Tuesday, December 12, 2017

BBQ, a Birthday, bees (and apples)

As I alluded in the Family Gameday post, we had plans to visit Ashley and the family the weekend following the Clemson homecoming game. Tennessee had a home game against the Gamecocks and it was Granddad's birthday weekend. Ashley invited the family over to her house for a birthday celebration and to watch the UT game. Everyone was instructed to wear orange (no problem here!) and it made for a fun color-coordinated party in honor of Granddad, the handsome patriarch of the Peery family.

A little background here - Thomas was up in NY for a work meeting that week and it just so happened that Clemson was playing Syracuse on that Friday night.  Don't get me started on having to play on a Friday night. This is COLLEGE, for heaven's sake. Anyways....on the positive side, this was good for two reasons: 1) we wouldn't have to miss the Clemson game during Granddad's party on Saturday, and 2) Thomas was in the Syracuse area and got to go to the game and his travel was paid for. MaSha agreed to ride with me to Knoxville so that I wouldn't be by myself with all 3 crazies. We got a little bit later start than what we would have preferred, but Ryan had a horse therapy lesson on Friday afternoon that I didn't want to skip, so we left straight from there and drove to Knoxville. We hit a bunch of traffic near Asheville and it took way longer than it should have. I was so tired and it was dark and I'm not that familiar with the way since I've never driven there (and am usually sleeping while Thomas drives) so I was really glad to have her there in the car keeping me company and helping to keep the boys happy.

So Friday night wasn't all that great, because of the traffic situation in Asheville and I wasn't able to keep up with my Clemson football update texts due to driving, but my beloved Tigers lost in Syracuse. The #2 team vs an unranked team - quite the upset. So Thomas wasn't too happy either. He said he pretty much booked it out of that stadium when it was apparent that the game wasn't going to get any better. I can say, now that the regular season is over, that it was our only loss this year and it stung. Bad. But, Thomas flew in to Knoxville on Saturday morning, and it was a beautiful day and I was still in denial about what happened on Friday night, and we enjoyed the day big time!

Ashley's house is perfect for entertaining. Not only is it beautiful and decorated so well, but they have this amazing back screened in porch with a tv and comfy, beautiful furnishings and it's just awesome. We had BBQ for lunch and the boys got lots of loving from all the family and we watched football - nothing better!

Ryan getting some attention from Jerry and Mag

Granddad opening gifts and surrounded by
great grandchildren

One of my favorite gifts of the day! Granddad got a new sport coat from Zack's dad, Thompson.
Dapper young man looking very handsome!

Check out the inside! Lined with UT fabric!!!
Group pic




So this was a BIG hit! They love that Uncle Zack has a tractor!!!!



The next day, we had to come back through the mountains to get home and since it was October, aka apple time, we stopped by SkyTop Apple Orchard!

We walked around (most of the apple picking was already over), the boys played in the kids area/playground, we got apple donuts, stretched our legs and got some fresh air. The downside though was that the bees were out in force and people were getting stung left and right. We bought some fresh apple cider, but it was hard to drink because the bees were swarming it. The boys got a few tastes, but we ended up having to throw it out and get back in the car because we were on borrowed time until someone got stung!!

Stokes loved the wagon and kept wanting to pull it, which proved to be difficult at times and on certain terrain.











No comments:

Post a Comment