a big weekend

This is a day late but better late than never! Happy Veteran's Day to all those reading who have sacrificed their time and personal wants and needs in favor of serving our country! We are so thankful for what those who have gone before us have done.

My grandparents on my mom's side circa I-don't-know-what-year. Early 50's though.

Unfortunately I have no cool vintage photos of Jeff's grandfathers or other family members who served because neither of us have any on our computers. That will certainly have to be rectified eventually. Of course it doesn't make us any less grateful for their service. :)

We took some time over the long weekend to hit up the National Peanut Festival in Dothan, AL. The popularity of this event surprised me. I was expecting something closer to a small county fair. When we pulled up it took us a solid 30 minutes to park, and we drove one mile twisting and turning in the parking lot before finding a spot. It was crazy.

A very large peanut at the entrance

Puns

His arm was waving

Of course we went on rides

Bumper cars

I was happy I got to sample some more fresh hot boiled peanuts and we left with a cup of them. If you ever get the chance... Just try it. That's all I have to say. It took me almost 2 years of living in the south to try them and I'm sad it took so long.

Also, in case anyone is wondering, over the weekend I did finally open up those pumpkins to get the seeds out. We didn't carve them obviously since it was almost mid-November, but I love pumpkin seeds so much that I couldn't just let them go to waste.

Yummo

BUT. The best thing about this weekend. Drumroll please...My nephew was born!

John Everett Andrews

Abby holding her new baby brother

John Everett Andrews was born November 9 at 10:35am, weighing 9 pounds even and measuring at 21.75 inches long. He's named after our grandfather (not the one in the photo above, the one on the other side). I can't wait to meet him! Unfortunately I have no idea when that will happen. Hopefully sooner than later. And maybe we will have a Skype introduction sometime soon.

So that was our three-day weekend. I can hardly believe November is basically half over now! Chipper and I are heading up to Ohio at the end of this week to meet my brother at my dad's house in Cincinnati and we're going to visit a bunch of family and get some quality time in before Thanksgiving. John's bringing Abby so that is going to be a fun week. They go back to Alaska before Thanksgiving, but I'll stay through Thanksgiving weekend. We got a good deal on a one-way ticket, so Jeff is going to fly up on Thanksgiving Day and drive back with me and Chipper over the weekend. We're looking forward to it! I'm sure I'll have more photos to share soon!