Happy Memorial Day & Travel Tuesday!

Butch, Mindy and Justin and I, went to St. Louis on Thursday of Memorial weekend for a family party at my sister, Jeanne’s. 

Whenever I go to St. Louis, I always see my cousin, Chrissy. This trip, I also met up with another cousin, Julie—who had a bunch of old pictures. Many I already have. Unfortunately, just about all the rest were unidentifiable. We don’t know any of the people or locations and there’s no one left to ask. Still, it was fun to see her. Janet and Jeanne were with me. Julie is 17 years younger than me, so I never really knew her. I love that she reached out to give us the photos.

Butch spent Friday with his brother. When Chrissy and I finished lunch, she dropped me off there. We hung out with Walter and Chris, caught up on all the news, played Mexican Train and ordered St. Louis pizza, toasted ravioli, and salad for dinner. We always have a good time with them. And, of course, we cannot go to St. Louis without having the basics--which also includes frozen custard which we had with Mindy and Justin on Saturday.

Other family came from out-of-town for the party too. There were 29 of us. It was the first time the remaining 6 of us siblings were together since Ronnie’s death in 2018. I cannot believe it's been 6 years already. Seems like just yesterday. 

From the left: Janice, me, Joyce, Matt, Jennifer and Jeanne.

The rest of the gang:

Unfortunately, Uncle Tony had already left when we got the picture. Devon's friend, Monica is taking it, so she's not in it.

I was so happy to see everyone—especially Uncle Tony. He is still so spry. However, he did have a fall. Luckily, he was okay. I spent quite awhile taking 6 kids driving in Jim’s golf cart. 

He’s always so generous to let me do that. I’m not the first, but I don’t get to do it often. I always make the kids abide by the rules of the road, using hand signals as necessary, keeping their eyes on the road (I throw in tricks to make sure they are—like, “Look, there’s a deer!”), and stopping at stop signs. Any infraction is cause for immediate forfeiture of their turn. I made a big deal out of it, “Okay, that’s it, you're done. You failed to abide by the rules of the road!” Of course, as always, it’s all about memories with Aunt Barb. This time they started hounding me to take them driving right when I got my dinner. They had already wolfed theirs down. I do love spending time with all the "littles"--even though they are outgrowing me. I might have to start calling them the "biggers!"

After we were out for awhile, we came back to the house so the kids could “refill” their candy bags. Mindy and I made a cookie and candy charcuterie board as reported yesterday. We let them each choose whatever they wanted. That was a "hit!" I hope the adults got some of the cookies.

After 5 hours, the Eads family was ready to go. We knew we were getting an early start home on Sunday. Janice and Jennifer left then too. I take a lot of razzing from my brother about going to bed early--around 9, but then we're reading or watching the news. I try to make him understand, we are very early morning people---NOT night people. Plus, 5 hours is long enough for a party in my book. At my house, I would be telling people the party was over! 

We got on the road with Mindy and Justin following us at 4:50 a.m. It was pouring down rain with lightning which made visibility difficult. The traffic was very light. We made one gas/potty/pick up food stop. It took us 6 hrs and 40 minutes. Usually it 5 1/2 hours. It's nice to have one day to just relax and get ready for the week. 

I'm so happy we were able to get the pictures. No one really wants to stop what they are doing and it's hard to get everyone to cooperate, but we make them! Our times together are fewer and farther between. I hate it. Time is just going too quickly. Please slow down!