The Kassel Family Project Life 365

We left Columbia at 7:30 am this morning for Greenville, South Carolina.  All was going well until 12:15.  While crossing the bridge from Illinois to Kentucky, we came to a complete stop.  An accident was blocking traffic going both ways.  We ended up sitting on the bridge for 90 minutes.  It was completely frustrating.  If we had left even five minutes earlier, we would have missed the accident all together.  Once we got moving again, we stopped for a very quick lunch and got back on the road.  We drove through some nasty wind around Knoxville and watched a light pole actually be blown down.  Scary, I tell you.  We finally arrived in Greenville at 11:45 pm safe and sound.  We put the kids to bed and sat down to relax and chat with Jim and Jill for a while.  All in all, it was a good trip.  The kids were AWESOME for 14+ hours in the car, but we were all glad to be in Greenville.

Today is all about planning and packing for South Carolina.  We leave tomorrow for Greenville to see our beautiful niece, Megan Blume, graduate from High School on Friday!  I’ve been thinking, planning, and packing for the trip all day.  Fun times…

Oh, it’s my 39th Birthday too!  What a wonderful way to spend a birthday (insert sarcasm here)…  Be that as it may, thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes and to the Lowerys for bringing me a seriously tasty cupcake!

Our friend, Tamara Bahr, took our family photos again this spring.  As always, she did a great job and we are quite happy with the results!  We went to Nifong Park for an hour and she snapped lots of pictures.  We got some really great family pictures along with some really silly ones!  You can find them all on our family photo gallery or Facebook.  Enjoy!

We went to downtown Columbia to watch the Salute to Veterans Parade.  We were joined by the Lowery family and the Adams family.  As always, the kids loved the parade!  Of all that we saw in the parade, I was struck the most by the World War II veterans.  They fought in a war that started 71 years ago and there are few veterans from that war still with us today.  They were driven through the parade by the Corvette Club and the entire crowd was clapping and cheering.  I had goose bumps watching it all.  God Bless all our veterans and active duty military.  I am extremely thankful and appreciative of all that you do and sacrifice for this great country.

We had our annual Memorial Day Weekend barbecue this evening.  Great old friends along with some new friends were here to enjoy the “beginning” of summer.  By the end of the evening, the kids’ room and our family room looked like a tornado ripped through them.  Seven kids do a lot of damage!  🙂  I wouldn’t trade ANY of it even though it took me nearly an hour to clean it all up!  We had a great evening full of lots of laughs, great conversation, and overall fun.  Us Kassels really do know some great people!

Andy and our friend, Shawn, took John and Laura to the 24th Annual Salute to Veterans Airshow.  They all had a great time despite the oppressive heat and a bit of sunburn.  Laura’s favorite part of the airshow was seeing the F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighter and the sky divers.  John’s favorite part was the Lima Lima Flight Team and the F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighter.  Laura watched intently as one of the Canadian Skyhawks Sky Diving team repacked his parachute.  John just enjoyed everything despite saying, “We can go now.  It’s over.” after the F/A-18 had made a few passes.  He was done with the loud noise!   John does have his picture in the Columbia Missourian newspaper (his is one of five photos) while watching the F/A-18.  He was covering his ears and gazing skyward.  It was another successful trip to the Salute to Veterans Airshow!  If any of you are ever in town over Memorial Day, we’ll take you.  It’s quite an impressive experience.

Boyfriends come and go, but these women, your sisters, will always be here. -Me on Sigma Lambda Sigma Senior Night, December 1995

While I don’t actually talk to my sorority sisters on the phone, I am friends with many of them on Facebook.  We talk back and forth, comment on pictures, etc. all the time.  It’s just a different form of communication these days, but we are all still around for each other.  Today, one of my best and favorite sisters, Carol Rakestraw Tisdale, came for a visit with her husband, Shawn.  They arrived tonight and what fun it was chatting the night away and drinking a bit.  While the conversation has matured and the drinks have “sort of” changed – it was wine, but NOT Boone’s Farm, it was still just Carol and I (and the husbands somewhere in the background).  It was just like we saw each other yesterday.  Some friendships just never get old.