Beach Trip 2016 Part Five! Sailboat and Sunsets!

We had a great visit with Andrew and Taylor and Mr Precious.  Andrew made French Toast one day for us. Stuffed French Toast- it was all outstanding.  I liked the Nutella/bacon the best.

Sweet Adeline Rose loves to be read to.  I had that joy often.

It is always wonderful to have Fairest around.  Sweet Pandi needed a nice place for her morning nap and Fairest was happy to oblige!!

Mr Precious was up early as was Gpapa.  They are watching all the trucks go by the condo.

Carl and William went fishing with Alec and Sonia one morning.  Carl caught this beauty but had to throw it back because it was out of season.

William had to throw his great catch back also.  They had a great time and hope to do this again.

We had supper at the Brown House.  Carl and Alec grilled on a salt block.  Yum Yum.  We all enjoyed it.  We had lots of fresh veggies from Bob's garden.  Outstanding!

Sweet ARose.  She needed her baba for comfort and her mama's hand to hold.  Going to the beach is hard work for a 2 year old!

Mr Precious loved the beach.  When he sat on the sand for the first time and a wave came up to him and got him wet, he smiled and said "Again!"

Fairest read lots to Mr P.

We went on our second sunset cruise with Alec and Sonia.  It was beautiful.  We went all around Ono Island.  We saw dolphins, lots of fun houses, and some beautiful boats.  As the sun was going down I handed my phone to Sonia to get a shot of the sailboat.  She got this great shot.  I am still so impressed.  I even got cards made with this on the front.  I may even write you a note soon on one!


We had a great week at the beach thanks in great part to Alec and Sonia.  I told Carl that I am ready to stay two weeks next year!

A Day of Thanksgiving!

 A few weeks ago I decided that I needed, wanted, Had To Have turkey and the fixings before November 28th.  Sweet Carl had me pick a day and then he cook a turkey breast in the oven and we cooked the rest.  He will crank up the Big Green Egg for the 28th.  Kaitlin, Beth and Taylor helped with the potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, bread and the beverages.  I made pecan pie and pumpkin dump cake the day before.  What a feast!!! John, Marisa, Atticus, Kaelyn and Noelle joined us about 3 and Kelsey came after work.  Kelsey, I am sorry we didn't get you in a picture!!!!  Next time!

 Beth is in her last year of PT school.  Carl missed a step at work and twisted his ankle.  Beth checked out his ankle. In the picture above she is evaluating Robert's shoulder pain.  What a handy addition to our family.  Plus Beth loves to laugh so she fits right in with the Funroes!

The camera, a tripod and the timer!  First somewhat normal

 Then the craziness for the left side of the picture

 Beth told us to put our hands under our chins- do you see Beth doing it?????

 Now you see Beth doing it!!!!  Even Robert!

 The rest of our group sans Kelsey

 I never had a child lay on their tummy and look at toys like Mr Wonderful does.  Curiouser and Curiouser.

 How do you get to know your grandson?  You get on his level and play.  What a great Gpapa!

 Atticus loves the holding of the hands as we say the Blessing.  This day he could not be parted from his vehicles but he willingly held up his arms.  I caught a picture of him looking up at Gpapa as he prayed.  Here is this blest fellow standing between the two men he loves the most, his daddy and his Gpapa.

On Sunday morning for breakfast I had my first, of the season, turkey sandwich with leftover turkey and cranberry sauce.  Yum!!!

I am thankful for good food, friends, family, and a day spent together.

Beach, Family and Low Tide

 Carl and I recently went to Hilton Head Island.  Wow!!!  It is beautiful. I hope we can go back again.  We went at this time because my brother, John, and his wife, Elaine, were there for a few days and they invited us.

Above is an artistic shot for Kaitlin.

Carl and I relaxing.

 Andrew and Taylor joined us.  We rented chairs and an umbrella.  It was windy and sunny.

 Carl and Andrew are pointing to our condo.

 On Saturday night my brother, Charles, joined us.  We ordered supper from a local seafood place and Carl and Andrew brought it to our condo so we could eat and watch football.

 We brought in the TV from a bedroom so we wouldn't miss any of the action.

 The Seafood was outstanding.  Here are John and Carl getting after their supper.

 One of the cool things about Hilton Head is how far the tide comes in at high tide.  In the picture below notice the dark sand and the lighter sand.  The dark sand is high tide.  We didn't stay on the beach long enough to see it come in but I would like to next time.  The dark sand is packed down.  John rides his bike on it.

 This was my view.  I am still stunned by how far out low tide is.

 I loved all the tidal pools the tide created.  The picture below was taken standing in ankle deep water and look how tiny the chairs look.

 A very nice stranger took a picture of our whole group. She took lots of pictures with my camera and Elaine's. I am sorry this photo doesn't have sound.  You would hear John commented loudly on the coolness of the water.  Notice his body language, he is ready to jump out of the picture and out of the water the second the picture taking is over.  We are all laughing!!!

 My brothers and me.

What a great time we had that weekend.  I enjoyed the time to just sit and look at the beach and the time to visit.

Cousins, cousins and Camp Monroe Vacation Part IV

 On Saturday the 29 we got up and went to breakfast at a place in town that Carl found.  It was outstanding and I highly recommend it.  Doesn't my breakfast look yummy??

 For lunch we headed to the Monroe family reunion at ... Camp Monroe

 Carl and his brother, Raymond, helped with some of the food preparation.  Their cousin, Fud, prepared all the food and it was good, southern and yummy.

 Here I am with Carl's cousin, Becky!

 Here is cousin Eva Ruth giving us details about lunch.  Eva and I had grandsons born the same week and year.  What a fun bond to have with her!

 Here is the circle that was formed to say the blessing for lunch.

 Camp Monroe is in Scotland county so named because of the great concentration of Scots that settled here.  Lots of Presbyterians here too!

 Kaitlin has a cousin named Kaitlin Monroe- isn't that cool???  The other Kaitlin couldn't be at the reunion this year but her mama was.  Here is a picture of Kaitlin with Kaitlin's mother.

 Eva gave a tour of the camp.  Here is a cabin.  They are made out of cyprus trees from the camp.  Carl attended camp here one summer.

 Here is Lake Andrew at the camp.

 After our great visit at the camp we came back to our motel.  Grandma and 5 of her 6 children and families stayed at the same motel.  We took over the pool went swimming that afternoon.  The cousins plus an Uncle or two did a few tricks in the pool.  I believe I see a few non-Monroe legs in this picture too.  We are an inclusive group!

 Here is our jumping in the pool picture!

 We had a few chicken fights!

 Here we are with Andrew and Taylor.  They joined us on Saturday.  It was great to see them.

We had a great vacation!  We are blest with a great family.  I am glad to be home but I am sure I'll be ready for the next reunion.

Vacation Part III cousins and crazy Uncle T

 The above is all that is left of a pier that was standing before a hurricane hit this beach!  Yikes!!

 These are our beach chairs all set up for our day with our motel behind them.

 Here are all the cousins with Grandmother above and a cousins jumping picture below

 There were three of us from our family at this family reunion

 Kaitlin with Miss Violet above and with Uncle Ted below.  This is what Uncle Ted did when Kaitlin said she wanted a picture with him!

Kaitlin caught this of Charlie and his daughter Violet, I wish you could hear her laughter as she flew