What A WONDERFUL Weekend

Friday was a busy day!  We were up early so Ted could start smoking his brisket by 6 am.  Then he prepared his pork shoulder for cooking in the crockpot.  He braises the meat first.  When he was finished I started in on my green beans, BBQ beans, cole slaw and fruit salad.

The weather was stormy early on and screwed up all three flights we were expecting from Phoenix, Detroit and Orlando.  The fourth flight from Florida was not due in until Saturday and was delayed that day too!

Fortunately the flights kept being delayed equally so our airport trips could be coordinated.  Unfortunately the last one landed at 4:40 and I had 16 folks coming for dinner at 6:00.  As soon as we arrived home I put both bean dishes in the oven and put out crab dip, pesto spread, shrimp and cheese & crackers which started disappearing in earnest!

Ted's brisket and pulled pork were excellent.  Of course if you make sure your guests are really, really hungry, anything will taste good!   Carol made brownies, lemon squares and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  It turned into a great evening! 

On our deck.

Granddaughter Morgan with son-in-law Larry.

Look at these three brides of 50, 54 and 50 years of marriage.  

Daughter Kara and Son-in-law Bill.

Saturday the fellows went to the gun range where Sam finally got to shoot under his Poppa's tutelage.  He did really well as did all the others.  

We girls went to Stein Mart and then Kara and Kristin had hair appointments.

The Mass went very well.  We were mentioned in the Prayers of the Faithful and again at the end of Mass being congratulated followed by applause.  Once church was dismissed we renewed our vows in the presence of our family and friends.  We then invited Father to come have dinner with us and he did!

 

My beautiful friend Jody did a FABULOUS job on the cake table layering it with white and gold cloths, gold candle hurricanes, 50th anniversary napkins, white and gold plates and gold forks.

Our Wedding Album and a photo of each of our three girls' weddings with flowers sent by Gerre and Barry graced it too.

We had a great time in the party room of a local Mexican restaurant complete with salsa, queso, guacamole, margaritas and the dinner of our guests' choice.  The lovely cake was our dessert and for once the entire cake was gone!  Ted took the last piece for our friend Tommy who left before the cake was cut but LOVES bakery celebration cakes.

I have to admit I was so tired when we got home that it took no time to hit the hay!  We had more celebrating the next day.  Terry and Carol invited the family, 16 in all, to brunch at the country club.  We had a private, quiet room, much different than the night before!  It was a nice ending to a busy weekend.

Then the airport runs began again.  Thankfully the flights were all on time.  Ted did two of the runs, Terry did the other.  My sister had rented a car because they were scoping out the Ironman course in The Woodlands because they are considering doing it in 2017 when they move to another age group.  So we didn't have to arrange their transportation.  On Ted's last run he stopped to give Tommy his cake!

While Ted was gone I started getting the house put back together.  And in the midst of all this chaos little Tucker was a champ.  He took the extra people, time alone, and erratic potty breaks in stride.  That evening whiile Ted napped off and on in his recliner, Tucker and I crashed together on the couch.  

Things are back to normal and as Pippi Longstocking tells us ... "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world"  ... at least for this past weekend.