Mother has a birthday!

Today is my dear Mother's 87th birthday.  Last night we had a little Birthday Eve celebration.  Aunt Nancy was there and Samantha joined us by phone.  Helen brought a giant (and very tasty) fruit bouquet ... which we ate while waiting for dinner. 

It was fun.

Happy Birthday Mother.

Love you.

Capital Children's Choir

Our friend Heather introduced us to the enchanted voices of the Capital Children's Choir of London.  Here are a couple of our favorites.

I hope you enjoy them too.

Thanks Heather.

Memorial Day Weekend with Hope

Memorial Day weekend was a hoot.  Andy and Donna came with the forever cute Hope.  SACII and Cheryl arrived as well.  Granny LOVED fussing over Hope which caused me to snap a bunch of fun photos.

Granny even climbed around on the floor with Hope.

Sure, I got pictures of other people too but all of them seemed to include Hope.

 Including this goofy one of 4 generations.

Hope you had a good Memorial Day too.

Dan in Arkansas

Last week I ventured to Bella Vista, Arkansas, for the Annual 5-day meeting of the Brotherhood.   Here is my good friend Nile monitoring arrival activities.

All 8 attendees were treated to mega amounts of golf and adequate quantities of adult beverages.  I wonder why it takes me 2 to 3 days to recover from this trip?

International weekend - wedding and graduation

This weekend allowed us to celebrate 2 wonderful International events.  

The first was another Internet success story that resulted in a joyous wedding celebration.  Adrian, a physician from Romania who is working here in Topeka, met Elisa, a multi-talented and beautiful woman from Brazil, on the Internet.  Their first date was in Ireland and their wedding celebration was yesterday in Topeka.

Helen and I were lucky to be included.  Both fitting and appropriate for an Internet love story, this celebration was transmitted via Skype to family in Brazil.

The second celebration focused on our friend Juri from South Korea.  Juri graduated from Topeka High School with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.  Her exchange program extended to 2 years and she has grown sooooo much during that time.  We will miss her.  Congratulations to Juri!

Four continents came a little closer together yesterday.

Peace.

Samantha and Jake visit for Mother's Day

Last Saturday Samantha and Jake arrived for a Mother's Day visit.  It was a short visit ... but a blast!  We started with a nice Saturday visit topped by a steak dinner at the North Star.  Jake ordered a steak .... and got two.

Sunday was Mother's Day.  Samantha had been contacted by her 4th cousin, Ted Worner, via 23andMe which somehow connected their DNA.  The Internet makes this kind of thing possible.  Amazing.  Ted was gracious enough to drive from Kansas City where he joined us for Mother's Day lunch.  Here is Ted being subjected to his first Crow Family group photo ...

 and here is Ted with his 4th Cousin, Samantha Quist.

Our Mother's Day shifted to fuss over Oma.  Here is a nice picture of Oma with Samantha.

Mega, mucho, grande thanks to Jake and Samantha for joining us for a fun Mother's Day weekend.

As always, we LOVE being with you.

Helen Crow turns 60

Today is Helen's 60th birthday.

She is as cute as ever. 

Happy Birthday Helen.

Dad turns 86

Today is Dad's 86th birthday.  It is also the 137th running of The Kentucky Derby.  We gathered at Topeka Country Club to celebrate the former and got to celebrate the latter as well.

Dad toasted us all with a Mint Julep 

before settling into a front row seat to watch I'LL HAVE ANOTHER win the Derby in dramatic fashion.

After an early dinner, we got to give Granny a nice hug for Granddad's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Thirsty Crow Beer

Way back in March of 2012, the Crow Brewing Company (CBC) was formed.  Some of you may have read about it.  Today, CBC introduced its first product: 

Thirsty Crow Beer.  

Amidst much Hoopla, the first bottle was cracked open earlier today by the Senior Brewmaster.

After checking for proper color and clarity ...

the lucky Hoopla attendees were treated to the first pleasurable sips of Thirsty Crow Beer.  

Compliments immediately flowed throughout  the festive atmosphere.  Laudatory comments included ... "Hey, it's not as bad as I thought it would be!" and "Holy Moly, it doesn't totally suck."  The Brewmasters gloated.

For now, the surviving bottles of the prized first batch are safely stored incognito.

No doubt, Thirsty Crow Beer dwarfs the competition.

Kansas City Mormon Temple

Yesterday afternoon Helen and I drove to Kansas City to tour the new Kansas City Mormon Temple.

Open to the public for only a short time, it is then closed to visiters.  Here are some of the rooms we toured:

The baptismal font.

An ordinance room depicting life on earth after creation. 

A sealing room for wedding ceremonies.

The Celestial Room.

(all photos courtesy of the www)

We were inspired by the friendly nature of our hosts and awestruck by the quality of the construction.

Many thanks to our many hosts.

From there, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at Cafe Trio.

Yum .. their pistachio encrusted tilapia is the best!