The Whirlwind Week

The past week has been quite full and varied, so instead of trying to sum it up too much in words, we’ll tell it in pictures (with a little captioning).

Saturday was perhaps the fullest, starting with the Waverly (vol.) Fire Department’s pancake breakfast. We got there right at 6:30am to avoid the rush, and make sure we got our fair share of the fried rinderwurst patties (mmmm!).

Andy and I got a reprieve from picking corn Saturday morning, so we could run the Waverly

Light and Power's Best Dam 5k (get it?). Andy went ahead and won his age group, and beat most of the high school cross country team that ran the race as well.

We then had a big (early) Thanksgiving dinner at my dad’s for lunch - with the Drape extended family all together. After cleaning up, Chrissie and I headed out for Solon, IA (about two hours away) and Anne Davies’ (New School teacher) wedding.

Sunday’s big event was Grandma Weidler’s 97th birthday party following church (photos thanks to Matt, self-appointed chief photographer of the event). My Grandma Weidler (mom's mom) is the twin on the left in the pictures. My Grandma Edna (dad's mom, turning 97 in January) is the one standing in the picture of three grandmas (and almost 300 years of wisdom!).

We had a great time with my brother and his family (Doug, Kim, Zach and Mara) while they were here – so much so that when they tried to fly out on Monday, it didn’t work, so we went back and got them, and they stayed one more day. Yesterday they tried to leave again, and it worked.

Andy’s cross-country season ended yesterday with the conference meet. Since he’s a home-schooled kid, he has been able to run officially in these meets (funny). He went ahead and got 6th overall, and 1st for his school, at yesterday’s meet (more funny).

Matt finished up his school stint last week, and will add his own blog entry with details on his time in class.

We also took in the Fall Waverly Draft Horse Sale. Some amazing horses there. We went to the main auction for a bit one day - the first horse sold for $800… the fourth for $26,000. We didn’t buy anything (sorry Grandpa Roger).

Yesterday, we took a little stroll across the Wartburg College campus (my mom's, and Uncle David's, alma mater), just down the road from where my dad lives.

So there you have a bit of the update. A week left, and lots of corn to go. It’s finally turning to fall weather here, so I actually get to wear the coat I brought, and don’t have to keep working in the one pair of work shorts I have. Don't forget to tune back in soon for Matt's version of his 4th grade experience.