Grandpa's 73rd birthday, Grandpa and Grandma's 53rd anniversary

Mom and Dad aren't much for surprises!

"Where are we going? I thought we were going out to dinner! Why are we out in the middle of nowhere?"

"We aren't planning to ride ostriches at some ostrich farm, or eat some of these soy beans in the field, are we?" "What is this place?" It's called the "Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper" Soon, familiar faces started to appear...
Cousin Mary Lou and Orin Elder

Who could that be?
Nephew Stan and Adrienne Massey Son Brian Granddaughter Rachel, Dave, Ethan and Jonathan Busenitz
Hanging out at the "Hopalong Cassiday Theater". Riding the train

All of the adults on the choo choo

Drinking Lemonade

Ropin' a calf...c'mon Ethan, you can do it!

Cowboy Brian will show us how it's done!
Horse-drawn wagon ride

All together on the wagon.
Stan and Adrienne riding the wagon Brian got a front seat..we told him it was so he could clean up after the horses.

Grandma and her walker got around better than we expected.

looking around the gift shop

Granddaughter Rebecca, Dan, Esther and Ruthy Busenitz arrive. We had fair warning upon entering the dining hall. So we all removed our spurs. Do you think we can keep her off the tables?
We found our table

and high chairs! (Great-Granddaughter Ruthy) Great Grandsons Ethan and Jonathan Great Granddaughter Esther with Ethan and Grandpa Chaney ICE CREAM!!! Dat's nummy! Mom and Dad were presented a basket of cards from many relatives that could not attend, as well as those who did.
Some of the family at our table.
After an "all you can eat BBQ dinner, we settled back for a wonderful show of comedy, bluegrass and cowboy music from the past.

Dad enjoyed the "PLAYER" piano after the show.

The next day, We had another reunion at our house.

Rachel brought the boys...

(Grandma made brownies, and as you can see, Ethan was a great help

with the clean up!)

...and Larry showed up with his girlfriend, her daughter, Granddaughter Kara, and Great Grandson Chris. I took some 4 generation photos.










Dan and Rebecca came over as well, and we all had some lunch together. Mom and Dad returned home after an exhausting 24 hours, but it was 24 hours filled with fond memories. A very happy birthday and anniversary mom and dad.

Game Night at the Gerlach's

The trick- without using your hands, get a dab of vaseline on the tip of your nose... on which you then stick a cotton ball...run down to the end of the table, and deposit it... ...into a bowl as quickly as you can. Each team gets 5 minutes to place as many cotton balls into the bowl as possible.

You might ask, "Wasn't that a little embarrassing?" WELL YEAH, IT SURE WAS!

Next, each team had to stack 5 apples, which had to stay standing for 5 seconds. It isn't as easy as it looks!

Alternating hands, as quickly as possible, remove the bottom cup and place it on top, until you've gone through the whole stack.

Each member of the team blows up a balloon, and uses that balloon to blow 12 paper cups off of the table in the order that the cups are numbered. If the team blows one cup out of order, they have to start over again.

Each team has to stand on this cloth, without using their hands, flip it over to the other side and make it completely straight again. Oh yeah, you aren't allowed to step off of the cloth!

Dip a sock in a bowl of water, run to the cup (on someone's head), wring it out, and run back, so the next team member can do the same, until the glass is full.

You might ask, "Wouldn't the person holding the glass on his head get wet?" WELL YEAH! THAT'S THE POINT!

Each team lays across a long tarp, passing a paper plate filled with water over their heads to the next person in line. The refill pitcher is there, just in case there is a spill...and it is rare that someone DOESN'T spill.You know, it's hard to keep a plate perfectly level from the horizontal position...

The adults and children alike enjoyed their time together. Thanks Gerlachs.

The Party and Grandkids

Friday, Charity was invited to attend a "book party" where the girls were to come dressed as a character in a book.

She went dressed as "Felicity" in the American Girls series...Revolutionary War era.

It was a fun afternoon making bookmarks, having a treasure hunt, dinner and root beer floats.
Charity and some friends Esther is turning into a little girl.

And Ethan is quite a diligent young man.