1106 - summer sundays

a long-time icon of pittsburg, kansas, is the 1106 drive-in. this is the old-style drive-in, for hamburgers, sandwiches, fries, tots, ice cream. the best greasy burger and fries in the area -- truth be told. the restaurant has been there almost all of my life (and i'm 41), so it is very well-known in this area.

for this altered book project, the topic was "dining rituals" and i was totally stumped on this one. my family had dining rituals, but i didn't really feel they were special enough or decorative enough to put in the book. then i remembered eating in the car at 1106 . . .

when i was little, we often went to the swimming pool for the afternoon on sundays. this was really quite a treat because we lived out of town and swimming was not something that we got to do just any time. we had a 1964 turquoise dodge, just the model shown in the pictures above. while it may look roomy -- it wasn't big enough in the back seat for 2 big brothers and little sister!

anyway, after an afternoon of swimming, we would often stop off at 1106 for a snack or for a meal. it was a great treat. i recently heard that 1106 was closing because it was being sold and i felt so sad -- as if part of my childhood was disappearing. i hadn't eaten there but 2x in the last 5 years, but it just felt wrong for it to not be there.

well, we've just found out that the 1106 is only closing for repairs and will soon reopen for business as usual. the business did sell, but the owner sold to someone who wanted to keep the pittsburg icon the same instead of tearing it down to make a new business there. i guess backyard burger is going to have to take over the old burger king building!

yeah, 1106 is still a part of pittsburg!

blueberry kisses

well, it's a wednesday, and a typical day w/ the girls. riahna wants to do whatever raven is doing and raven usually doesn't want riahna's help w/ such things as coloring/writing/painting, etc. other than that, they play together very well. i guess neither one wants to share the markers.

raven wanted to color and write her name and riahna wanted to lay on the color book and make huge sweeping moves w/ a marker as if she were coloring. not enough room for both of them on 1 book, so they each had their own book and their own stash of markers.

everybody was happy. each little girls had her own pile of markers and her own big color book to work in. riahna didn't know how to take the lids off of the markers or she wasn't strong enough to get them off -- either way, she was safe playing w/ the markers.

i went into the kitchen to check on lunch, and when i came back -- this is what i found. either riahna figured out how to get the lid off or one wasn't on there very good. raven was just working away on her pictures and riahna was working on sucking the ink of of a blue crayola magic marker.
she was very proud of herself and very happy, too. anyone want a blueberry kiss that's probably a little sloppy? needless to say -- she was done w/ the markers for the day!

the fun of grandparenting

there is nothing better than seeing the smiling faces of the grandchildren looking up as soon as they enter the door. each child has a special place in our hearts. each child has different expectations of their interaction w/ us -- but each child does have very special interaction w/ us.

i guess i could say we are very blessed. between us, we have 5 grandchildren, and we get to see ALL of them on a regular basis. some things i cannot post here -- but that doesn't mean that we have less of a relationship to them.

the holidays and summer time are such great times to spend together -- easter, mother's day, birthdays, father's day, 4th of july. so many great pictures opportunities. for those of you who know where to look, there is another blog w/ all the kids pictures posted there to keep you up-to-date on them.

i'll post as many things as i can.