Skinny people
We just got home from our vacation yesterday. I will write about it in detail soon. What I want to address now, is skinny people.
We went to two different amusement parks. Neither of them were designed for "pooh sized" people. I could barely fit on some of the rides. This was ambit of a wake up call for me.
So, we are changing eating habits. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. No canned foods, no processed foods, no corn syrup, ect ect. Now, when we go to people's houses, I won't fret. I will just eat. But food at the house, will be fresh.
The kids are not terribly excited, but I don't think it will be as bad as they think. Today was the first day, and they are happy so far.
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Train
The boys (mainly Caleb) have been fascinated with trains from a very early age. Fascinated. When they were little, we went to a train store every Saturday. They watched the model trains, they played with the toy trains. We stayed there for hours. The men there knew the boys by name. I remember one wife, was excited, after I had Jonas, and brought him in, so she could meet the newest train enthusiast. There was a store in the mall with toy trains. We went there at least once a week. Again, we were known by name. Caleb would play for hours with the trains. We were sad when they went out of business. A toy store opened in town, and had weekly train club days. They would dump tons of train accessories on the ground, and all of the kids would start building. When were out driving, and would see a train coming, we would drive to the crossing, to get a better view.
Oh we loved trains.
To this day, we still point out the trains. We drive over three tracks on the way to Manhattan. Several times, we have gotten to stop. Last weekend, we watched a car speed over the tracks, after the crossing bar things went down. We got to tell the boys NEVER do that! We had a front row seat for this train though.
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The Speech
My uncle, gave a wonderful speech on the day of my grandparents' anniversary celebration. My mom passed along a copy of it, and I will pass it along to you.
All of these people you see here this afternoon are the children of Doctor Grafton and Estyl Bowers, along with their spouses and the Bowers grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And we are here to celebrate Doc's 97th birthday, which was yesterday, and Doc and Estyl's 75th wedding anniversary. The family has come from St. Louis, Lathrop, Lee's Summit, Columbia and Warrensburg, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Glendale, California; and Topeka, Kansas.
Grafton Bowers and Estyl Cowgill were married on June 2, 1935 at the home of Stella Thompson, clerk of the court, in Kingston, Missouri. They had met, rumor has it, at the swimming pool in Cameron. The way I heard it was, Grafton jumped off of the high diving board and made a huge splash, and when he came up, his face was just inches away from the beautiful face of the girl whom he would marry and spend the remainder of his life with.
Doctor Bowers is a 1938 graduate of Kansas State University School of Veterinary Medicine. Following his graduation, he and Estyl borrowed money from Dr. Frick, his surgery professor, to buy a car, which would take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where Doc would be a meat inspector for the United States Army. Later they moved to Chicago with the army, and ultimately settled on a farm south of Cowgill where they raised their four children. Doc practiced veterinary medicine for 35 hears all over Caldwell and Ray county. His 1945 and 1946 Willy's Jeeps became an icon to the community. somehow in the midst of everything that happened on that farm, Estyl managed to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Pedagogy from what is now the University of Central Missouri at Warrensburg, and later, she earned a Master's degree in Music. She taught piano lessons from their home on the farm for over 40 years.
Their four children are Mitchell and wife Agnes, who live in St. Louis; Brenda and husband Pete, who live on a farm east of Lathrop; Ellen who makes her home in Glendale, California; and Charlotte and husband Jim who make their home in Topeka, Kansas.
Music has been a huge part of the Bower's family from the earliest years of their life together. Grafton has played the bass violin, the banjo, mandolin and sings tenor. Estyl plays the violin but is basically a keyboard person, playing the organ, piano, and accordion. Together Grafton and Estyl have been known as "We Two", and they have played impromptu at innumerable community events around the two county area.
As a tribute to our favorite "We Two", the family is going to sing a few songs that we are pretty sure most of you know, and we hope you will sing along.
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
The World is Waiting for The Sunrise
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Our route
I have put together our route for our vacation. Here is the map. I am excited!
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The family
My uncle gave a great speech on the day we went to visit my grandparents. I have not yet got a copy of the speech, but when I do, it would go perfect with this post.
We wowed my grandparents with our expert singing skills. We sang four songs for them. We then played music for them... as they shouted out requests, we played lots of the songs. Only a few we didn't know. The kids gave an impromptu recital, each getting up and playing at least one piece, without hesitation. We served cake, we posed for a photo. My grandpa played this bass again, which was a touching moment. Only a handful of people are missing from this photo.
We made them proud.
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Seven years
Seven years ago, we had three little boys. We watched Blues Clues and Veggietales. We went to the zoo probably once a week. We were regulars at the local playground.
I got my drivers license renewed yesterday. It is good for seven years. In seven years Caleb will be in college. Alex will be freshly graduate from high school. Jonas will have his learner permit. Wow. Seven years. It doesn't seem like that long. I better enjoy it!
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Cousins galore
This weekend is being filled with family. Tons of it. We currenly have six sleeping kids in our house, which is amazing, as one hour ago Jared was being pelted with nerf bullets.
Tomorrow we head to see my grandparents and celebrate their 75 years of marriage, along with my grandpa's 97th birthday.
Family is good.
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