Fall with Family

Last Thursday my family headed down to Orlando to meet my parents and catch a plane to St. Louis, MO.  My grandparents live about 2 hours northeast of there in a small town in Illinois.  This is the second year we've gone for a long weekend just to see them and enjoy some fall weather.  Well, Saturday the high was 80, so we didn't really get fall temps, but the leaves were beautiful, the company was great, and the relaxing was nice too!

Friday morning, my Granddad took the kids and Chris out on the combine.  He had about 15-20 acres in corn left and the kids LOVE to ride with him and watch the combine "eat up all that corn" as Oren said last year.  Chris had never been out with them, so it was new for him.  Then he and Emma rode with Granddad to the grain mill, so Emma has now seen corn go from the field to the mill.  She also got a lollipop from some guy there, and I think she enjoyed that most of all!

After a long walk across Grandma and Granddad's property (well, the kids, Chris and my Dad walked, I took a much needed nap), we took some family pictures on a whim up on the hill that we use for sledding at Christmas time if there's any snow, but what my Granddad uses for farming the rest of the year!  Then we had a wiener roast.  Grandma thought the kids would enjoy it, and it turns out, we all did.  Oren ended up getting so worn out by the time the dogs were ready, he got sick and then passed out asleep in my lap, but I managed to eat a Smore anyway before putting him to bed.

On Saturday, Grandma let me look through a bunch of old fabrics that she and my Great Grandma had left over that were just sitting around waiting to be created with!  I ended up bringing home a full mini-suitcase full!   I left all of the double knits and polyesters she tried to pawn off on me,  ;)  but got a ton of vintage cottons, trims, laces, and ric rac!  Thank Goodness Mom had that extra suitcase, because otherwise, I'd would have had to wait till Christmas when we drive up to bring them home.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the fabrics, yet, but they're going in the washer today and then we'll see what they want to become.  Grandma joked that Chris won't let me come back anymore since she's always trying to pawn off her junk on me and he told her that he wouldn't even notice once it got mixed in with everything I already have.  But since I'm the proud owner of all this fabric that I know my Grandma and Great Grandma used to make things for people they love, I let his comment slide...

   The kids played outside most of Saturday since it was so beautiful outside.  I'll take temperatures of 75-80 that feel like that any day.  It was so much cooler there than at hom, it's not even funny!  Saturday evening, Chris drove over to Jacksonville where 3 of his former students now attend college and play football.  It's a small world when kids from a small town in Florida can end up living 18 hours away from home and still be an hour from a former teacher's family!  He was glad to see they are doing well and I think they were glad to see someone from home, plus the cookies we sent over and the free meal didn't hurt, I think!

We flew home yesterday morning, tired but peaceful.  When we got home, I had a package waiting on me from my bag swap partner, Trudy.  And this is what was inside!  Lucky me, huh?  I had so much fun with this swap and was rewarded with a new friend and a beautiful bag to tote around. 

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.  My cup runneth over, as my Mom always says.  God has blessed me with a wonderful family, great friends, hobbies that I love and a country to live in that provides me freedom to enjoy all of these things.  What makes your cup runneth over?