DH & MIL should not travel together - IL. IN. KY. TN & WA, oh my! - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Day 6, Wonderworks, the family reunion and marshmellows
I had forgotten that yesterday we went out for dinner (tacos tonight I didn't get lots of notes and am going on memory). The reason I mention it is because we tried fried pickles!
I had never even heard of them, they were an interesting mix of flavors with all the salt at the end - yikes. I would not eat them again but interesting to try.
The family reunion gathering began at lunch so we had the morning free and I had promised DD, she and I would do something together and although I tried to talk her into the Titanic experience because it's what I wanted to do she picked Wonderworks.
Here she is outside the building. Upside down, no less.
We had an enjoyable morning, playing around with the the stuff.
DD makes great bubbles.
I actually laid on a bed of nails. It was a little pokey but didn't hurt like I expected it too. After checking everything out at Wonderworks we went back to the Campground, apparently while we were gone DH and MIL had gotten into a big yelling match and were now not talking to each other. Oh dear.
The aunts had went to pick up the pre-ordered food for the lunch and weren't back yet, when they did arrive they said there was a problem with the order not being ready and had to wait for it to be made, oh well lunch was late but at least arrived as everyone was hungry. After lunch one of the aunts requested a sing along which we really enjoyed. Another aunt who was the MC talked the kid cousins into coming up front and helping her lead one of the songs. DD's in blue, none of the kids really wanted to and no one would go up until my brave daughter got up and walked up front so the other kids followed her.
it is a tradition to have an auction to raise money for the following years event which was really fun. There were silly gifts and nice ones, I split up the money I had set aside between DD, DH and I. DD was nervous about bidding and getting a gag gift as they were all wrapped and no one knew what it was they were bidding on. DD ended up with a box of candy which thrilled her. DH got a beautifully painted piece of wood to hang coats on, and I do not remember what I got because at the end of the auction, Uncle Bill said, I think it's Bonnie and when I heard my name I looked up to see one of the aunts bringing me a red hat. Apparently, every year they give a red hat to anyone who has recently turned 50. I wore it the rest of the afternoon.
At the end, DH's cousin had a game planned which involved marshmellows and I'll get to that in my next post.
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:46 PM..
I don't care for fried pickles either. Wonderworks looks fun! Too bad about your DH and MIL. The rest of the day looks fun!
It's funny talking to people from other parts of the U.S. who think it weird that I've never heard of fried pickles and didn't fall in love with them or sweet tea; but I bet they wouldn't like mutuk. We did have fun at Wonderworks, it was the first time we'd been. The reunion gathering was a lot of fun.
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I love pickles but have never even heard of "fried pickles"! I know that at some country fairs there are kiosks where they fry everything, but I've never tried anything. I'm not one who thinks anything is better if fried! Too bad your DH and MIL had a tiff, but it sounds like the rest of the group had a nice afternoon.
I don't like pickles full stop, so fried pickles do nothing for me. Fun time at Wonderworks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sounds like a great lunch with all the family!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I love pickles but have never even heard of "fried pickles"! I know that at some country fairs there are kiosks where they fry everything, but I've never tried anything. I'm not one who thinks anything is better if fried! Too bad your DH and MIL had a tiff, but it sounds like the rest of the group had a nice afternoon.
I like pickles, dill, bread & butter, sweet but fried was a little weird. I was surprised a little that I really enjoyed DH's family reunion day, the people were a little over the top but extremely nice and welcoming.
I'm thinking fried pickles is a southern thing. Lots of restaurants here offer them. My family loves them. The best ones are the dill hamburger slices.
I'm thinking fried pickles is a southern thing. Lots of restaurants here offer them. My family loves them. The best ones are the dill hamburger slices.
I agree it's a southern thing. I heard about them from a lady who grew up in Texas. The kind I tried were the dill but I think it's an aquired taste
After the auction, DH's cousin had a game for whomever wanted to play. I talked DH's into being my partner and asked one of the aunts to take pictures of us. We were given a stick with a string tied to it and at the end of the string was a piece of a plastic straw. Then we were offered a marshmellow (the giant size) from the bag. The object was to push the marshmellow onto the straw, stand back to back while one partner held the stick over their head so that (hopefully) the marshmellow was dangling infront of the parnters face. Then whoever bit the marshmellow first without using hands won. DH and I finished first and then had time to watch everyone's else's efforts. Very fun.
Here I am, wearing my new Red Hat, holding the stick for DH.
We had a pleasant afternoon visiting with DH's family. After a bit, I headed back to our cabin and began packing then made taco's for dinner. After dinner we had promised DD we would go play in the pool for awhile and a bunch of DH's family came too. It was a fun evening.
The next morning I had originally wanted to drive to and through part of the Smokey Mountain park, but we also didn't really want to spend most of the day in MIL's jeep for the next two days and then fly on Sunday. So I agreed to give up the Smokies if we could just drive all day Friday to reach MIL's so could have Saturday off from traveling.
Took pictures after family reunion, here's us with Mil.
Early Friday AM we said goodbye to the three aunts and headed out. Our trip was fairly quiet, although long. I thought it was interesting that we drove through 4 states, TN, KY, Ohio, and IL which was amazing to me. We stopped at a rest area for a picnic lunch.
There was a little breeze which was nice, and as you can see we found the only shade at the rest stop. It was a hot day and with Mil's air conditioning in jeep not working well and she didn't want windows down DD and I were pretty hot so it was nice to be outside. We did make another gas/restroom stop later on, somewhere in Kentucky that ended up having homemade fudge which I can't resist. I just had to get some, cookies and cream fudge, peanut butter fudge, brownie fudge and regular, of course I shared! A little.
We made it back to Mil's town around 6pm and with nothing prepared for dinner decided to go out to eat. The sky was really amazing looking, I'll add pictures in my next post. Anyway, Mil picked a buffet which was fine. We had dinner and a desert, DD loves ice cream and hadn't had any in 4 days! She said she was going to get a cone, I said no problem, and this is what she came back to the table with...
I asked her what happened to just a cone? She told me that she did have a cone but then the top started to fall over so she plopped it on a plate and then decided she could add toppings since it was on the plate. Silly girl. Well she really enjoyed her ice cream.
We arrived at MIL's condo which wasn't too terribly stuffy since she had called neighbor and ask her to open windows and balcony door which let out some of the stuffiness. I put a load of laundry in and helped DH find his wallet. A major rain and thunder storm started with a nice cooling wind, DH, DD and I all sat on the balcony for quiet a while, since we do not get storms like this in Alaska.
We slept on the bouncing air mattress again. Cannot for the life of me remember what we had for breakfast Saturday AM, toast and fruit I think or maybe that was Sunday, see what happens when I don't take good notes?
Saturday AM, I finished laundry and was packing and re-packing all of our new items we brought back from TN, trying to squish everything in because I had a big suitcase that had left at Mil's that was more than 1/2 full for DD (29) and grandsons in WA. It was tricky but I managed. By this time I was so hot and sweaty and it was only 10AM! DH & I talked and all either of us really wanted was air conditioning so we decided to go to the movies. We asked Mil, she said we could take the jeep but she wanted to stay home. I grabbed a shower and changed clothes, while DD and DH waited then we headed out. We went to a big mall which was by the movie theatre, to have some lunch. I tried a burger place famous in the area and it was really good!. We walked the mall a bit, and a funny thing happened. I'm walking along checking out the window displays and listening to DD chatter when this man says "Excuse me, maam?" they he takes my hand and begins buffing my fingernail, talking a mile a minute about what a wonderful product they have. After about 30 seconds of rubbing that pad thing on my fingernail it felt like it was on fire. I yelled (for me) ow! and jerked my hand back. He apoligized and said he must have been rubbing too hard but insisted looking at my now very shiny fingernail. It was shiny but still a little hot and when he asked if I wanted to buy a buffer set, what do you think I said? That's right, "Thanks, but ."
After being in the mall a bit I realized we had been here once before with Mil, on a earlier trip and knew there was a double decker merry-go-round. DD loves them so made an effort to find it because she had rode it the previous time we had been there.
We left the mall, it was in the 90's and extremely humid, truly.
Made our way to the movie theatre, and watched Men in Black three. By the time we got back to Mil's it was late afternoon and the time together with just us three was relaxing and very cooling in the air conditioning.
We had a quiet evening and went to bed early, the heat got to all of us.
Continued in next post...
__________________
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:45 PM..
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
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I didn't get lots of notes and am going on memory). The reason I mention it is because we tried fried pickles!
. I would not eat them again but interesting to try.
.
. It was a little pokey but didn't hurt like I expected it too. After checking everything out at Wonderworks we went back to the Campground, apparently while we were gone DH and MIL had gotten into a big yelling match and were now not talking to each other. Oh dear. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Fun time at Wonderworks! 
Mary - not enough trips!
. 
I asked her what happened to just a cone? She told me that she did have a cone but then the top started to fall over so she plopped it on a plate and then decided she could add toppings since it was on the plate.
. I yelled (for me) ow! and jerked my hand back. He apoligized and said he must have been rubbing too hard but insisted looking at my now very shiny fingernail.
, truly.
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