2nd Family ReUnion in TN

Sunday, April 14, 2013 (Overcast, 75 degrees):  WOW, what a week!  Last weekend was General Conference of the Church and it was awesome as usual.  Loved the talks and can’t wait to read them in the Ensign magazine.  Then Justin, Jessica, Kyleigh and Mason showed up a day early and the fun really began.  Hopefully I will remember it all and be able to convey my love of all of it, especially all of my family being here this past weekend.

Sunday evening all of us had a cookout and a nice big fire in the firepit on our new deck.  It was extremely relaxing and we had fun telling stories.  I had a great idea for once and had each of them tell part of a story with each succeeding person building upon the previous parts.  It was hilarious!!  Mason was especially funny (i.e. morbid) re: the big bad wolf coming out of granny’s tummy and eating her.  All of us had a good laugh over that one.

Monday, April 8^th was my birthday and was very special.  Justin went to work in the area after going to breakfast with me and meeting the Krystal gang.  ;-)   Then the rest of us had a big picnic lunch at Panther Creek State Park and the weather was very nice and we had a wonderful time.   The kids really enjoyed playing in the playground and where we ate lunch.  Mason got over his fear of the slides after Jessica pulled him down one and after that, there was no stopping him!  Ha Ha.  Then later, after playing lots of games in the basement, I took everyone to Taste of Dandridge and bought everyone dinner.  We all had a laugh about that but it reminded me of when my Dad took everyone out on his birthday and paid for all of it.  A little bit of symmetry.  

Tuesday was fun as I took everyone, minus Justin who went out on sales calls again, to Krystal and we had a lot of fun meeting everyone again.  It was funny to watch Mason and Kyleigh be so incredibly shy when they usually are anything but that.  Then we went over to Jo and Gene’s house so they could see the kids.  We had a good time there as well and then we proceeded over to Pigeon Forge to have lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and met Justin there.  The weather was in the low 80’s and sunny so we ate outside and really enjoyed ourselves.  Then after Justin left, we went to Metcalf Bottom (one of our favorite places to relax in the Smokies) and walked, talked and threw rocks in the creek.  I even showed the kids how to skip rocks across the water.  The first rock went across the entire creek and Mason said, “Good job Papaw!”  :-)  We came back and had a nice dinner at home and watched a few more kid’s movies.   I watched a LOT of those this week.

Wednesday we had a picnic over at Cherokee Park (a city park) and we weren’t too impressed with it although we still had a good time and the kids enjoyed being outside and playing in the park.   A shot a few videos of Mason making fun of me and they are priceless.  The first is when he found a “neck collar” you wear when sitting on a couch, etc to keep your head from going to far back / forward and without him ever seeing me use it, he grabbed it and said, “this is Papaw … and starting imitating me snoring!!”  It was so funny!  Another was of a sound I make and then Mason tries to imitate which is pretty funny as well.  I also shot a video of both of them putting on some costumes and running around the corner of my basement to scare me.  Again, another cherished memory.  Later that afternoon, Justin and I went over to WC’s (a wonderful friend of mine) to do a little shooting.  We had a wonderful time just hanging out together and shooting the breeze.   Then later that evening we played UNO and harassed poor Teresa.  We all had a lot of fun, and precious little sleep.

Thursday was the first rainy day so I continued to babysit and played a TON of games with the two kids while Teresa and Jessica continued to get everything ready for the other boys and their families coming and the birthday party on Saturday.  I definitely had the better deal and I truly appreciate Teresa’s sacrifice.  I know she wanted to spend more time with the grandkids but I also know she really enjoyed being with Jessica so much again.  Teresa loves Jessica like she is her own and they had a lot of fun together.  After dinner we played UNO again and after getting kids to bed, we played a new game called Ticket to Ride which was a lot of fun and Teresa won (I came in last). 

Friday Justin took the day off and Travis, Sarah, Landon, Leah and Delaney got here about 8:30am and met us at Krysal.  The kids got along really well all weekend and I have several nice pictures of them.

   

Kyle joined us close to 12:30pm at Panther Creek State Park again for a very breezy and cool picnic luncheon.  But as always, we had a lot of fun and the kids just loved being with each other and playing together.  I still remember how I used to do that with my cousins in Virginia.  When it got to be nap time, we packed up and went back to the house and then the boys all went out to WC’s again and had an absolutely wonderful time just being together, teasing each other and just having a good time telling stories and playing with our toys.  ;-)   We were almost gone too long but all of us got some text “reminders” and so we packed up, went to the store to pick up a few more items, and went home to home made pizzas.   They were delicious and it was really fun as we sat around and talked about a myriad of topics and just enjoyed one another’s company again.   Of course, there was UNO later as usual which was fast becoming a family tradition.

 

Saturday was absolutely beautiful and it was warm and sunny and Erin came down to join Kyle.  Mom, Dad and my sister Karen came over as well as Jo, Gene and David (Teresa’s brother).  Teresa, as usual, outdid herself on my birthday cake which you can see below.  A few people, when she posted it on Facebook thought it was a real firearm.  :-)

She had camo cups, plates, etc.; it was really “way cool” as Mason said.   The cake was chocolate, vanilla and lemon and it was delicious as always.  We ate way too much but no one really complained too much and everyone except for our parents competed in the corn hole tournament.   This took a good deal of the afternoon to complete with Justin and Jessica finally winning the couple part and David and Justin winning the guys versus the girls portion.  With all of the sun and fun, and with so few hours of sleep during the week, I took a few of the kids inside the basement with me to watch a movie while we waited for dinner to begin.   Mason, like most kids being a little nuclear furnance, sat with me watching TV and before long, we both fell asleep.  Teresa took a picture of us and posted it on Facebook with the following caption which was pretty funny:  Looks like Papaw and Mason have partied out and we haven't even started dinner and games at the fire pit!!!

Jessica helped me to wake Mason up (since I couldn’t) and all of us got up and started getting ready for phase II of the party day.  Justin and Kyle got the firepit going and we had hot dogs, chips, fruit and lots of other food which was only the precursor to the real food, “smores!!”.   The kids really enjoyed toasting marshmallows over the fire and making them but not as much as they enjoyed eating them.   We were out there till about 10:30pm and the kids had an absolute blast playing games in the yard.   Especially playing in this HUGE box we had (guess we will have to bring another if we have this get together again next year).   Leah told me she loved the new house now that we had a firepit and could toast marshmallows.  :-)   Travis and Sarah left before 10pm and it broke our hearts to see how devastated Landon and Leah were to have to leave.   They gave everyone super big hugs and are anxious to come down again real soon they said.  I can’t wait as the house now feels / sounds like a morgue with everyone gone now.  It is now so quiet, it’s actually kind of eerie.

The UNO game between the six of us (guys versus gals) was a lot of fun and didn’t end until 1:30am.  All of us were dead tired by then but the guys won so that helped.   LOL

This was my birthday, Easter, Christmas and every other holiday wrapped into one!  I love my family so much and I owe so much to Teresa and Jessica for making all of this happen so flawlessly.   I am indeed a very blessed person.   I thank God every day for being a father.   I love each and every one of them.  Thanks to ALL OF YOU for coming; it was indeed a very special treat for us.