Downhome Tennessee Reunion

Downhome TN was the theme of our Jones Family Reunion.

Us'ns in Tn would like to thank the cus'ns that traveled to these parts to see us.

Jones Family from Johnson City

Veech family from over yonder in Kingsport

Haws family from Sierra Vista Arizona

The Jones family from Sterling, Illinois

RaeAnne and Camille from Burley, Idaho

Papaw Jones and Memaw Phyllis

Papaw and the siblings (I doubt that dad will be reading my blogspot, so I can write siblings and post all of the pictures in sepia tone. He doesn't like either one of those things. Oh, he liked the pictures where we were all smiling, not the silly old fashioned straight face looks.)

Clayton is 10

Clayton began his birthday by dressing up to be a boy in the 1800's. He had a field trip to the one room school house here in town. He packed his lunch in his pail (He had a sandwich made from homemade bread, and apple and a homemade cookie. They weren't suppose to bring chips or anything that was packaged.) He had a great day on his field trip. At the end of the school day I took in cupcakes and ice cream for his class.

After school he opened his presents. Clayton is an interesting boy when it comes to presents. In past years he has wanted colored paper, Mandarin oranges, Slinky's, and other strange items. This year when I asked if there was something that he thought would be nice for his birthday he said that he would really like a fan. Then he decided that a jack in the box would be fun also. Oh, and a big rubber ball. Here are pictures with his presents and him showing off his muscles.

For dinner we went to Jack's Grill. He had never eaten there and wanted to try it out. He decided that the hamburger on the kids meal might just be too small for him, so he ordered a hamburger off the adult meal. It was so large that Kjel got to eat half of it.


After dinner he went to cub scouts and shared cupcakes again.

The next day we went to the movies and watched How to Train Your Dragon. I think that he had a great birthday.

Spring 2010

I wanted to make sure that we got a family picture before Kjirsten left for school. So Easter weekend we attempted to coordinate our schedules. We even tried to coordinate our clothes. I wish that our family picture would have turned out better, but the sun was not in the right place down by the lake ... oh well. Here is what we ended up with.

Royal Carribean Cruise

I celebrated my sister Kim's birthday with her on a five day cruise to Cozumel and Belize. Kim is an events planner for a company called Asea. They were having a drawing for a free cruise for people who had sold cases of their product. There were eight lucky people who got their names drawn and they were able to bring a guest with them. Since Kim was planning the trip she decided it would be fun to have it on her birthday. She asked if someone could attend with her if they paid their way. They said sure. So I went with her. We had a blast.

Miami

We left out of Miami. The night before the cruise we had a bon voyage dinner at the hotel with all of the winners of the drawing and one of the CEO's of the company. I was in charge of taking pictures but I also ate some yummy food. The day that we left on the cruise was Kim's birthday. I tried to share that with as many people as I could. So before we left the hotel manager had Kim and I meet him up in the sky lounge where he surprised her with a yummy piece of chocolate cake and strawberries. He also tried to give her some alcohol that she had to decline so he gave her some juice. Then while riding in the stretch limo that she had hired to take everyone to the ship, all of the guests sang happy birthday to her. That evening at dinner all of the waiters and guests sang happy birthday to her and they brought her a piece of birthday cake. So I hope that it was the funnest birthday ever for her.

Happy Birthday Kim!!!

On board Pictures

Kim had brought along some Del Sol polish that we used to paint our toenails. They were pink and in the sun the polish changes to purple. We were hoping to have purple toenails on our cruise and they only changed once. (That means that we didn't see the sun very much on our cruise) We did have a good time though. Our first stop was Cozumel. We had decided to go shopping in Cozumel. I was on the search for rugs and Kim was looking for blue diamonds. We both found what we were looking for in the first hour and a half on shore. I found two beautiful hand woven wool rugs from Turkey. They are 8' x 10' and take about a year to make. Right now I am thinking that it is going to take that long for them to get shipped here. Kim found her a beautiful ring with white and blue diamonds. Maybe she will post a picture on her website. The rest of the time we wondered through other shops telling people that we weren't interested in their jewelry.........the truth was that we had already overspent and so we were just looking. It was a nice rainy day.

Cozumel

My Rugs (One for my bedroom and the other for the family room)

Pier and shopping in Cozumel



The next day we were in Belize. We had booked an excursion to the Xunantunich Ruins. We left early in the morning and rode a bus to the Belize/Guatemala border. It was interesting looking at Belize City and the little communities that we drove through. The children were leaving home and walking to school. Most of the homes looked like old sheds. I thought about how the rugs that I just purchased the day before would probably cover the whole floor in most of their homes. I couldn't figure out why they didn't have more agriculture in their area. There was plenty of land and other vegetation. As we looked at the Mayan Ruins I couldn't help thinking about how the people back in Christ's time could build such big and impressive structures that have lasted this long and the people that live there now live in homes that are so primitive. The Mayan Ruins were in the jungle. They were very impressive and we enjoyed climbing up to the top and looking out over the jungle. We were wishing that our tour guide would have known more facts.............he told us a lot of stories that sounded just like stories and not necessarily facts. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant where they fed us some authentic chicken, rice, and beans.

Xunantunich Ruins and Ferry Boat across the river

Belize Food and Entertainment


Houses and School in Belize countryside

Pier in Belize City

Dress Up Night and Dinner on the Ship