Just Us: Last Picnic

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Last Picnic

Donna and Bob left for Cleveland Friday morning. It was windy and a bit chilly here, but Cleveland has manufactured more winter weather, so back they went to brave the cold.

Each of us indicated that this was their best visit ever and we hope they will extend their visit next year to staying through March instead of February.

To celebrate the event, we did one last picnic and dinner out. We did "snacky" food on the lanai and then went to "Fat Tony's," no relation (!) for dinner. I think that Donna and I should have fit in one last shopping trip just to ensure that the North and South Carolina economies can last until she comes back next year.

We have a busy calendar this year--in April, we go to Florida for Alex's baptism, in June, we go to Hilton Head, again, with Donna and Bob and their family. Sarah's bridal shower is also in June in Cleveland and then the wedding is in August. We hope to see Jenna and Jon's kids while we are there in August. Somewhere in all of this we will be going to the Outer Banks for a weekend(ish) get-a-way (yes, even retired people need to get away!!) and we need to get back to Charlotte so I can meet Owen.

Locally, Tony and I will be going to "Wine and Design," the fun, new thing to do. You take a bottle of wine and some appetizers and go to a studio where a professional artist teaches you how to paint a predetermined picture. I'm thinking that we should go in and have Tony say he's never painted a picture before and then WOW, he turns out one of his masterpieces!

Spring remains one of my favorite times of the year down here. Our yard is starting to wake up. I spent some of yesterday just snapping pictures of our trees, plants and flowers. The colors were bright and beautiful.

After that, we shared memories via DVD that Tony had made from our old videos. We saw "the kids" when they were 8, 9 and 14 decorating our Christmas tree. There was one of Jenna and I dancing in the kitchen, footage of the boys playing soccer and David playing basketball, lots of birthdays and lots of laughing. It was fun to watch "the kids" grow up in minutes instead of years. And, OMG, were Tony and I young, not to mention thin. I saw pictures of my skin, unmarked by the psoriasis, great hair and big glasses. Tony looked (still does) fantastic! Brown hair, great smile, cute butt! It was also a lot of fun to compare Tony Jr's boys to him when he was that small. We're thinking that Anthony looks the most like him.

So, here are pictures of our picnic and our yard. Please excuse the "flip flops" in the back of one of the picnic photos, I still haven't mastered my photo content yet. Miss you, Bob and Donna--come back soon!