One Final Horse Hunt

114 horses on the island. We had no trouble seeing any the first couple days. They pretyy much came to us. But once the Kelly's arrived they seemed to be incognito. We decided to go on one last horse hunt before heading back to the site for some campfiring. Looked here, there, most of the easy sites that included minimal hiking and no dice. One last spot would prove to be the lucky one.

Bill keeps his distance

oh no Barb, they;re charging!

family shot

the Kelly's + horses

can you see us?

exploring the beach

he was ignoring me

burr in the baby feet

good job

The Kelly's Make Us Hungry

our new site on the beach

Just as we pulled ourselves from the white sandy beaches of Assateague we saw the Kelly's trailer pull up to our site. Good timing. Plus we were all straving. Even better timing. Barb found a nice little place called The Shrimp Boat, which was actually a boat and had actual shrimp.

That's Bill having a blast

We hit the boards on Ocean City

The decision to get ice cream was easy. Which ice cream stand to get it was hard.

Most of Yuula's cone ended up in her lap. All of Laura's cone ended up in her lap.

Shopping at the local produce stand for some fixins

It was all about the food, apparently.

When we got back to the site Yuula was worn out completely from the whole week. She had a yogurt and passed out.

That gave the adults time to talk and have a drink or two

It was a nice relaxing evening, perfect to end out the vacation, nice breeze coming off the ocean, warm fire to heat our toes, and minimal sand in our crevasses.

The South Is Full Of Friends

Ahh the South. Land of rain and ice and paralytic traffic on every road. Or at least since we've been down here.




At least the ride down was nice weather. Twelve hours down to Greensville is not nearly as rough as the full 16 it would've taken to get to Atlanta. And around 11 and a half Yuula decided she'd had enough of her carseat. She gave us her first ultimatum. Good thing we expected it.





First stop was Budd's. It was quick but effective, in the way that Budd got to hold Yuula and we go to listen to the Elf soundtrack about 9 times. Plus Budd's place has some great photo ops in the form of wall hangings. We snapped when he wasn't looking.





The next morning was a delightful ride thru the mountains into Jasper where we met Barb & Bill for a little meet the baby and a little Waffle House. It was here that we knew she was our baby by her reaction of unbridled joy and elation just being inside such a splendid place as the house of waffle. The waitresses could be less creepy tho.






From there we headed south towards our old home, the Canton Mill Lofts. When we lived there all the security gates were broken and it was easy to sneak in. Of course now that we want just wanted to literally take a walk down memory lane, the place is tighter than Fort Knox. And we couldn't remember the gate code.



Next on the stop list was the Fallon residence to see Kheli and her gigantic belly, so that Yuula can meet her future boyfriend. It's an arranged relationship. Kheli and her mother are at home waiting til her planned C-section, which is actually today at 3:15, so they welcomed some company to take their minds off the wait.





We planned to meet Jeff & Michelle but this is where the ice started coating the streets and Georgians are not equipped to deal with such a natural disaster. Mentally they don't have the salt. We postponed and headed to Acworth at 5mph to get some rest.




The next morning we went out to meet some of the old McEachern girls, Tiffany, Christian & Ashton. They all seemed to be quite happy in their current lives, as differing as the may be, and it's fun to think we all used to spend some good times skipping around a dirty gym to an Aphex Twin song.




Yuula met the Big Chicken.



We passed by the offices of Loud Security, the workplace of one Christina Smith. I played with the zen rock garden in the lobby and I finally realized what I want for Christmas. But full size, not the desk toy. Make it happen Santa.



We were feeling the effects of being in a car for almost 3 full days so we quick stopped by the enormous liquor store to buy some Taj Mahal Indian beer and then scurried back to the Krupp residence to introduce Yuula to Uncle Brian, Aunt Asriel, Aunt Theresa and cousins Madison and Charlotte over some French bread pizza. The rest of the family comes this weekend, but it's best in small doses.



stay tuned for more from Christmas South...

Weekend Wrap-up: Reunion/Wedding

The dust has settled. The smoke has cleared. The storm that is the family reunion has come and gone leaving very few casualties in it's path.

Let's start at the beginning. Get ready for lotsa photos.

Barb & Bill came down a whole week early. That was fantastic, especially since Fran & I had to cancel our last chance to hang out with them down in Georgia after I had a massive heart attack while eating a cashew covered tomato chased with a glass of chlorine. Ahem...so that was cool, yeah. Spent lots of time in the yard, trying to make all the flowers shine and sparkle.

We took a few America Gothic-style shots:




Dani & Vic showed up towards the end of the week, so we got to take a nice group shot one morning.


Barb decided she liked Vic's look.


As did Francis. She even went for a ride one day and lost her favorite glasses


Then Saturday was Ted & Carol's wedding. It was at the gorgeous Sayen Garden, quite emotional and terrific food. It didn't take long for Ted's side of the family (us) to get enough liquor in them to turn the place into Solid Gold dancers meets Gidget reunion.

(click the photos for the full album)

Fran on a bridge


Ted's side


the ceremony


Sayen House


Group Shot


the bride & groom






Sorry it's so dark. Ambience ya know. And yes that is Ted Eutermarks dancing, doing the bump I believe.

Sunday was the reunion. I haven't seen some of these people in over a decade. Family, family friends, family enemies, estranged family, new family; you name it, we had it.

(click the photos for the full album)

Eric, Travis & Fran pigging out


Danielle Oyler & Dani


the Berkeleys


Tyler, Dani, Fran, Travis, Dane & Jarod


Travis & Baby Dane (Kiana on the swing)


the Krupps up from Georgia


Oh and more dancing...






So like I said, dust settled, smoke cleared, and no major injuries reported, all in all it was a success. We should do it again...

...maybe in another 10 years.