Nahma and Bumpa come to visit

We just finished a long weekend visit with Hope's parents Rich (aka Bumpa) and Ann (aka Nahma) Pruden. They left Michigan on a Wednesday afternoon, and arrived at our house by mid-day Thursday--early enough to go and surprise Kenny by picking him up after school (the kids weren't expecting their grandparents until Friday). This visit led to several days packed with activities, including a T-ball game Thursday night (to make up for the one that was rained out earlier). Nahma, Hope and Stephen had front row seats, while Bumpa and I sat in the bleachers and Beth ran around...

Stephen tries on a new hat:

On Friday, we didn't do much because of the weather, but after the storms blew through Friday night, Saturday turned clear if breezy, and we got to take the boat out onto the lake:

Rich was itching to get out in his former boat and do some fishing, while the Beth was content to race around the lake at high speed:

We did try some fishing, but the winds made the lake choppy, and the fish just weren't biting (at least not for us). Kenny had fun trying:

I must admit, I didn't have much fun this day, as I came down with a nasty little spring cold (as did Hope). I took a brief nap after lunch, and revived enough to join the family on at trip to Hamburg, Arkansas, a small town about 30 minutes south of Monticello for the "Armadillo Festival", one of many small town festivals this state has. Kenny and Beth rode some carnival rides:


and then we hammed it up with a local candidate for county judge, Sara Hartness:

We actually go to church with Sara and her family, and we hope she wins. She's a hard-nosed defense lawyer in Monticello, but has always gotten along fabulously with our kids. We ate some carnival food, and then came back for a fairly quite evening of playing cards. Sunday was a bit more low-key: it was also warm enough to break out the pool...

...and, of course, water balloons! Beth looked cute with them, but didn't want to throw them at her brother or Bumpa...

All this activity wore out a couple of the boys, who snoozed as they could...

I was feeling better on Sunday, and the wind had calmed noticeably, so we took the boat back out onto Lake Monticello, and Rich, Kenny, and I decided to do some more fishing. I wanted some experience running the boat and getting used to its quirks, and the others wanted to catch some lunkers. Well, I got some experience, but the only one catching a "lunker" was Kenny! He landed his first fish ever, a little "bream" (pronounced "brim"--think bluegill or panfish).

We were all proud of him. We didn't catch anything else that evening, but enjoyed watching a beaver swimming along the shoreline. We got back just after dark, and played a few more games of cards before turning in. Rich and Ann took Kenny into school Monday morning, then drove back to their home in Michigan. A good time was had by all!

Comments

Lisa said…
Sounds like a good time was had by all! Kenny and Beth (I almost skipped Stephen-- whoops!) are lucky to have two sets of grandparents ready to travel such a far distance to see them.
12:26 PM
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