Cheeseburgers in Paradise

 

 We had a wonderful rainy Sunday afternoon yesterday, my favorite. It was part of that line of storms that did damage in Oklahoma and Kansas, but we were lucky and only had showers and thunder. Hopefully it was enough rain to wash away all this oak pollen that's making our allergies so bad.

It's all Eye-Candy-Green, the lake is almost hidden now since the trees have their leaves. Weather like this brings the fishermen out, there's hardly a day goes by that I don't see a boat down in the cove. GRANDson Gavin and Papa went down to the boat dock on Saturday and "wet a line" in hopes of catching enough for lunch. Gavin has inherited the fishing gene, it runs pretty strong in our family! They didn't have any luck but there's always next time...

Late in the afternoon the sun finally came out and we met the kids at Smokin' Joe's to celebrate our SON in law's birthday. It's a great little BBQ place in Rogers with red checkered tablecloths, old fashioned booths and big round tables for families. We go mostly on Friday nights and it's always crowded. I was surprised to see a full parking lot on a Sunday night, most of the tables were full with families just like us gathering for a meal. The smell of hickory hits you as you walk in and I have a hard time ordering anything but the chopped pork, smoky and delicious. We all had our favorites; Big Boy Cheeseburgers, BBQ pork, I couldn't decide so I ordered the one thing on the menu that has it all... A GIANT stuffed baked potato loaded with BBQ, beans and cheese! I had them leave the beans off, I'm on a diet you know!

We took it easy on Ken this year, no joke gifts. Last year was the Big One, 4-0... once you get past that milestone, birthdays are painless for a while-- until you reach 5-0!