Spending Time with Dad / Grandpa Frank

 We had a trail camera set up at our dad's place since he was up at the VA Hospital for a while. Most of the pictures were of one of us stopping in to check on things but it also captured the times that we were able to get him out of the nursing home for a few hours after he was moved back to New Ulm for hospice care. He really enjoyed those outings and it was nice to have that time with him.

I don't know what it is about this picture but I really like it. I drove Dad's Harley over since it was such a nice day. Krystal had her cute baby bump. Joe was probably BS-ing with Keith cuz he's got that big grin on his face. Good memory! :-)

Dad's nephew, Larry, from Iowa came to visit on one of the outings. It was so nice that he was able to visit and he even brought a "toy" that he thought Dad would enjoy... a tennis ball gun! The guys and Jared thoroughly enjoying playing with it. Dad was in tough shape but I know he got a kick out of it.

Caught by the trail cam... love the mischievous smile!

Filling it with aerosol hairspray (propellant). 
Keith is 6'1" and Larry makes him look short!

Jared was ready to catch the tennis ball!

Grandma Lappe, Lyndsey, Krystal, Daryl holding Morgan

Larry wanted a picture of Dad and the V8 motorcycle Dad built.

I think I was taking a video of Dad shooting the tennis ball gun since Morgan and Jared were covering their ears. ;-)

August 10th...

Keith and Joe tried to soak up as much information about Dad's equipment that they could. If you knew my dad, he was quite the fix-it/handyman and he had many tricks to getting things to run. One of his notes included using a nail to lift some engine component if it got stuck. Ha! We've had quite a few chuckles over Dad's "thriftiness". I remember sitting on his Harley in the shed trying to get it started and finally had to call him cuz I couldn't even find the key! He talked me through the steps to getting it to start as if he was standing right next to me... not sitting in a hospital bed 100 miles away. It fired up and I had to call him back cuz it was so loud... and sounded so good! Oh, and the key... it's under the right butt cheek. Ha!

Keith learning how to operate the boom trailer.

Then everyone wanted a ride! Jared had to go first, of course.

Joe with Ashlyn and Kaelyn

Me and my girls