Summer Report

I'm sure you've been wondering what we have been doing since our fantastic week long 50th Wedding Anniversary fun in June. Much of the time we have been having fun with grandchildren while their parents and older siblings were off on adventures. Grandma held a series of sewing camps where the grandchildren learned how to make pillows, quilts and blankets, and clothing for dolls and themselves. Can you see why one of our children gave us this sign?

She has also been enjoying long jacuzzi baths, but there is no picture of that!
Grandpa celebrated his 75th birthday.

While grandma has felt in heaven in her sewing center with her grandchildren, grandpa has been in heaven doing his weekly mowing of 5 acres so the yard looks like a golf course or sport field (takes one or two days depending on the weather and how long his "cool off" breaks are), putting up railings and temporary stairs in the back (the deck has been postponed until after the hurricane season), fancying up the front porch (can you see the happy face that greets visitors? Victoria was the first to notice.), planting orange trees (navel and Minneola tangelo), keeping the flowerbeds attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds (they don't hold still long enough to be photographed), and getting the firepit ready for grilling steaks now that the rain has stopped long enough for the wood to dry out.

Of course, grandma has discovered all the TV channels that show cowboy shows that she can relax to when the grandchildren aren't here watching Spongebob Squarepants or their other favorites.

Missionary Summer

Our granddaughter Summer leaves soon on her mission to Nampa, Idaho in the land of potatoes. Does she look excited?

At the open house we held for her we had everyone make their own "Idaho Sundaes."

The ice cream was mashed potatoes (both sweet--Summer's favorite--and white). The chocolate syrup was brown gravy. The chocolate and candy sprinkles were bacon bits and chopped green onions. The whipped cream was sour cream. The cherry on top was a cherry tomato. Does that sound Idaho potato enough? To top it off we had green jello with shredded carrots in it, a Mormon country favorite.

Henny Penny or Cocky Locky?

When we try to sleep in the hammocks in our gazebo, it is hard to have a good long sleep. These pictures will help tell why. Here are our 6 chickens sitting on the fence of our butterfly garden in the morning. Five are Bantams and one is a regular size chicken.

Notice that they look like a flock of roosters. We could tell a couple of months ago that at least 4 Bantams were roosters and we have found small eggs from the small black Banty. But our large chicken, which we hatched ourselves and who bosses all the Banty roosters around like a mother hen tending her chicks, we named Henny Penny and we were expecting any time now to collect beautiful blue eggs from her. However, she started crowing a deep crow two weeks ago. Her crow puts the Bantam roosters to shame.

So Henny Penny is now Cocky Locky and we have a flock of roosters who like to wake those asleep in the gazebo at 3 a.m. At least we don't have to worry about hunting for blue eggs in the morning from our free range flock!

New Joe's Place

We've spent much of the last few weeks helping Joe get his new place ready. Here are a couple of pictures.

Does it look like his family fits into what this sign on our wall says?

50th Anniversary Report

Welcome to Camp Thompson Ranch (aka CTR) for a week long Grandparent's Camp celebrating 50 years of the Thompson-Powell adventure. Click on the pictures to see the people more clearly.

Here are some below and after pictures to put the 50 years in perspective. Granddaughter Summer made the delicious three tiered cake.

Can you count up the family? They are color coded so you can match kids with parents. Sorry that the one in front of the house is a bit blurry.

We spent a relive the past day in Gainesville floating down the Ichetucknee River, gathering sharks teeth in the creek (the promised adventure of prospecting for sharks teeth was the only way we could get 35 grandchildren loaded up to go two hours away), and watching the bats come out at night. We had to cancel the traditional graffiti painting on the 34th Street wall because of lightning and torrential rain. We also made sure that Tamarie was included in the family activities.

We rode horses, bounced, biked, surfed, ziplined, and swam throughout the week.

We also had our traditional spiritual day. (At our last family reunion Wendy got married.) For one morning one parent from each family stayed home with the children doing the above mentioned activities while the Thompson aunts, uncles and grandparents went with Summer to the temple before she leaves on her mission to Nampa, Idaho in August.

Everyone had a chance to show off their talents ranging from yo-yo tricks, to singing, dancing, and joke telling, to crocheting horses for grandma and installing a kitchen fan for grandpa.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for the grandchildren was to be trained to fight pirates in St. Augustine to regain their stolen treasure chest. Who looks like the most ferocious pirate in training?

We were attacked by a pirate ship, but our highly trained crew fought them off and then got to share the defended treasure.

Of course, the food was great. The first day we had a corn and tomato feast from our garden topped off with wild blackberry buckle with berries picked by the grandkids in our fields. You'll notice from their shapes that the tomatoes are obviously "organic". A highlight for the week was Kim and David teaching us how to be better Aussies and how to drink milk Aussie style using a Tim Tam cookie as a straw. Notice that we all fit in the new gazebo.

Everyone got a new recipe book of family favorites.

Everyone made it to CTR, including David who was in Ireland searching for his leprechaun pot of gold the week before.

Even grandchild 36 decided to tag along and check out if the Thompson Powell lineage is a good one to join in August. I'm sure she heard lots of laughter, felt good vibes in her momma's belly and is anxious to join the Thompson Powell adventure for the next 50 years.

Thanks everyone for a great week.