Surprise!

Mapgeek, Babygirl, and I headed to Hickory for my Grandmother’s 85th surprise birthday party. But, first, we swung by Charlotte to visit Nato and ‘Manda, since we weren’t supposed to be in Hickory until Saturday (wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise). We got to Charlotte, packed up the stroller, and WALKED to dinner. I sure miss being able to walk anywhere. They live in a great townhouse downtown and in walking proximity of lots of restaurants and bars. Best yet, we got to take the dog too and eat outside at a great pizza place. Then we headed back to the house and up to the rooftop terrace for drinks and watching the beautiful Charlotte skyline. We had a great time! Nato is off for Iraq in a few weeks and we wish him well. Be safe and hurry home! We miss you!

On to Hickory…

My aunt, Wufpakgrl and my mom planned and executed a great party! Well, executed as well as can be expected for a typical family party. My Grandmother seemed to be surprised, though she was probably wondering why all the family members kept showing up out of the blue and all at the same time. The party was at a city park. Wufpakgrl reserved one of the pavilions and the men folk grilled hamburgers and dogs for the party. Yum!

And then there was the reunion aspect of it all. Two of my cousins have new babies. My cousin, that is 3 weeks younger than me, has a new son that is 2 months older than Babygirl. I think they’re gonna be the Tree Monkeys reincarnate. Then, another cousin has a little boy that is 11 months. Cute, cute! Baby Central.

After the party, we all hiked it back over to my Grandmother’s house and “visited”. We “visit” down here in the south. Plopped a quilt down on the floor, put the 2 youngest babies down, and all gawked at them to see if they were going to do something interesting. I don’t know why watching wriggling infants is so fascinating. Then we watched Nascar and popped a couple brews (the Atlanta crew has tainted the fine art of drinking Bud by bringing Scottish ale, but you get the picture).

And my poor Grandmother. Not expecting to house 8 people and feed breakfast to the entire crew on Sunday. My southern hospitality lesson for the weekend…always change the sheets on the beds after guests leave. That way the beds are ready for the next guests, that may show up for some surprise party you don’t know about. My Grandmother rules! She even had tomatoes, her homemade bread, and liver mush ready for us for breakfast!

All in all, a great weekend!