Today is Dad's birthday! We didn't do much exciting since Dad worked all day and we worked from the house. It rained like crazy though and was COLD!! Vince and I made him a special steak dinner that was yummmooo!! And we had a Banana Cream Pie for dessert...which is his favorite (from what I remembered when we were little!) Mom had bought Dad some new sunglasses (much needed)...and we got him some running clothes and shin split supports. After his last run, they were acting up and we did some research and the guy at the sporting goods store said they actually work great. Also he was my guinea-pig, as I get terrible shin splits too & never knew there was help for it. :) So we will see how they do before I go buy more.
Vince and I ended up staying in Riverside most of the week this week and working out of the house there. Vince stayed at the house and worked and I got to go Gramma & Papa sit for a few days. With Gramma & Papa both getting older and needing someone there with them for most of the day, I really enjoy and cherish the days that I am able to be there so that I can go over to spend the days with them. It also gives Shelly a "day off" as she is there most weekdays with them. Some days it is exhausting chasing both of them around because they are still so active and determined to do everything themselves....which they can, they just shouldn't be! Everyday I was coming home at the end of the day with some of the best and craziest stories!
Every morning I would get there about 7am, and Papa would be out on the back patio sitting by his fire. Gramma would be inside cleaning or dusting or just watching the morning news (mostly trying to stay warm since it was so, so cold and wet outside this week!) They are both so scheduled and so regimented with everything they do everyday. Everything happens at the same time everyday. I would go sit with Papa while he was out there in the mornings and just talk to him. It was kind of funny because some of the most random conversations would come up....like how he & Gramma built the whole patio themselves by hand after they moved into the house...mixed and poured the cement themselves...and how he has "fixed" the roof over time. He even told me how they came upon buying their house and selling their last one over by Mt Rubidoux. Papa had never been one to talk much about his past, the past in general, growing up, his feelings for his family or much else! These fires talks were the best for me and ones I will cherish and remember forever...I loved being out there with him.
Anytime he wanted to do something he knew he shouldn't be doing though...like operating the table saw to cut up wood for his fire the next day...he would send me in "to go check on Gramma". Or he would find a strawberry to tell me to pick and that I better take it into her. When I would come back out a few minutes later, he was always getting into trouble! Didn't take more than a day or two before I caught onto his little tactics :) Now I am prepared for when I get back next week!
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