Ted’s son, Richard, & kids came for a visit!
Richard, Ted, Isaac, Kelsee, Marilyn, Mochi, Anthony & Scooter
They arrived in the afternoon and got a tour of our place and Rich noted that we had extra beds and inquired if some of the kids could sleep here. We enthusiastically accepted and the kids began stating their preferences.
Ted took them to dinner at Little Blue Joint. Marilyn and I had taquitos and salad for our dinner and I got beds ready while they were gone.
Isaac on trombone
Next morning, Ted and Isaac spent time on their trombones together while I made pancakes, bacon, and sausage and Kelsee made eggs, practicing her culinary art class techniques. I had Rich try the new morning hot drink I have and several of them like herbal teas and I had lots of choices for them.
Any time someone needed the wifi password, I assigned Anthony to read it to them. That chore came up several times and he was filling a need that he could do well.
I learned that Mochi (formerly Brinlee) is pesco-vegetarian (eats only fish) and wanted to make tortillas. So, I decided on pulled pork and a salmon steak for Mochi, corn, cole slaw and salad ingredients to add to the pulled pork tacos for our dinner. We decided what we needed from the store and I ran that errand.
Mochi went with the guys to the shooting range and they all had a ball firing a variety of firearms and sending rounds into targets. Anthony, the youngest, shot fast on the 22 rifle, his first time shooting, and when they moved him from paper targets to metal they could hear the 4 out of 5 tings of his rounds hitting, proving that he was on target. Ted was using some less than great ammo and Anthony, his brother and dad, all got great practice dealing with jams. Anthony quickly began handling them himself.
Isaac and Mochi also shot well and enjoyed the activity. Richard had his own 9 mm he wanted to practice with and shot amazingly well with that tool, particularly when you consider the targets were 35 yards away, compared to only 7 yards, a distance more commonly used for hand gun practice. Isaac took some video with his phone and I’m hoping to add a screen shot if I can get one from him or Rich.
They were three hours or more shooting and when they came in Isaac was ready for a snack. I had cream cheese and smoked salmon on wheat thins and that went over well.
Pastry Chef Kelsee
Chef Kelsee set her task making high end ice cream for our dessert. I fetched whatever she needed, mixing bowls, mixer, etc. Kelsee had her own recipes but I didn’t know how to load or run the ice cream machines and had a time finding a YouTube video that actually went that far, explaining how to layer the ice and rock salt.
Mochi had already learned how to form tortilla dough into tortillas, so, from my recliner, all I had to do was coached her on the ingredients. She had no trouble shaping the dough with the food processor, shaping the tortillas, and frying them up on her own. She even made a second batch with white flour only, because she said Anthony would prefer them to the first batch that was half whole wheat.
Mochi, tortilla maker
By the time I found the information on how the ice cream maker was supposed to be operated, the first batch had already been started with all ice and only a little rock salt on top. Ted had fetched us more ice because the two bags I had purchased wasn’t going to be enough and the second batch went much better and faster layering the ice and rock salt (from the water softener). We scooped the finished ice cream into big bowls and put them in the freezer before dinner so they could freeze nice and solid.
Dinner was good and dessert was wonderful! I need to get the name of the special ingredient Kelsee made that was swirled into one batch of the ice cream and add it here. We had planned to cook a salmon steak f
or Mochi but she pulled the pork for us and ate it instead.
Isaac asked Ted about his music likes and Ted loaded an SD card with 2,000 of his favorites to take home. In the evening Ted showed Mochi his album collection and she selected Electric Light Orchestra which, when played, sparked Isaac and Kelsee into dance. Ted got it on video and I took a screen shot from it to post here.
There were many individual conversations and time spent with Marilyn. The first day and evening Marilyn was low functioning but she perked up for the remainder of their visit and received hugs and returned with smiles and even some responses.
Anthony really took to both dogs (they have two chihuahua mixes at home) and at one point he noticed that both dogs were AWOL. I had let them out after dinner and called for them but no dogs came. Isaac went out and reported that the gate they had brought targets back from the range through was open.
I had Ted fix my radio frequency, left the front gate open, and and drove all three directions but saw no dogs. Before I went to bed I asked Isaac to let them in if he heard them. I was in bed, but not asleep yet, when Isaac knocked on my door and let the dogs into my bedroom. Thank goodness, after a couple of hours, they returned on their own and Ted closed both gates before he came to bed.
Today, Ted fixed the gate that hadn’t closed last night allowing the dogs to escape. It has always been problematic, very difficult to close, and today, thankfully, he took the time for that repair. It wasn’t the first time they have escaped the yard and we’ve had to drive around looking for them.
Kelsee made the last of the eggs we had on hand into rounds to put on english muffins with cheddar cheese and ham slices. We set out every possible thing someone could dress their muffins with and Richard brought chocolate milk. Everyone had whatever they wanted for a beverage and breakfast was relatively easy and yummy.
Kelsee said her mother, Tiffanie, has bronchitis and Maya (the youngest) stayed home with her. Savanna (second oldest) is returning from a trip with friends and that is why they couldn’t stay another day, had to get home to pick her up.
We thanked Richard over and over for bringing his family for a visit. After group photos and many hugs, they hit the road for home. We sure hope they come again soon with the whole family!
