My grandma, Verda Rader, is celebrating her birthday today. I'm not going to say how old she'll be. She's lived long enough to reserve the right not to divulge that information! We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa while we were in Kansas.
My mom rode along and we drove to Mullinville, Kansas Thursday, April 10, to visit them. We met them at the local cafe a little after one o'clock in the afternoon and my grandpa treated us to lunch.
Grandma keeps very busy. She paints the most beautiful designs on China pieces as a hobby, and she takes China-painting classes regularly to keep learning. Grandma probably knows more about the computer than I do. She keeps up with the latest in computer trends and checks and sends e-mail regularly. She still travels to a town near Dodge City to get her hair done every Tuesday. She looks beautiful in her square dancing skirt and shoes she wears when she and Grandpa go square dancing and round dancing.
My grandpa, Lyle Rader, is a busy man. He still drives 153 miles daily Monday through Saturday delivering mail on his rural mail route. He still has a wheat crop and manages a herd of cows who are birthing right now. He feeds and checks them every day. He finally did sell his insurance sales/adjusting business and retired as town mayor, so he now has more freedom to ride his Arctic Cat "toy" grandma bought him a few years back to play with!
The weather was COLD the day we were there, so Grandpa didn't get to give the kids a ride on the Arctic Cat. Instead, he gave Justis and Dawson lessons in how to load, aim and shoot a rubber band gun. The boys spent the whole visit beside their Great-Grandpa, asking him to help them set up targets to shoot (toy cars, etc.). Grandpa and Travis braved the cold rain, piled all four kids in the truck, and went to check the cows. They did get to see the newest baby of the bunch!
Travis and Grandpa talked about farming, sports and work. Travis enjoys visits with my grandparents as much as I do.
Madalynn must take after Great-Grandma, because she spent her time coloring and making pictures and notes with all of the fun markers, crayons and books Grandma gave her to play with.
Jillian, amazingly, managed to keep her hands off all of Great-Grandma's breakables. She enjoyed watching the clocks chime on the hour. One clock has a bird that pops out and tweets. The other clock strikes the hour a few minutes after the first. The second clock's face breaks apart, spins around, and plays pretty music before closing up again. Jillian thought that was SO COOL (and it is)!
Mom and I just spent time visiting and catching up with both Grandma and Grandpa, which was great.
I had a fun time visiting them, and I'm so glad we got to see them before coming back home. Each holiday since I've been married has not quite been right, since we spent all of the major holidays and Grandpa and Grandma's house growing up. We also visited them regularly in-between holidays. I spent harvest time at Grandpa and Grandma's, too.
MY fondest memories growing up and visiting them frequently are harvest, when they would take ME out to see the calves when I was young, Grandpa giving me a cold drink from MY Great-Grandpa's windmill-pumped well, riding "Shorty" the horse, listening to Grandma tell stories of when she grew up the only girl in a house full of boys, eating grandma's apple pies with apples picked from her tree, hunting Easter eggs in the backyard, eating chili for Christmas supper, and the list goes on and on.
I am so blessed to have grandparents that were involved so much in my life and who also influence the lives of my children. Their value is priceless.
I love you, Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday, Grandma!
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