I flew straight from San Francisco to Kansas City to meet up with Heath, Jacque and Clyde to spend some time in the great state of Kansas, catching up with family.
Heath arrived a couple days ahead of me and had been able to spend some one-on-one time with Amber, one of his cousins, as well as Grandma and Grandad (Jacque's stepmom and dad).
I flew in just in time to make dinner with Mary and Tim (aunt and uncle) and hear all about what's going on with them now that their kids, Tiffany and Jacob, have left the nest for college. The next day, Saturday, we had breakfast with Michael and his family (wife: Angela, stepdaughter: Courtney) and checked out their new home. It was nice to spend some focused time with them before we headed back to the Tomlinson household for the big family gathering.
Grandma made delicious brisket which was supplemented with two kinds of potatoes, salad, bread, pies, chocolate cake and iced tea. After we had all stuffed ourselves Heath suggested a brilliant plan: family football. He walked to the local hardware store to pick up a pigskin and then we all walked over to an empty field near the house and watched as Tracy's (aunt) boys, Little Michael (cousin), Brittany (cousin) and, at certain points, Clyde "the glide" Carter and even Grandad.
It is important to point out at this juncture that Clyde really showed the "kids" who was boss — two interceptions, two touchdown passes, and a whole lot of sweat. He was hurting the next day, but I think he'd say it was worth it.
When it was all over, we headed back to the house for showers, round two on the brisket, and some time to just talk and share embarrassing moments out on the back porch. Heath, just full of good ideas that day, went on to organize a game of poker with some of the other guys and promptly cleaned his cousins out of all their cash on hand.
The next morning, we drove to Topeka for lunch with Cherie and Ed (aunt and uncle) as well as Amber, her friend Thomas, Jeremy (cousin) and his girlfriend Jessie. We had front row seats at The Blind Tiger, a local brewery, to watch the KC Chiefs battle (and eventually lose to) the Baltimore Ravens.
We took the memory lane route back (looking at all the places the Carters used to live, work, hang) and stopped along the way to see Peter, Nana's husband, before making our way back to Cherie's. Once there, we gave her her own personal Web 2.0 tutorial. By the end of the day she was on Facebook and considering starting her own blog.
From there, we stopped by Nana's grave to pay our respects and then headed to dinner with John (uncle) and his new wife, Renee.
It was a VERY long weekend, but seeing the Carter/Tomlinson crew is always full of laughter, no-bake cookies, and generally a good time.
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