Smores with Nana

Hello all,

Today was Ali's first experience with Smores. This afternoon, my mom and I cleaned up the yard and built a fire just to the North of the house. Ali decided that she needed to help us drive the lawn mower and supervise our progress in the yard. She did help pick up a few sticks, but Ali soon found it more fun to sit on the yellow seat and pretend to drive.

With the help of some dried leaves and dried sticks, mom and I soon had a good fire going. We added some of the larger branches that had to be cut down to allow the Direct TV dish to have access to the southern sky. Once they dried out, the blaze was in full force.

Jen and Zac came out to visit us and see what was taking so long. It was then that my wife asked if my mom had any marshmallows for smores. We were all in luck. Smores are my mom's favorite evening snack.

My mom and Jen made the first two sandwiches. Ali and I followed with Zac just satisfied eating a gram cracker and running around the evergreen trees. Ali ate a few more marshmallows out of the bag before I cut her off. I didn't want it to ruin her dinner.

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A few words about Danna and Kevin's reception. It was great to see so many of my old friends again. The highlight of the evening was the father / daughter dance. Danna had arranged for dad to dance to Wind Beneath My Wings. He agreed that he would dance as long as he could and then allow me to cut in and finish the dance for him. The song started and my sister and dad too to the dance floor. As each verse concluded, I watched my father persevere for another minute and keep dancing with his little girl. I must say I cried, as did most people watching the events unfold. Dad did great! Dad and Danna danced the entire song in a loving embrace. I am so proud of him.

Once the song was over, I let him know I was proud of him. I told him that what he did took a lot of guts. I asked if he wanted anything. Dad replied, "No, I just want to rest for a minute." What a guy.

We left the reception at 10:30 to go home. We were all back at mom and dad before 11:00. It was a magic night were everything was right again in the world. It was great to smile again. I needed to smile.

Good night,

-Andy