week 18 - "road trip with Grandma and Grandpa J"

Wilson enjoyed showing the exhibits at the museum to us.

     David and family visited Charleston in mid-October and we made plans to go to Omaha in early December. We thought Grandma and Grandpa Lair might enjoy a road trip, and we were right. They were happy to go with us.  Mom and I drove to Dahinda the afternoon of Dec. 1, had supper with them and spent the night. The next morning the four of us took off for Omaha. We only had to call David once -- to ask which exit to take on I-80 to get to Center Street that would take us all the way out to their house.
     We made plans to go to the Strategic Air Command air and space museum on Saturday morning. When we woke Saturday it was snowing pretty good but we made the 30-mile trip anyway.
     Grandma and Grandpa Lair (especially Grandpa)  

Maggie's face aready is in the Christmas spirit!

really enjoyed seeing the WWII-era planes but there also were many newer ones too. There also was a nice exhibit on Gen. Curtis LeMay, whose sister taught in Ottawa. We spent about 4 hours there. While Wilson enjoyed being the guide for his parents and grandparents and explaining all the aircraft, Maggie found some face-painters who gave her quite a Christmas look! She finally washed it off Sunday night since she had school on Monday.
     We spent much of the weekend watching football and playing the card game "31." Wilson was pretty good at it. Everyone wanted to sit next to Grandma because she always seemed to discard face cards that people could use.


Grandma helped David with the dishes.


     Melissa fed us well, and I think we ate most of the cinnamon rolls and pecan rolls that she and her mom worked on so hard. They were delicious!!
     The snow was beautiful, about 4 inches in Omaha. We left Monday morning after Wilson and Maggie went to school. Grandma really liked it that Maggie signed "Margaret" on some of her school papers, instead of "Maggie." We stopped in Newton, Iowa, both times to eat. We stopped at a Culver's because Grandma Lair likes their ice cream (at least that's how Grandpa Lair explained it as he ate most of the ice cream sundae they shared)! All in all it was a fun four-day weekend and we all were glad Grandma and Grandpa Lair could join us.  It's really nice being semi-retired and being able to do a four-day weekend trip like this.