A Relaxing Saturday In Kansas City With Family

I slept in some, till 7:15 and Nick was already at soccer practice, and Tom and Mary were up. Surprise. It's  now 7:45 and Marlena's awake as well, and we are all on our devices.  How I long for the mornings when we used to watched TV together!   It looks like another fine day, warm and sunny.  We have no plans for now.

Relaxing On Boat In Front Of Evie's Sister Jean's Home

Yesterday was like today, sunny and warm, little breeze.  I went for a walk around 9:00, through the neighborhood, on the paths, getting home around 10:00.  Mary was at a neighbor's garage sale, and Evie and I were going over to her sister Jean's home on Lake Tapawingo, about a twenty minute drive from Tom's.  We got there around 11:00, a neat little lake, perhaps a mile in length, not far from Independence, MO.  She moved there about five years ago and really takes advantage of living on the lake, both kayaking and boating.  The lake is crowded with homes, as everyone wants to live on the waterfront of course, and everyone has a dock, even the neighbor's on the other side of the street from the lake.  We sat outside for awhile, on her pontoon boat, catching up on her daughter Jennifer's life in Texas.  And Jean has just moved into a new house, also in the Ft. Worth, Texas, area, to have a home near her grandchildren, a smart move.  She is in the process of landscaping her house, so she and Evie went over the plans, talking about what kinds of shrubs and plants might go well.  Residents are given three months to landscape their houses, which is an interesting rule, a smart one I suppose, to make sure the neighborhood is kept up.  We came up and had at yummy lunch, chicken salad, crackers, and a tasty green salad, with apples and nuts.

Riding In Peace

After lunch, we borrowed Jean's friends kayak, and the three of us kayaked the perimeter of the lake, looking at all the various types of homes, from cottages to small mansions.  It's a great lake to kayak because it's not too large, and there's lots to look at, with three or four coves we could kayak down.  When we got back, we were parched as it was easily in the 80's, so Evie and I jumped in the lake to cool off.  It felt great, was 70º, much warmer than Chautauqua Lake.  It was around 3:00 when we decided to go for a short cruise in Jean's pontoon boat, a nice leisurely ride, with a beer and pretzels to stave off my young boy's hunger.  It was a fun afternoon, perfect weather and company, a lake, a swim, a kayak paddle, what more could we want.

The Outsiders of Lee's Summit

 Soda Pop and Ponyboy 

We got back to Lee's Summit around 4:45 and Marlena was home, Tom and Nick following shortly thereafter.  We sat out in their front yard, with a beer, as Marlena and her neighborhood friends played four square, and Nick and Tom took the top off of Tom's new Jeep Wrangler for the Friday night football game.  Pretty cool.  Nick's buddies came over because they were all going out to Chipotle's for dinner, then to the big football game between the two Lee's Summit high schools.  Tom let Nick take his Jeep so they were pumped to ride in style.  Most of the boys from Nick's high school wore wifebeater shirts as part of their "team spirit."

Chillin and Grillin On A Warm Friday Night

For dinner, we bought fresh pasta noodles from Costco, to go along with barbecued chicken, again one of our favorite Chautauqua meals.  Tom and I grilled the chicken thighs outside, while Mary and Evie got things ready in.  It was another mellow evening, so we decided to eat outside on their deck, and we sat out their after eating until it got dark.  The temperature had to still be in the 70's and the crickets were howling in the near by trees, amazing to hear this late in September.
When we finished dinner, Evie and Marlena went downstairs to watch Mrs. Doubtfire, a film Evie thought Marlena might like while Tom, Mary, and I watched the local football teams play on TV.  Nick and his buddies came back from the game around 9:30, five of them, and wanted to play games on the Xbox but had to wait for Mrs. Doubtfire to finish.  It was finally over around 10:00, and they tromped downstairs to play.  Evie put Marlena to bed around 10:30, when we went to bed as well, to the thumping beat of Xbox!  Ah boys.  It was another good day in Lee's Summit with our grandchildren, especially Marlena who is sitting next to me reading this as I write so I better say that!