Family Fun Out of The Sun

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. Our sun had gone away but it was still a nice day even though we did have a few raindrops.  We used it as another excuse for the family to get together.  This time the meeting place was at Tammi’s.  She had prepared a yummy stew, Lee  barbecued some beef  and we provided smoked salmon.  That’s the kind of potluck events we enjoy.  

 

Matter of fact, that’s the kind of days we enjoy too especially when we can all get together.  Not only was just getting together wonderful, it was also a time for a couple of unique gifts for the Mothers in the crowd.

Sandi surprised her mother with her own handmade creation.  Michael made his own certificate entitling us to a trip to the local nursery and our choice of a plant!!

Jordie also surprised her mother with several Ball jars.  Each jar held a clue to the big surprise …. a day at the zoo (i.e, sunglasses, sunscreen, tissue).  Sabrina had been wanting someone to take her for the last two years. Now she finally gets her wish.

It was a great day and we left with our own little to-go boxes.  I had lots of little gifts and the leftover stew.  What more would one want in a day?  Not much … that’s for sure.  The biggest surprise of all was a phone call from Justin.  Of course, he can’t tell us where he is.  We’re guessing it was about 3 AM where he was but really had no clue.  So, he did make a big effort to get us together so we could chat with him. 

These are the beautiful flowers Sabrina received from Justin.

Last year we had planted quite a few arborvitaes along the top of our property which borders the pool area for this little community.  We discovered the problem with that was snow.  During the winter snow is plowed on the sides.  We also discovered our deer netting didn’t stay where it was supposed to.  

We did come up with an alternative.  The alternative just happened to be a split rail fence.  It certainly didn’t take long to put it in.  Now we just want to get a few other deer resistant plants in front of the fence.  We know what we want but I have a brain freeze on the name right now.

Monday we were off to town.  One stop was at Costco where we picked up a nice big brisket.  That’s our next test project for the smoker.  We love brisket but you really don’t find much of that around the Pacific Northwest.  We had previously looked in several different grocery stores with no luck.  Now the real test begins on Thursday when in it goes.  I sure hope we do a good job because we all love brisket!!

Another stop was a visit with my brother.  He’s having a few issues with his medical insurance.  So, one more hurdle to help him climb over.  Today we're heading to Longview for Jordie’s senior pictures.  Our calendar is full but what else would we do?  Well, I’m thinking it’s just about time for another road trip ……………………….

‘Tis life on the road.