It's funny how things work out

This year we were invited to join John's brother and his family up in Alabama for Thanksgiving. After our get together in October...where everyone had such a great time...they suggested that we join them. At the time I didn't have my schedule for November, so we decided to wait and see. As it turned out, I had the weekend off...(we always get Thursday & Friday...but I happened to be off that Saturday too) so we decided to make the trip. I was not looking forward to the drive...7 1/2 hrs or so...maybe longer in traffic. I had to work until 4pm...so we wouldn't get out of town until 5/5:30pm. Our plan was to just get on the road and drive for about 5 hours or so and then stop for the night. Traffic really wasn't too bad...I figure most people probably got on the road earlier...there wasn't ANY road construction (can't remember the last time we went that far without encountering any construction!) and folks were moving along at a good speed. It was a little congested around the Wildwood rest area, right before we got on I-75....but John was driving so I didn't have to worry. we got up to about 1 hour out of Tallahassee and called it a night. (His brother was joking...asked if we were stopping at the Villages -a retirement community in Central Florida,for the night)
We stayed at a really nice Best Western and it worked out great. We had a good night's sleep, got up early, had the free breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards Dothan. We did stop for a good cup of coffee at this McDonald's in Marianna, FL.

It must be one of the original McDonald's...but it was being renovated on the inside. Got my large coffee and headed northwest.
Because it was Thanksgiving morning, and early, there was very little traffic on the roads. The people that were on the road were moving along. we had a nice relaxing 2-2 1/2 hr drive.
We were meeting everyone at John's brother's farm. They built a house, finished up during this last year, on the property and  that was where we planned to have Thanksgiving dinner. We arrived before the rest of the gang. It was a beautiful day...chilly but clear...so we rolled the windows down , turned up the music (we brought our portable BOSE player...perfect for the long drive) and just relaxed until Bill and Ken(John's brother-in-law ) and  nephew Chase arrived.

entrance to the property

 

Chase in the back of the house

They wanted to build a simple, old style house...similar to what would have been there back in the early 1900's.

I love the kitchen. They have wood counter tops...made from a tree that was on the property.

 Justin (my nephew) found this old screen door that they decided to use for the pantry door.

I love the kitchen with it's vintage feel. The wood counter tops are made from a tree that was on the property. John's brother asked the builder (?) if they could use it for the counter tops...something he had never done...but it worked out well. They look great.

We got inside, took the food out of the refrigerator and started preheating the oven. Once that was done...Bill gave us a tour.(that is- John and I, his brother-in-law Ken and Chase. (they came from Tennessee)

upstairs in the "loft" area there are plenty of beds for visitors/grandchildren and a cat walk that goes around from one side to the other

                                   When Sandy and Kathie arrived, we set the table for dinner.

 

When you go out the front door....this is the view. It's a man made lake. They have a canoe that Ken took out to paddle around in. He came back and got Sandy.( I never did go out in the canoe.)

Originally they got the land and sold pine straw. Justin worked on the farm with a couple of hired hands. He also has some bees that he keeps on the property...hence the name Honey Bee Farms.

well, three years ago Justin was hired by BP ,after the oil spill in the gulf, and he and his family moved to Orange Beach, Alabama. Bill couldn't really keep up with the pine straw business, but that's when the idea to build the house got started. Now they are growing some trees for lumber, keeping bees, growing blueberries and Satsuma oranges. Slowly the plan is evolving for how they want to move forward. There is a creek on the property (Big Creek)...that runs down to the river some miles away. They are hoping to put in a swimming hole. There is also the remains of an old grist mill in the water...something that has definitely intrigued them, especially Justin who studied Anthropology.

We also walked around a bit outside. We walked down to the barn/garage to see if the golf carts were ready to ride around in. There was an issue with air pressure in the tires. Chase and Ken went looking for a compressor. Next John went up, then Bill. Turns out none of the compressors were working properly...

So...the plan to tour the property in the golf cart was scrapped for the day...we just walked around a bit.
Meanwhile back at the house....Kathie, Sandy and Becky (Chase's girlfriend) were getting things together.

John, Becky, and (his sister) Sandy

We had dinner....we were expecting our nephew Ryan and his family to join us at some point. They had eaten earlier in the day at Dona's parent's house. They told us to start without them...they would join us for dessert.
As the title says..."It's funny how things work out"...Bill and Kathie came to our reunion in October, but Sandy did not, neither did our nephew and his family. (for a variety of reasons) . Apparently though, after our successful get-together...Bill and Kathie told their kids about what a great time they had had with everyone and how nice it was to see family members they hadn't seen in a long time. (Lori and Gary also had only good things to say about it)From that point on...it seems like they all have gone out of their way to make an effort to meet up. Since I was so disappointed to miss them when they all came to Florida...this was a nice change. I feel like they now realize how important it is to make the effort to stay in touch. And it is satisfying to know that I played a big part in the process.
It was great to see Ryan and his family. We enjoyed meeting his children (again) we haven't seen them in 6 years...so I didn't expect them to remember us. One of the first things Ryan said to me was that he had heard about what a great time we had had in October and he was sorry they had missed it...and that he hoped to do better in the future.
We had fun talking and telling stories...and sampling the desserts of course! At one point the kids were all on the spiral staircase....which seemed like a good picture taking opportunity...hahah

After the kids posed for us, I suggested it was only fair that we should get on the stairs and let them take our picture.

And that's what we did. Sandy and I were the first ones up , then John, Ken and Bill followed.

getting fancy with the leg work

by  Becky, Chase, Dona, Ryan, and Kathie. I believe it was around this point that Sandy said..."Does this thing have a weight limit?"

Meanwhile each one of the kids had one of our cameras and they were snapping away.

 

 

this one was from Ken's Ipad

After dinner we finalized our plans for the next day/night. We were all going to Ryan and Dona's for dinner on Friday night. More on the next post..................