About the roast. I experimented a little more this time. I brought the meat out of the fridge early and let the meat rise in temperature to about 50 degrees. I placed crushed garlic cloves in the center and also poked whole cloves in the meat at various places, added seasoning, tied up the roast at the ends and three strings in the center then buttered the ends, added more seasoning to the outside and then poked in a digital thermometer and placed the roast on the roaster rack and added about 1in. of water in the bottom of the roaster pan. I preheated the oven to 500 degrees, and cooked at this temperature for 20 minutes then dropped the temperature down to 350 and then monitored the digital readout. I set the temperature alarm for 130 degrees. When the alarm went off, I removed the roast from the oven, covered it and watched the digital readout. When the temperature hit 140 degrees... dinner was ready. WOW! It was FANTASTIC!! It had a gorgeous pink in the center and was "mouth watering" juicy! YUM!! (smile)
After the three of us stuffed ourselves, we retired to the living room. Originally we were planning on a good game of bowling on the Wii. Sharon's dad loves to bowl on the Wii. However, Sharon suggested I show her dad my John Deere toy collection. Well, needless to say, that took up the remainder of the afternoon. (smile) Sharon's dad is a farmer so many of the Ertl John Deere toys he was very familiar with. I couldn't resist the moment. I surrounded him with the toys as I brought them out to show him... then I snapped this photo. Her dad is so cool! (smile) The photo turned out fantastic so we printed it out on photo paper so her dad could show what Santa brought him. (chuckling) It was a SUPER WONERFUL day.
Sunday morning, before heading out to return home, everyone hit the ice skating rink in the park. I did not dare to get on ice skates, but it sure was tempting. At my age and frail body, I just cannot take a chance on getting hurt. Mike and his family, Robert and his family "all" got on skates! They had the whole skating rink to themselves. Apparently, we got there early enough that no one else was skating. I used Sharon's camera to take short video clips which I later selected multiple images to create this composite photo of everyone skating. The skating party was a wonderful way to put the finishing touches to a fantastic visit with the boys and their families. Sharon and I were tickled to see all the kids together this trip. The kids are now reaching the ages to where they are starting to spread their wings out, eager to discover the world of their own accord. This will probably be their last visit with them all together. Children grow up so fast! (sigh) I'm very proud of Mike and Robert. They both have wonderful families. They are doing alright.