A Family Visit!

Laurie and I are always open for visitors…friends and especially family members!  A couple of weeks ago, members of Laurie’s family from the St. Louis Missouri area stopped by for lunch, a swim, dinner and conversation.  They were all vacationing over in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg where they were staying in a time share resort facility…

This is one view of the group… After showing them around our area, we took everyone to lunch at Tanasi Grill/Clubhouse on Tellico Lake.  From the front left: John, Abby, Karen, myself, Karole, (Laurie's sister) Laurie, Bob, Regan, Cate and Tammy.  Tammy’s husband, Marc ( Laurie's nephew) took the photo…

Everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch.  Of course the fact is that the view from the restaurant out over Tellico Lake didn’t hurt the ambience either!  Laurie took this photo… From the left: Bob (Karole’s husband and Marc’s dad); Regan and Cate (Tammy and Marc’s children); Tammy (Marc’s wife); John (Tammy’s mother); Marc; Karen (Tammy’s mother); myself, and; Laurie’s sister, Karole.

After lunch we were off to Tugaloo Beach on Tellico Lake.  Kids and water…always a formula for happiness!  There was a lot of cooperative building of sand structures and canals along the shoreline… Us guys just hung around and talked about life in general.  The ladies sat in the pavilion and chatted…

After the beach, it was back to our house… Here are the girls with their grandmother Karen on our screened in porch.

I forgot to take photos of our dinner with the family.  We had 3 racks of Big Dude’s BBQ/Smoked Ribs, (http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/), hot dogs and hamburgers for the girls, mac & cheese, potato salad, baked beans, dill pickles, coleslaw, pickled beets….and 4 flavors of Tic Toc Ice Cream for dessert. (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55167-d834598-Reviews-Tic_TOC_Ice_Cream_Parlor-Loudon_Tennessee.html)

Laurie’s sister Karole sent the following quote regarding Big Dude/Larry’s ribs: “.......Dinner was amazing!  Larry is The God of the Ribs.  These ribs were by far the very best...moist, flavorful and melt in your mouth.  Better then KC, St. Louis and even better than my brother-in-law, Mike's.  (He held the top spot till Larry’s ribs knocked him down to 2nd place)."

The screened porch is where everyone seemed to want to hang out.  Of course by St. Louis standards, it was cool and comfortable outside…whereas it was comfortable but a little humid and warm for us ‘locals’.

Marc and Tammy’s daughters played card games and dominos with both of their grandmothers…and the adults just visited.  Cate spent a lot of her time petting and brushing our cat, JD.  He was exhausted by the time everyone left...but he was a happy cat!

This photo is of Tammy and her parents, John and Karen.  We'd only met them briefly many years ago.  They were open and friendly…more like long term acquaintances.  We enjoyed everyone's company and overall this was a great family get together!  We only wish we could of had more time to talk personally with everyone.  Plus, Laurie wishes she had more one on one time with her sister Karole.   Maybe their next visit!

Just click on any of the photographs to enlarge them…

Our summer schedule includes more visits by family and friends…plus a trip or two…all of which will provide more blogging fodder for yours truly!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave