Corrupting the Grandchildren

Grace and Caleb love the iPhone and now the iPod. In order to have them both listen to music, I got out the iPod.



I think that they are enjoying grandpa's toys.

Mike' Pastry

Yesterday on the way home from the Aquarium, we stopped by Mike's Pastry.



It had started to rain, so it was not as busy as usual. There were only about 30-40 people in the store. It is a good thing that we do not live near the North End. I would be visiting Mike's too regularly.



It was good eating last night. We surely enjoyed the cannollis and the eclairs. We will sample the cookies tonight.

I wish that I could take cannollis home to Independence to share with our neighbors.

The New England Aquarium

Today we went to visit the New England Aquarium.

Caleb and Grace holding the starfishes



There was a special jellyfish exhibit. It was awesome. There are pictures of two of the jellyfish.

First Days of School

Grace and Caleb had their first days at school this week.

Grace's First Day of School picture:


Caleb's First Day of School:

Whole Maine Lobster

On Labor Day, it was off to Kittery Maine to eat lobster and shop the outlet stores. The lobster was good eating.





Even Grace got in on the good eating.

Biggest Hit with the Grandchildren

During my stay here in Boston, the biggest hit with the grandchildren (and their father) has been the iPhone. I have taken over 100 pictures and they love to see the pictures. It is so easy to switch between pictures with a flick of their finger.

Joshua and His Bears

Joshua loves his panda bear and his polar bear. When we travelled, they always came with.



Here is taking them for a ride in the Radio Flyer wagon

Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour

From the Teddy Bear Factory, we headed to the Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour. On the way in to the parking lot, we saw this motorcycle and trailer.



The tour was interesting, but not worth a second trip.

A couple of family pictures by the Ben and Jerry Mobile:

Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

After our visit to the Camp Joseph and the Joseph Smith Birthplace, we headed north to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. Some pictures follow:

Two cute teddy bears: Grace and Caleb


The Papa and Mommy Bear


The tour was terrific, and here is a small sampling of the more than 150 possible bears.

Joseph Smith's Birthplace

We left Camp Joseph and went to the Joseph Smith Birthplace.

At the Monument


Jared and Family At the Monument


All At the Monument

Camping at Camp Joseph

Jared, Mary, Grace, Caleb, Josh, Sally and I headed to Sharon VT to camp overnight. We had a great time. Some of the fun pictures follow.

Caleb Bringing Wood


The real reason that Grandma (also Grandpa, Jared, Mary and Caleb) wanted to go camping.


Working the Fire


Cooking the Dogs


Sally Hauling the Trash

Decide, Fix Up, Rent, Sell, Distribute, and Move

In early June, Sally's dad decided that it was time to sell the home and move into Assisted Living. We hustled and with the help of the many of the children, grandchildren and spouses, we fixed the drainage in one of the window wells, painted the basement bedroom, the basement walls (9 gallons of Paint), the basement floor,the den, the family room, the kitchen and the dining rooms. Sally organized and with her brothers decided on the distributed of things. We spent much time in MN, in fact we spent 9 hours in our house during July. That was an unscheduled overnight on the way to the temple.

There were many late nights, especially for Sally, as the apartment was organized and decorated.

Grandma and Grandpa W are adjusting to live in Assisted Living.

Beans' Visit

Oliver, Kristin, and Clara (Beans) visited us in early August. Here are some of the pictures.

The View from the Living Room


On the Settee



On the Counter


There visit was too short, but we had a great time together.

iPhone Adventure

I have wanted an iPhone since they were launched last year, but I wanted one that worked with the 3G network. When I saw the ads for the iPhone 3g, I decided that i wanted a 16GB, white iPhone. So on Launch Day, Friday, July 11th, I went to the Apple Store at the Ridgedale Mall in Minneapolis. The line was long and at least a 5-6 hour wait. I decided to come back later. Later in the day, I ran some errands and stopped by a local AT&T store near the mall. I waited 30 minutes and I was able to buy the last iPhone in the store, a white one. I set up the phone, and after a short learning curve, have loved it ever since. It is so easy to use. It is also very fast.

Birthday and Anniversary Week (Updated)

It was an outstanding week. It started with wonderful Sabbath services and then dinner with our neighbors and a trip to see the movie on the Prophet Joseph Smith. We left on Monday for St. Louis. We served three days in the temple, including my birthday. I married a couple for time and all eternity on Tuesday. It is truly a glorious thing.

On Thursday afternoon we drove to Branson for a few days. We stayed at the Clarion Inn at the Palace. We had a King suite with a jacuzzi. The accommodations were wonderful. We saw three shows and attended a travel club pitch. The travel club pitch was interesting, but it was not for us. It's benefits were resort condominium focused.

The shows were really great, and I enjoyed them all. We went to the Shoji Tabuchi show. He is a violinist, who came to America from Japan, when he was in his late teens. He is very much a showman and played a very wide variety of music. His wife is the producer and is very detailed oriented. We were told to make sure that we see the bathrooms. They were incredible, roomy, extremely clean, and very ornate.

We also saw Lost in the 50s with the Platters. It was super. There were lots of songs and lots of wonderful memories. Sally and I even danced a slow dance in the aisle of the theater (along with many other couples).

We also saw Broadway A Star Spangled Celebration. It was very good. It was a Broadway review with songs from many of the Broadway musicals.

I liked Shoji Tabuchi the best. There was a little bit of everything in his show and it was extremely well done.

We returned to Independence on Saturday evening. We drove up the west side of the state. It was very peaceful with almost no traffic until we got close to Kansas City.

Sally gave me a paper weight for my desk for my birthday present. It is a replica of a door knob from the Salt Lake Temple. It is awesome.

Musings from MN

DYEING EASTER EGGS

A week before Easter, Mackie came over and dyed Easter eggs with Sally. They had lots of fun. Grandma Wilson enjoyed it as well.

BROOKLYN CENTER HOMES



We went for a ride to Brooklyn Center to see the first two homes where Sally's family lived, when they first moved to MN in 1954. The first house they rented for about a year. Its address was 5706 Knox Ave. North. The second house was 5533 Logan Ave, North. They lived there about 9 years.

DECORATING EASTER COOKIES

Brianna, Tristan and Annie decorated some Easter cookies that Sally had made. They had a great time. The girls did partake of some of the cookies as they were decorating and afterwards.


Sally also decorated some cookies on her own for her parents. She does great work. They were delicious.

WASHING DISHES WITH AN NBA PLAYER

Mark Madsen attends the Ward where PII is the bishop. Mark was invited for Easter Dinner. Mark and I had a great conversation about basketball, but mostly about his time with the Lakers. He is a super guy. He makes his own bread, and we had a great time washing the dishes together.

GRUNKEL

Brianna, Tristan and Annie love their Grunkel (short for grand uncle). I really enjoy reading to them. We have lots of fun together.

MN WEATHER

During our visit the weather was cold and cloudy. We even got about 2-3 inches of snow in April. How inhospitable!

HOTT MAMA

One of the highlights of our trip was a conversation between Paul and June. Paul asked to hold June's hand. She gave him his hand; and after she touched him, she immediately withdrew her hand, saying that his hand was very cold. His reply was classic. "You are my hott mama." We died laughting.


We truly had a great time with Paul, June and the family.

Spring and Gold

The daffodils are coming up. Spring has sprung.



I have started to golf again with my neighbors. The course is getting greener. We played 7 holes yesterday. I played poorly, until the last hole. I got a par. That is the way that golf is. You never know when and if a good hole is coming.

Driving/Walking on Water

Last week while we were in Minnesota, I asked your mom to drive out on Medicine Lake, since I had never driven on or walked on a frozen lake. So we went for a ride on frozen water. I met a Russian Ice Fisherman and others. The ice was more than 30 inches thick. It was exciting to drive and walk on water!

Christmas Open House: Nativities I

Here are a few of our favorite nativities from Zimbabwe, Paraguay, Kenya, Brazil,
Spain, Ukraine, Mexico, Native American, Florida (Rhea Egg), China, Egypt, Philippines, and Laos.