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Saturdates with Grandma

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Ching under Family, Games, Things to Do.

Brian and I hung out with grandma two Saturdays in a row. Last Saturday we took her bowling with us at Derby Bowl. For months now she’d been asking to watch us bowl. We talked about taking her on league night one evening but it’s just so late for her and there’s way too many people. We finally just decided to hold a bowling match up between the two of us and grandma could come and watch us compete.

Here are a couple of pictures of Brian explaining the contest rules to grandma.

The contest rules are as follows: One point for each game won and two points for the highest total overall for a total of five points. Theoretically someone could lose two games but if they got a high enough lead in one game to take the total then they could get one point for winning the game and two points for the total for three points to the other person’s two points and effectively steal the match.

It seems complicated than just competing for the best two out of three games but we like making things more interesting. Sometimes with the other scoring the player who has won two games already feels like they can slack off in the final game. With our scoring you still have to be on your toes the final game because the other player could steal the whole match by winning with a high enough score.

Brian who has been bowling twice a week all summer long had an advantage on me. I was so rusty. I bowled terribly. The scores were close but he easily won the first two games. I was hoping to recover in the third game for the win but he stepped up his game for an even more decisive game victory. It was a sweep. He took all five points that day. I’m gunning for a rematch, though.

While we were at the bowling alley we ran into dad and the Cannadys. Our nephews have started getting into bowling and are actually started to get quite good at it. Eli (middle child) really enjoys bowling.

Anyway, it was nice running into them specially since we were with grandma. She doesn’t get to see them as often as we do. I found out later that mom came to the bowling alley too but she arrived after we left so we just missed her.

After bowling we took grandma to Los Cocos, one of our favorite restaurants in Derby.

While there we ran into a couple of my coworkers who were nice enough to stop and say hello. Grandma loves meeting our friends and coworkers so that was great.

We had churros for dessert and they were delicious!

Grandma would agree. We had a fantastic Saturday!

Yesterday we took grandma to another one of our favorite restaurants, The Hill Bar and Grill. She got to try Brian’s favorite starter: chicharonnes.

For lunch grandma got chicken tacos. Brian had them before and really like them.

Brian had the meatball sub this time.

I had crab eggs benedict from the Saturday brunch menu. It was pretty good. I messed up and ended up with hashbrowns instead of the asparagus, though.

Brian and grandma had a productive day shopping for groceries and we had a wonderful brunch together. Overall it was a great day except for the mishap with my car in the parking lot. I will tell you guys more after I find out how bad the damage is on Monday.

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Moreland & Arbuckle at Bartlett Arboretum

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Ching under Family, Things to Do.

Last Sunday was a busy day for us. Brian helped his mom and dad sort through what they could take to Oklahoma. They didn’t have room for everything in their car so his mom will take the rest home on her next visit in a few weeks.

I dropped off a Father’s Day present for my dad who lives in Derby. I hung out with my family until it was time to head to my Sunday afternoon Zumba class at Andover YMCA. After Zumba I had to skedaddle. Took a quick shower so we could head to Bartlett Arboretum to celebrate Father’s Day with David and Donna.

We initially planned to taking Bebot but our new cooler was too big to fit in the trunk filled with folding chairs so we ended up taking two vehicles. Brian and his dad were in Bebot. Donna and I were in Alex. I hate driving in general and I hate driving to unfamiliar places even worse. Brian’s GPS decided to go berserk and I was totally stressed out. About an hour later, we miraculously found our way to Bartlett Arboretum safely and unscathed. Thank you, Jesus!

It was a beautiful day for an outdoor concert. Bartlett Arboretum is so magnificent, I couldn’t stay upset. The stress and frustration soon lifted away as we sat enjoying the music. I’d never seen or heard Moreland & Arbuckle before but I really enjoyed their performance. The parts we got to watch anyway, since we arrived at the end of the first set. (In addition to getting lost and taking a long time to get there, we actually misread the web site info. We thought the concert started at 5 PM rather than 4 PM. Oops!)

At least now we know how to get there and we know what to expect. It’s so beautiful there. Brian and I hope to return for another concert or maybe even attend the Winfield Warm Up in September or the Ecofest in October. There’s not any info yet about these two events on the Bartlett Arboretum web site but they’re both listed on the Tree House Concerts page so I’m penciling them in.

If you’ve never been to Bartlett Arboretum, I highly recommend it. It’s so peaceful and beautiful, and it’s not even that far away (about 40 minutes from our place, without getting lost). Here’s a little documentary about the century-old landmark in Belle Plaine. After watching this, I’m positive you’ll want to schedule a visit.

See you at one of the concerts!

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Belated Anniversary Treat for Mom and Dad

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.

During last weekend’s visit, we treated Donna and David to our favorite steak place — Cy’s Hoof & Horn Supper Club in Sedgwick. It’s a long ways from our home in Southeast Wichita but totally worth the drive. They have the best chicken fried steak I’ve ever had and it’s a huge portion. It’s more than enough for two people to share.

Of course, I ordered the chicken fried steak because it’s my favorite thing on the menu. Donna ordered the same. David had the prime rib special.

Brian wanted to try one of Cy’s legendary burgers but, after he told them to take everything out of it, it wasn’t so impressive. LOL.

He said the onion rings were good, though.

The homemade dessert that night was banana walnut cake with ice cream.

I’m not sure what was going on that night. Maybe they were just super busy. The food was good but not has good as we’ve had it there. The service was slow and my mashed potatoes were on the cold side. Though I wished that it was hotter, I didn’t say anything. I hope that mom and dad enjoyed the dinner despite the service shortcomings.

Belated happy anniversary, Mom and Dad B!

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Celebration Continued at Freddy’s

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Ching under Family.

After my Zumba class last Saturday, I met Brian, David, Donna, and grandma at Freddy’s Frozen Custard. It’s our most favorite burger joint.

They had spent the morning going through grandma’s storage unit.

Brian’s parents don’t get to visit very often so we made the most of this last visit. It was a productive visit. They were able to complete a lot of things on the “to do” list. The only down side that since it also happened to be Brian and grandma’s birthday month, we did a lot of eating out. I feel like I gained 10 pounds over the weekend.

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Grandma and Brian’s Joint Birthday Celebration

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.

Brian and I are not really huge fans of Olive Garden but we had dinner there last weekend in honor of Brian and grandma’s birthdays. They’ve celebrated their birthdays together since the dawn of time (or really since Brian was born) and have only missed three years. The missed years were when Brian lived in Memphis.

We don’t really care where we eat as long as we are all together. Brian’s mom and dad came up from Oklahoma. Kevin, Kasey, and their kids Kyndra and Andrew were able to join us for dinner as well. Here are some fun photos we took at dinner.

It took some doing but I finally got a good photo of David, Kevin, Andy, and grandma.

Here’s a good one of Andy and grandma.

Brian and I got grandma a gift card to the Nifty Nuthouse, everyone’s favorite candy shop, and she got a bunch of other goodies from Brian’s mom and dad, including these giant chocolate covered strawberries.

These strawberries are the size of apples!

Brian got a couple of Superman prints from his mom and dad, which are now hung in his bathroom in the basement. The placement is a little awkward but to each his own. Besides, we’re have a bathroom decorating contest in the basement and I’m convinced that my bathroom, which has the lithos we got from Julie and Viktor eight years ago, will win (with or without the help of the awkwardly positioned Superman prints).

Brian really loved his prints! Thank you, mom and dad!

Here are some pictures of food.

Brian got his usual.

David got his usual.

Donna and I both got the chicken and shrimp carbonara.

I was disappointed that they no longer put frozen peaches in the peach bellini iced tea but they let grandma order out of the kids’ menu and they gave us a whole basket of Andes mints at the end of our meal so all was forgiven.