Company comes visit

We had some company come visit today.

 My little cousin, Justin.  At well over six feet tall, I guess he's not so little after all.

 His girlfriend, Casey.  She's really sweet but just a tad bit shy.

Jarrett.  Fish should fear him.  He always catches something at our pier.  Even when we don't.

 He caught a fish in the cast net.  So did Justin.  Me?  I came up empty-handed. 

 Jarrett's mom, and our good friend, Melanie.

 But Grace calls her "Miss Melody."  Maybe because she sings like a mermaid.  Or so Grace says.

We fished and had a great time together.  Company makes my heart happy.

Mardi Gras parade

This year we were fortunate enough to go to the Daphne Mardi Gras parade with our friends Melanie and Jarrett.

We met at a restaurant and hung out before the parade. 

Melanie made a Thumbelina out of a napkin and Grace's thumb.

And Melanie was sweet enough to teach Grace the song "Thumbelina."  Lyrics found here.

There was an amazing turnout for the parade.  Both sides of the street were 5+ people deep for the entire route.

But soon enough the parade started.  We saw carts lit up with lights.

And men marching in kilts.

I love men in kilts!  Especially when they play music.

We saw dancers.

And flag twirlers.

And half a dozen floats tossing goodies out to the crowd.  I only took one picture of the floats before putting my camera away.  Grace was with me and I was trying to help her catch some goodies.  All she wanted was a moon pie.  She talked about getting a moon pie at the parade all afternoon.  And it was much harder than I expected getting one.  In fact, every time one was tossed our way, someone else snatched it up. 

Even Faith and David managed to catch some beads while they waited on the restaurant deck.  Unfortunately, Grace and I didn't catch any moon pies.  But then we sat down to eat our burgers and fries and Grace started climbing on the ground under the table.  I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I see a moon pie!"  I looked around and didn't see anything, but she insisted she saw a moon pie.  Then she climbed under my chair, and sure enough, there was a moon pie.  I couldn't believe it.  She found her moon pie!

Meanwhile, Jarrett had gone around the corner where the parade passed by a second time. 

And he caught a moon pie for Grace.

Grace was so happy over her two moon pies and could care less about any of the beads or toys.  All she wanted was a moon pie.  And she got it!

Lens up for review

We thinking about getting a bigger lens for our Nikon.

I took this picture zoomed all the way with my 18-55mm lens.  Look at my gorgeous husband!

Then I tried this 55-200mm lens (on loan for the weekend from a friend).  My husband looks even better up close, don't you think?  Seriously, I'm in love with the lens already.  I can hardly wait to try it out some more!

Peen-ya-ya (Pinata)

Soon it was time to attack the "peen-Ya-Ya" (pinata).

I was a little afraid how Grace was going to react to the kids beating up Ariel.

But I shouldn't have worried.  Grace knew what "pize-uzz" (prizes) were inside.

And she was ready to attack!

She hit Ariel again and again.

And Grace even chased after her when Ariel started to swing away.

That poor Ariel never stood a chance.

Grace stopped Ariel mid-swing and pummeled her.

And then beat her again.  Poor Ariel.

After Grace blasted away, we let the other kids have a turn.  We started with the youngest.

And worked our way through the kids.

Grace helped her Daddy hold the "wope" (rope) while each child took a turn.

She was surprisingly content to help while watching the other kids bombard Ariel.

She even cheered them along.

Poor Ariel really took a pounding.

But eventually she gave up the candy.

And when she did, all the kids got excited.

And cleaned up in a matter of seconds.

Time for tea

We enjoyed a lovely bridesmaid luncheon and tea today in Rome, Georgia.

Here is the lovely bride, Melissa, with her step-mother, Mary.

And here she is with Finie.  Finie is a hoot.  She made me laugh so many times this weekend.  I adore her.

Here is Renee a bridesmaid.

And Briana, another fellow bridesmaid.

And me!  You guessed it - I'm also a bridesmaid.

This is Lauren.  She is the maid of honor.

This is McKenzie, the flower girl, with her momma Leslie, the matron of honor.

Melissa had quite a large gathering for tea.

Future family.

Current family. 

And lots of friends.

Melissa is loved and treasured by many women. 

This is Melissa's stepmother Mary with Melissa's soon to be mother-in-law.

After all the introductions (a couple of guests including 2 bridesmaids weren't able to make the party) we had tea.  This raspberry tea was delicious!

And I love this tea cup!

The food was wonderful.

The desserts were even better.

Strawberry shortcake anyone?

The caramel cake was the best.

Melissa got something old and blue in one.  This was one of her mother's handkerchiefs.  She "borrowed" it until after then wedding and then it was given to her.  It's lovely.

The tea room was really neat.  They had fabulous hats there.  I took my picture with my favorite hat.

Then someone took it for me.  I felt like a genteel Southern belle wearing it.  We should bring hats back.

We all took turns wearing hats.  We were quite fashionable, don't you think?

Here's Melissa with her maid and matron of honor.  Yes, I definitely think hats are going to make a comeback.