Saturday 4/24/10 - A memorial & reunion with old friends

A few months back, one of Jack's friends and neighbor's dad passed away.  It had been 10 years since he had seen his friends.  The family decided to have a memorial and reunion back here in our little town where they grew up.  They all live in different parts of the country now as adults.  Jack attended the Memorial and service at the cemetary.   I stayed home with the kids during this part.  Neither Jack nor I felt that was a place for children.  Especially disruptive ones.  We all attended the church gathering afterwards.  We thought the atmosphere would be more relaxed so it wouldn't be such a big deal if the kids got a bit rowdy.  Jack had a great time visiting with his childhood friends.  It's so much fun to reminisce about the past and catch up on the present. 


I was pleasantly surprised with how well these two behaved.  More so about the shorter, meaner one. :)

I only had to get on him once for pulling on the blinds and he only tried to escape once.  It was a good day!

The Shoemate family:  (L) to (R) - Steve Shoemate, Tom Shoemate, Momma Shoemate (sorry, I don't remember her name) and Marybeth (I don't know her married name).  Jack was friends with Steve. 

The Parker gang:  Angie, Jack & Eddie.  Looking at this picture, I never realized how much Angie and Jack look more a like than Eddie.  Especially in the eyes. 

Eddie and Jack with their friend, Steve Shoemate. 

Brianna has discovered how much fun it is to take pictures of things.  She was "borrowing" her Aunt Angie's camera to take pictures.  Here she was taking a picture of me taking her picture. Silly little girl!  I'm sure Angie found some interesting pictures on it when she got home...lol. 

Brianna with her main squeeze.  This is her most favorite person in the whole wide world...GRANDPA!!  I think he's kinda sweet on her too.  ;)

Another favorite of Brianna's...AUNT ANGIE! 

After the memorial, a lot of the friends went to a local establishment to do more catching up.  After all, they haven't seen each other in over 10 years!  Jack wasn't going to go, but I convinced him he should.  I told him no telling when he'd see them all again.  They even ran into their 6th grade teacher!   Jack was excited to see her.  He said she was one of his favorite teachers.  He was really impressed she remember all of them!  She's the one in the front with the black, white and red shirt.  Sorry, I don't remember what her name is either (the memory isn't what it used to be people).   When Jack got home he had to tell me all about it.  He was sooo excited!  He was glad he went.