An old fiddle

Today is my Dad's 60th birthday and marks the end of a busy summer for family celebrations . I'm not sure how they plan to celebrate but I'm sure it will include a joke or two about getting older and wiser, after all I believe the saying goes "the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune". Mother does say that Daddy has mellowed through the years and especially since his retirement. I'm also sure that eating a special meal will factor in somewhere along the way. I've heard it said that by age 60 a man has spent 20 years in bed and over 3 years eating. Do you think that includes a man who gets a "little skinny" every day? His figures may be a little closer to 25 yrs. We've often made fun of him for this but I think he's been one up on us all along because studies now show that companies get more from their employees when they allow a short power nap after lunch. Anyway, it seems to have worked for him because I don't know anyone who works longer or plays harder than my Dad. Enjoy your day Daddy, no surprises this time even though this is also a very significant day.

catching up...

Branson has been at home sick for the past 2 days which means that I have also been out of work. I feel bad for my co-workers when this happens but it also gives me a glimpse of what it might be like to be a stay-at-home mom. Branson hasn't felt like doing much more than lying on the couch and sleeping so I've spent the last 2 days cleaning out drawers ,closets and catching up on all the laundry. I've even washed the hot pads and organized the tupperware cabinet. Can anyone tell me why it is if you pick out a bowl you can't find the lid and if you pick out a lid you can't find the bowl? Well, I can tell you this is one problem I no longer have because I bought 2 boxes of matching tupperware and trashed everything else. This is a newly acquired talent for me because like my Dad I keep almost everything. For those of you who don't know how it feels to de-clutter your life you should try it sometime, you'll get a real since of accomplishment.

Happy Birthday, America!

Since we had just gotten home from the beach when the 4th of July rolled around we decided to spend the weekend at home. We did invite some of our family and a few friends over for a backyard barbecue and pool party. We had Michael's world famous rack of ribs with all the fixins' like baked beans, potato salad and deviled eggs. We had fried pickles, crab dip and a fruit platter to curb the pre-meal munchies. We all sat outside under the pergola and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The kids swam until they were waterlogged then jumped on the trampoline. We popped fireworks until the wee hours of the morning letting the 7 year old do most of the lighting. I'm not sure how smart that was but if it makes you feel any better they mostly lit smoke bombs.

All the adults left by 2am but we were left with 3 exhausted boys. They made a tent in the living room out of every pillow and blanket that we own. I'm sure it was a grand adventure to those sleepy eyed boys and that is right where they fell asleep. In the morning I found sodas, cheese puffs, beef jerky and pop tarts in the tent. Sounds like the breakfast of champions to me.

the finale

Busy, Busy, Busy

When June turns to July we turn on the afterburners in this family. We have Michael's moms birthday on the 2nd, the the 4th of July, then my parents anniversary on the 8th. Soon after that comes my birthday on the 14th and daddy's falls close to the end of the month on the 29th. We have made it a tradition to cook crab legs when we celebrate with Michael's mom. YUM! YUM! Michael cooks everything outside on the fish cooker and we eat on the picnic table out by the pool.

My parents took us out for a steak to celebrate my 37th birthday. I choose to stimulate the hometown ecomony so we rode over to The Creekside Grille. I love the steak because it is usually perfectly cooked with a yummy marinated flavor. I also recommend the marinated vegetables as an alternative to the traditional baked potato. It just so happened that night they were having live music so that was an extra treat for me. The guy played Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison (one of my all time favorites), TROUBLE by Travis Tritt, Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughn and a few others before we left. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute even though we were screaming in order to talk.Branson was in a particularly playful mood and spent his time practicing his posing. We took a few minutes to capture the moment on film as we were leaving the restaurant.

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Father's Day

The next few posts are going to be catch up posts because I've been really busy with another project.(I'll post about it later) We went over to Elba to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad. My brother and his family were home from Atlanta so Mom invited us over for dinner.

Daddy's Special Day
She made a fix it yourself supreme taco salad. It had a few unusual ingredients that you don't typically associate with taco salad like green olives and pecans. We all gathered round with baited breath as Daniel asked the blessing. We had to twist Michael's arm to get him to try the pecans on his salad, but in the end he liked it. Dinner ended with a yummy pie and we moved to the loving room for gifts. Michael had received a special "MY DAD" scrapbook, a fill in your memories book of questions, and a special hand made card from Branson earlier in the day.

Daddy got a cute picture of Charlie givin' lovin' and we gave him a new Coleman propane lantern. He put it together and just as Daniel was saying that he might want to light it outside he hit the ignite button and BOOM! We all jumped sky high, including Daddy and I've never seen my sister-in-law laugh so hard.

Game Over

The kids from the Braves had an end of season poolparty after the last game of the season. We celebrated with grilled hotdogs, chips and soda. After lots of horseplay in the pool the kids enjoyed cupcakes which came in the shape of a big baseball. At the end of the night the coaches handed out the trophies and congratulated each child. We are always sad when ball season ends and are already looking forward to next summer.

Family Vacation 2009

We have just ended our yearly family vacation. We usually spend a week every summer at Panama City Beach along with my brother's family and my parents. I look forward to this relaxing time away from all the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. Michael has been working a side job for the past few years so he really needs the break. We always enjoy our family time together swimming, laying out, eating out, eating in, sleeping late, etc. In fact Daniel slept until 2pm one day. I said "what are you 12?" I can't say that I'm not capable of the same thing if my body would allow.
We tried unsuccessfully for the second year in a row to eat supper at Margarita ville. Last year Daddy was scared off by the parking situation and this year the wait was 3 hours. Wow! I've heard that the food is average but the atmosphere is what you are drawn to. We'll try again next year maybe for lunch. Anyway we ended up eating across the way at Guy Harvey's and it was probable just as good. We all enjoyed our meals and afterwards took in the sight and sounds of Pier Park. Michael and Branson went through a mirror maze and we had a characteratuer drawn of the 3 of us. Funny thing is that the artist interpretation of Michael looks just like his cousin, David. We met up with the family again and fell out laughing as we looked at ourselves in the funny mirror. It made us all look like little people except for Daddy , it just made him look normal size, so said one lady sitting on the bench. Hilarious!
Our friends Jack and Missy brought their kids down for the weekend and we took the trip over to The Big Kahuna. We went to this same water park last year and had a great time with Daniel and Melissa. They opted to go shopping for the day because Melissa had gotten too much sun from the day before. I could see a huge difference in Branson's confidence level from last year. He rode every ride where he met the height requirement and he even took on the Honolulu Half Pipe. This is an awesome ride where water is flowing out like a huge wave and you jump into it using a boogie board. Spencer and Branson both did great having never ridden the thing before and both put up two good rides. I regret not having my camera to capture the moment.

summer sports

Branson had another great year on the baseball field. He along with several of his teamates from last year returned to play for Coach Nall. You can really tell that baseball is in his blood and the players respond to him well. He is very competative and likes to win which is just my style. Branson hit his first homerun this year and played left field most of the time. His fielding is not exactly his strong point but he makes up for that is batting technique and running. I say it's his low center of gravity that makes him so fast around the bases.