Lizzard Loves Blue Sky Snow Covered Vail

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Grandpa's 99th Birthday

Man oh man, my Grandpa turned 99 last week! Ninety nine! It is hard for me to imagine what it is like to be 99. This is my Mom's Dad who lives in semi-rural Kansas, where he & my Grandma raised my Mom, her sister & brother.
Aunt Margi, Mom, Uncle Rick with
the 99th Birthday Boy

The year my Grandpa was born......
~Streetcars began municipal operation in San Francisco
~USA broke off diplomatic relations with Germany (the same day a US ship was sunk by Germany)
~The 1st NHL Championship game was played (though it was a 2 game series, which strikes me as odd)
~USA enters World War 1
~The average life expectancy for an American man was 48.4 years & an American woman 54 years (I'd say my Grandpa blows that average right out of the water!)
~The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded. 1 of them was shared by 2 women writers!
~The United States was only made up of 48 states.
~The draft was established for WWI

Things have changed indeed since then :)

We had a great weekend with Grandpa, who lives in an apartment inside an assisted living facility. The long weekend meant visiting with Grandpa over 3 days and listening to his jokes and stories. 


Chris & I were excited to share photos of the progress on our house with him and Grandpa reminisced about the home he'd visited in Evanston; the one belonging to my dad's parents! This would've been 40ish years ago when my parents were dating, engaged & newly married! Grandpa told me he thought Evanston was  great town and he saw copper gutters on Dad's parents' home for the first time ever. He also loved their sunporch.It is crazy to think that my Grandpa can recall details like that 40 years after he experienced them!

As he consistently reminds me - his long life can be attributed to three things "Hard work, clean living, and wine" I had another chance to drink a glass of wine with Grandpa this year - its a huge treat to share in his twice daily ritual with him. Because when you're 99, you can request a wine delivery from the nurses at 11am and again at 4pm........which sounds lovely to me!
Grandpa with all but 2 of his great grandkids!

Grandpa with all but 3 of his grand & great grandkids!

So much family, so little time :)

Grandpa with some of the Kearney/Kramer/Platts

Family enjoying Grandpa's party

The birthday party was well attended by family plus all of Grandpa's neighbors were invited and many of them came to celebrate! There was cake & ice cream & punch. It was perferct; though I think we exhausted Grandpa fully - he headed back to his room to relax in his chair once the festivities wrapped up.

Grandpa meets Hennie
Grandpa meets Kane & Anne


Another bonus of the weekend: Grandpa got to meet 3 more of his great grandchildren for the first time! Hennie, Kaner & Anne! What fun he had with all the kiddos scrambling around in his room.







When we weren't spending time with Grandpa, we ate a ton of ridiculously delicious food in epic portions. Check out Chris' half portion of biscuits & gravy along with Dad's single pancake. These treats were enjoyed at the restaurant inside the tiny Miami County Airport. When the weather is nice, people fly their 2 & 4 person planes into this airport just to eat at the restaurant! President Barack Obama visited We B Smokin when he came to give a speech nearby in 2011. Its a pretty great place!


We spent a good amount of time hanging out at Aunt Margi & Uncle Phil's house, playing games, catching up & eating even more delectable food. 
Mom, Hennie & Aunt Margi hanging at Margi & Phil's

It was a fantastic weekend spent with family, celebrating Grandpa Dick Schowengerdt & his 99 great years.


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