Happy Kiester 2009

It was a whirlwind weekend.

Diana was brought home Friday evening by an old (young) childhood friend, who is attending college north of Eugene. The two girls enjoyed catching up with each other over the hour it took to get Diana home.

Friday after dinner, Diana went shopping with me so we could fill the Easter eggs. I got everyone a new shirt/blouse for Easter. Mine turned out to be too lightweight for the weather, so I guess I'll wear it sometime in June :P The guys all got a polo shirt, and Diana got a new blouse for her. The older kids & I watched TV and filled eggs in the later part of the evening. There was ice cream too...

Saturday morning, we packed up, cleaned up, did Diana's laundry etc. and left for Medford around noon. Myrna hosted a big egg hunt & bbq, and all Lee's sibs & folks were there, with a few friends of Myrna & Doug. There weren't that many 'little' kids, so the older ones had to hunt for eggs too :) Everyone got a lot!

Once the meal & hunt was over, we got to visit & stuff. I think it was down to just a few by 6:00, and we decided to head over to see Myrna & Doug's house they'd bought in Jacksonville. They are going to sell their big house and downsize, now that the kids are pretty much doing their own thing & Daniel is going away to college at George Fox U in the fall. My kids stayed at Myrna's while we were gone.

The house reminds me a bit of the one Lee & I lived in when we were in Garden Grove. The yard is just a little smaller, but it's about the same age. Nice garage & Doug & Myrna have plans for it :) Without the big property, I'm sure Doug will keep busy with the new place.

Daniel then directed me to the Greyhound Bus station. It's a new one now, not where we used to get Trevor when he attended OIT. After chatting in the car a while, we decided to go in and see if the bus was delayed or anything. Turns out it had a 'meal stop' in Central Point, which is maybe 10 minutes away. They hadn't arrived yet, and would be there at least 20 minutes, so Daniel & I hopped back in the van and went up to Central Point.

When we got there, I walked around the bus to see if Lee might still be on there (I knew he wasn't going to get a meal), and then we went inside to look for him there. Daniel got a call from his mom while we're in the store, and she was letting us know Lee had just called and he was in Central Point. That was kind of funny :) We saw him almost as soon as Daniel hung up the phone.

So back to Myrna's house then, and we got to visit more & watch some TV while the kids used the jacuzzi. Pretty much everyone had an early morning for Easter, so we didn't stay up till all hours :)

The next day, we got our gear together after Doug fixed us eggs (thanks!), and we went over to the folks' for coffee & donuts. I had to run back to the other house though, when I realized I'd forgotten my camera - doy. When I got back to the folks', we all got in the van to go to Mass at Shepherd of the Valley church. We arrived early enough to sit wherever we wanted, and with Connor, that means the front row. He did very well in a strange church - one of the great things about Catholic Mass is it's really predictable! Mom did very well too - I think she feels very comfortable in church, and it's something that's just very familiar to her - even with the Alzheimer's.

I had to take a photo of the kids at the baptismal font. The flowers were so beautiful, and those are just the ones at the font - they were all over the altar. Very nice.

After mass we took the folks home again, and then Daniel stopped by with 'all' our stuff (Diana's vest, a jacket that wasn't ours, and a toy Donna had brought that we didn't know we should take) lol. Then we headed home. We got to Canyonville around 3:00 for gas, and decided to stop at the restaurant there, since we didn't really have an Easter Dinner with Lee. That worked out nicely. After we got home, we loaded up Diana's gear, and she & I drove to Eugene to get her back to school.

It started raining on the way up, and we were grateful it hadn't rained up to that point all weekend :) I got home just after 8:30 - in time to log in to play WoW with Lee & Robert.

So, yeah - busy weekend! Happy Easter! And thank you, thank you to Myrna & Doug for hosting us & doing the big egg hunt :) It was great!!