THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: volume 101 AUGUST 2015

Dear Children, Family and Friends,

Last month I experienced running a Bed and Breakfast from the innkeepers perspective. Bryn was my first guest, choosing my newly decorated bedroom, ( the only one with a television ) now boasting a queen bed in place of the old twins. Bryn seems unable to fall asleep unless he has a television blaring through the night – perhaps this quirk is one of the reasons that he is still single. A couple of days later Craig and Leslee-Ann arrived, the following weekend Mary Brockman, together with Elizabeth, Mia and Drew checked in. Coryn , Ava Claire and Owen spent a night when Coryn attended a social event with staff from her school one evening and then the last weekend in July Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia came to stay. Mother was stripping (close your eyes boys) beds, laundering bedding and towels and remaking beds constantly. I gave up ironing pillowcases and top sheets after the second set of visitors. I think I spent more time cleaning my upstairs bedrooms and bathroom in July this year than I did in the entire year before!

Craig and Leslee-Ann barely gave twenty four hours notice of their arrival, requesting a late night ride from the airport – I was glad that Bryn had arrived the day before so he was able to make the night time trip to pick them up. Unfortunately their flight was delayed so they didn't arrive until one thirty the morning of the 4^th. Luckily for them, I am a night owl so I was happy to perch on my porch rocker to await their arrival. I waved enthusiastically from the porch as they pulled into the driveway thinking they would berate me for staying up so late to greet them but no ..... Leslee-Ann threw her arms up (instead of around me) and asked what on earth I was doing dressed in my nightie rocking away in public . I hardly think my porch qualifies as a public space nor do I think anyone would be scandalized by the sight of a grandma in her nightie in the wee hours of the morning. Leslee-Ann said I was obviously failing to keep up appearances. Did she think I was going to pull on a cocktail dress and greet them with a martini in hand? I love being old – it's a license to live life your way!

Since their trip was unplanned Leslee decided to keep it a surprise for Coryn. It worked out perfectly as the Logues had already invited me, Bryn and the Dickinsons to an afternoon of swimming, barbecuing and after dark to their neighborhood 's fireworks display over Raintree Lake. When we all traipsed into the kitchen Coryn was truly surprised! Bryn had shared the secret with Jeremy the night before but he kept mum too.

I had called Leslee-Ann when Owen was born to let her know that her sister had pushed out a nine pound baby and her response - “that's disgusting – that's the size of a two month old”! Not much change in attitude since she was a toddler when she welcomed Bryn into the world in my hospital room with the words “he's ugly, don't bring him home!” At some point in the afternoon everyone drifted into the back yard to play bean bag toss and for the little girls to play on Ava Claire's slide. Leslee-Ann was holding Owen and announced that she was ready to dump him so that she could join in the fun outside.

I think her maternal instincts must run very, very deep – perhaps never to see the light of day!

     Coryn still trying to boss her sister around, Leslee -Ann has the what the .... look on her face!

When the party moved to the clubhouse pool I stayed with Owen, content to hold him the whole time!.

One of the most interesting observations of the day was the great difference in which the 4^th July is celebrated across state lines. In Kansas fireworks are illegal except in sanctioned public displays whereas in Missouri they are for sale to anyone and the cul-de- sac in which the Logues reside was blowing up a small fortune – even early in the afternoon! One guy had a huge trailer with a grill, smoker, big screen TV and enough fireworks to light up the sky for miles around. Becky and I - as Johnson County residents- put our noses up in the air and declared how happy we were that we didn't have to put up with all the noise and smoke.

Once it was dark we drove over to watch the firework display – I ended up with Elena and Ava Claire both sitting on my lap in a rickety folding chair threatening to tumble over at any minute whilst a friend of Jeremy's, Matt Smith spent most of his time grabbing Lola Rose who was intent on charging into the road behind us.

Once the fireworks display ended we headed back to the Logue's house and I was hoping that we would then take our leave but no – Jeremy was all fired up about joining his neighbors in setting off more fireworks so he and the guys drove off at eleven O'clock at night to shop for them. I shook my head in disbelieve wondering if I would get any sleep that night by the time they returned and set off all their fireworks. The guys were as excited as a group of toddlers on Christmas morning as they joined their neighbors in the street to prove they had money to burn too. I was just glad that no-one got hurt.

Since Bryn had been supplying people with some kind of mixed drinks all day that included jalapeno peppers and tequila I decided that I was going to be the designated driver in my Ford Focus on the late night drive home despite my dislike of night driving.

The next morning I returned Leslee-Ann and Craig to the airport as they couldn't get seats on a later flight at such short notice. Fortunately it won't be too long before I see them again as Craig may be coming to Kansas City to film a documentary in early October and he and his crew will be staying with me for awhile.

The Brockman's visit was primarily for shopping. Mary, Elizabeth and the kids arrived late one Thursday afternoon with plans to spend the night with me, then check into a hotel with a pool for the kids the following day. Brent was joining them Friday night - driving down after work. They spent Saturday shopping at Ikea for closet fixtures! Did I mention that Kansas City has recently added this store to it's ever growing arsenal of attractions and of course it is all very conveniently situated to my home.

This was the first time that they had the opportunity to meet Ava Claire and Owen so of course I was a very proud Grandma! Mia and Drew were very kind and patient with Ava Claire who now refers to them as her friends! I wished I had a camera in hand when I saw them helping Ava Claire up the deck steps – one on either side, holding her hand which was perfect as she would not have been safe by herself. She is a bit of a klutz , very capable of falling over her own feet even when she's standing still!

Owen's size was greatly admired and Coryn earned kudos for delivering him!

Mia holding Owen

Ava Claire spent the night with Grandma on Thursday so that she could spend more time with her new friends. On Friday morning we all headed out to the mall , just up the street, planning to shop at Nordstrom's with lunch at the instore cafe. Elizabeth found some cute outfits for Mia and Drew and Ava Claire talked me into buying her a Ninja Turtle backpack complete with her own face mask. Unfortunately the lunch queue was so long that we decided to eat elsewhere and once lunch was finished I headed home with a tired Ava Claire whilst the Brockmans shopped on.

Later that evening Mary called and asked if she could possibly spend another night at my house as there was a mix-up with their hotel reservations – no room for her at the inn so of course I welcomed her back so we enjoyed some wine and conversation – an unexpected bonus!

Ming-Lee and Lori made a spur of the moment decision to visit the last weekend in July, flying standby. They had hoped to arrive Thursday night but it didn't work out so they ended up flying out early Friday morning – I was up at 6:30am to head to the airport at 7:00am.If this had been Marc I would have told him to take a cab or wait until 10:00am!

I made a run to the grocery store the previous day stocking up on breakfast rolls, muffins and ice-cream only to discover that poor Claudia is on a gluten free diet! I have to say that she is handling the dietary restrictions with a much better attitude than I could ever muster. Life without cheese and ice-cream would be terrible for me!

Ming-Lee took over the cooking and grocery shopping for their visit which was great – although I almost had an anxiety attack when he decided to roast a turkey in my oven. I questioned the wisdom of creating more heat in my kitchen considering the high heat and humidity of the day, not to mention the extra strain on my electric bill! I rarely use any appliances to cook in the summer these days – or for that matter any season really – as I no longer have Norm asking what's on the menu a few times a day!

Coryn came over later in the day with Ava Claire and Owen so there was a lot of activity! The following day we went to Coryn's house for lunch, she made BLT's the Ivy Bake Shop way. Since it was another horribly hot day they all went swimming while I stayed with Owen. We headed home later on and were delighted to hear that Kay and Jeff were going to join us for dinner. Kay had just returned from a week's stay in Singapore and was very jet lagged so I wasn't sure she would be able to come but fortunately she did!

Once again Ming-Lee cooked – choosing to grill Mahi-mahi burgers on the deck. I warned him that my grill was probably about done for but he went for it. Unfortunately it didn't work out too well, the grill caught fire at one point but the fish was fine!. Ming said it was definitely a goner now and offered to haul it to the curb but I said to wait until free trash pick up day! Now I am thinking it might make a great planter box for the deck. Will post a picture when I get the project done.

True to our Lowe Family tradition we played a game after supper – it went much better than the previous evening when Ava Claire wanted to join in the fun!

Unfortunately Jeremy was out of town during Ming-Lee and family's visit so they didn't get a chance to get together . On Sunday morning I returned them to the airport car rental lot so they could drive home as there were no available standby seats to Indianapolis for a family of four that day.

This has been such a hectic month: one day I found myself babysitting all four of the children in my life when Becky and Coryn both needed to run errands. While Owen slept I fed the three girls and when he woke up I switched on Bubble Guppies which kept the girls happily fixated on my downstairs TV while I changed the baby. My admiration for my friend Becky Clay soars at these moments as she is rearing two children full time.

I cracked a tooth on an almond which later succumbed to a chunk of chewy bread. It took five days to get into the dentist for a temporary crown which has since been replaced with a permanent one.

The weather has been truly challenging with torrential rains, heat and humidity and even a few tornadoes: one of which happened one night when I was staying with Coryn and the children as Jeremy was out of town. There was such torrential rain that a river sprung up across Coryn's front yard and the winds felled one tree, did damage to another and blew Ava Claire's play set across the yard, breaking the swing. Ava Claire found the whole event very exciting, running from window to window to watch the lightening strikes and pouring rain. The tornado sirens, and our phones sounded warnings several times but we were spared unlike some in Lee's Summit. Jeremy called to make sure Coryn and the babies were safe – I told her to tell him that his mother-in-law was there so he had no need to worry knowing that I am a force stronger than mother nature!

This has been a very hard month for my great friend Becky Clay, marking the anniversary of Gretchen's death whilst celebrating the joy of Merovy's first birthday. Thankfully some of her family members were there to help her and David through this difficult time. Leslee-Ann and I have planned a trip to Savannah in November to hopefully give Becky a bit of a break from her routine.

WHERE ARE ALL MY CHILDREN?

Sean and Bryn are in England, Josh is back from Bolivia and staying with Leslee-Ann and Craig in Orlando doing more home improvements for them. Marc is awaiting the return of Bryn to LA maybe in October, Ming-Jon returned to Fort Madison for his class reunion, Ming-Lee and Lori are headed to England to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversay next month – more of my family across the pond – and this weekend the Logues and I will be driving to Fort Madison on Saturday to attend Amber Scott's wedding reception, returning Sunday.

On a technical note I have upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 in hopes that it might speed the computer up a bit. After this download my internet provider announced that it was upgrading it's system for faster service so hopefully I will no longer be talking to my computer using words that can not be said in front of the grandchildren. Who knows children, maybe I'll be in such a twitter over all these upgrades that I'll learn how to tweet you all! Love to give you something to look forward to, your ever anxious to please Mother.