The End - Picnic and Goodbyes

My Mom, Mike and Bre...Mom hates this pic, don't tell her I posted it :)

Bre and Mike drowning their sorrows at being the biggest losers on the croquet field.

Rob, BFF Lori, her daughter Ashley and my brother Tracy

Sister and the girls :), Mike, Bre and Me

The day started off great and with minor bumps stayed that way.

I had gotten almost everything done for the picnic the night before. The menu was simple. Dips, chips, burgers, brats, bbqed ribs and whatever anyone else wanted to bring. A friend had borrowed my big grill and was bringing it back this morning by 11. He didn't get there until 1pm but we adjusted and as I had decided to do beer ribs it didn't take much time to finish them off on the grill.

Bre and Mike were in charge of burgers and my brother Tracy and Rob were in charge of the brats and weiners. We had so much food it wasn't funny.....and beer, oh my heck did we have beer. And margaritas and wine and chocolate cake shots and green lizards and....yep, we had a liquor store worth of drinks.

So we pig out, and it was delicious. Except my bff Lori didn't bring the Dump Cake, but that was probably a good thing as it would have put us right over to a coma. And then it's Croquet Time, notice the capital letters :)

I forgot to pick up an extra set of balls and mallets, so we all teamed up. Somehow my brother and Rob became partners and my sil and I were teamed up, otherwise it was all husband/wife, girlfriend/boyfriend, mom/daughter, etc. I'm probably the most competitive person I know but I've tried to calm it down in recent years so people will play with me :) but if I hit your ball in croquet you can bet I'm going to "send" you. *sigh I really try to be nice. But.....

Anyway, with one lucky shot my brat of a husband and my brat of a brother beat me and Donna Kay (isn't that an Okie name *grin) by one stroke. Ugh. Team Lucky (them) are the only ones that became poison. I like being Poison *pout! Team AnnaNicole got killed and Team Navy came in last.

We had a ball.

We started a bonfire and made s'mores and sat around and talked for a long time. Being a Sunday night the crowd started thinning fairly early. I think the last person, my mom...she's such a partier....left about 9:30. Bre and I cleaned up inside while the guys picked up the yard. And then we dropped into bed. By this time I'm thinking I'd pay good money to stay in bed for about 12 hours!

Cordie, Rob's mom, wasn't able to come to the picnic as Don had gotten out of the hospital only to have to be taken into the ER the morning of the picnic. His kidney had started bleeding, so they transported him to Tulsa. She was upset but I promised we come by the next day.

So Monday morning we head over to her house and have an early lunch with her at Chili's. Mike's grilled hard about his intentions, I would have felt bad but we warned him about her. And I have to say I was very impressed on how he handled himself with her. Not many can stand up to the Cordie lectures.

The kids have to get their stuff together so we head home. I grill steaks while Bre and Mike are packing and we have a nice dinner on the deck and watch a few dvds that evening and we're off to bed.

The next morning we're up and gone early. Stop in at IHOP for breakfast and get the kids to the airport in plenty of time. They are headed to Vegas from here where they'll be for 6 days, I think, then Mike heads back to HI for 2 weeks and Bre's off to Cali then to WI. We hug and kiss goodbye and send them off with a wave.

Rob's talking away and my chin's quivering. I haven't cried since we put her on the plane for Hawaii the very first time, but this time feels different. Rob looks over and asks if I'm crying...the idiot :).....and I start bawling, ok not bawling but pretty close. It's over quickly and I'm ok.....at least for now.....

Rob and I stayed in Tulsa for the day....Barnes and Nobles, Ricardo's, the motorcycle shop and then we met up with Lori and her crew....grabbed icechests, pizza and lounge chairs and went to the drive-in and watched The Happening....Ugh.

Bre had a ball in Vegas and as I post this she is getting ready for her first day of Combat Training.