Sunday, July 17, 2005

7/17 Weekend summary

Just didn't have time to blog over the weekend, but now that I'm home, it's a priority. :)

7/15 Friday

The business class part of the train has been updated. I love it. Seats turn into quasi-beds. Wonderful and so worth the $14 one way.

Jan and Tim picked me up. The train was a little late and we were tired. Went to bed about 11. I had no food with me for the picnic tomorrow and forgot my auction items so I needed to go to the store on the way to the picnic.

7/16 Saturday

Awake at 6:30, got up at 7 and showered. By the time I got downstairs, both Jan and Tim were up. We sat on their expansive wraparound porch and enjoyed our coffee. I love their home--lovely, warm and welcoming. Just what Jan wanted it to be.

Jessi woke up and we decided I'd go to town with her, and Jan would go to Kris's to pick her up.

Jessi and I had a nice talk on the way to town. At Hyvee Food Store I saw my friend Rose. So good to see her after just being together last weekend for our class reunion. (Later I remembered that last weekend I said I'd go to her house this morning to connect her computer--I hate that I forgot it.)

After buying some food, we went to the Dollar Tree to buy some trinkets for the kids to bid on at the auction.

The family reunion was a hoot. Aunt Millie and Uncle Tom's kids and grandkids hosted. They always have the best games. As usual we ate well--not necessarily healthy but well. 'Nuff said.

Afterward, the games began. They did a great job of planning The Amazing Race. They drew names to form six-person teams. We had to name our teams and choose a captain. Omigod it was hilarious.

The first game was BALLOON TOWERS where we had to build a tower out of balloons and tape. Second game was having your team walk with LOGS on their feet. Third game was SCRABBLE where you had to pick up these huge tiles--as many as two team members could pick up in ten seconds. Then the entire team made words out of the letters. The fourth game was the OBSTACLE COURSE. It consisted of running over some hula hoops making sure you stepped in each one. Then people held some small hula hoops upright and you had to crawl through them (although the more athletic folks dove through). Then we had to throw a whiffle ball through a hanging hoop. Then run around a tree, grab a bat, lean over and put your head on the end of the bat and circle five times. Then run like crazy back to the beginning where you tagged your next teammate. That last bit of running when you're incredibly dizzy was the funniest bit ever.

Then we had the auction--everyone brings "stuff," we auction the items, and then we draw names to give away the money made during the auction. I spent $14 but won $5, so I did okay. Then they chose two-person teams for the final game--Old Fart Jeopardy. My team came in second. A really fun game.

Afterward we sat and visited. It was so incredibly hot and humid, but they had two big fans which helped. Here's how hot it was--I drank six bottles of water and one beer, and didn't go to the bathroom the entire time we were there--six and a half hours.

My family then went to niece Kris's house. We ordered pizzas and nachos from Gem City Pizza and Mexican (I love that name).

Then we laughed,and I do mean laughed. My brother Joe kept doing his Joe Cocker impression and it killed. We did all kind of requests, Joe did Walter Brennan doing Joe Cocker. John did Katherine Hepburn doing Joe Cocker. But Jane mistakenly requested Audrey instead of Katherine Hepburn, and someone started singing "I could have danced all night" a la Audrey Hepburn, but really Tippi Hedren.

The above will definitely find a place in one of my books. Finally about 11 I said I had to get up at 4 AM so needed to get some sleep. By the time we got back to Jan and Tim's it was about 11:30 and I packed, and got to bed by midnight.

Am too tired to write about today--Sunday--but will fill in that blank tomorrow.

2 comments:

Carolyn Chambers Clark said...

Jer,

Thanks for coming to my blog and egging me on.

Where in Wisconsin are you?
I was born in Superior and lived in Ashland through high school.

Best,

Carolyn

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Hello, Carolyn. I'm in Milwaukee. But as you can tell from my blog, I'm not from here. Just moved here for a job--originally in 1993.

Keep that blog updated. :) Jer