Thursday-Friday, October 10-11

Thursday - Met Annette and the kiddos at 7:20 and off to school we went.   I got to see their classrooms, meet their teachers, etc. 

Saying good bye to silly Luke who did not want to pose for a picture and Maeve who thought it was so funny!

Maeve making a "donut" for Grandma

Annette and I headed to Mount Airy (1.5 hrs) to pick up her new car.     Took longer than we thought, but while she was finishing up the paper work, driving her new wheels, etc., I went to Aunt Bea's and got us some breakfast sandwiches.    Mount Airy is Andy Griffin's hometown and signs of Andy Griffin Parkway, Aunt Bea's restaurant, etc. are here and there.

Popular spot in Mount Airy

We were on our way with Annette in her new dark grey Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid mini van and me driving their old mini van.    Traffic on I-77 was big back-up cause of construction, but we finally made it back to Morganton by 2:40, switched the car seats and got the little tykes.    Took old mini van to Honda dealer who are purchasing it.

Annette's spiffy new car

  Annette dropped me off at Michael's where Flo is and I did some last-minute packing, took a shower and we were on our way to Newton.     Michael, Brady, Blair and I had a nice dinner at the Catawba Country Club and on home to spend the night.   Brooke had a tennis match and Davis was at school soccer and volleyball games.

Michael, Blair, Pat, Mark, Brady

Saw Brooke briefly when we got home and off to bed.....

The little girls love to pose.....Miss Blair wearing her Daisy Dukes!   I called her Daisy - of course, she had no idea what I was talking about!    Ha

Friday - up early and on our way to Charlotte airport for 9:30 flight to Omaha.    CLT was a zoo....must be cause of the Columbus Day holiday on Monday??     Michael, Davis and Brady arrived about 1/2 hour after us and we were in same terminal but 19 gates apart.    Chatted briefly and said our good byes.    They are in Iowa City this weekend for their annual "guy football" time with Drew.    Ryan and Philip flew in later this afternoon.

Our plane had mechanical issues so they brought in a different one but smaller, so begging people to take a voucher and later flight.    Luckily they got enough people to do that and we were off - 3-hour flight.    But upon arriving in Omaha.....oh my gosh....it was 37 with 30 mph winds and no sun!

Mark's brother Tom texted that he and Beth were just 40 minutes from Omaha and did we want to meet for lunch?    We got our rental car and arrived at the  Crescent Moon (good pick, Tom - thank you Trip Advisor) about 8 minutes apart.    They are known for their Ruebens and many beer choices.   Mark and I shared a Reuben - very good!

Onto the hotel where we'll party with Mark's siblings and cousins celebrating Sister Mary Chamberlain's 50th Jubilee as a nun.

Sister Mary and Pat

A wonderful party celebrating tonight - lots of family and friends from Sister Mary's past and present, great slide show, awesome food and much chatter.     Sooo fun to be together with our big family and meet many new Chamberlains'.

Hard to believe that it's been 3 weeks tonight that Patrick passed away - Sister Mary, said a little prayer for him as she was introducing us along with all her guests.