Our eldest turned 20 last Thursday. Yes, it's true- we now have one beyond the teen years. How did that happen? Was I really just a month away from my wedding day when I was his age?
He ordered burgers & fries for his birthday meal. And this cake topped it off. Times sure change- when I was his age there was no such thing as a micro SD card to put on one's birthday wish list.
After the menfolk were out till 2AM at a truck & tractor pull, we headed to my home state Saturday morning. The occasion was the 90th birthday party of my paternal grandmother. (You can read more about this amazing woman in my mom's book "A Home for Sarah".) We had some good eating- grilled chicken, salad bar, homemade ice cream and much more.
Amazingly enough, on short notice and a holiday weekend, it suited all of grandma's 10 children to attend. My Dad (2nd from R) is the oldest. What a blessed family- to still have Grandma, and all the aunts & uncles.
Also in attendance were 21 of us 26 grandchildren.
There is a lot of history represented in this photo! If you were to divide this group in half by age, I would be the only girl in the older half. I was so thankful when some girl cousins finally came along! Now that we're all roughly the same height, it's my gray hair that dates me in the older set.
Fun times catching up with cousins I haven't seen in awhile. (And missing those who are no longer with us.)
I think there were around 40 great-grandchildren there as well. I'm not the oldest of the cousins but I was first to get married so my firstborn is the eldest great-grandchild. The ages range from 20 all the way down to 'more on-the-way'.
On Sunday we attended my folks' church. To our surprise, they had a guest minister who is married to one of the girls I graduated with. More catching up time.
Sunday evening we had a soft pretzel party at my parents' house to recognize the recent birthdays in the family. 2 brothers on the right, son on the left, nieces & nephew in the middle. I can never make enough soft pretzels for this crowd.
Monday we hit one last "party"- the annual Apple Butter Stir with my mom's family. You haven't had good apple butter until you've had the kind made outside in a big copper kettle like this!
Did I mention there was a late summer heat wave in this area while we were there? It was sweltering hot the entire 3 days, but ended when we left. The One who controls the weather surely has a sense of humor. We came home with a mountain of smelly laundry and a new appreciation for our central air.
