Fun with the fam

We had a mini-reunion at the lake this weekend.  A few weeks back, Tisha called and said Connie was missing her big brothers and wanted us to all get together sometime soon.  Since Billie is in the nursing home, we don't make it to Hartselle very much.  Usually on the weekends that we were up there, we'd see most everybody at some point, but I don't think we've really seen Tim and Tisha since Christmas.  We ran into them one Sunday as we were leaving the nursing home.  I know we haven't seen Libby, Jay, or the kids since Christmas, and it's been even longer since we saw Luke.

We decided that this weekend would be a good time to get together to visit.  We still didn't have everybody there, but it can be hard to get everyone's schedules to mesh.

Connie, Zac, and Billie got there first.  We were so excited to see Billie come crawling out of Connie's car!  John said on the way up Friday that he wished she would come.  Not long after they got there, Tim, Tisha, Libby, and Gavin got there, and then Katy, Phillip, and Sam were right behind them.  Danny and Linda came up a little later, but Danny wasn't feeling the best, so he rested.

We didn't do anything special--John grilled burgers, we sat and talked, Phillip and Katy took Sam and Zac to the water and let them swim.  Billie really seemed to enjoy herself.  She was a little confused about whether it was Katy or Jessi, who Libby had married (she kept wanting her to have married "the Caldwell boy'), and who the boys belonged to.  Connie said that when she got her back to the nursing home, she told everybody that she'd gotten to spend the day with all her kids and her grandkids (almost all!) and that she'd gone fishing.  :)  She didn't fish one time, but hey, if she thinks she did, then that's fine with me!  She has fished out there tons of times.

Sam sure had a good time.  He swam for a while, and then he played with his tractor and was covered in dirt.  Bama chased a beagle around the yard, and Sam "barked" and ran after them, laughing the whole time.  Then he decided he wanted to walk, so we walked.  We went from one end of the road to the other and back to our place.  On the way back, he saw a mud puddle.  He stopped, looked at it, and looked up to me.  I looked at him and said, "Sam Pate, no."  He then proceeded to jump right in the middle of it with both feet.  I couldn't do anything except laugh.  I mean, what little boy doesn't like mud??  He also got to ride with Pop Pop on the four wheeler.  John had gotten it out earlier in the day.  Katy was sitting on it, so Sam climbed on with her.  We had walked down to Danny and Linda's dock for a minute, and when we came back up, Katy told Sam to ask Pop Pop for a ride.  In his cute little voice, he said, "Ride please, Pop Pop."  Of course Pop Pop couldn't tell him no.  I'm not sure who loves whom the most.  :)  Katy gave him a quick bath and then they left about dark.

I love the time we have to spend together with our families.  The memories are priceless. 

Keep dreaming!!