We are Family!

Aunt Gina and Grandma Dot are Genealogists Deluxe!  

They love to research and have found the neatest stuff! 

Before we came, we asked them to give us presentations because they have discovered so much we don't know about!  So they made four posters like this, my grandma's parents and my grandpa's parents.  We learned that we have lots of hard working ancestors...(I should be going over some records to better document...) single mom who took her two kids to live in San Francisco, coal miners, a pastor {who died after in front of a congregation after finishing his sermon!}, a dairy farmer, a Dragoon, Revolutionary War soldiers, late 1920s California surfer girl, a Great grandpa who left his belongings in a storage unit in San Francisco and it was all lost in the 1906 Earthquake and fires!, ancestors who lived in New York in 1600s!, a Great grandpa who like to turn sideways in pictures, even Sequoia the half Native American who recorded the Native American language and of which the Sequoia Trees and National Parks are named after...he's a great great great great.... illegitimate Uncle! We are German, English, Irish, Dutch {Holland}, and VERY AMERICAN!  I used to think we were MUTTS...which pretty far back we are, but it was fun to learn how some lines came to America very early!

Visiting Grandpa Gene...4 Generations!

Yay! Sydney came to town!  

Scott and the boys went out and raked Grandma's leaves in the front and back...and pulled them out of a drainage pipe!  Yay boys!

We ate at the Nu-Grille...one of Ft. Scott's quaint little diner's...My grandpa worked in the kitchen when my dad was born!  And was a frequent diner when they moved back to town after retirement.

We got to visit Elizabeth Ann, my Grandma's half sister and sing Christmas Carol...including the boys fave Little Drummer Boy...Ryan and Sean soloed the last verse!

And visited Great Grandma Mary's grave...Grandma Dot's mom.  Her name was Mary Labrucherie...so my dad says it slowly for the boys as he points to the word on her headstone...here you can see Kyle copying my dad...saying "La - bru - cher - ie"  saying it perfectly!  

My grandma is reacting...he's still in the middle of saying it.

Now we are all laughing at how perfectly and cute he said it and he's starting over again!

One night we drove out further into the country to star-gaze!

Can't tell here, but the stars were awesome!  Most of us saw at least one Shooting Star!

The time came to pack up...the bigger boys were out playing with dad and grandpa and Cade was sad he wasn't outside playing too!  He really wanted out there...and I was trying to pack...so my grandma found some fun things for him to stack and play with!

Then a little while later we found them looking outside together!

Sooo cute!  Love you so much grandma!

And then I ruined the moment.

And we found some pictures...circa 1958 I'm thinking...I'm guessing my dad is about 4 years old here...and look at how Kyle resembles him!  Hello!  more proof!

My grandma and grandpa are on the right and left.  Sooo cute! 

Love these pics!

We don't get to visit nearly enough...that's for sure!

But when we do visit, it's so great!

And as Grandma always says, til next time!

XOXOXOXO

Multi-generational Family photo shoot 2011

Kansas Food Wars! Thanksgiving with Grandma! Part 1

 Kansas City!  We met my family in Kansas to visit my Grandma for Thanksgiving!  We had such a wonderful trip!!! We were excited to try some real KC BBQ and found a few old joints to test.  Two of the older ones in town, BBs Lawnside BBQ (probably the coolest) and Sneads BBQ (the oldest).  My dad acceptance standards were quite strict.  Had to be old and had to be interesting...no strip mall fake BBQ for us!  And it served us good!  We loved our BBQ!

Here we are outside of BBs Lawnside after arriving in Kansas City!

And inside, Ryan trying some ribs.

Ryan was lovin it!
I had Burnt Ends and loved it!

After Sydney and Mike came to town, we tracked down this old joint! 

Sneads did not disapoint!  We loved their burnt ends which they called, "Brownies!"

CHICKEN DINNER ROAD!

Another day before Sydney and Mike came to town, we got to test Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's...

famous fried chicken from Pittsburg, Kansas ~ only 30 minutes from Grandma's in Ft. Scott, KS!

They are within sight of each other!  They were on the Travel Channel's show FOOD WARS.

Scott, Sean and I thought we might enjoy Annie's better.  Ryan expected to like Mary's better.

It's a perfect in-between meeting place to visit my Dad's Aunt Kathleen her kids, Donna, Jason and Shane and their families who live in Oklahoma! 

My Grandma has liked Annie's for years...her sister likes Mary's...this is how it goes!  Everyone has a favorite:)  Anyhow we met cousins from Oklahoma at Annie's...

Love this picture of Grandma and Aunt Gina!  Cute Cute!

So after we ate a yummy Chicken Dinner at Annie's, we went down the road to try some of Mary's!

Sooooo....we had a vote...like on Food Wars...which Mary's actually won by one vote...
but in our vote...Annie's won by one...HOWEVER....Scott and I flipped from thinking we liked Annie's to choosing Mary's!  BUT I still feel bad...cause Mary's parking lot is a zoo...Annie's much easier to get into...
Quite Frankly, if there wasn't a food war between them, we wouldn't have gone...so they both win!

And of course we had some fun projects...Grandma helped the boys make Turkey cupcakes.

And Thanksgiving was yummy as always!  Here's a funny moment Aunt Gina caught on camera!  Please ignore me when I obliviously walk in and have no awareness of this funny moment!

From 2011_11_24