Unknown cousin

What do you do when Wendy and her roommate Candace bring home an unknown cousin, Justin, the grandson of Grandma Buckley's brother Uncle Jay? (He's the bald one, taking after his grandfather.)


You can try to scare him with a red bearded dragon...


introduce him to royalty...


take him to a cannon shoot in St. Augustine...



or take him boating at Matanzas. A good time was had by all! Come again, Justin.

Maren baptized

The Hendersons are all dressed up for something special.


Maren is getting baptized.


Do you think she made it all the way under?

Debbie's shower

Debbie just had her bridal shower. Don't she and Eric look cute? Sorry that the edible picture is a bit faded.December 29 is coming up fast.(Click on the picture for a better look.)

Grandparent's Day

What do Savannah Thompsons do for Grandparent's Day? They can do something serious like be thankful... (click on the picture for a closer look)


or they can do the Gator Chomp...


or toss a pizza...


or shine like a star...


or buzz like a bee...


or trot like a turkey...


or maybe scoot...


or just be cute with Auntie Debbie

Chili Champ

Here I am disguised as Scotty McLean feeding a sample of my championship chili to some of my chums. (Nice legs, Scotty!) I spent two days cooking up Maui Chili (chicken and pineapple with no beans but with a volcanic afterglow) and Black Bean Chili Surprise for the ward chili cook-off and pie baking contest. The Maui won first place as the most original. It was gone in a flash. Even the little kids liked it in spite of the volcanic afterglow. The Black Bean Chili Surprise won first place as the best hot chili. That was really a surprise since I thought it was a rather mild chili. You can see better the chili, the first place buttons on my chest, and my great moustache if you click on the picture.


I went incognito just in case the chili was so bad I could shift the blame to Scotty. Some say that Thompsons are a wee bit too competitive. At least we have fun trying. The two days of slow simmering was the key. I had sampled so much of my own chili for two days that I couldn't bear the thought of trying anyone else's. I'm still getting complements a day later. Don't ask me for the recipes. It was a pinch of this and a handful of that. You know how great chefs operate!


I also made a heavenly Dutch apple vlaai (pronounced "fly") topped with a thick layer of apple Bavarian creme. That was our favorite dessert when we lived last year in Holland. I thought the name made it a perfect entry for a Halloween pie baking contest. However, the judges were traditionalists and gave the first places to the more traditional American apple and pumpkin pies.


My corn bread was a flop. I think the baking powder was too old so it was like chewing on corn leather. Well, you can't win them all. I think Scotty can take credit for the corn leather. Does that sound like a Scottish delight?

Pardon my dust!

Randy and Chrissy have bought a house in Minneapolis. Here's the work crew arriving to get things ready to move in.


A lot of work needs to be done. Here are Randy's mother Robyn...


and father-in-law Roger applying plaster...


with father Ron...


and Randy sanding and patching away.


We did get one bedroom painted. When it's done it should glow like the temple. (Does that look like snow falling from the sky?--we're definitely not in Florida!)

Leaves at Loon Lodge

You can't come up north from Florida in October and not go see the leaves.

Here's the Kannas cabin, Loon Lodge, in northern Minnesota.


Chrissy and her husband Randy...


and his parents Ron and Robyn were great hosts.


It was cold and rainy, just perfect weather for a fishing tournament.


Of course, Mr. Competition, Randy caught the first fish...


but I think it takes special talent to catch the smallest one.


Once Mom caught on, she kept pulling them in and caught more than anyone--eight, I think. We couldn't get her to put the pole down.


The Kannas's are of good Finnish stock so they had a sauna for us to warm ourselves and clean up afterwards.


Here's a G-rated version of us sweating away!

Wedding Plans

It's official now. Since an earlier post in August noted that Eric had successfully completed the Thompson courtship eligibility tasks, he took the "he who hesitates is lost" advice seriously and is now engaged to Debbie. They will be married Dec 29 in Orlando. That means that Debbie joined her Mom's, sister Bonnie's, and brother Joe's (at least his wife Heather's) infamous six month plans for being married six months after returning from their missions--though she is actually one month late.

Mom's Heaven

This past week Mom has been an angel in heaven--at least so she says. I followed her out with the camera to see what was going on. Here you can see her hauling feed.


Now she's carting it out to feed the animals.


Of course, first come the horses...



then the baby goats...


and the chickens.


She gathers the eggs (note that some are blue!)


Here she is cutting up pears to feed the milk goats.


How do you like this friendly face?


Here is the milk maid doing her job.



Then she strains the milk so we can drink it or make it into cheese.


I'm not sure this apprentice angel will get his wings...


but Mom seems to be sprouting wings--and I think I see a halo emerging from her hair! (Click on the picture for a closer look.) Let's see how long the angelic feeling lasts now that she has finished her heavenly angel duty at Cheryl's Horse Farm while the owners are on vacation and mom has had to return to planet earth.