Dark Sky Riders 2018


June 29th through July 10th
We arrived in Cincinnati on the 29th.  We have such great accommodations at Katie and Franks house.  Andy and Yoko and the kids arrived on the 3rd and we had a fun time as usual. The weather was very hot when we arrived and stayed that way the entire week.  On the 4th of July, which is also Katie and Franks anniversary, we attended the Mount Lookout Drive annual celebration and kid’s parade followed by a great spread of hamburgers, hot dogs and a variety of other foods.  What a great community function with young and old alike.

Later that day, we all went back to the house except for Frank.  He was making the most of this great opportunity to develop relationships with his neighbors.   After a while, Katie sent James, our 10 year old grandson, down the street to tell Uncle Frank it was time to come home.  Some time after that, with both Frank and James nowhere in sight, Katie, who was 7 months pregnant, said she was going to go down the street and bring Frank home.  Andy and I quickly assessed the situation and its potential for escalation and immediately volunteered to fetch Frank and James.  Andy decided to take the car so we could be more expedient.  When we arrived at the picnic area, Frank gave us a big wave and smile, thinking we were there to join him and his friends.  James was skillfully riding his skateboard while eating cheese balls directly out of a big plastic barrel.  Both, it is safe to say, were relatively clueless of the gravity of the situation.  Once it was explained, we continued with the rescue and quickly delivered them both home.  While we were gone, the situation at home was deftly defused by Georgann and Yoko such that all was well and we continued to enjoy the day.  Frank was quoted as saying “I thought James was coming down to hang out with his Uncle Frank.”  James was quoted as saying, “When uncle Frank gave me the cheese balls I forgot why I came.”  Kudos to Andy and Tim for turning down a cold beer in the shade on a sweltering day.  That would have been a big mistake!

All in all, there was a lot of good food, good drink and good times.  I am so proud and pleased that we are all able to enjoy each other and we look forward to the next event.  As a note, Becky and Damion were somewhere in Europe, Josh and Mickey were at home in Cape Coral with Mickey’s daughters, and Jenna got stuck working in Bloomington.  It’s getting more and more difficult to all get together in one place, but we’ll keep trying! Like my mother use to tell me, “I’ll take what I can get!”
We left Cincinnati on Sunday, July 10th, headed for Brookville, PA.

See Ya Out There

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