June 3, 2024
While we were at Jekyll Island (May 1 to May 15), all of my father-in-law’s children and spouses came for his 90th birthday. Almost all of his grandchildren (just one couldn’t make it) made it and all of the great-grandchildren made it.
Nox was delighted to see our daughter. My daughter misses Nox and Nox misses her. The great-grandchildren were fascinated by Nox.
Nox mostly hung out on the couch, watching everyone. Bruce, my daughter, and I would sit next to Nox at various times to keep her company.
Nox accepted Bailey (a larger, very friendly dog) with delight.
Bailey was the star of the show, since Nox is too old to play with children.
Nox and Bailey hung out together, one on one couch and the other on the second couch.
I did a lot of grilling, chicken and pork loin, to feed the hungry masses. I also made beef fatayar (Lebanese beef pies based on the recipe from the “Rose Water & Orange Blossoms” blog), which were a huge hit. I had several people ask if I was part Lebanese because they felt the meat pies were so authentic.
My father-in-law wrote individual tasks on 3 X 5 cards to have a way to track the tasks he wanted done. The family members worked hard to finish as many tasks as we could. Several tasks were to get ready for the party. Others were things he just needed done.
While working on the tasks, I saw several lizards. I only managed to get pictures of these two lizards.
I enjoyed doing the yard work tasks since I don’t get to do any these days.
Bruce and I showed off our RV to the family who hadn’t seen it and wanted to see it.
After everyone left but us, Bruce and I spent time finishing up the tasks that we could. I also cooked dinners using up the leftovers from the party.
I also made blueberry scones for breakfast one Sunday, using up the last of the fresh blueberries my brother-in-law had brought for blueberry pancakes.
My father-in-law’s mother was from Scotland and she made scones when he was a boy. The scones I made brought back happy memories for him. He told us stories of coming in from playing in the snow to hot scones and cocoa. I don’t believe my scones were the same; I am happy he enjoyed them and the good memories they brought back.
We did manage to make it down to the beach and we walked back through the neighborhood my father-in-law lives in.
We cleaned out my father-in-law’s fridge and labeled the leftovers in the freezer and fridge.
After dinner on May 14, we said goodbye to my father-in-law as we were going to be leaving the morning of May 15.
As we were packing up to leave, we did see a couple of cardinals in the next site over.
We departed Jekyll Island Campground on May 15 to head to Golden, Colorado.
Blackberry Homestead 
What an amazing 90th birthday celebration for your father-in-law. I bet he was thrilled to see virtually all of his progeny together. And what a great idea to have guests doing tasks that he needed help with. It sounds like a very successful event.
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It was very successful! He was so happy to have all his family together. It was a busy time. We had a birthday party for one of my great-nieces as well. We had a family party and then we had a party with the family and friends. I think 50 to 60 people were there. They also did a zoom call and some friends from England joined in as well as my father-in-law’s oldest sister and her son, a few others joined the zoom call and we sang happy birthday. The clean up was impressive! We had put decorations all over the house and we had rented chairs and tables for the weekend.
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Julia, Very nice photos. Nox seems to strike a regal pose! Photo towards St. Simons Lighthouse capture the wave action very nicely! Howard
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Nox enjoyed supervising the action. Thank you for the compliments on the pictures. Jekyll Island is a beautiful place.
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Thanks for sharing the wonderful time you had with family. It made me smile!
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You are welcome! It was a lot of fun.
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What a lovely time with family! I enjoyed the photographs, too, and it does look like a beautiful place!
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It is a beautiful place. We love going to Jekyll Island. Bruce especially loves it.
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I’m glad to see this post, telling us what you were actually doing in GA! I especially like the dog and great-grandchild photos. The tasks on 3 X 5 card idea is genius – I’m going to remember that, and I shared the idea with family.
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It was a lot of fun! Howard (my father-in-law) has 3 boys and 2 girls. He has 10 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, with another on the way.
We thought the 3X5 cards was a product of genius as well. (Howard was an engineer and even has a patent. It is no wonder his idea was genius.) It was easy to look through the cards and pick one to do.
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What a beautiful beach!
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It is a very beautiful island and we love spending time there.
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