We went to Richmond to help celebrate our grand twin’s birthday. As we usually do, we fly into DC and spent a couple of nights with Amy. We drove to Richmond with her and spent the weekend there before retuning to DC for our return trip home. Matthew’s birthday was on Wednesday and Nathan and Maddie’s birthday was on Saturday, so we celebrated all the birthdays at once. You can guess whose birthday got the most attention.

Maddie made a nice banner saying Happy Birthday to her daddy. As is shown in the picture, she is very good at making big letters for a banner. I’m not sure I could do that well. I am very impressed. Her mother made the top banner, showing that she has lettering skills as well.

The birthday party was just for family and that suited me just fine. Of course, the kids got lots of presents.

“Happy Birthday to You”

On the day of their birthday, we went ice skating. Nana and Granddad watched from the side lines; I’ve never ice skated before, and I’m too old to start now.

Maddie is learning to skate.

Nathan takes a turn skating

The kid’s other Grandpa gave them new bicycles for their birthday.  I believe this will prove to be one of their favorite presents.  I’m looking forward to the day when I can go riding with them.

I found it amusing that Nathan whined about not having training wheels on his bike.  But, in a few minutes he forgot about training wheels, because he could see that he would be able to ride the bike.

With a few adjustments, they were off and riding!

With a little help from Granddad, Nathan learned to ride almost immediately.

We decided that the driveway was too small a space for the kids to learn to ride a bike.  So, later in the afternoon, we went to a park in their neighborhood and let the kids ride in a large parking lot.  It was so much fun seeing (and helping) them learn to ride a bicycle.  A special moment!  With Granddad’s help, Nathan caught on very quickly.  With a little practice, they both learned quickly.

Maddie almost seemed to have the most fun learning to ride her bike.  Even when she fell, she was unabashed and always laughed and kept on trying.  That indomitable spirit means that girl is exceptional and you will no doubt read her name in the paper someday.

We took a series of videos while they learned to ride.  They got better by the minute.

Nathan reads to Granddad.  He can read almost anything.  I’m pretty sure that most kids in Kindergarten can not read like this.  I predict that you will read his name in the paper someday.

Maddie cracks us up: again, and again, and again.  She entertains her Aunt Mimi (Amy) by just being her cute self!

Nathan tells some jokes!

Apparently, folks living in the suburbs have wild animals that encroach on their space (whose space?).  The story is that a raccoon was spotted in the neighborhood and it may or may not have eaten a few tomatoes.  Nevertheless, Matthew acquired a live trap to capture the vermin.  To my knowledge no varmint has been apprehended, but Nathan explained how the trap works, if it were to ever catch something.

Although the kids can read their own books, it was pretty special that I could read a bed time story to them as they drifted off to sleep.

We had a wonderful visit and spent some real quality time with Amy.

We attended a Doobie Brothers concert at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. The concert was on Friday night before a football game on Saturday, so we spent the night after the concert and went to the game the next day.

The Walton Arts Center is a great venue for a concert. It is not so small that the loud music completely destroys your ears but not so large that you can’t see the band. We were in the balcony and could see (and certainly hear) the band just fine. There is no bad seat in that arena.

It was a great concert. The band started on time without an opening act and played almost 2 hours without an intermission. They played most of their biggest hit songs from the 70’s. The band has 8 members and the three main vocalists/guitarists were old, meaning they had been with the band for long time, if not forever. They started the concert with Jesus Is Just Alright. From the response of the crowd, I believe everyone there knew that song. I predicted correctly to Ann the songs they would do for the encore; they were a couple of my favorites that they had not played. China Grove and Listen to the Music.

I didn’t listen carefully to the announcement about taking pictures. I’m pretty sure they said we couldn’t use flash photography and possibly other filming or recording devices. I’m just not sure. But, I think it was OK to film a little bit of the concert if,

1. lots of other people were doing it
2. you didn’t stand up
3. you didn’t use extra lighting
4. you used your phone

So, I recorded a video…

I received a pleasant surprise at the concert. When we first walked in I saw a man I recognized. He was an usher, attendant or official at the arena. I couldn’t remember his name and couldn’t believe he would be in Arkansas. So, I passed on by. But, when the concert was over, he was still there. By then I had thought of his first name, so I went up to him and introduced myself. He turned out to be who I thought he was—a scientist I worked with in Washington DC about 16 years ago. I love getting a little lagniappe from time to time!

We had a great visit with our kids and grand kids. We flew to Washington, DC and spent the night with Amy. It’s cheaper to fly into Washington than into Richmond ($200/ticket), plus we get a chance to spend some time with Amy.  We arrived in DC at about 7:00 pm, and Amy picked us up at the airport. On Friday, Amy had to work until three, so we took her to her office so we could leave straight from her office. We got to her office a little early so we could tour her office and meet some of her coworkers. Her office space is really nice and so are her coworkers. We, of course, encountered some traffic on I-95 going to Richmond, but it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is. We got to Richmond in less than three hours.

The next morning we got up rather early and drove about an hour west (near Charlottesville) to visit an apple orchard. It was kind of cold, but we enjoyed our time there. We got some apples and a huge pumpkin.

The kids had fun at the orchard, but got a little tired and took a nap on the way home. On the way home, we toured some of the countryside. Matthew and Ann would like to buy some “acreage” and move to the country. That is really beautiful country.

On Sunday, Amy drove back to Washington.  That afternoon we went to Maddie and Nathan’s school to a “hoedown”. It was good to see their school (they are in kindergarten). The kids had a blast at the party.

On Monday after school, we went to get ice cream.  It was a beautiful day.  After ice cream we went to the neighborhood park.

On Tuesday we rode the Amtrak train to Washington and spent the night with Amy.  Amy was sick with a cold/sinus infection, and we went with her to the Minute Clinic, where she got a flu shot and a prescription for an antibiotic.  Our flight home left at noon the next day, so we had plenty of time that morning to visit more with Amy.  Because Amy was sick, she worked from home that day; we took a cab to the airport.  Again, our flights were on time, so the travel was not stressful. I love it when a plan comes together.

We took a few more pictures, which you can find here.

Daddy used to say this little poem.

I taught this to Maddie and Nathan.  Here is Nathan’s version.

Maddie does her thing!

Matthew and Nathan playing the guitar

Maddie tries to dance while Nathan tries to engage her in a pillow fight.

Nathan gets his face painted at the school Hoedown

Maddie gets her hand painted at the Hoedown

Nathan plays with a chicken at the Hoedown

Nathan playing tag with one of his friends from school

Nathan and Maddie throwing a football

Maddie dances a square dance with her mother

Maddie and Nathan jump and Granddad catches them

Nathan and Maddie wrestle with Granddad on a bench at the ice cream place

Maddie reads an entire book!

When we visited Matthew and Ann, one of the projects we did was to mount new tires on Matthew’s mower. That’s a lot easier said than done. He ordered the tires on line and to facilitate shipment, the tires were folded and tied together to save space. The tires are tubeless and in order to air them up, we had to have the edge of the tire touch the rim to “set the bead”. Because the tires were so misshapened from being folded for shipment, we could not expand the tires enough to make a seal, although we worked over an hour trying.

So, we resorted to the Redneck method. For this method, you spray some flammable substance (we used carburetor cleaner) in the tire and light it. The little explosion that follows expands the tire enough to make a seal. Dr. Bridges was in charge of this redneck operation.

We tired a few times before we got it to work.

But, finally we got'er done the redneck way.