Celebrating Tony

Last Friday, Ron, Grant and I flew to St. Louis for his Great Uncle Tony's funeral.  Tony was loved by many and had a lot of loved ones travel from great distances to honor his memory.  We met his parents there and spent the weekend in Calhoun County with Grandma and Grandpa.  We all gathered at Tony's grave site on Saturday morning and said our final farewells.

Grant, still too young to understand had a great time exploring and was fascinated by the cornstalks.  He kept pointing and saying, "What's this?  What's this?"

Grandpa, Grant and I after the service

Grant was able to meet some of his second cousins for the first time.  Calypso, on the left is three and lives in Cambridge, England and has the most unexpected adorable accent.  Aria, in the middle is six and lives in Connecticut.  Calypso and Aria's Grandfather, Taylor is Grant's Great Grandma Betty's Brother.

More family including Grandpa, Norma, Jody, cousin Tad and Ron and I

Grant spent the whole weekend playing on Great Grandpa's John Deere Tractor.  Grandpa parked it right outside the house so it was the first thing Grant saw every morning.

We spent Saturday afternoon playing in the creek up the street from Grandma and Grandpa's House...

Grant loved throwing rocks in the creek, he learned very quickly the bigger the rock, the bigger the splash!

We had fun exploring and found apples that had washed down the creek from an apple tree, crawfish, believe it or not and "creek glass."  Glass from broken bottles whose surface had been softened and smoothed over time.

Poppy and Dada took Grant for a dip in the chilly water!

It's not often this group is reunited and we had a wonderful time getting reacquainted!

Grant spent more time riding on Grandpa's tractor

and loves his Great Grandparents!

Even under the unfortunate circumstances, we still managed to have a great time and great trip and enjoyed hearing wonderful stories of Tony's life!

Thanks for hosting us!