Family Reunions

I remember growing up in rural Illinois.  Each summer would have an exciting event that we all looked forward to:  our Family Reunion!!  Someone would reserve the place in the Forest Preserve and tables would be set up and the whole family would gather, with so much food it made you dizzy looking at it all!  I can still see my Grandmother setting up the table with a table cloth and there would be coolers filled with soda pop and drinks and ice!  The barbecue grills would be going and food cooking on them.  Games were planned and we all competed especially in the family softball tournament!  One of the neatest things was that us "kids" got to see all of our cousins that we hadn't seen in so long!  Aunts and Uncles in lawn chairs, music playing from radios and laughter rising in the air! What fun we had!
Now most of those family members from back then have passed on and with them, somehow the tradition of the Family Reunion passed on also.  Many reasons were given: family moved on to other states, key persons that had always planned it were passed on;  no one could get off work or travel that far, etc.  It's a shame because that was really the only time that all of us got to really spend some fun time together and catch up on what had been transpiring with each of us.

Now my Nephew and his wife have decided that enough time has gone by without all of us seeing each other and they have planned our first Family Reunion in probably 20 or more years. Many of our family are traveling today and a few have arrived early to spend some time with their children doing some sight-seeing before tomorrow.  Most of the ones attending are the younger generation: cousins!  Some of us older family will be there also, but it's so nice to see the younger families desiring to pick up this old tradition again!

Tomorrow will be a blessed day!  Praying for everyone to have a good time and safe travels and that this tradition will grow even bigger with each passing year!

A salute to old traditions!

My Mom's 80th Birthday Celebration

Just a couple of weeks ago, we went to Illinois, my husband and myself and our three daughters and three of our grandchildren.  We went to celebrate the 80th birthday of our Mother and Grandmother.  Below is a picture of this remarkable woman!  There has never been a day in her life that she has not sacrificed herself and her happiness to be sure that her family was loved and cared for.  She is greatly loved by each of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Because of the life she has lived, each of her children were saved (accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior) at an early age.  We are all well-balanced and happy individuals.  She loved her husband until the day he died, caring for him as a Mother would a child in his last days here on this earth.  No one could hope for a better legacy than what we have been given each day of her life as she taught us how to live and how to love each other and others.

We love you Mom!  You're a REMARKABLE WOMAN!

<<  Mom with her cake.

 <<<Mom loves to have fun!

Mom with her best friend of many, many years.

We Arrived in Chicago

We got up at 4:30 a.m. this morning so we could finish packing and leave the house by 6:00 a.m.  Our daughters both met us and we rode to Nashville together.  Since we left early, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast before going on to the airport.  We arrived at the airport and got our bags checked and went on to our gate.  Our flight took off on time and things were fine until it started storming! It stormed most of the flight and the flight attendants had to sit out most of the flight.  Praise the Lord we arrived safely though, without incident.

Once in Chicago, we discovered that the car we rented was too small to put all 8 of us in along with our luggage, so we had to upgrade to a mini-van.  The mini-van is very comfortable and roomy though.  Once our luggage was loaded, we headed for White Castle for lunch!  My husband swears that Krystal will never be White Castle,which is his preference.  On to the Museum of Science and Industry with the kiddies who were dying to get to the museum and see all that is there. Half-way through, I had to sit it out, as those concrete floors do a number on my lower back.  I found a seat and waited on the kids to see and touch everything they could before the museum closed at 4:00.  

We went on to Lansing where we booked hotel rooms online. Once we got there, we discovered that the rooms were HORRIBLE!! Never go to the Howard Johnson in Lansing, IL!  We were met by another couple that had booked online and had been there for 4 hours trying to get their booking straightened out and had looked at 6 different rooms and all of them were horrible!  One even had a hole in the window the size of a man's fist, another the commode wasn't working and another the lights weren't working and another smelled like marijuana!  and on and on the list went.  The guy at the front desk could care less.  Finally, after 6 different phone calls, we got the charges removed from our credit card and found another hotel, from where I am writing this blog tonight.

We finally got settled in our rooms and ordered pizzas from Aurelios!  That's our favorite in the Chicago area!  They even delivered to the hotel!  

Half of our group is now sleeping peacefully in their beds and I'm wide awake!  I know I have to get to sleep soon though because we have to get up early tomorrow to go help set up for my mom's birthday party. 

Will let you know more in a few days once we arrive in Florida and get situated.

Until then...  hasta la vista!

On the Road Again

We stopped at Cracker Barrel on our way out of town to get something to eat and then it was a long ride to just south of Chicago, IL. When we got up to Indiana we stopped for gas and I just had to take a picture of this beautiful corn field in the sun!! I love seeing the farmer's fields along the way through Indiana and Illinois!

In front of the corn there were bunches of "Queen Ann's Lace" flowers growing! This brought back many happy memories for me of running through the fields as a child and picking huge bouquets of these beautiful and delicate flowers and also of catching butterflies!

Once we filled up with gas at $3.89 a gallon! we were on our way and made a stop for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant! We just LOVE Ruby Tuesday! Here is what we had for lunch!

Then it was back on the road again and on our way to my Mom's house to spend the night and rest from the trip. She has the cutest little pup and his name is "Skipper". He's just adorable and so smart!! We had fun playing "keep away" with him and his toys.

The next day,I was off to visit with my Sister and my husband was off to Streamwood, IL for the training he had to be a part of. My Sister has three children and a pool and we had tons of fun in her pool and barbecuing each night. She showed me the garden her husband is growing and he has quite the "Green Thumb"! Here are some pictures of their garden! That's a giant sunflower my Sister planted! They have several along the side fence and last year they were HUGE!

Their Tomato Plants

Gourds

Green Beans: they're purple when picked and turn green when cooked!!

We had the zucchini and green beans for supper and they were just delicious! There's nothing like freshly picked vegetables from your garden! Especially if they're shared with family!

Another thing that Illinois has besides their beautiful farm fields is freight trains. I remember sitting many times waiting on the trains to pass by. While we were sitting, I took a couple of pictures out of the car window! Here's the engine:

On another day, my Mom took me to see the house that my Dad and Grandfather built and that we all grew up in. When my Dad passed away in 2001, my Mom had to let the property go and move into a small apartment. The house needed a lot of repairs and the property was just too large for her to keep up on her own any longer. It was a very hard thing for her to do though. It's especially hard now when we look at it and see what the new owners have allowed to become of it. All our memories of growing up are there and the new owners are just letting it go and not taking care of it. They have parked semi-trailer trucks there and let the weeds just grow up everywhere. When my Dad and Mom lived there and my Grandparents lived next door, the property was well cared for, with flowers everywhere! My Mom planted all the trees there and we had Lilac bushes and Lily of the Valley flowersand there were apple trees and grape vines and rose buses and blackberries and raspberries! The grass was always cut and us kids spent many a happy day just roaming the property and riding bikes and playing in the yard. It's heart-breaking to see it in this condition now!

The day before we left, my Mom took me to visit with her Brother, my Uncle Don. He lives about 20 minutes from her and I haven't seen him in many years now. He's losing his eye sight and is "legally blind" although he has a tiny bit of peripheral vision left. I was so happy to see him! He was my favorite Uncle growing up! He served in the Navy when he was a young man and us kids just loved it when he came to visit! He would always play with us and make us laugh and I thought he was the handsomest man ever! We had a very good visit and he gave my mom an album of pictures from their childhood, since he can no longer see them. There were pictures of their Mother, my Grandmother, when she was very young and my Grandfather and all of my Aunts and Uncles on my Mom's side. My Mom was thrilled to have this and even more thrilled that he wanted her to have it. When we got back to my Mom's house, she said she was going to give me the locket that he gave her when she was 15 years old, making this locket to be 63 years old now! My Uncle had just gotten out of the Navy and he brought this home to her! Needless to say, it will always be one of my most treasured gifts from my Mom!! Here's a picture of the locket:

My Uncle Don's picture is on the left side and this was probably taken when he was not much older than a teenager himself! I'm going to try to take the locket to a jeweler and see if it can be restored to the way it used to be. My Mom said it was a tri-color gold-plated locket when it was new. Time has worn it down to where the gold is worn off now and it looks like it's a silver locket now. It needs a new clasp for the chain also.

One afternoon, my Sister and I went shopping and here are a few of the pictures that I took while we were in the store:

One of the other things we did while at my Sister's house was to make handmade jewelry. My Sister and My Neice and I love making jewelry and we spent several hours at her kitchen table doing that. Later on, in another post, I'll post some more of the pictures of our creations!

Here are just a couple for now:

When we left on Monday morning we drove until we reached Indianapolis and stopped to see my other Sister Peggy and her husband that live there. We had lunch with them at Applebees and then we were on our way again. We drove for several hours before stopping to stretch our legs. We went to a Mall and this is the beautiful carousel they had inside:

We made one other stop along the way because we stopped for coffee and across the street there was a concrete statuary business and I wanted to stop and see what they had there. We pass it every time we go to Illinois and have never stopped before but I've always wanted to. This time we had the time to make a stop and I took a few very interesting pictures. I'd love to have this little guy! Unfortunately, we didn't have enough room in the car. Next time maybe we'll have our truck and can buy one or two pieces for our yard!

We arrived back home at about 1:00 a.m. this morning and slept for a few hours before going over to the place where we boarded our "Baby" Sarge. Needless to say he was very happy to be back home again. Here he is, all freshly bathed and with his new toy and bone!

Travel

My husband and I will be traveling tomorrow to go to Chicago. He has training he has to be a part of and I'll be staying with my Mom and visiting with family. I hate leaving our poor Baby behind, but he'll be taken care of while we're away. Even so, we'll miss him a lot. He's such a "baby". He tries to talk to me each night. He gets in front of me and wants me to pet him and if I don't pet him immediately, he does the "woo woo" song, that's typical of Boxers. It honestly seems like he's trying to say words! We can 't help but laugh and of course then he gets what he wants, to be petted and allowed to climb half-way up into our laps.

Well, it'll be good to be able to see my family again and visit with my Baby sister and my Brother. My Brother just returned from England so I'm anxious to hear all about his trip and see his pictures! I'll be swimming with my Sister in her pool and we'll watch some favorite movies together and maybe work on making some jewelry while I'm there. We both like making custom jewelry! Of course we'll go shopping also!! :) A favorite passtime of ours!

I may not add much to my Blog until I get back home next week. I intend to try to help my Mom get a Blog started of her own. I'm trying to encourage her to start putting down some of her memories about when she was younger and when she got married and they moved to Illinois and my Dad and Grandfather built our houses there.

Somthing to think about until I return!

Life

Life is a gift to be used every day,

Not to be smothered and hidden away;

It isn't a thing to be stored in the chest

Where you gather your keepsakes and treasure your best;

It isn't a joy to be sipped now and then

And promptly put back in a dark place again.

Life is a gift that the humblest may boast of

And one that the humblest may well make the most of.

Get out and live it each hour of the day,

Wear it and use it as much as you may;

Don't keep it in niches and corners and grooves,

You'll find that in service its beauty improves.

~~~Edgar A. Guest

God bless you and enjoy the week!