Back together again!

I woke up to hear Chris taking a shower. I did not hear the alarm go off. I had taken my shower last night, so I went straight to breakfast, and then got dressed. I skimmed my e-mail, then shut down my computer and packed it in its case, along with all the wires, etc. We were on the road a little after 5am. Traffic was nil. We followed the GPS as best we could south to Anniston and then east to Augusta. I tried to sleep in the car. But even hearing a book on CD did not put me to sleep. Usually the Janet Evanovitch are very good, but this one was not one of her best, a holiday story. From the car I called Mary and she arranged for our group to go to lunch later. We drove to Neal and April's house, arriving just before noon. I talked with April while Chris talked with Neal. But then their daughter almost 3 yr old Emy decided to oust her mom from the playroom while insisting I stay. She was very persistent. Poor April. Good thing Emy was so cute. Then Silvia and Mary came by to pick me up. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch. Celeste joined us there. We had a great time catching up on each others stories. But our time was too short. On the way out I took our picture with my deteriorating camera. ( This is us squinting into the sun, huddled in front of my camera. See it before they ask me to take it down.) Thankfully we will have more time to chat in January. Silvia and Mary dropped me off at Neal and April's house. I changed clothes and then the 5 of us went to Carrabba's for Mike's birthday.

We arrived around 5, before they got busy, so we didn't have to wait for a table. Alfred, Cecily, Mike and Kelly joined us there. We ate supper and had plenty of good conversation. Emy enjoyed her spaghetti, too. Kelly ordered a Campfire Delight for the two of us to try. But several others helped us drink it. It had Dutch chocolate vodka in it and chocolate and graham cracker crumbs around the rim. It was surprisingly good. Then we all drove back to Neal and April's house to chat and so Emy could incite Cecily with her fake sneezes. They were both so cute. Mike and Kelly drove the senior Damours back to their hotel. Chris stayed up chatting with Neal, I crocheted and April knitted. Around 10 we called it a night. I skimmed my e-mail again, and composed this post.