On Wallin Pond

This has been a very busy week. I hardly know where to begin.

Last Saturday, July 16
Andy's mom loves family reunions in July. So she invited 70+ people to our house for a picnic on July 16th. People were supposed to arrive at 12:00 noon, then we were going to eat at 1:00. We borrowed tables and chairs from the church and put up tents and canopies. Mom organized it and it was a bit much for her. She says this is the last year she's doing this, but she said that last year, too. So we'll see. It was a very fun and a lovely day for a picnic and just renewing relationships.

The party was supposed to last until 5:00, but people stayed longer, some as long as 8:30! Christy and Dawn and their families joined the party from our immediate family. Christy and Christian stayed until around 6:30.

I was on the schedule for playing my bass guitar as a sub that weekend. So I needed to be at the church by 6:30 for rehearsal, then played in all 3 services on Sunday morning. When we got home from church on Sunday, I fixed lunch for Andy and me. The rest of the afternoon was spent in getting ready for another picnic. That's right - another picnic. I decided Andy's new name should be Mr. Picnic. He loves picnics, although after having 2 in 2 days might have been a little much even for him. The picnic itself is fun, but it's the set up and take down and prep work that makes one question the whole idea. This one involved our older singles group from church. I prepared turkey burgers (from scratch) and deviled eggs. Everyone who came brought either a salad or dessert. It was a fun time with everyone.

We decided to buy a canopy to use in the yard since we do plenty of entertaining. Isn't it pretty?

Along with all this activity, we also had a guest staying in our front room - Mom's cousin, Joan. We set up the futon for her and she slept there Saturday and Sunday nights. Then she and Mom went to the shore on Monday through Wednesday, when she came back and stayed another night.

On Monday, I left work an hour early and drove up to C & C's to get Aiden. His birthday was back in April but it hadn't worked out yet to have him over for his time with Grammy & PopPop. When we got home, he helped us water the flowers. After dinner we watched a movie and had some ice cream.
Andy had to clown around on Aiden's bike.
On Tuesday, we had some more fun together. He enjoyed beating me in 15 games of Uno to my only 3 wins. Then I had to teach him a new game, Tri-ominos, so I could win. He went to the church and rode his bike with PopPop, and we also watched a couple of Veggie Tales episodes. And a visit with the grandkids isn't complete without doing one of our favorite things: reading Uncle Remus stories. By 3:00 pm, we started our trip back to C & C's, getting there in time to visit a little before joining the family for dinner.

On Wednesday afternoon, I left work early and went to Dawn's to babysit Kira while Dawn had a doctor's appointment. She woke up from her nap about 20 minutes after I got there so we played and read books for about 2 1/2 hours till Tommy got home.

I don't know if all this activity contributed to Andy's health deteriorating, but by Thursday morning, he was feeling very sick again. He had alternating chills and fever and stayed home all day from work. He was able to get a doctor appointment for Thursday evening, so I took him to that. He should be feeling better soon since he started on another round of antibiotics.

Whew! I'm looking forward to a Saturday with no agenda. If nothing else, I need to clean my house since I didn't get to it on Tuesday. I guess I really do have an agenda. But at least it's my agenda, no one else has plans for my life. Shhh.