Melissa & Mark’s, June, 2022

We had a pleasant drive through the country backroads of North Carolina and arrived on a Thursday afternoon.  We were greeted by Mark and four smiling grandchildren. To our surprise, Tegen is now 6' tall at age 16.

So fun to re-connect with everyone in person. Mark treated us to a delicious barbecue pork dinner.

Melissa was still working at a convention security job in Las Vegas and was due home late Saturday night.   During our time there we:

• Enjoyed home-cooked meals with the family, Evelyn sang grace before two of them
• Played dominoes
• Watched a thunder storm with Tegen on the front porch, had a lightning strike about a block away that was spectacular!
• Read books to the kids before bedtime
• Had a great breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, our first Cracker Barrel experience
• Took Tegen out for ice cream at a local favorite parlor called Rita's
• Met Tegen's girlfriend, Juliette (Ju-Ju), who brought Tegen a Taco Bell meal
• Avoided purchasing southern favorites at the store like frog legs, alligator and crawfish
• Collected eggs with Piper

The original plan was for Melissa, Mark and the kids to follow us back to the west coast, hitting some National Parks along the way.

But Mark's truck was in the shop needing a new transmission, which altered their plans.

We are hopeful that they will still be able to make the trip to the west coast, but they may be a week or so behind us.