Who's who?

I'm beginning to see some similarities between mother and daughter.

The Queens

My sisters and I have had the opportunity to take many riverboat cruises together. We were fortunate enough to make our first trip with our mother in 1994 aboard the beautiful legendary "Delta Queen". Our last trip aboard her was in 2008, her second to last cruise.


The DQ was one of three paddle wheelers originally owned and operated by the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. and a veteran of WWII serving along the west coast with a home port of Sacramento.


Her "brother" the Delta King who also served during WWII as a troop transport still resides in Sacramento serving as a hotel. Sadly the DQ was forced into retirement in 2008 and also became a hotel moored in Chattanooga TN.


The sisters and I had the opportunity to cruise twice on the Mississippi Queen. She was much "flashier" and could accommodate more passengers. Unlike the DQ the MQ did have rooms for three...the one attribute we liked about her. Unfortunately she was abruptly retired in 2008 and left to an unknown future moored in New Orleans.


When we boarded the American Queen we were truly in awe. She was gorgeous! She was so ornate...something right out of a Hollywood 40's movie ... breathtakingly beautiful. But alas, she has been docked in Beaumont Texas since 2008 - also with an unknown future.

When these three river worthy paddle wheelers were "grounded" it was the end of an era as they were true riverboats right out of a Mark Twain story, gracefully floating the beautiful Mississippi River (and all her tributaries). Their overnight cruises were fabulous, sitting on deck was so relaxing...I don't believe there will be anything like it again.


Long live the Queens...

Farewell Missoula...

Earlier this month Melissa, Mitch and Esmé moved to Anaconda Montana where Mitch had accepted the position of Library Director at the Hearst Free Library. This is a wonderful opportunity for them and I wish them the best. They have purchased their first home and will be putting down some roots.

I really enjoyed visiting Missoula...when flying in I found the surrounding countryside absolutely breath-taking.


On one of our earliest visits, when kids lived on Front, we were able to sit on their front porch and hear the "Rolling Stones" concert at the University of Montana football field! It was great AND inexpensive!


There were many, many unique restaurants...


Staggering Ox - for unique sandwich design!


Iron Horse for burgers...

Finnegan's Family Restaurant which was built over a creek offered a fun dining experience when seated at booth to watch fish and ducks floating by...the fact that they served good food was also an enjoyable experience.
Paul's Pancake Parlor offered best pancakes ... and had a really cool hand painted mural of the Grizzly football stadium on an entire wall.

Or course Missoula was where granddaughter Esmé was born so it will always hold a special place in my heart.


Carousel at Caras Park along river...nice walking paths and picnic areas...fun to watch kayakers run the rapids too!


Dragon Hallow is adjacent to Carousel area and allows for children of all ages to have a great play area.

So, for now, I will bid adieu to Missoula and the alphabet mountains!

and her many rivers...

...you were a great place to visit and for a short time a great place to live...

Camping with Noah

Our week with Noah ended with camping on Friday night at Pawnee Lake. I have to say camping with three daughters is so different than camping with one eight year old boy!


For instance there are handheld games now ... and they are more fun when you can play them in an empty ice chest!!!


He does have a healthy appetite. Was able to polish off an egg over-easy, two strips of bacon, one pancake and a glass of milk...


When we were notified by camp ranger that we would be without power to repair a pedastal at one of the adjoining campsites, Noah hid under the covers and played with his game. Why you ask? Why not? This is the same kid that walked around the camper wearing an empty six pack cooler on his head singing to hear the echo and feel the vibration... As I said earlier daughters were soooo different when camping!

A day with Noah...

Did you know that French Toast is a finger food? Well it is according to this eight year old...


Toasted tortilla strips make for perfect fangs... "I want to suck your blood!"


Just a little snooze before baseball practice. Guess hanging with Grandma can be pretty exhausting...


Gotta love the little guy...he's keeping me on my toes!!!

Special Olympics 2010

Athletes from all over the United States are arriving for the Special Olympics being held this year in Lincoln Nebraska! There were over 160 Cessna airplanes landing yesterday at Duncan Aviation - an average of a plane touching down every two minutes.

Daughter Lisa, son-in-law Dan and granddaughter Beth are all volunteering for this week long event. Translation? Noah will be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa!


(NOTE: No we don't have ducks. Here he's visiting the farm of a friends aunt.)

Jake VS the Mongoose!

Jake got to spend some time with the VanLaningham grandparents this week in Beatrice. We delivered him on Wednesday evening - retrieving him on Thursday evening. I think he had an enjoyable time, as he got to be the "only child" while there so had undivided attention (not that he demands it). He had a lot of quiet time and began reading the first book in the "Twilight" saga.

Grandma Karen got him a Mongoose 100 Build-a-Board (skateboard)and he is spending the morning putting it together.

He is very attentive to directions and appears to be taking his time...you have got to get everything aligned just right before attaching the "truck"...


Once aligned it's a little trickier to connect nuts and bolts...hard to do with only two hands!

The wheel assembly was even trickier...but once first wheel was done...rest would be a snap!

As you can see...project is finished...and he is quite pleased with his accomplishment!

UPDATE: Jake found that the trucks were on wrong, once reversed the "ride" was better.

Boys will be boys...

What to do with a 12 year-old boy on a 95 degree day? Invite yourself to your cousins to play in his pool! Jake and Noah had a great time chilling out...here's the proof...

A week with Jake

Larry and I have a houseguest for the week. Dad works, mom will be in Kansas City and Beth is on Noah-watch this month. So...Jake will be staying with G'ma and G'pa! How does one keep an active 12-year old boy occupied and remain sane?


Tell me please!

Contrast

Last Spring (2009) when we purchased additional land from a neighbor we inherited a "dead" tree. With each wind or storm there are more fallen branches. I think the tree offers an interesting contrast to live growth around it. I wanted to document its unique shape. At one time it was green and one day it may provide firewood...keeping us warm on those cooler Nebraska nights.


Pretty cool, huh?

Ogallala Boys Baseball

Had the opportunity to watch Jacob play baseball against Imperial at Sutherland. It's a 30-40 minute road trip from Ogallala...obviously Jake was bored...messing with mom's cell phone. As you can see my hair looks pretty darn good, even if you can see a little of the "grey"! Neckline is looking a little gnarly...good thing I have an appointment on Monday!


Unfortunately Jake's team did not win...but they put up a good fight! Jake was the first at bat and the last at bat. Neglected to take my camera-so the cell phone had to do. That's him at bat, field all lit up and everything!


Their baseball season is officially over. He's already talking football!!! But first, folks need to install that new basketball hoop...

July 4, 2010

We had a great July 4th week-end. Saturday started out with a fish-fry provided by son-in-law Curt and his dad Danny. I love Curt's fried fish...fresh and very tasty! There were 18 dinner guests...we dined on fish, fries, coleslaw, fresh fruit salad and cookies. Fun, fun, fun.

Sunday we had 22 guests to help with the holiday celebrations. Son-in-law Dan grilled burgers and dogs (and all the fixings). Also served potato and macaroni salad, baked beans, coleslaw and cupcakes - decorated red, white and blue! AND while we watched the fireworks show...homemade ice cream!!!

Pleasant Dale did not host a fireworks show this year...so we all had to invest in some entertainment for after dark viewing. It was great...we could see Lincoln fireworks...plus families celebrating in Pleasant Dale and our rural neighbors...Absolutely spectacular!


As you can see we had a little "litter" to prove we had a good time!

The Challenge Quilt!

At a family Thanksgiving several years ago the "women" decided that it would be a fun project for each of us to design a 12x12 quilt block. Actually...design and sew thirteen 12x12 quilt blocks to be finished and distributed at the next Thanksgiving dinner! The goal was to have a quilt for each female member descendant of the 3 Sengstake Sisters (Terry, Debi & Judi). Oh yeah...and to make a true "challenge quilt" each block had to include 3 identical fabrics! So we each left with 3 fabrics to be integrated into 13 finished identical 12x12 quilt blocks.



For me, it was a challenge to--first decide on a 12x12 block design and fabrics to compliment the 3 required fabrics; second meet the deadline (12 months to complete 13 blocks???); third and most challenging was to lay out my 12 assorted block design and purchase contrasting fabrics to compliment each (borders, bindings and backing) that would be appealing to the eye.

Christmas 2010 we are all to gather again and share our finished quilt project, either in person or through photos...should be interesting to see how each of us finished our project!

Trixie and Champ our "grand-dogs"

A year ago I "babysat" for our daughter's two labs, Trixie and Champ. Rather than have the dogs at our house I go out to Ogallala and "sit" with dogs! The kids were going to Las Vegas where Curt was in a bowling or golf tournament (I can't remember which). The dogs have been with the family since they were pups, they are siblings and nearly 7 years old. They are just another set of kids - and really LOVE their people...as evidenced by this picture.


Here the dogs are sitting at laundry room entrance looking at the garage door...as if to say..."just wait...they'll be back...just wait". It was such an odd moment and it just broke my heart...they love their peeps so much!