Lunch Break

We started out going to the Gizzard Grill, but after standing around a while, then opting to seat ourselves and sitting for well over 5 minutes and no one even looked our way, I suggested we head to the Lunch Box.

As soon as we walked in, the waitress hollered for us to just sit anywhere she'd be right with us.  I like that!

We had burgers and fries (or tater tots) and butterscotch root beer, it was so nice to hang out in the cool and dry for a bit. After we got up to pay for lunch (only $30 for all that food!) Park called to say he'd meet us at the lake.  Perfect timing!  He turned down our offer to get him some lunch, which is his loss, poor guy. Curly fries!

Chan took a sip and said, "DANG!  That's not bad!"  I told her she had it wrong, she said, "No Mom, try it!"  I showed her the label and we had a laugh. 

Off to the lake:

Grundy Lake needs to be dredged, it's getting icky!  But it's still one of my favorite places.

The kids keep trying to move replacing the dock up Park's list of things to do.

They are all about helping with that one!

Chan and her little brother.

This is a gorgeous stretch, but every time I see it I remember I was driving this little piece of road when my check engine light came on for the first time at 99,987 miles.  The van was under warranty to 100k miles.  hahahaha!  It was the air intake hose, no real problem.

Fall color??

Matt and I used to shove each other to get to the photo first, this is my pacifist approach to taking the same shot.  Though I almost never have my f-stop set at 8...

After the 6 of us took 3 different hikes at the lake, we eventually (we meaning me and my camera) made it back around to the parking lot where everyone else had already gotten back to the cars and Matt and Park were heading back to locate my carcass or at least see if I was wedged in a hole somewhere.

Though we were RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD from the trail the kids worked on last fall, we failed utterly to go see it.  Instead, we followed Park to his new digs under the guise of getting more location shots for filming later, but we totally just walked the property line and looked over the bluff and admired the view.  It's an awesome spot for sure!

NEXT

It's Not the End of the World...

First, happy/sad news!  Famous has been adopted by a wonderful furever family!

On Friday, we had everyone over for lunch and a dirty Santa gift exchange. 

We opted for a Mexican themed lunch this time, I actually have a huge turkey and all the trimmings but it was agreed that everyone was going to at least one traditional holiday meal, so let's do our own thing for our holiday gathering.  There was so much food, I go overboard all on my own and then everyone comes with drinks and snacks and sides and so on.  We had more desserts than dishes, I made a pumpkin pie dessert bar that never made it out!  We found it today, but no one was hungry.  hahaha!

 

 I did not take pictures of the food or...anything else.  I did snap a couple during the gift game, trying to get everyone in a shot, but there's no way.  See Chan's aqua hair?  We redid it Thursday night so it would be darker, the color fades really fast!

 I won this hat, and I was so excited to get it, despite the fact that I have crocheted about 60 this fall.  Then, Jake saw it and suddenly it was HIS hat.  I did get 5 redbox rental codes out of the deal, but I liked that hat...

These guys are HUGE!  Where did our kids go?

Inde and I get struck by the same thought.  Likely "Gosh, I'm so adorable!"

Gina and her kids stayed over last night (along with scruff dog and rat dog) and we attempted to stay up all night, but crashed sometime around 1.  Matt woke us up at 4:30 and we stumbled around getting ready and headed out the door just after 5 with both girls.  Cody totally denied knowing anything about this crazy plan to get up and see the sun rise, so Jake said he would stay home with him.  Turns out he had an easy run of things, Cody was back asleep before we left and still sacked out when we got back 5 hours later!  hahaha!  Ben had gone home with Alex the night before.

We had a great time, the bonfire was perfect-we kept warm enough in the 20 degree air to stay out and watch the breaking dawn.  Katy had about 20 different kinds of breads and juice, Matt and Gina loaded up on coffee, but that stuff will stunt your growth.  I had 2 glasses of OJ in an attempt to wake up.  And some doughnut holes.  After the sun was up, we all visited for a while and hung out in the toasty living room.  Then it was time to head home!  We stopped by the library on our way through town and by the time we pulled into the yard, I was zonked.

Matt went to bed as soon as Gina headed home with her sleepy crew, I stayed up a little longer, with some delusional but still grand plans to 'do something' before I realized, nothing NEEDED doing.  I crashed hard for a few hours, Matt slept nearly the entire day, over 9 hours.  He's mad at me for letting him sleep.  Gah.  I told him to get a snack and brush his teeth, we are going back to bed.  The kids are sound asleep, it will be interesting to have them up and bushy-tailed tomorrow, maybe we can get in a good hike!  I need to burn off some Mexican food and doughnut holes!

Alex is smaller than Ben, but not THAT much, it's an illusion, he's downhill and further away, here it looks like he's at least a foot shorter than he really is!

Cathy and Lakota came over, which was a nice surprise.  Cathy is heading off next month to do travel nursing and while I am really happy she's going to see some new things and new places, I got all weepy as she left today.  I told Matt he better go hug her again, he may not see her after this!  It hit home, one of 'us' is leaving, she has no long-term plans to come back, either.  We have not seen her much at all this year, but for the past few years we have camped together and had such good memories, I hate that she won't be part of those any more, I miss her already.  : (

We are headed back to bed, who knows what tomorrow brings, for once I have not planned all of our time.  Matt is off until the 2nd, we have to be here the 27th for him to be available to work from home for a few hours to finish out the shipping for the year, if there are any issues that crop up that is.  Other than that-wide open.  Hurrah! 

Saloons and Such

 On the 27th, we went to the Rattlesnake Saloon for lunch with Suzette, Michelle, Karen and Heather and our assorted kids.  Matt had the day off, so he came along as well!  The location is really cool, tucked up under a cliff. 

 Chan dressed for the occasion by wearing her Webkinz snake as an accessory.

 There are 2 levels, well 3 if you add in the balcony seating below this main level.  I am just glad I am not a server there, I imagine they work more than any other serving staff in the area, just going up and down from the kitchen to our table was a bit of a workout and our server did it with 15 plates of food on 2 trays, one on each arm.

 After lunch, we went to go swimming and arrived at the swim beach along with the rain.  We waited around about 30 minutes before deciding to part ways.  Suzette and Karen had to be back home and decided to just go on a little early and we needed to get to rehearsals, though we had a good hour+ of time to fill since swimming was out.  We drove on in to Huntsville and the kids napped while it poured rain. 

We opted to stop at Yogurt Mountain, Matt and I saw it last week, but it was packed then, so we came back with the kids to check it out.  You go in and there's a wall of about 20 different flavors of yogurt to choose from.  Then there is another wall of toppings.  You fill your container with any combo and amount you want and it's .49 an ounce.  Our total was $24.  eep!

The sun came out while we were there!

 We got to rehearsals a little late, though there was plenty of commotion going on to cover our absence.  The director came over to where Matt and I were sitting and asked if I remembered offering Matt for a role back in June.  Then she proceeded to cast him as spade #7!  hahaha.  He has 3 lines, but is on stage a LONG time.
Ben is really excited because one of his roles is spade #2, so they are in a scene together!

Matt makes a wicked wicket!

 Chan's dress is nearly done, so last night she had a fitting. 

There were practices in the side room for different songs.  That blur is Chandler, she can't just sing, she must DAAAANCE.

White Rabbit and Alice, working on their duet.

The blur onstage is Jake!

Jake did my hair and all the kids loved it.  I took a pic to see and THOUGHT I had gotten a shot of a ghost, too!

Marc is awesome!

Practicing the race song.

Chandler, in the .04 seconds she's not dancing in her scene.

We had a great time!  Me more than Matt since now he's in a musical and in the 2 biggest dance numbers they do.  He does NOT dance.  Yet.