Easter In Troy 2009

We as a family meet up about 3 times a year, once at Thanksgiving, once at Christmas and last but not least Easter. Mom & Dad can't drive to Troy for Easter anymore, so the last couple of years Margaret & I have taken them with us . It seems like a long trip to go for the short time we can spend together, but any time together is always fun. Dad doesn't like the traveling. Each year he says that this is his last trip to Troy for Easter.



It's always nice to catch up on everyone's busy lives. Our kids have now become the responsible adults and we the old folks. They take on mortgages for homes and start to have kids. Funny thing is now I'm consider a Senior Citizen. Our girls drive down from Cleveland. Diane has settled in a comfortable relationship with Cang. Elaine choice to change careers to a paralegal has been a good one considering the financial state of the nation. Mike couldn't make the trip. He had a teaching commitment. Unfortunately, Jason couldn't be there because of logistics. Moving to Kansas City, Mo. to take on a new job has brought the Texas Pedees, now the KC Pedees, one day closer to home. We recently drove there in 12 hours. I heard that Jason & family will visit us in July.




After an excellent combination of ham & keilbasa dinner, we all went out into Lou's backyard for pictures. Every time I take a picture of Mom & Dad, I think this maybe the last one of them together. All I can say is .....people enjoy your families. The memories you create, no one can ever take away.

Fred Meijers Gardens, Grand Rapids, Mi.

I called a friend of mine that lives in the Grand Rapids area and asked what he would recommend to see if I was in GR. He suggested the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park - a mixture of botanical and artistic creations located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Yes it's named after the founder of the Meijers Stores. Margaret & I went in late March 2009. Because we've had a late spring, there wasn't much to see on the grounds yet. However, They have a 3 story glass enclosed garden complete with stream and butterflies.


























Lots of butterflies are hatching every day at this time of the year. You can walk among them like you are in Eden. I got up close and personal with a number of them.



Walking around the sculpture park you saw many strange and awe inspiring displays. You should have seen the size of the piles from this horse. It took a dump truck to clean it up.

Margaret tried to ask directions from these folks, but they didn't have much to say. Very quiet people.












Here are a couple of the unusal scultures that we saw on our walking tour of the park.































































Along the way we spotted a hawk waiting for a meal to appear. Watch out rabbit family.

Washington Whitehouse in Grand Rapids, Mi.?

Since I retired at the end of 2008, I have been trying to come up with ways to spend the day with Margaret when she gets a day off from work. My idea was to to take day trips to the museums of former Presidents of the USA. Because the mid-west was the home of many of them, it isn't hard to find one within a few hours of Toledo. President Gerald Ford lived in Grand Rapids Michigan. That's about 3 hours NW of Toledo near Lake Michigan. The museum is located on the banks of the Grand River.







Besides the normal presidential memorabilia, there was a traveling model of the Washington DC White House.





















As you can see from the pictures it is very detailed. I included an inside view of the main
Building.

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Margaret in Washington, I think not. They had a number of wall size blowups of Washington DC that you could pose in front of.

The Pedee Boys in KC

I thought you all like to look at pictures of the 3 Pedee boys. I will dedicate this blog entry to nothing but pictures. Enjoy!









Ryan Pedee


Cooper



































Tyler

Kansas City Here We Come!

The Texas Pedees are now the Missouri Pedees. Jason, who recently took a new position with North Kansas City Hospital, sold his home in Austin and has somehow crammed all his family's possessions into half the space in a 3 bedroom townhouse in North Kansas City, Mo.
This last weekend Margaret & I drove to visit the clan in their cramped quarters. I like the fact that we can drive to KC in 12 hours, not 2 days like to Austin. They have been actively looking for a new home since they moved. The townhouse is a 6 month lease, giving them enough time to check out the local available housing inventory or consider building a house. We spent Saturday looking at a number of finished new homes and empty lots for potential homes. The North Kansas City area has rolling hills and mostly farm land. The kids love when Jason drive the SUV over the hills like a Cedar Point ride.
Saturday & Sunday were suppose to be rainy, But instead the sun shined the whole weekend. Sunday Margaret & I & Jason took the kids to the KC Zoo. Andrea went to check out more houses. The zoo is in south side of the city on a fairly widespread hilly piece of property. Lot's of walking. It's larger than the Toledo Zoo property wise, but lacks in the number of animal exhibits.
One of the unique areas was an Australia Exhibit. All the animals in this open area were indigenous to Australia. As we came around one corner, I couldn't believe my eyes, kangaroos laying out on the grass with no fence around them. They didn't seem to even notice the people walking nearby. You can see from the pix of Jason with Cooper that they are very close to the animals.