Friday night has been date night for us for quite a few years now. It’s great to have that time set aside just for us. Lately, it seemed like we’ve been stuck at home – either due to COVID or excessive heat or because I was recovering from one of my surgeries. Last night the weather was perfect to be outdoors. We decided to go to Johnny’s BBQ in West Olathe for dinner out on the patio, and other than the flies, it was perfect! They have amazing food for really great prices!

Kent had looked on Google Earth and found a fun place to take some pictures outside of town. It looked like there was an old bridge going over Cedar Creek from the satellite photos. However, once we drove there, we discovered it was gated private property! We were only about 15 minutes from Lake Olathe, so we decided to go there instead. I don’t think we had been there since we took the girls for a photo shoot in November 2007. The fall colors were amazing, but the girls were largely uncooperative. Ha ha!!

Throwback to 2007

They’ve done a lot of updating to the area around the lake since then, with new playground equipment and beach area with a floating play area out on the water. We didn’t really care about any of that stuff last night. Kent just wanted to take some photos of me around the lake. Here are some of my favorites:

My parents came for a quick visit for a couple days this week. They usually come between the girls’ birthdays to help celebrate. We didn’t get any photos, but it sure was nice to have them here! Mom brought some of her zinnias, and I added them to my one hydrangea bloom with some euphorbia (the little white flowers):

I had another physical therapy follow-up appointment with Janis this week as well. My ribs have felt a bit stiff since the last surgery, so she used her electro-magnetic machine to work it out. It really helped! I told Janis that I scheduled a couple appointments with an acupuncturist next week for neuropathy and hot flashes (neither of them are very serious, but I want to check out an alternative approach). She recommended no needles above my waist, so I guess we’ll see how that will work!

Now that I’m feeling better, I’m really hoping to start working on painting and redecorating our master bedroom and bathroom. It was something I was wanting to do before my diagnosis. I had already purchased new curtains and fabric to make a slip cover for our chair and chosen a new paint color. As I was looking through old photos to find the original ones from Lake Olathe, I found photos of our “new” master bedroom decorations in the exact same folder!! I think 13 years is long enough…