Florida Vacation or ( Why did I come Back?) Family... we missed all

Excellent vacation to Florida. We spent 16 days there, got warm, and say so much!  We began in St. Pete.We then visited Sarasota with it's amazing circus museums. We  had strawberries in Plant City, in remembrance of my Mom then a day in Orlando.  . Our next  stop was St. Augustine where there is so much history, a fort, lighthouse, museums. We then returned to the west coast, spent a day with Larry and Marleta, good times. We visited the Sarasota area again and finished in Tampa.
Great visits with Larry and Marleta, the highlight of the trip. So much history, so much warm weather. And home to family, thanks to Geo for picking us up and to bro Daughdrill for dropping us off.

And as usual, Linda found such great accommodations at great reasonable rates!!

One of Those Indiana Winter Days

Harry spent a week with the flu after a wonderful trip to Florida for 16 days.  Makes you wonder why anyone lives in Indiana in the winter.  Today we decided it was time to stretch out and we headed for the Mall to walk a couple rounds.  Enroute, we became part of an 11 vehicle group of accidents on the 69/ Coldwater Road overpass.  The car two behind us slid, hitting the car right behind us and causing that car to slide sideways and into the back of us, pushing us into a van in front of us.  Nobody was hurt, but the two cars in back of us were likely totaled.  There were already 2 accidents the policeman was dealing with in the far right and center lanes just ahead of us...

Harry made it on the Channel 15 Noon News today:

Another Great Christmas Gathering in Buffalo Grove

I think this was the 5th year that Harry & Teresa have hosted the whole family at their home - usually the weekend after Christmas as it was this year.  Games, talent show, food...    and the annual taste test which this year was potato chips:

Winners of the Chip Contest - Left to Right - #1 Pringles, #2 deLISH Kettle Cooked, #3 Jay's Classic

11 Varieties to Test

Tallying the Results

This Year's Honey Party

This was the biggest year ever - people and honey!  Labor Day 2014 - we had 42+ here for the honey party - mostly family but a few friends and 390 pounds of honey.  That's 140 pounds more than last year and our biggest extraction ever.  A big thanks to our friend, Dave Myers, for the loan of his big, electric extractor.  We would still be cranking without it.  We did use our 3-frame crank extractor to give the kids a chance to manually extract some honey.  It was the first year Sydney and Nolan have been able to be here:

My sister Marleta brought her two granddaughters Sarah and Hannah and my niece Anita (their mom) surprised me by coming to pick up the girls here and spend a little time.

Three elders and two sister missionaries were out for the harvest and lunch.

Elder Bassett

Sisters Montrose and Stone

Elders Pape and Smith

This was also a first year for our friends Kevin and Kathy Hagan.  Kevin saved the day by getting the grill going after our many attempts at keeping the thing lit - he worked his magic.  

Lunch was again chaos with that many people and that much food.  Amy says we should go with pizza next year.  The idea is sounding better all the time.  After mopping the floor 3 times today, I can see much wisdom in her suggestion.  

Thanks to all the friends and family who helped on the big day!

Putnam - Remus   Link from Nancy Loiselle

John's House Nearing Completion

The porch rebuild and the new siding have made John's house look great.  He's had some good help recently and things are moving along well.

One of the helpers thought to add a coat closet in the living room (below).