The Weekend!

It has been a whirlwind weekend. We celebrated Butch's 70th birthday and the entire family was here. That's the first time we've all been together at the same time in several years. I enlisted Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy's help to make it the most fun and assigned each one a job. 

Sandy was to think of a couple fun activities. She had each family member to bring a smaller gift in addition to the regular gift. Each person was to think (and get) something that was his favorite thing. She also had each person plan to tell a "Dad/Grandpa" favorite story.

Stephanie was in charge of the charcuterie which was to be our dinner on Friday night. We like to stick with easy pick up foods during happy hour.

Mindy was in charge of party favors. This family does love party or table favors!

The weekend went like this:

Sandy and family arrived on Wednesday night and the fun began! On Thursday, several of the girls met at Puffy Muffin for lunch. Thanks, Morgan for coordinating.

Since Sandy and Greg's anniversary is also on Butch's birthday, June 11, they planned a night out and dinner with their family.

I spent Friday morning getting ready for the party and picking up the cake. 

At 4 p.m. the family was to be ready for the arrival of the photographer. We've been having our family photo take with the '59 Corvette since the kids were little--about every 8-10 years. Each time, they recreate the same pose. I'll post a picture when I get them back. Here is one of the "kids" who are all now adults.

I can't believe how grown up they all are. It went by so fast! I couldn't imagine how. much fun it would be when our girls became adults and now it's the same with the "grands."

Around 5:30, Stephanie and Nicky got the charcuterie ready as we moved in to our normal happy hour routine.

This thing was chock full! You can't tell here, but there is a complete 'nother layer underneath.

And then of course, the cracker tray with dried fruit.

After everyone filled their plate, we started with our happy hour stories. We are very organized about our happy hours. We go around the room and each person tells something that happened during the week. 

Mindy presented everyone with the party favors. She "nailed it!"

She is always quick with a "dad" quote! Just like the cocktail napkins at her wedding!

Like I said, she "nailed it!"

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. I jumped up "OMGosh! I wonder who that could be?"

I came back with, "Look who's here! Magic Wayne!" We then proceeded with a magic show. Each of the grands got to get in on the act.

Some of the tricks were really amazing. After Magic Wayne left, we analyzed the tricks and figured most of them out. Some we couldn't---like how he managed to get Butch's wedding band in a little plastic bubble INSIDE of a gumball machine! We think it had something to do with the machine malfunctioning. I was feeling sorry for him, but with all that moving and shaking, he must have somehow through sleight of hand gotten it in there.

Afterwards, we played a few other games and then opened gifts. While the gift opening was happening, we had cake. 

I guess it was around 10 p.m. that we broke up the party because several family members had to be up at 5 a.m. to head to Loretto, Kentucky for a Maker's Mark tour. 

More of the weekend tomorrow.

Me on Monday

When you are reading this, I will be on my way to St. Louis for a couple weeks. My sister, Janice is having surgery and I'm staying to help her afterwards. Or maybe I should say, I'm helping with the dogs! We'll see how that goes. 

I'm hoping to have some time to write a few posts. I have to tell you all about Butch's 70th birthday weekend. It was a blast! And crazy. We certainly crammed a lot in. More on that soon!

Friday Funnies

Today is Butch's 70th birthday. These are for him!

What I Buy Wednesday

I don't buy much when I travel---well, because we're traveling a lot and I don't need anything. But I do love my Starbucks mug collection, so I am always on the lookout to add to it. I'm trying to collect one from every state I visit. Last week, I got South Dakota:

Butch thought I'd be disappointed because I recently added New Mexico and Arizona to my collection. They were both orange too. That doesn't bother me. When you put them all together, they make for a nice colorful display.

This is the style when I first started collecting--about 10 years ago. I have dozens now. 

It doesn't really bother me that the style has changed. What I love about them is the size. My tea maker makes exactly two mugs worth. I've taken several to the beach, but they are even a different style than these. I like a big mug. There are about 6 more in the cabinet I use for everyday. Periodically, I rotate them. Every time I pick one up, it reminds me of something from that trip. 

These Starbucks mugs are the perfect souvenir for me!

Travel Tuesday

On this past Friday, Butch asked me what I was doing on Saturday. I told him that I didn't have any plans. He said, "Good! I have something planned. Be ready by 9 a.m., wear something nice and comfortable walking shoes." 

Of course I was curious. I thought it could be any of these four things:

1. Trip to the zoo.

2. Trip to our botanical gardens.

3. Do the downtown scene here in Nashville.

4. Go to East Nashville for something.

I figured it might include geo-caching. 

But, when we left on Saturday morning, we were headed in the complete opposite direction from all four of those areas. 

We traveled south. About 45 minutes later, we exited at Columbia, Tennessee. I was certain it was geo-caching. He said it was something else. We arrived at the James K. Polk house. Then I thought, "okay, we're touring this." Nope, that wasn't it either. He walked up to the desk at the visitor's center and said "reservations for the garden tour." OMGosh! He surprised me with a garden tour! He knows me so well!

It was just a two day event. There were about 12 gardens on the tour. We walked to the first 7 or 8 and then drove to the further ones. Some were beautiful and others were not so great. Still, I loved it. 

I do love these old wrought iron fences and gates.

This one had a pretty cute tree house. 

I wanted us to get a selfie in one of the gardens, but we kept forgetting. So, instead, we took one in our own garden. More of my garden photos to come.

We had a great time. Butch said he wished the gardens were a little more spectacular. I told him that even if every single one was a bust, the fact that he surprised me with an outing that he knew I would love was enough! He does this sort of thing fairly often. He won't say where we're going. I do like the surprise of it. In fact, he and his brother planned an entire trip up east several years ago. They didn't tell Chris and me anything about it. Each night at happy hour, they would tell us what we were doing the next day. That is really fun to just go blindly! At least I love it! 

Sometimes those surprises include tea. 

Guess which one is mine? Apparently, he thinks I'm worth it!

I can't wait for our next adventure!!

Monday Mystery

Well, strange things continue to happen around here. Even though we were never able to solve the mystery of our critter visitor by the garage---what it is and why it goes to that particular spot--we thought we had deterred it/them. I guess they got used to the motion light, because they are back (you have to expand the picture to see up close).

I guess we need to set up a camera if we hope to solve it.

But now, another mystery has been added. When we returned from South Dakota, Butch was checking on all of our flowers on the patio. That's when he noticed this:

The plants are completely gone!! Not just dug out---but gone! We think of the chipmunks right away, but the plants would have been too large for them to carry off. I'm starting to wonder if we have an entire army of them or something. What else could it be? And to add further to the mystery, here's the planter on the other side of these steps---totally unharmed!

I just don't get it. But I do have a thought. I use Osmocote--a time release fertilizer---that I love. I suppose if those critters are after that, then they could be huge. Stands to reason if it makes plants grow big, it could make critters grow big! Seriously, if it is chipmunks, then the plants are as big as they are. And why did they just destroy the one planter when another was right there? 

All this wondering is going to drive me crazy!! Maybe we need cameras all over our house!

Some Crazy Things for Sunday

Here are a few things that I just had to comment on:

Awhile back while geo-caching, we came across this. I had never seen anything like it. It was right on the sidewalk. It's stuff to fix your bike and blow up your tires. What??? News to me!

I can't even recall what awards show this was last week. But come on Justin. What's with that "hairdo?" Doesn't it seem a little politically incorrect? Not to mention "stupid." Really, what's up with that and who told him it looked good?

While in South Dakota, we went to the famous Wall Drug. The place itself was humongous and a total tourist trap. It wasn't that great, but then I did see this. Do you remember what movie from the 80's it's from? Hint: it's the opposite of little!

We had these excellent bloody Mary's at a Cajun restaurant in Rapid City, SD. I got the one with the shrimp--it had olives too. I always say, "Bloody Mary's are the drinks that act like a meal!" So true.

And finally this. My friends and I were just talking about an email that one of them had gotten in the business world that referred to this. You might have to make it bigger to see what it says. I've underlined the part to pay attention to. This was part of the paperwork I had to fill out for a physical therapy session. I've never seen anything like this before. It seemed like a question off of a grammar test. I had flashbacks, broke out in a cold sweat and left it blank! Crazy--if you ask me!