Catching up (photo heavy)

Things have been hectic recently.  Life, garden and family have conspired to keep me from posting.  But I thought I'd try to play catch up.  As I mentioned briefly last post, we spent the weekend at my parent's. All my siblings and all but one nephew and a niece and her husband were able to make it at some point during the weekend.
Here are some photo highlights:

We started the weekend Friday night at my brother's house with a barbeque while people arrived from all over the country. The weather was almost perfect.
Saturday, we reconvened at my parent's home.

We had show and tell.  Dad gave a demonstration and tutorial on his gas to propane conversion on the riding mower.

Games were played and there was much laughter.

In the evening, we all went out to dinner at the old school.  This is the original school (built in 1927) where Dad and all 4 of us children went to school.  Dad graduated from here and we went to school K-6 after the school district consolidated and this became only an elementary school.
We had an Italian dinner that my brother won as at auction last year at the Mennonite Relief sale.

The food was fabulous and prepared and served by ladies my sisters and I went to school with.

The building was purchased in the early '90's by a gentleman and his wife and they have been slowly remodeling and converting it to other uses.  We had dinner in their living room which was my former 5th grade classroom.  They have done a fabulous job on the parts that have been remodeled.

They even used some of the slate from the classroom blackboards as countertops in the kitchen.

After dinner, we got the tour.  The building now houses, not only their living quarters but another rental apartment, a preschool, a law office and an athletic club.

The old cafeteria is now the weight room. Above is the kitchen and lunch counter.  The room seems so, so much smaller than I remember it as a child.

 We also got to see some of the parts that haven't been remodeled yet.  Above is my 4th grade classroom.  The one with the REALLY COOL fire escape.

 The fire escape slide from the third floor.  I remember getting to go down this during a fire drill- it was AWESOME!!
After dinner, we all collapsed into a food coma because we had eaten so much.
Sunday, brought more fun and exploration.  My brother brought his geiger counter and the nephews had fun checking out the uranium vase.

The yellow green color in the vase is due to the use of uranium in the glass.  And, yes, it is radioactive.  Fortunately, you would have to sit it with in your lap for an extended period of time for it to be a problem.
One of my nieces was there with her husband.  This was his first trip to the midwest so we took him out exploring on the farm.  Crawling around in the barn we made many discoveries.

We spied baby swallows up in the rafters.  I love how its eyes seem to glow.
We made it home safely last evening and collapsed. V had baked birthday brownies for me since he didn't think we would appreciate cake after all the food we had been having all weekend.
Today after dinner, we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and V declared "mandatory outdoor frolic time".

 The sand riding arena makes a fabulous venue for a mean frisbee battle.

But sometimes a search is necessary in the creek when a frisbee goes over the fence.
Now, after a busy weekend, a long day at work and an hour of frisbee, I'm tired.
But, I think I'm finally caught up- at least with family stuff.  I've still got garden updates and other stuff to report on but hopefully now life will slow down a bit so I can catch my breath.