Thanksgiving

We always go to sister Karen's for Thanksgiving.  All of her girls are home and it's so nice for all of us to be together.  This was Randy's first time to meet most of the family.

I think they all agreed that he's a keeper!

I had not seen Courtney in quite a while and her baby bump is beginning to show.  Baby Duncan Matthew is expected the first of April.  She looks terrific!

It's Darby's first Thanksgiving!

She's growing way too fast!

A couple of pictures of the sisters.

Courtney and Matt.

Ben and Morgan.

Ben assessing the gray in Morgan's hair!  (our family goes gray early as you can see from Ben's hair!)

Ronald is always ready for a nap after our big meal!

Morgan, Darby and Heather.

Jake, Ty, Cameron, Morgan and Luke.  These boys were too busy playing to be in most of the pictures!  They love playing together.

Lunch was delicious!  We have our traditional food every year and we always look forward to it.  Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, corn casserole, creamed corn, deviled eggs, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, grape salad, rolls, pumpkin pie, French silk pie and cookies!  I think that's everything.  Our plates were full...and so were our tummies!

I wish we could get together more often!

Here's What's Been Going On!

Let's see...where to begin!  I guess our trip to Panama City, Florida comes first.  It was a car show but we went with two other couples so that made it fun.

Doug's car is the white car, Danny's car is the blue car, and Robert Harrison (no relation to us) owns the black car. 

The highlight of the show was the performance by Herman Hermits.  Remember them?? 

They were really good and Peter sounded just like he did 40+ years ago!  He still looked pretty good too!

We headed to Biloxi on Sunday for one night.  We intended to stay longer but were very disappointed in the time share exchange so we left on Monday.  Stopped by the lighthouse to take a few pictures though.

Randy's son Bowen was having surgery for an inverted chest on Friday, the 18th, in Memphis so Emma Taylor and Harrison stayed with us on Thursday night.  Since it was Ben's birthday, we went out with Ben and Cameron to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate again! 

Emma Taylor reminded me that she was supposed to bring cupcakes to school the next day so after dinner we were in the kitchen baking!

She can make them all by herself.  That's wonderful!

Cameron had a wax museum at school the next day.  He was Walter Camp, the inventor of the football game.  He looked pretty sharp!

When we stepped on the "push" button, Cameron would give us a short history of Walter Camp.  He did a great job!

The moustache was really bugging him.  He said, "I don't know how Papa D does it."  It might have something to do with having a moustache for 50 years!

I had some help raking leaves one day.  Actually it was their idea.

Of course they had plans for the leaves.

What fun to play in the leaves!

I also had a little help baking a chocolate cake for Bowen.

Bowen loves chocolate and when Doug and I went to the hospital to see him, I promised to bake him a chocolate cake.  I had to follow through on my promise! 

We had a lovely Thanksgiving in Red Bay with sister Karen and her family.  I'll post pictures from Thanksgiving soon!  I hope to do a better job of keeping up with my blog!

Off to Florida!

I'm not going to have enough time to do the post on the last day of my northeast trip.  We stayed up until 1:30 this morning following the election returns and I'm exhausted and ready for bed and it's only 8:00!  This time change is also throwing me off!

It's been an interesting day post-election.  Some are very happy and some are practically despondent!  I'm praying for our new president.  He deserves a chance and hopefully he can do great things.  Change can be good!

I'll catch up when I return!

President Trump and celebrating Ben's birthday

We celebrated Ben's 40th last night.  It was a fun time and a delicious dinner at Mt. Fuji.

Emma Taylor eats sushi!  Not me!

Half the fun is watching the cook!

Ben shared his birthday dessert but Cameron ate the majority of it!

We'll celebrate again next Thursday which is his actual birthday.

So glad the election is over...though TV is still filled with the coverage.  In the end, Trump won!

This just proves that the polls can be wrong and that every vote counts!  I hope our country can unite and I hope we see great things from President Trump!

I only have one more day of my northeast trip to post.  Hopefully I'll get that done today as Doug and I are leaving tomorrow heading to Panama City, FL to a car thing.  We are going with two other couples, then after the weekend Doug and I will go over to Biloxi to spend a few days. 

Sending prayers today for our country.  We really need healing!

Northeast Trip - Day 8 - and did you vote??

We had donuts and coffee at the condo, then headed out to catch the Old Town Trolley for a 2-hour trolley tour. 

We saw all kinds of historic stuff on this tour and it gave us a good idea of where we needed to go back to on day 9.  It was hard to get photos from a moving trolley so I took very few!

After the trolley ride, we stopped at James Hook and Co. for lunch.

They sell fresh lobster in addition to serving lunch.

It's not a very big place inside and the lines can sometimes be outside.

The trolley drive told us that there used to be a restaurant building but it burned down. 
The restaurant was opened temporarily in a mobile unit.  The owners determined that their business was just as busy in the mobile unit so they have just continued serving that way.

I had clam chowder as I was about over lobster at that time!

Who knew you could get tired of lobster!

It was a beautiful day so we ate our lunch right outside on a picnic table.

After lunch we boarded a boat for a harbor cruise.  This was part of the trolley tour.

It was about a 45-minute tour of Boston Harbor.

After the tour, we got back on the trolley and got off at the Omni Parker Hotel.  A friend said we MUST have Boston Cream Pie there.  So, of course, we did!

It was unlike any Boston Cream pie I'd ever had but just might be the best dessert I've ever had!  We had no trouble finishing it!

We were tempted to lick the plates but this was a fancy hotel!

This is supposedly where Parker House rolls were invented and also where John Kennedy proposed to Jackie.  It's a pretty historic hotel and lovely inside.

We did some walking around the city.  It's a very interesting place with so much history!  Picture overload tomorrow on our last day in Boston and our last day of the trip!

*****

Hope everybody went out and voted today!  It's such an important election and it was exciting to see so many people at the polls.  I've never seen it before like it was today.  Whatever the outcome, I am reminded that God is in control.  He already knows the outcome and the future.  God bless us all as it might be a wild ride for the next few years!

We are celebrating Ben's 40th birthday tonight with dinner at Mt. Fuji.  His actual birthday is the 17th, next Thursday, but with everyone's schedules this was the only time we could get together.  Can't believe I have a 40 year old son!!  And he's my baby!  Yikes!