Camp Sonnystone 2017
Tag Archives: cousins
News Round-up
Shew! Busy times.
Martha, Nancy, and I went over near Robards, KY to a new winery/restaurant, The Farmer and the Frenchman. It is brand-spankin’ new and very well-done. It’s a little far out there–and we got lost, thanks to my directions–but the decor and view are terrific. The menu was interesting, but I stuck with a familiar Greek salad; not the best I’ve had, but certainly good. The wine was nice, sweet, but not syrupy. They were out of their signature “dressed-up cowgirl red”, so I drank a glass of white — good enough to persuade me to buy a bottle. I plan on dragging Casey down there and I highly recommend it to ya’ll, too…
Last Friday I drove over to my mom’s hometown, Grayville, IL, to visit with Aunt Shirley and my Compton boy-cousins. Aunt Shirley is visiting from Melbourne, FL and I like to see her whenever she’s nearby. We went over to Davina’s Country Diner for lunch–catfish fritters, green beans, and cucumber salad-
-and then came back to Jeff’s house to smoke and drink and play cards. It was a blast. There is no one else alive who I’d rather drunk with than Any of my Compton cousins, and the guys are real sweethearts. Those boys roll their own tobacco and it is nasty, she says since she puffed up a pound or two of it. I napped and waited for cousins Lana and Charley to show up for some cards–chit-chat–and won $4…beginner’s luck. My clothes were stinking and I don’t want to talk about the hangover the next morning…
I bought a selfie-stick a while back, but can’t get it to connect to bluetooth, so I have to use the timer and somebody else’s arm to snap the pic…not an easy feat when you’ve been dancing with Jim Beam all day…
Girlfriend Luann is in town for her Mom’s 90th birthday party on Saturday, so we’re getting together this afternoon. I’m going back to Grayville on Friday for a more sober visit and to say hasta la vista to the Auntie.
Saturday is the Birthday Party and I guarantee you the food will be the stuff of childhood memories. Lu’s clan is full of interesting people to whom I like to pretend I’m related. Still, there’s no Jeff & Jay in that fam, so they are missing out (but will probably live longer).
The first full week in October is always the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival, which I will avoid like the plague. Ya’ll go on down there, though, and enjoy yourselves! Olivia’s dance school is marching in the parade, but the other grandparents are covering it for me. Lily King is the grand marshal and it will be packed–we are proud of our homegrown Olympic Gold Medalist.
Casey has the week off, so we’re planning some sort of adventure. I’ll be perfecting my selfie-stick skills and be sure to keep you informed…
Till then…Peace…
Wrapping it Up…
Melissa surprised Emma and Eliza on Friday , swooping them up and flying them home on Sunday. I miss them, especially in the mornings, but we were essentially out of activities, and they wanted to be home on their Dad’s birthday yesterday. We had a big dinner on Saturday here at the ‘Stone, ate a nice breakfast at Denny’s on Sunday morning, and that’s it for the whole fam damily being together for a while. I wish Eric could have been here, too, but he’s back to working a lot of overtime, and that’s a good thing.
discussing a toss-across strategy
backing cupcakes for Aunt Jess
snapping green beans for dinner
One last Sleepover…
Saturday luncheon…
The rain is relentless, gloomy, and, err, wet… The gardening I can do is minimal and the house is clean enough, so how’s a girl to entertain herself?
Planning trips is always a good time, and that’s what I’m up to this week. Next week I will babysit Olivia and Samantha for three 10-hour days, and the following week we’ll take off for the Sangre de Cristo mountain range via Rte. 66.
Pretty exciting, eh? In the meantime, I will be taking a break from “live” posting, and presenting “The Best of Sonnystone”, reblogging some of your favorite posts from the last 5 years.
I’ll be back after Labor Day, revived and ready to share my adventures with you.
Happy Trails to y’all. Peace Out.
Weekly Wrap-up
Emma, Eliza, and I flew back from NYC on Tuesday on an uneventful flight into Louisville. We hit the ground running and had both Olivia and Samantha spend the night and stayed the day on Wednesday. Samantha was very good, sleeping until about 4am, then going right back to sleep when I picked her up and held her next to me. Ah, the joys of grand-parenting. She just wants to do everything the big girls do and the big girls are having a lot of fun just being together.
We celebrated Eliza’s half-birthday (5.5) on Wednesday…
I’m hating this heat. Though it seems as if I’m a bundle of energy, I’m really dragging around. And the mosquitoes! Damn them! Emma’s legs look like a skin disease. I win the bite count, but she reacts very dramatically, welping and swelling. All 3 of the big girls have enjoyed the pool, and I think the chemicals keep down her itching.
Scenes from the girls’ choreographed Pool Show:
We’re rolling out to Lake Rudolph for some camping and a visit to Holiday World. The weather is supposed to suck, continued heat and increased chance of thunderstorms, but hey, the kids are excited, so we’re sure to have fun. They’ve helped get the Coach packed and now are singing and dancing to “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”…
Happiness is… grandchildren…
Stay cool, friends…
In the picture…
I am reveling in this time with my grand-daughters so much that I’ve not taken many pictures. Instead, I’m trying to embed the memories into whatever gray cells are still functioning in my old brain, being right here right now. Still, there’s this nagging voice saying: Blog this… Here’s what I’ve got:
July 8
July 9
Cousins Day
The Original Cousins
Bob & Ruby would be so proud…
July 10
Melissa will take off early tomorrow morning to stay a few days in Indianapolis and for Emma to compete in a Feis (Irish Dance Competition) while I head back to the track for more Live Racing. They’ll return Monday and we’ll have 11 straight days of festivities. We’ll be in touch so we can see as many of you as we can. Till then…
Characters…
This WDW trip I bought the Photopass Archive Disc. There are photographers stationed throughout the parks, especially in popular spots in front of the castle, spaceship earth, etc. who will take your picture and add it to your account. Then you claim the pictures later and print what you like. I was thinking it would allow me to get more pictures of the Entire Family, including the family photographers..! Okay, so far, and we did get some of those family pictures…but.. 1) they’re not All good. the photographers are often rushed and there are lines for the pictures. 2) editing the pictures for download onto the disc is a pain-in-the-ass, requiring some cussing and threatening… As a result, it’s taking me a lot longer to prepare the pictures for download. I should have those done by this week-end, I hope. In the meantime, here are the last I”ll post of my pictures. I did rely heavily on the Disney photographers (and my kids) for these character shots, so I don’t have many. Eliza, who loved all the characters when we visited in 2012, was hot and cold this year. She would often get real excited, then at the last minute refuse to pose. Even the all-family shots are often of Eliza’s back… That’s okay, though. We’ll tease her about it when she gets older..!
As I work on the editing, I still feel the magic of our Family-ness… Did I mention we’re planning our return trip already? Spring, 2015, we’ll be back. Until then, we have such wonderful memories, terrific pictures, and a whole lot of dreams…
It would be nice to be Tinkerbelle…But then, being a Jo-Jo is even better!
almost the last photos…
The best part of our Disney Vacation was all of us being together. Disney is great, but without the 9 of us it would be just another product. I’m working on the follow-up survey and I won’t hesitate to let them hear about the rooms that didn’t connect, or the service at Via Napoli, the Photopass pictures that are not connected to my account, or even the failure of Fastpass+ that first day. None of that takes away the fun we have… When we are together, just walking, even with tired feet, becomes an adventure…
I have today and tomorrow off due to the freezing temperature, but Casey’s been working all night and going back this evening. I hardly slept last night, up listening to the creaking sounds from the house bracing itself against the frigid winds. It was kinda scary, and has made me lazy, as well. I’ll try to finish editing the character shots for tomorrow, then lay off the photos until I get that PhotoPass figured out.
Stay warm…
