Celebrating Grandpa Wayne

Last weekend we got to celebrate Grandpa Wayne's 90th Birthday.  It was such a fun weekend!  Al, Craig and MaryKay had a party for him in their church basement.  There was delicious food and lots of great time with family.

 My favorite thing of the whole party was when Grandpa told us stories about growing up.  He was asked to speak and tell us about what things were like when he was a child and how they have changed.  Grandpa Wayne told us so many things and answered all our questions.  He told about the day that the got electricity to his house for the first time.  He told how during the war things had to be rationed, and it was hard to get things.  He told us about losing his mom at a very young age, and how great his dad did to take care of him and his brother.  He told about how he started Wilcox Equipment at the age of 15!  He said, "It all started with a calf at the fair."  He said that his dad bought him a calf to raise for the fair, so he took care of it, took it to the fair, and eventually sold it.  He did that over several years and with more calves.  "That was very profitable for me because my dad was paying for the feed,"  he said.  With the money he made from the calves, he bought his first welding machine.  Grandpa Wayne's dad was very innovative.  He was the first farmer in the area to buy a combine and buy a tractor with rubber tires.  At the time these things were not well accepted by the neighboring farmers and they all said he was crazy.  He proved to not to be crazy but very smart as he outfarmed the neighbors very quickly.  It was wonderful for Scott, the boys and me to hear such rich family history, and Grandpa Wayne is a great story teller!

 The kids sang happy birthday to Grandpa Wayne.  Cuties!  They love playing on the church playground.  It has an old school metal slide that is at least 15 feet high.  They were sliding down it while sitting on wax paper.  They were flying off that thing!  We came home with lots of grass stains.  I love it!

 Grandpa Wayne is opening his presents.  The three little ones were very attentive to him and the presents.  They are the sweetest little trio.  We made Grandpa a CD of songs that were popular when he was a teenager.  I hope it brings back some good memories.  We had a really fun time making it for him!

After it was dark, the kids came inside to play some games.

 On Sunday, we all went to church together in Haven, and then Grandma Arlene took us all out to lunch as a present to Grandpa Wayne.  MaryKay played the piano at church, and she sounded beautiful.  The preacher had a great message as usual.  Then lunch was fun at the casino.  Here are the boys with Arlene.  They all love her so much!  She is great with them, and so fun!

We got one more picture with Grandpa Wayne, too.  It was an awesome birthday weekend!