Another Saturday at Cedar Ranch

Saturday there was another work day out at my Grandparent's ranch. My Dad and all of his brothers headed up to help put in a bathroom in the house where my Grandparent's stay. You see, they had a house, bathroom and all, but one night they showed up and the house was gone! It had burned to the ground, quite literally. All that was left were ashes, nothing could be salvaged.

But, my Grandma and Grandpa made the best of the situation and moved into the pump house. My Grandma has fixed it up to look just like a little house, minus the kitchen and bathroom. Each time they go there to visit they cook on a camping stove and use an outhouse. No joke! (That is exactly why my Grandma is a better person than me!) But, my Grandma is getting older and more fragile so my uncles decided that it was time to put in a bathroom as well as a kitchenette.

My Uncles, brother, Jared, cousins and Grandpa worked very hard yesterday and got the bathroom framed up, dug a septic line, ran water and installed the toilet. It was really a miracle. I know it sounds funny but we got a downpour yesterday and if my Grandma had to walk to the out house in the middle of the night, it could have been very dangerous.

So, while the guys were busy working my sister and I spent some valuable time with Grandma. Bethany gave her a pedicure, we played Rummikub (her favorite game! And she is dang good!), talked and laughed.

I also got to take my girls to Dizzy Land to play for a while. Let me explain Dizzy Land. My Grandpa is very innovative and came up with the funnest and most creative playground ever. He also has a nickname for everyone and comes up with catchy little phrases for everyday things, i.e., Church clothes are called "glad rags," a bathroom is the "potty house, " a V10 (as in an engine) is called a "forked 10." There is much more! My little white car I used to have was called the "little white horse."

There's bowling:

There's a merry-go-round:

There's a slide: (Don't let this picture deceive you. This slid is actually at least 9 feet high!)

There's croquet:

There's teeter-totters:

There's tether ball:

There's a swing set:

There's also golf, ping-pong, volleyball and much more.

Now I have a funny story. Thankfully my sister doesn't know how to get on a private blog, so I know that she won't be reading it anytime soon.

The road was really muddy and we were afraid that we would get stuck, but we decided to keep driving because we knew eventually someone would find us. My sister doesn't have 4-wheel drive on her suburban so we were really taking our chances on the roads. She was trying to drive so carefully but it didn't stop us from fish-tailing and sliding all over. She was yelling, "I'm pushing so hard (on the pedal). Oh my gosh! We are gonna get stuck!" We finally made it through that mess and got to the gate. I hopped out to open it up and covered my shoes in mud. I got back in the suburban and we started to go. She was gunning it and we were not moving! She yelled, "we're stuck!.....oh, wait. I'm still in park."

I just love my sister!