Labor Day and Jenga

Today we were over at Nana and Ye-Ye's house for a fun get-together, one with lots and lots of food.  In fact, Daddy ate quite a bit too much today, but that was because it was all so good!  Madison ate a lot too - Ye-Ye was out there grilling food, and Nana was making lots of good stuff, and Mommy had brought some food... it was quite the feast.  We spent a good bit of time socializing, but also there was... JENGA!

Aunt Shain, Jonathan, David, Hannah and Madison were engaged in a pretty tense game of Jenga, all of this in front of the television while watching the forecast.  That hurricane is still coming, as you can see in the background of this next picture.

It was fun coming over and being together. We're all so busy lately, and it really is a gift that we have time to spend together.  It's also good to see Aunt Shain's arm healing somewhat since her accident at work.  She's still not really able to use it though.  Not like it was before, of course.  We don't have the details here of that, but she's been miserable for quite some time, and there's a fairly long and extensive healing process going on.  Still, she was able to point out a good play here.

We had a good time together.  Nana and Ye-Ye were telling us all about their recent trip to Minnesota, to the Biggest Ball of Twine, and to the House on the Rock, and to Frank Lloyd Wright's place up there in Wisconsin.  It sounded like a fun trip.

You can see the gang here afterwards.  There was this deer across the street, right there about four car lengths away from us, and he wasn't even flinching.  Not skittish at all, the deer just kept on munching on some grindage.

Anyway, it was a good day today.  Madison was working on her piano while Daddy was outside doing a bit of yard work.  We proofed her third chapter of her autobiography, something that may appear here soon.  Her grammar is getting better, although there were  a few corrections we had to make along the way.  It's pretty much done, although it isn't due until Wednesday.

Tonight we watched "Goosebumps 2" for the first time, a new movie in our October-themed movie entries.  It was actually pretty good as far as sequels go.  The three of us enjoyed it, and enjoyed seeing Slappy again.  He starts to grow on you - just don't call him "dummy."

After our movie, it was time for bed, and time for prayers, where we prayed for Ba-Ba and Nana, for Florida, and the people in the Bahamas.

Hurricane Dorian has been one of the worst we've ever seen, the strongest and most terrible one perhaps in our lifetime, at least to the people in the Bahamas.  The images of mass destruction are staggering, and heartbreaking.

Ba-Ba and Nana made it back to Daytona last night, and then evacuated once more down I-4 towards Orlando, where they found a hotel to stay at the next few days.  They'll make that oncologist appointment, the big source of stress the last few days.  The appointment is on Thursday, but nobody wants to travel down Florida Wednesday, as that is the day the hurricane is supposed to travel northward, sideswiping the east coast.  So the grandparents got ahead of the storm, just barely, and are set to go, less than a half-hour away from the doctor's office.  All this trouble.  Of course, it's nothing compared to what those people in the islands are going through.  The storm was going one mile per hour, and sometimes less than that.  It was just sitting there, a constant wall of destructive wind, settled over one nation until everything was flattened.  I've never seen anything like it before.