Anyway, Mike flew in on Tuesday, so Drew and I picked Zach up at preschool and then went straight to the airport to pick up Mike, and then we drove straight up to Minneapolis so we could attend my grandpa's funeral. We got to Sandy and Will's place and were able to hang out for a little bit before going to dinner. It was great to see Sandy, Will, Anders, my mom, and my dad again. It was fun to see how Anders has changed even in the few weeks since I last saw him. I could tell he is able to see more because he would focus on things and not have that glazed over look in his eyes. He also did lots of smiling, which was so precious. I can't wait to see him next!
Wednesday we had Grandpa's funeral, which was very nice. It was good to see my aunts & uncles and cousins again, as well as all of my cousins' kids. Our family is growing, that's for sure. My mom and aunt did a really good job of planning Grandpa's service. My mom read a letter she wrote to her dad, and my aunt sang a beautiful song while her grandson accompanied her on the guitar. My cousin, Sandy, and I all read bible verses. On Tuesday night Sandy and I were looking at a very old bible to see what the verses were that we would be reading. One was Psalm 23, which was no big deal because we were familiar with it. The other, however, was Psalm 90, verses 1-6, and Sandy and I were not familiar with that. Well, the bible we were reading Tuesday night was very old, and the language was very difficult to understand. It was full of "Thou" and things like "witherith" and other words like that. In addition, it had random words in italics, so it would say something like, "Thou art the grass which shall grow up in the morning." That is not a quote, just something I made up. Anyway, as Sandy and I were reading it Tuesday night, she was being silly and putting emphasis on the italicized words, and we were getting all cracked up. Sandy mentioned something about how she'd probably be reading it at the funeral and think of the silly way she was reading it that night, and we'd start laughing. Sandy and I are really bad about getting the giggles in church and feeding off each other. So, the time comes for us to read during the service, and we go up to the podium. I read the 23rd Psalm first. Then I stepped to the side so Sandy could read. This version of Psalm 90 was in more modern language, so it wasn't so hard to read. I'll be honest- I was hardly even paying attention to Sandy until she mispronounced the word sons- she said "sahns," I think. I heard her correct herself and thought to myself, "She said 'sahns' instead of 'sons'- he he!" And that was where it started. I began to laugh, and then thought of us talking about laughing the night before, and it got worse from there. Talk about inappropriate laughing. I was at my grandpa's funeral, in front of the whole church, during a bible reading that was not humorous in any way, and I was laughing. Then Sandy glanced over at me and almost lost it herself, as I tried to put my head down as far as it would go and will myself to stop laughing. I figured that the people at the funeral would either think I was starting to cry or they would just wonder what I was laughing at. How embarrassing. Kudos to Sandy for not losing it up there, because if she had started laughing while I was reading, I would not have been able to keep it together. Sorry about that, Sam. The rest of the funeral went well, and nobody else laughed at the wrong time. The minister was great, too.
After the service we had lunch at the church and then headed to the cemetery. The drive to the cemetery was neat because we drove through St. Paul, passing the area where my mom and her siblings grew up, the street that my dad and his brothers grew up on, the area where my great-grandma used to live, and crossing Summit, which is the street where the Twin Cities Marathon ends (my sisters and I have all run that marathon, and Summit is a street with gorgeous, huge houses, but it's a hill and it's tough at the end of a marathon). It was a beautiful fall day, and I would have enjoyed the drive a little more if I wasn't stressing about my tired baby in the back seat and thinking about how long it would be until we were on the road back to Iowa.
We finally left the cemetery and got on the road to home. It was a long drive, but we stopped in Ames to eat at Hickory Park. Lots of people love Hickory Park, but it's not my favorite. I like to go there for the sundaes, but I just didn't feel like ice cream last night, which is crazy. Zach was very sweet, at the restaurant, sitting by me and snuggling. He ate a good dinner and got to have the scoop of ice cream that comes with a kid's meal. He decided he was done before he ate all the ice cream, though, and I said to him, "Is your tummy full?" Zach's response was, "Yeah. My tummy said it wants to watch a movie in the car." That made me smile. We only use the DVD player in the car on long trips, and it's amazing how it keeps Zach happy. Too bad Drew can't see it and wouldn't be that interested in it, because by that point in the drive he was done with his carseat. He cried some, but then calmed himself down and we made it home around 7:15, just in time to get Drew ready for bed. What a trip!
Zach was happy to get back to preschool today, and I was glad he didn't have to miss any days. He insisted on taking 2 apples to school for his teachers. He saw in a Curious George book that George gave his teacher an apple, so Zach just really wanted to. We forgot to grab any, but when we dropped Drew off at Grandma Linda's on the way (I had a haircut to get to), thankfully she had 2 she could give to us.
Zach made me laugh as we drove back to Grandma's later to pick Drew up. He wanted something to drink, and I told him he could get something at Grandma's house. He said, "Maybe some ice cubes, too!" I told him that if that was ok with Grandma, it was fine with me. Zach said, "Grandma says everything's ok." I said, "Oh, really?" with a smile. Zach said, "Yeah, she always says it's ok." I said, "You have such a nice grandma, don't you?" And Zach said, "Yeah, and I have nice grandpas, too." It was funny to me that from Zach's viewpoint, grandmas always say yes. That's the way it's supposed to be with grandmas and grandpas, right?
Tonight is trick-or-treat night here. It's weird in Iowa- lots of communities pick a different night other than Halloween to trick-or-treat. So I'll be sure to post a picture or two in the next couple of days of the boys in their costumes.
1 comment:
You are forgiven, but I might have to get you back someday!
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