Visit with my parents

We arrived Saturday evening and met my mom and Renee and her family for dinner at Cheddar's. Dinner was delicious. There was time for a little swimming back at the hotel. The water was pretty cold, so Renee and I got in the hot tub. There were three young (20's) guys by the hot tub drinking beer. When the timer for the whirlpool ran out, we asked them to turn it back on. They did and offered us a beer! When was the last time a guy offered me a beer - NEVER. I felt honored. If they had been repulsed by me in a swimsuit surely they wouldn't have offered!

Anyway, we got up Sunday morning and went to church with my mom. They had a chicken dinner after the service. After that, we went to my dad's nursing home. It's a new facility and very nice. My mom had reserved the activities room for us for the afternoon. We showed my parents a video I had made of the boys playing their various instruments. Then we looked at pictures. Lauren (Renee's youngest) played a game of checkers with my dad.

But you can't expect 9 kids to stay in a little room all day so they found some things to keep them busy.

Grandma brought bubbles for them.

Greg played soccer with them.

We also celebrated Esther's (my sister Adriannes's daughter) 9th birthday.

Here's Grandma and Grandpa and all the kids.

Here's all of us.

It was really hard seeing my dad. You just don't ever want to see someone you care about in this kind of condition. He can't use his right side at all. He can't talk at all except for the word no. It was clear that he recognized us and was glad to see us (he kind of moaned - hard to describe). His mind still works. He was able to play checkers, but only wanted to play one game. He can use his left hand to eat, but gagged a lot while eating. It's just so sad.

The kids got a little more pool time that evening, while Renee and I chatted in my room. Then it was back in the van Monday morning for the drive home.