Thanksgiving and family time

We drove 275 miles our first day on the road and stopped for the night at a Walmart in Clarksville, TN.  We had two days to get to Topeka for Thanksgiving, so we had plenty of time the next day  to stop at one of our favorite places, ‘Lambert’s Cafe (The Home of Throwed Rolls)’ in Sikeston, MO.  If you haven’t been to Lambert’s yet, you are in for a treat.  In addition to the meal that you order, there are waiters who continuously make their way around the restaurant, serving ‘pass-arounds’ of fried potatoes & onions, macaroni & tomatoes, black-eyed peas, fried apples, fried okra, hot rolls & sorghum.  Don’t have a plate yet?  No problem!  Tear off a paper towel and someone will plop down a big mound of fried okra!  Ready for a homemade roll?  Wait a minute or two and you’ll hear someone yell ‘hot rolls!  Raise your hand and a hot roll will be launched in your direction.  Each day 518 DOZEN rolls are baked and served at Lambert’s!

We continued driving and didn’t stop until we reached Columbia, a total day’s drive of 402 miles, which is about twice as far as we usually drive in a day.  The next morning we picked up a few things in Walmart and then drove on to Topeka, where we spent a wonderful thanksgiving weekend with our family.  Holly’s mother was there, and our granddaughter’s new fiance’ came, too.

 

Paul and Holly were terrific hosts and the meals were all delicious.  We did some ‘Black Friday’ shopping on Thursday night.  I went along to help everyone get the things they wanted.  What an experience! 

 

Paul picked up tickets for everyone to go to a hockey game Friday night, so that was fun.  Jeremy made little drums for Luke and Abi and they had fun beating on those in support of the Topeka team.  We also spent some time at the park while were in Topeka.  Erin and Lorisa each took engagement pictures of Ashley and Josh, and the younger grandkids had a good time playing on the playground.  

Ashley and Josh

Josh and Ashley

Megan

Megan and Lukas

Abigayle, Jeremy, Luke, and Megan

Abi and Kelly

Megan and Luke

Megan, Natalie, and Luke

Justin, Natalie, Megan, Ashley, Josh

Natalie

 

Ashley wanted to have her birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory, so we ate lunch at the one in Kansas City on our way to Lorisa’s house on Sunday.  It was still a few days until her actual birthday, but there isn’t a Cheesecake Factory in Columbia and we didn’t want to have to drive back to Kansas City on Friday.  

It was dusk when we got to Lorisa’s, so Ron quickly unhitched and plugged in to electric, but waited until morning to connect the line to our large stationery propane tank.  Since we were going to be here for awhile, he also used heat tape on the hydrant and water hose.      

Lorisa’s family returned to work and school on Monday, and we spent our first week checking things off of our ‘to do’ list.  I purged closets and cabinets while Ron did the same with the storage area beneath our fifth wheel.   We went to Walgreens to have photos of our trailer printed and a passport picture made to send in with my gate guard application.  (Ron already has his security guard license).  We dropped a donation off at Salvation Army, picked up a few groceries, and got a few other errands done, too.

Ashley’s birthday was on Friday.  Ashley opened her gifts after dinner and then we all went bowling.  Ron and I hadn’t bowled in about 20 years, so our scores were nothing to brag about!  We had a good time, though, and would like to do it again sometime. 

Ashley watching her dancing penguin

Lorisa made this cake for Ashley

Ashley

Finally!!  A ball that's not going in the gutter!

A get-together with friends was planned for Saturday night at a restaurant in Fayette.  Unfortunately, a few of our friends had to cancel, but we had a nice evening with the couples who could come.  Hopefully, we’ll have another opportunity to get together before we leave. 

We have dinner with Lorisa’s family every evening, with us contributing a meal now and then.  It has been nice to have that time with family and to get to know Ashley’s fiance’, Josh, better.  I’m looking forward to the holidays when our other kids and their families will be here, too!

Sunday we went to church and then spent a quiet day at home, but had a busy day on Monday.  We had stops to make at the credit union, the VA hospital for Ron to sign up for his benefits, and at Ron’s old office to get information on our new insurance plan.  We still had a few gifts to buy, so the rest of the day and evening was spent Christmas shopping.  We didn’t get home until 9:30 that night.

We woke up to snow on Tuesday morning.  Although there was barely an inch of snow , it covered a layer of oil and ice, making the roads treacherous.  There were 199 accidents in the Columbia area!   I spent the day wrapping gifts and then took them over to put under Lorisa’s tree.  It was nice to regain some space in our fifth wheel!

We finished our Christmas shopping on Wednesday and then stopped by the pharmacy to see when my prescriptions can be filled.  One of my prescriptions can’t be filled until the day after we had planned to leave for Texas, so that will delay our departure by at least a day.

 

Jessica came out to Lorisa’s for dinner yesterday and to spent the evening with all of us.  It was good to have her back home!  Tonight is home movie night.  Josh is picking up ‘The Help’ and bringing it for us all to watch.  I read the book and can’t wait to see the movie!