April 2018

Easter landed on April Fool’s Day but the Easter Bunny still brought eggs for the grandkids. Karissa had come over to dye eggs the day before and they each had 18 eggs to find. We had everyone here for a hunt at 10 and followed up with a pork and ham lunch. Always fun to get together.

The next day, the grandkids had a minimum day so it was time for crafts. We made pom pom bunnies, using up the rest of the white yarn from the January snowmen.

For his date this month, Max learned about his hometown, Rocklin. We visited the Rocklin Museum where the docent explained about the granite quarries and the ranches from the early days of the town. Then we went on a quest to find the tomb of Parker Whitney and his descendants. It was a stone pyramid hidden in a valley between Whitney Oaks golf course and Monument Park. Using GPS, we finally found it. Then we stopped to see one of the 12 stone bridges that Parker built between his home and the town. I don’t know about Max, but Rog and I learned a lot!

Max is hard to schedule for his date these days. He has become busy with so many projects. He has been working hard to help a group of boys build a solar boat for a competition in May, his scout troop has been working on rebuilding their camping box, and he is trying to get a bunch of merit badges done for his first and second class awards. At school, we joined his mom to see him play his trumpet in the school band for a competition.

At the end of the month, Karissa spent the night while Max was off to Camporee and his folks cashed in on their Christmas present at iFly. This was enough to warrant an ice cream stop, a movie and s’mores. Karissa is fighting a cold and it was breezy so we nixxed the bonfire and made s’mores in the microwave. If you have never put a marshmallow in the microwave, you really must try it. But keep your eyes on it!

Rog continues to work on his model Moss Rock and Timber Railroad. He finished roughing in the layout and is starting a forest factory. The pine trees start with a dowel of wood that he sands to shape, then drills holes in with his dremel. Using single strands of phone wire, he glues pieces into each hole. Quite the project. He also laid out the shed he will build on the side of the house and got all 4 post holes dug. They promptly filled with water and, 2 weeks later, have not dried out at all. Meanwhile, I continue to weed, prune, and fertilize. It has been so much fun watching the flowers bud out and everything turning green and bushy again. I love Spring!