Summer!!

Memorial Day is also, traditionally -- THE START OF SUMMER..!!

School will be out next week, and it's time to start planning MY GRANDMA CAMP..!!

In the past, I've planned some great summer trips with Lilly and Warren.  The train into Chicago with my cousin Jackie...and last year, Uncle Ross drove us to the beautiful Brookfield Zoo...

But, as I consider the Summer of 2019 there probably won't be any big trips.  It seems like the older they get -- the more scheduling is involved.  Both Lilly and Warren are signed up for some fun summer camps...and they take four different weeks of swimming lessons...

Hey -- that was then and this is now.   Life is all about change!  You have to embrace the HERE AND NOW...

And, who knows what a child will remember?  Maybe it's not the big elaborate trips or vacations...maybe it the simple ordinary stuff...

Like, say, for example, a cookout at my sister Deena's house...

Nobody can put together an impromptu cookout quicker than my sister Deena...

If it's summer, and she's expecting more than a dozen people (which often happens) -- she sets up the outdoor kitchen in their Morton Building.

This is where they had Ross's surprise nursing school graduation party, and she's hosted many Christenings, summer cook-outs for-no-special-reason...parties with lots of kids...

Because her back yard is DESIGNED FOR CHILDREN.  She has TWO barn bouncy houses...and a trampoline...

Pat came to visit (from Washington) -- but she didn't get on the trampoline..

And one very incredible, fun, and yes, dangerous -- old fashioned Merry Go Round...(the more kids, the better!)

GOOD JOB on those cookouts, Deena.  When should we come?  And what can I bring??