Time for a Family Visit (A 101 year age difference!)

Laurie’s family lives in the St. Louis Missouri area…a sizable drive from East Tennessee.  So whenever we head over that way, we do whatever we can to maximize our opportunity to visit with her extended family.

We also have quite a few shared memories from our 3 + years that we lived there together.  It’s where she got stuck with an ‘old man’ 10 years her senior on a blind date…and it’s also where we were married.  While we wouldn’t trade our life in East Tennessee, it’s always great to return to our roots…

On to our St. Louis family visit!

This is Laurie’s Aunt Lois… She celebrated her 101^st birthday this past January and she has a better memory than I do!  Aunt Lois is Laurie’s mother’s (Doris) middle sister and the two of them married a pair of brothers.  Everybody is a double cousin!

Standing behind Aunt Lois are two of Laurie’s sisters, Karole and Glenda with Laurie on the right.  Aunt Lois has 3 sons and a plethora of grandchildren!  She is the ‘Skip Bo’ champ of her retirement center, ensuring that she won enough candy bars for our visit…and she regularly trounces Karole when they play.    

This is Laurie’s middle sister Karole with her husband Bob.  Bob just recently retired.  They have 3 sons, the youngest of whom just got married, as well as 3 granddaughters.

Glenda is Laurie’s oldest sister.  Glenda and her husband Ken recently moved into an apartment in Friendship Village, a retirement community located in St. Louis County.  They love their new life and all of the conveniences that their new home offers…

While visiting Ken and Glenda in their new apartment, we had a chance to see their daughter Judy and Judy’s grandsons, (Ken and Glenda’s great grandsons), Liam and Isaac. 

A little later, we had lunch with family members in Friendship Village’s expansive Dining Room. 

Laurie’s mother had lived in this same retirement community and back in those days, able residents went through a buffet line for their meals if possible.  Now the service has been upgraded with diners selecting their meals from a menu with waitstaff in attendance.  We couldn’t help but notice that the food had improved and that all of the personnel we encountered were very polite and helpful.  Thank you Ken and Glenda for the delicious lunch!

Our next family visit was at Bonnie and Bill’s house, Laurie’s youngest sister and her husband.  Their son Kyle, his wife Melissa and their two children Collin and Keaton arrived while we were there…further expanding our family circle for the visit.

Later during our St. Louis family and friends sojourn we stopped by an area restaurant for a meal with other members of the family.  Kasey has her back to the camera…then from the left, there is her husband Kevin, Kevin’s mom Carole, then Kyle, Collin, Bonnie’s husband Bill, Keaton, Laurie’s sister Bonnie and last, yours truly. (Laurie took the photo).

Remember the title of this blog post?  It included a “101 year age difference”.  I think that you can deduce my meaning when you take a look at Kasey…our mom to be!

Kasey and her mom Bonnie were relaxing on Kevin and Kasey’s patio.  This baby will give Bonnie her 5^th grandchild!

Kasey did let her Aunt Laurie down a little bit… She had promised to ‘see what she could do’ to give birth during our 4 day stay in St. Louis.  It didn’t happen, although by this stage in her pregnancy, Kasey was really ready for it to happen!

Luckily for Kasey and Kevin, Kevin’s mom Carole was able to take the time necessary to stay with them and help with their two older daughters, Delaney and Avery and with the new baby, watch the couple’s other 2 daughters and keep an eye on their 2 dogs, Bailey & Oshie. This is Oshie.

And this is who the focus was on!  Baby Charley Kate arrived a few days after our visit.  Charley was born May 31^st at 2:09 am. (Weighing  7lbs. 9oz. and 20 inches long) Mom looks great and so does her daughter Charley!

This photo was taken at their home right after Kevin and Kasey brought Charley home from the hospital.  We hope that Kevin is ready for sleepless nights and lots of diaper changes!

Laurie loved this photo of Charley that was taken a couple of days after she arrived home.  What a beautiful baby girl!

Finally… Here’s Charley with her very cute sisters, Avery and Delaney.  We have a feeling that this little addition to the family will be spoiled and totally doted on! 

So now you’ve seen the ying and yang age wise!  Aunt Lois is heading for her 102nd birthday in January of 2016 and little Charley will be 1 year old next May!

That’s about it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our family with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie