.Real.Greg.Lee.

I love getting back to the small town for a while and I need my fix of extended family.  I’m getting it this weekend.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at my 3 year old nephew’s birthday party.  It was at a camp site out in the woods where we roasted hot dogs over a fire for lunch and we rode 4 wheelers through fields, woods, and creeks for much of the afternoon.  Jack is pictured on the one we rode…though he never got to actually drive.

Saturday evening I got to go see my 12 year old nephew play a little leage baseball game.  He’s super-talented…as their lead-off man he had a couple big hits.  In the filed he plays shortstop and gunned out a guy at third on a relay throw.  Oh yeah, he came in and pitched the last inning to close out the game too.

This morning we went to Jenny’s home church and got to talk about our Liberia trip.  It was great seeing eyes light up all over again when we told the stories and showed the pictures.

Around noon, we went out to the local cemetery where 2 of my grandparents and one of Jenny’s is buried.  I think we also have a total of 8 great-grandparents buried there with lots of other extended family.  We went out for the memorial day service and Jack got to see the 21 gun salute and hear taps played.  One of the veterans who was part of the salute gave Jack one of his empty shells after the service.  Cool stuff…and meaningful.

Tonight we had Abby’s birthday party.  She doesn’t turn 3 for a few weeks, but it was our chance to have the extended family and about 35 people here.  She had a blast and that same 12 year old nephew challenged me to a mile race (after he heard about my half-marathon).  I knew he had run the mile in 6th grade track…and he smoked me.  His personal best is 5:59 and he ran it tonight in 6:08.  I was more than a minute behind.

These weekends are good for me.  Still, I’m looking forward to being home tomorrow.  We have a couple big weeks ahead.

~ by Greg Lee on May 24, 2009.

Posted in Suncrest