Yesterday Meg and I were at Tugaloo State Park in north Georgia for my great-great niece Eowyn’s first birthday party. She is Sherri & Gary’s great-granddaughter, and is just as cute as can be. I just got a couple of pictures of her…

Last Thursday was the final kids’ day out at our church – I have helped chaperone this summer. It was pretty low key – just went to the splash pad at the park in town, and then to Pelican’s to get an icee. At some point in the 95 degree morning the fountains quit working for about twenty minutes, so all of the kiddos came over to the shade at the playground & had their snacks. They were all happy, though, when the water started flowing again 🙂

To finish the day up, we headed to Pelican’s for icees for everyone. I got one of the specials: The Ken :-). One of the moms who was with us got The Barbie – it looked exactly the same except it was pink. So cute and yummy too 🙂

Last week was the semi-annual Queen’s Feast Week in Charlotte – their version of a restaurant week. We had a smaller group to go this time than we sometimes do – just Lindee, Meg, and me – but Jeff got this picture of us before we headed out the door.

We went to the Calle Sol, a Latin restaurant, in the Plaza Midwood area of Charlotte, and it the food was absolutely fantastic – as it almost always is at these events. This is the Peruvian Cesar Salad I had for the first course, and I also had Cuban Fried Rice as an entree, and Coconut Cake with roasted pineapple for dessert – and an absolutely delicious Watermelon Mojito to drink. Such a fun evening.

Nephew Nathan, brother-in-law Gary, and cousin Tee all shared tomatoes with us last week. I passed them around to all of the kids, and we all ate good!

Our day Tuesday started out at Greg’s house, where we had a wonderful time playing with his kids. Lynleigh was at dance camp, and one of the foster children was at day care, but we had great fun with the others. They got out their art supplies, and I got this picture of 6-year-old Whitley-Grace with the little card she made for me. Loved it – and her.

Our final stop for the day was at our cousin Teresa’s house. No little ones there for us to play with, but she and her husband John are currently living in their camper & a room the finished in the barn while their 200+ year old farmhouse is being restored. Teresa is the 5th generation of her family to live there, which I think is very cool. It is going to be a long, long process – so far all they’ve gotten done is the drywall and old ceiling tiles torn down – but at least it’s underway. It is going to be so much fun watching this take place. This is going to be the master bedroom.

Sunday I went down tp Sherri’s house to spend the night, and Monday morning we hit the road early for Alabama, where we visited Gary’s stepmother in the nursing home & had lunch with Sherri’s church friends from when she lived in Oxford. From there we headed back to the greater Atlanta area, to visit a couple of cousins – actually the children of some first cousins. First stop was Elaine’s house, who is the daughter of our cousin Julian, where we had a great time with her and her children Oji and Magui. Her husband Jorge was also there, but works from home, so we didn’t get to spend much time with him. The kids were cute as could be – well, the whole family was, really :-). I got this picture of Sherri playing chess from Magui, who’s 3 I think, after she learned how from Oji, who starts kindergarten this year :-).

From Elaine’s house we went to see our sister Susan’s daughter Alyson and her family, who also lives in the greater Atlanta area. We had such fun visiting with all of them, too, and I got this picture of us looking down from the upstairs deck while Lillian, who’s 11, was showing us the watermelon they had in their garden.

Saturday evening we had supper here to celebrate the most recent birthdays. Not THAT recent, because Andrew’s was in June, but this was the first time we could work it out for any of us to get together at all. It was fun, and we were so happy that Andy & Amy’s son Nathan & his four children were able to come down & join us – his wife Diane was out of town. We got a group picture before we started eating. That’s Lee in the front, and then Nate’s littles Mia (10), Marissa (4), Callie (3), Daniel (8), and me. Next row is June, Meg, and Andrew. In back are Mason, Addie, Jeff, Adam, & Nathan. Jenny was taking the picture.

June got this selfie of her with the girls, & she sent it to me. Such a fun evening.

Last week I stopped at Bush N Vine to get some peaches, and the zinnias in all of their cut your own beds are so, so beautiful. I didn’t cut any, but did grab a picture.

I had not heard this past week that it was National Hot Dog Day until Jeff told me, so I dug through our fridge and found three little Oscar Mayer weiners. They did make good eating for lunch, though 🙂