SOME IMPORTANT ITEMS:.........

Hello there are a few important changes to the Optimist calendar and public reminder.
1) The Library restocking date has been changed to August 18th (shhhh, this is also Jan's b-day)
2) There will be a float meeting at the Morse' on August 6th at 6:30 PM
3) Don't forget the Crime Prevention night out at Armstrong Park August 7th starts at 6:30 PM.

Summer Social at the Barker's......

Saturday July 21st, the Optimist Club had their Summer Social and it was at the Barker's home again. We thank Annette and Lenny for inviting us to their beautiful home and gave us an opportunity to relax and have a conversation and enjoy a meal. I was not able to attend to due to a surgery I had during the week but understand from John who went and took a few pictures for me, that the food was great, the company was fantastic and even the dessert (which he did not bring any to me) was wonderful. I have posted a few of the pictures and hopes everyone enjoys them.

Members enjoying the view from the patio area.

New from last year, this was in the room that we used to sit and visit, I understand it now has this pool table in it.

New from last year

more relaxation

Jan Reding, Mary Harper and Erma Doty

Shelia and Danni Arnold

Kathy Doty relaxing

Lon Harper relaxing

The group relaxing before eating

New member for Optimist.....

At the meeting on July 21st, it was announced that Optimist has a new member. Rusty Brown, a member of the Grain Valley School Board has joined the Optimist Club. Welcome Rusty and please introduce yourselves when you meet Rusty and make him welcome.

What is a WHALE......guest speaker

WHALE
"We Have A little Emergency"

Today July 21st, Dorothy Carpenter came and spoke to the group about the WHALE Program. While I was not able to attend, John did go and took a few pictures to share on line. Please read the data below as it is an important safety precaution for our children in the community.

Whale is a child Identification Program that attaches emergency information to a child safety seat, giving emergency personnel vital information in the event the driver of the vehicle is incapacitated. It includes two components:1) the "Guide to Implementing the WHALE program." and 2) the WHALE kit.
Each WHALE kit includes:

• An Identification card- containing a space for a photograph of the child, and important information about the child in the safety seat, such as the child's name, date of birth, pertinent medical information, and to whom to contact in an emergency.


• Plastic Identification card holder- a plastic sleeve which has adhesive backing. This holder should be attached to the child safety seat (on the back) and contain the identification card.


• Two WHALE stickers- featuring the WHALE logo, to be attached to each side of the child safety seat.


• Two WHALE stickers- features a WHALE logo, to be attached to the lower rear corner of the vehicle's windows.

The WHALE program is sponsored in this area by:

Kansas City Southside Optimist Club

Contact Person: Dorothy Carpenter

If you need more information or need to know about how to get a WHALE kit, get with Annette Barker or Jan Reding.

New Birth Announcement.....

Congratulations it's a boy.......

We would like to extend our congratulations to Kathy and Aaron Ambrose on the birth of their son. Carson Aaron Ambrose was born July 17th at 2:30 P.M. was 8 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. Congratulations to the happy family with their new addition to the family.

hobby's can be fun... by Christy Davis

When I left California I left behind one of my hobbies I did for the heck of it. What stared as you need a cake for a family event eventually ended up being a full time weekend job for weddings. This is the fourth cake I have made within the last yearand 1/2 and thought I would share it with you. I have been making wedding cakes for 8 years in California and if you count the time I have been here it is 15 years. I have to say I had not make one in 5 in half years until I made Iva and Brads for the Optimist Club event and then made Kathy and Aaron one as well. I made one for Jeanette C. (optimist member) for daughter's wedding in september last year. This last one I made as a request from Sharon and Bob Morse for their son and daughter in law who were celebrating their 25th anniversary. Because they did not have wedding cake when they married, Sharon and Bob's Granddaughter (who was putting the event together) decided she wanted one for this event. I gladly took their order and made them one for Saturday the 14th of July. WE delivered and understand that they enjoyed it. I want to share a picture in hopes that others will share some of their hobbies with me to include in the blog occasionally.

This morning, July 7th meeting, we had a few things to discuss. I am posting a few of the items we spoke about and there will be more information on some of them.

• Summer Social will be at the Barker's house on July 21st. Please get with Annette for more information and what you can bring as a dish item to share.
• We will be having a guest speaker: Dorothy Carpenter on the WHALE project. Please come as there will be attendees from the Fire Department and I believe our law enforcement team. July 26th.
• School supplies: Carol Barnes is already working on this and the sacking of school supplies will be on August 6th.
• Non-club activity: Historical Society will have an Ice Cream Social in the park on July 26th (Thursday) 6:00 to 9:00 PM.
• Carol Barnes confirmed that the date we have to restock the Library is August 4th at 8:00 AM.
• We will be stamping dictionaries on August 25th at the meeting.
• Float for Valley Fair Daze will be weekend of 6th through the 8th of September. Parade is on the 8th. Meeting for brain storming for the float will be on July 9th, at the Morse' house 6:30 PM. Please come and bring your ideas, theme this year is "LIGHTING THE WAY".
• Sarah Vaughan is working on some ideas of fund raising from the near by restaurants that will give us a percentage back from the sales. The ones she is checking with is Zio's, Fudruckers, Applebee's, Red Robin, Fazolie's. Sarah will give us more information on this in the near future.

CONTINUE TO BRING YOUR RECEIPTS FROM PATRICIA'S AS WE HAVE RECEIVED ANOTHER CHECK. WE NEED THE ONE THAT IS ITEMIZED ONLY AS PATRICIA'S REVIEWS TO SEE WHICH ONES WE GET CREDIT FOR. SEE SHARON MORSE FOR MORE ON THIS.

Davis' home from trip

Hello, John and I have finally made it back from our vacation. This time we went to Ruidoso, New Mexico for a family reunion. There are 5 sisters, myself, Margie, Karen, Madeline and Toni, who planned this reunion for one whole year. John and I left on Tuesday June 26th to Tulsa, Oklahoma where we stayed with Karen overnight. We took off at 6:00 AM towards El Paso, Tx where we would be staying with Karen's son Gabe. This was a 14 hour drive from Tulsa, stopping every now and then to stretch due to having two small kids with us. When we arrived two sisters were already there with their families. On Thursday we went shopping for food and other items for the weekend event. Talk about shopping, every store we went to, we had at the minimum of 3 baskets. Friday we picked up the perishables and loaded up a trailer and we were off to the mountains of New Mexico. This was another 2 1/2 hour drive. There were 5 of us following each other and had a thunderstorm on the way up. We got there and started to unload. The deer were everywhere even at 4:00 in the afternoon. Karen took charge of one house and I took the other. We had John and son Jimmy start to BBQ hamburgers and Hot Dogs for the group. Later we waited for sister #5 to arrive from Washington State. She had the farthest to come. Taking almost 30 hours due to traffic she finally arrive at midnight. We stayed up finishing gift bags and other things for Saturday morning. While many went to the Texas Tree House to eat breakfast, I stayed at the Alhambra house and made Chili and potato salad. Toni made a fresh fruit salad in a carved out watermelon. The food was fantastic, as it was fried chicken, beef fajitas, ribs, macaroni salad, Chili Beans (home made) potato salad, fresh fruit, veggie plate, cheeses, bread rolls, cake, drinks and many other things. We had 42 people who came for the weekend and it started Friday night and ended on Monday morning at 10:30 AM. We came down the mountain back to El Paso for the night and proceeded to come back our way on Tuesday morning again at 6:00 AM. Spend the night in Tulsa and left at 6:00 AM for Grain Valley. Highway 71 was down to one lane due to flooding but we got home safe and sound on Fourth of July afternoon. So naturally unpacking and washing, we are getting back into the swing of things. I wanted to share a few pictures but I took close to 100 on my own camera that I will print and eventually share with you guys. Glad to be back and see what I have posted below.

This is the picture of us five girls. left to right bottom, Margie, Chris, next row: Madeline, Karen and far top Toni. We planned this reunion for 1 yr and we are proud of the results.

We took family pictures and this was mine, bottom row, left to right, Sarah, Chris, Jimmy, Kaylea, Top Desire, John and Jimmy Jr.

This is a picture of our son Jimmy and his wife Sarah and of course, the baby, Kaylea Rose. She is 1 1/2 yrs old and very smart. She knew which one of the adults was her grandma and grandpa. We are very proud of her and naturally the other two grand kids.

Kaylea took time out to sit with Grandpa John and watch the races on TV. She was so cute sitting there and just enjoying her grandpa. She didn't go to him at first and I think it was the facial hair, she just stared and on the second day, she was looking for him all the time.

What we did is placed everyone on the staircase from the Texas Tree house and took a group picture. There were 42 of us and each time we had at least one or two people out of the picture taking the group pictures with at least 6 to 8 cameras at one time. It was a sight to see.

These were our morning visitors. Each morning, afternoon and evening time, these visitors came between the two cabins we had. These were taken at six o'clock in the morning and they almost came withing 5 to 10 feet from you and never ran away. I think we were invading their territory. Friendly and beautiful.

We enjoyed ourselved so much no one wanted to go home. We will be planning another one in about two years and will see where the next one will be.

Christy Davis