim, Cheryl and Ralph

Ron, Rikki, Tracey and Bear

Jane, Jay, Linda, Brian and Carrie who was freezing

We ate breakfast at our hotel, the we all left at 9 to go to volunteer at Feed the Starving Children.  It is a Christian non profit that has a 99% success rate of delivering the food packed there to 64 countries.  They gave us hair nets, then we listened to instructions about what we were going to do.  They asked for guys who wanted to work in the warehouse lifting 30 lbs. After that they asked anyone who wanted a sitting job to come work on labeling.  Then the rest of us were assigned to table numbers.  We got table 4. We all went and washed our hands for two minutes, then put gloves on.  My job was putting a scoop of packed vitamin powder and then a scoop of dried veggies in the bags Jay and Rikki were opening for us.  Then Jane put in soy, then rice.  Brian weighed it, then Jim sealed it.  There were two tables connected so Bill worked weighing the bags at the other table.  Each box holds 36 bags.  We got twenty boxes done with our CMA group.  Then afterwards we went back and prayed over the boxes of food. It was very moving.  I loved doing this.

We shopped in their little gift area where people from the countries they help make things to sell so they can have jobs and they also donate a portion to help with it food for the bags. I bought a cute angel.

We all went to the Freight House for lunch afterwards.  Bill and I had Walleye, coleslaw, French fries and garlic bread.  It was delicious!  We walked around town with Linda, Jim, Carrie and Brian.  We went through a candy shop and bought some chocolate covered almonds and cashews.  Then we went into a couple more stores and then decided to go to a coffee shop.  It was a cozy one with great coffees.  We stayed there for a long time and shared our testimonies, and also about what God has done in our lives.  There were tearful moments and then rejoicing moments.  We all have seen how Awesome God is!  

We went and walked the bridge to Wisconsin after we finished our coffee.  That was so fun to do.  It had been cold, but the sun came out and warmed things up when we started to walk.  It was much cooler and more windy when we got to Wisconsin.  Then it was warm when we got back to Minnesota.  Their we kids getting prom pictures on the bridge.  We all went and had ice cream after we met up at the Freight house again where our cars were parked.  We all got kids cones and they were just huge and we could get two flavors.  I got licorice chips and Elephant tracks.  Soooo good!

We came back to our hotel, all rested a couple of hours in our rooms, then met in the breakfast room for games and snacks.  Everyone was too full from the huge ice cream cones we got to eat dinner. Ralph did order boneless chicken wings and regular chicken wings for all of us to eat. They were yummy!

Friday 4/19/24., Went to Indian dealership and the Harley Dealership, then to the Mall of America, ate at the Rain Forest Restaurant, went to play Whirley Ball, then back to our hotel for pizza and fun games

At the Harley Dealership

Bill trying out some beautiful bikes

At the Mall of America

Bill at the Rainforest Cafe

Tracey, Bear, Bill, me, Jane, Jay, Ron, Rikki, Carrie, Brian, Jim, Linda, Cheryl and Ralph eating lunch

Roller coaster Max rode on when we took him to the Mall of America in 2018

Bill took a couple of pictures for me to send Hailey

Bill by the Lego Store! Max loved going here 
When we came last time

Brian being funny

Bill playing Whirley Ball for the forst time

We all had so much fun playing

Jan

Lin

Bill ,Linda and Jim

Cute pictures Kenzie sent me today

Playing the penny game!  It was so much fun!

Ladies making Angels

We all met for breakfast at the hotel.  Then we went to the Indian Dealership which was across the expressway from our hotel, but we had to drive around a small lake to get there.  We went next door to the Harley Dealership next.  After that, we went to the Mall of America.  First we ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was amazing.  The chicken salad was the best salad I’ve ever had. It was fun watching all the animated animals.  We all went our own ways as couples around the Mall for a couple of hours.  I sent pictures to Melissa to show Max and also texted and sent pictures to Hailey.  She told me Mandesa had died.  She was only 47. It sure made me sad.  We went in a couple of stores.  I got a couple of things for Rehvyn.  That’s all we bought though.  We left together to go three miles down the road to play Whirley Ball.  It was so much fun.  We laughed a lot and really enjoyed playing.  We went back to the hotel after that and relaxed for a half hour.  Then we met down in the breakfast room and made angels, had pizza, visited and played games. What a fun group of friends.  I texted with Vikki and Kimmy when we got back in our room.  Our friend, Terry, had surgery on his toe yesterday, but bled too much so had to stay in the hospital. My poor friend, Vikki, got sick so she couldn’t stay with him.  Their daughter stayed with him which was a blessing.  He was doing much better this evening and so was Vikki.