Helplessly Hoping: Mary's Anniversary Gift to us

Mary planned and organized a days worth of activity in honor of Sue's and mine approaching 25th Anniversay. The kids all managed to keep the plan a secret. We only knew that there WAS a plan and that it started with us all leaving the house at 9:30am and we were to be dressed nicely and in shades of blue. Sue quickly concluded that this meant a professional family photo (she was right). We assumed that part of the plan would include a lunch somewhere. We were also instructed to bring play clothes to change into (assuming some sort of outdoor adventure). Mary is totally proving to be her mothers own child.

So we left the house right on time - to arrive at (stop #1) C & J's photo studio about 10 minutes early. Sue is ALWAYS early - never "fashionably" late (or any other excuse for late). Carol at the studio (the same studio that my parents brought us to 50 years ago for our family photos) was very impressed - first at the size of the family, and then at the efficiency that everybody fell into line and positioned and repositioned to get the optimal shots. We finished so quickly that we had close to an hour before our (stop #2) 11:30 lunch reservation at The Hitching Post. So where do we go when we have time to kill??? Of course - a cemetary. Fern Hill is the final resting place of many McClellan, Annis, and Everson ancestors - and it was a beautiful morning for head(stone) hunting.

After burying ourselves in this pursuit, we headed for lunch - except we discovered that the Hitching Post serves only breakfast until 1:30 on Sundays, so we ate a hearty late breakfast. Mary then presented everybody with team T-Shirts that said BLAUSS 25 on the back, and off we went to (stop #3) my old Softball Team stomping grounds for a game of whiffleball. We broke into two teams and played 4 inning. Naturally the Blauss Team won, so according to an old tradition we went to (stop #4) DQ for a victory ice cream.