Thursday morning we headed to the farm, arriving in the afternoon after an uneventful trip. It turns out we arrived in the middle of quite the commotion. Great Aunt Edith fell and her neighbor called Grandma for assistance. Grandma was able to contact Becky, Aunt Edith's daughter-in-law, who was much closer to Aunt Edith's apartment. Thankfully she only needed a few stitches. She was a little sore, but nothing was broken. After everything settled down, we had fun catching up and Ian and I enjoyed Grandma's wonderful cooking!
We left early the next morning for Manhattan to accomplish everything on the list in under 12 hours. Doctor's appointment, check. Retrieve and scan sketches, check. Eat at Bluestem, check.
Ian spent the afternoon up in Seaton and I hung out at Bluestem, munching Ian's leftover pretzels and taking advantage of their free wifi to add more books to my Goodreads account. Ian finished up just as (brother) Nathan met me at Bluestem, and it was so good for us to catch up with him. We also were able to cram in a great dinner at Little Apple Brewery with Britni and Joe. We're very thankful for their friendship!
After dinner, we headed back to Grandma's and turned in early so we'd be ready for the next day — Grandma's annual class anniversary.
Each year, the class of 1945 meets at a designated restaurant on the first Saturday of October. Over the years, the designated restaurant has changed hands and is now a Mexican establishment. Because they don't send invitations every year, they keep the location to avoid confusion. So they eat Mexican food, even though they don't know how to pronounce all of it (can I have a kwesadila grandy?) and communication issues abound when one side speaks little English and the other isn't familiar with the food lingo.
It was so much fun to meet some of Grandma's classmates, and amazing to think about everything they have experienced. Grandma said some classmates left school early their senior year to be in the war. Walter's parents owned a broom factory. We talked to Ruth about the community Parkinson's support group she heads up. They are all wonderful people, and we'd definitely go again if it ever works out!
We left the reunion a little early in order to make it to Ren's football game in time. The weather was perfect, and Ian took some great photos.
Even though Bethel didn't win, it was impressive they held Friends, an over-40-points-per-game team, to only 15 points. Ren made his PAT. We also were thankful Friends displayed good sportsmanship, in stark contrast to Kansas Wesleyan the previous week. The team showed great effort and heart, and Coach Moore assured them they are very capable of winning the next six games. Here's hoping!
After the game, we got some great family photos on the field.
We spent the night with Aunt Patti (above, with Ren's gear) and Sunday morning we joined Ren for church at RiverPoint before heading home. Football season is crazy, but so much fun!