A visit from the family

"...there's a whole lotta consuming going on here" or, at least, there was when my family was here visiting. Lynn again brought Lisa and her three boys to FL for a vacation. Sarah, our vacuum cleaner, has been moving about our rooms the past two days since Lynn and family left us, cleaning up the crumbs from the floors for us. It's not like me to want to keep these remnants around but yet it makes me a bit sad to be removing the evidence of boys eating at my tables. 

Lynn and the family spent one night away from 'home', stayed in a B & B in St. Augustine so they could partake of a ghost walk and then visit Ripley's Believe It Or Not. The other nights they were here with Justin and me, enjoying the pool when the weather allowed, having most of our meals at home (Justin and I planned menus for the week, had to scratch a couple of ideas). One night Lisa made dinner for us, a favorite recipe in her family known now as Schlup (named this by Pete Prange when she prepared it years ago when he was a guest at our table). It's official name is Monterrey Chicken. Not one bite remained of that baked dish.

Justin treated us to dinner one night, he was so excited to do so. He got hot chicken from Publix which came with side dishes and Hawaiian rolls. He chose macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans, and cole slaw. We ate from those side dishes for a couple more meals, but every roll was consumed. The balance of the fried chicken went into the freezer for another time. The only problem with that meal was that he had to wait for more chicken to be cooked, so he ended up doing extra shopping! 

You can see Angelo's plateful of pancakes in front of him

We did get out to eat a few times, twice for breakfast. Gabe so loved his chicken 'n waffles at Metro Diner last year that he wished to return there this year. The rest of the family joined us (last year only Lynn and Gabe came along) and Terri came to have breakfast with us on the Wednesday after they arrived. Everyone was happy with their meals, many of us bringing home what we could not finish. Angelo had silver dollar pancakes but they were more like standard sized ones this time. He got a couple more meals from his take out box. We also had breakfast at Cracker Barrel one morning, had a group of 13 at our table, as Terri had family in town plus Judy Chappell, just back from her cruise to the North Sea region. What a great surprise that was to see her!

Justin's and my names are shown on this wall behind our table

Lynn treated us to dinner one night at Saigon Wok which was wonderful. Huong, the owner, gave our table complimentary rangoons. Everyone loved their meals there and some again took food along home. I treated our group at Steak 'n Shake one day for lunch, another place to eat that the family doesn't have in WI. Terri joined us for lunch then, too, and covered the tip for the table. She's a doll, as the tip was more than her meal would have been! Justin was not with us that day as he had an obligation.

This is Angelo with the Pirateer game. Beyond him you can see the airbed where Gabe slept

Twice at the pool we enjoyed an ice cream treat before having to head for the house when the storms built up. Lynn and I got to watch a couple of movies during her time here, one called "Ladies in Lavender" and the other "Parental Guidance". The boys entertained themselves with their devices, and I'll just leave it at that. A few times they did come up for air and play some Uno and try their hand at a game I had on hand called "Pirateer", since they are fond of pirates. My living room was a dormitory, two air beds inflated in that room, as one boy slept on the sofa in the river room. A real vacation, sprawled out on the furniture with a device in ones hand. 

Lynn and I went to get our toes done at the Orange Park Mall so Lisa could shop. Manny came along with her. This salon at the Mall charged the same as my local place so it was okay in that regard. It took a long time for them to get to us so Justin started to get the dinner going for us at home. He had something happen when home with the two boys. A container of butter fell from the fridge when he opened the door and, in trying to catch it, ended up drop kicking it against the door to the dining room. Crash, bang, pow! Justin could not believe how neither boy even blinked, or looked up, totally oblivious to the racket. Glad the smoke alarm wasn't going off!

Sunday was a big day for us, having an entire row with just my family in it. All of us partook of the Lord's Supper except for Angelo, Mike S. taking our row as one table. Terri caught a picture of us in the pew, knowing I would love that. Manny was confirmed this year but I missed it because of being up in WI earlier when Mom was ill. It was just heart filling to have Lord's Supper with this group and my own boy. For lunch we went to Chili's with Michael and Mike joining us. Terri had other plans for her birthday celebration with family and Betty had to count offering and clean up Lord's Supper so skipped lunch. I steered everyone toward the $8 or $10 menu, and since Justin wasn't at lunch with us (went to the movies with little RJ), I treated two of the boys to lunch. Angelo ate like a thrasher, even eating some of my remaining fries. Lynn thinks he has a hollow leg but he's so skinny! 

On Tuesday morning we got everyone up and fed, and I asked the bigger boys to help with the beds before they left. Justin has a gimpy hip so it's hard for him to bend over to roll the air bed and do that type of thing. We got the beds stripped and all the sheets, blankets, pillow slips, towels, and such in the laundry room. Justin wanted that stuff taken care of to avoid anything being left behind. I think we were successful in that. One last thing, though, as they headed out to the door, I glanced down and saw Angelo's charger yet in the outlet!!  THAT would have been a nightmare for that child, and for anyone else in the airport concourses. Glad I saw it. Lynn messaged that Lisa and she got home and in their beds by 1:00 am on Wednesday morning, dropping the boys off in Sheboygan, a bit later than planned due to weather caused delays. Thanks be to God they got home safely with only delays causing problems. 

And now, to clean up the crumbs and wipe my tears....