We left Florida last Thur. afternoon which was earlier than we had planned. (Originally planned for 5 a.m. Friday to drive straight through...ugh!). Managed to drive as far as Milledgeville, GA Thur night stayed at a Hampton Inn then met Roxann at her store on Friday morning! It was wonderful to see her again and I spent about $50 without DH complaining at all. I was amazed....not only did he not have a problem making the side trip but he let me spend money on the hobby he calls "Crapbooking" without complaint! Roxann is such a hoot! Then I got a bonus......Roxann called Elise (used to be on the group but doesn't get to post much anymore) and Elise came out and brought her 911 album with her. It was so wonderful to finally meet Elise after chatting with her on line for so long and then to get a bonus us her making her entire presentation of her 911 album. It is truly a wonderful album with an amazing story.(My family mentioned it several times to other family members when we were at my dad's.) We spent about 1 1/2 hrs at Roxann's store visiting and shopping. Yes, there are pics of us...just haven't gotten them developed yet.....don't know how to scan them in so will have to mail one to Shelley to post on the homepage. After leaving Milledgeville, which turned out not being out of our way at all due to the route my dad was having us take, we drove through to Dillard, GA where we decided to stop for a late lunch/early dinner at the Dillard House. This is some great food and we only get there every 2-4 years. It was soooooo good! Had a wonderful cabbage casserole. I'm not much of a cooked cabbage person but this was great. I debated about buying their cookbook...talked myself out of it and am now kicking myself! Dillard is just down the mountain from where my Dad is in Sky Valley. Sky Valley is on the GA/NC border. Got to Dad's at about 4:45 Friday then went to the house we were staying in with my brother. Didn't stay at Dad's since we had flown my Aunt and Uncle in as a birthday gift for dad. Had a nice visit with everyone Friday evening then DH, DD, DSIL and I went down the mountain to do the grocery shopping for the party. Spent $263.00 at Walmart Supercenter on food! Later that night my other brother and SIL arrived. Saturday we hit the floor running to get all the food prepared for the party on Sunday. We literally cooked all day! Right now I don't care if I ever cook again! lol Sat. afternoon my cousin and his family arrived. We fed 22 people dinner at our place on Sat night. We made it an easy meal (remember we'd been cooking all day anyway)....threw together a tossed salad, mac & cheese from scratch and marinated some chicken breasts which one of the guys grilled for us. It worked out fine. Enjoyed visiting with my cousin and his wife which I haven't seen in about 11 years. Sunday we all went to church with Dad and Joan. Filled 3 pews in Clayton Baptist Church. lol When they asked for you to raise your hand if this was your first time at their church we thought we'd give them a stroke so kept our hands down. lol After church it was back to work to get things ready for the party. Stopped to pick up the cake Joan had ordered, got some balloons,etc and ended up spending another $100 + lol. Do we see a pattern here yet? lol Party went well....dad had a good time and was really surprised to see my "other" Aunt and Uncle at the party. After that we told him the surprises were over. We took 4 vehicles full of food (1 van, 1 suburban, my Envoy and the trunk of DSIL LaSabre) and we were there. Joan had asked her family to each bring a dish....don't know why but she did.....and the guests started arriving. There were between 45-50 people. We had a ton of food and when everyone was done it looked like they had not eaten a thing! lol If we had known where a retirement home was or a homeless shelter we'd have fed them too! We pitched about 1/2 the food and took the other 1/2 back to the house with us. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs until they were coming out our ears. One of the refrigerators at the house went out on us so we pitched more of the food. We fed 18 of us again on Monday and still had food left! lol I'd rather have too much than not enough but shoot.....what a waste of food and money. Joan's family sure doesn't eat like our family is used to eating! With regard to food....the rest of the week was more of the same. My cousin and family did not stock their camper with food and it was a darn good thing! lol Wed we went to my dad's cousin's home. She has a beautiful house on top of Black Rock Mountain. One brother had left on Monday, my other brother left Wed evening and Dave and I decided to come home Thur instead of today. Made the trip home in 11 hrs yesterday...had planned to shop at an outlet mall in Valdosta but DH missed the exit and it didn't make sense to backtrack. Today is laundry day and we have to bake for Lauren's dance team bake sale fundraiser tomorrow.
Haven't had a chance to catch up on all the posts yet but I'm going to try. Thanks for the prayers for safe travel....they sure helped....expecially when my 16 year old DS was behind the wheel of my new vehicle! lol
Susan