The Christopher Crew: Franks Fall Family Reunion '12

I think we've started a new tradition in the Franks family. Last fall Mom, Dad, Tony, and Danica all came in for a weekend together at our house in Easley. We had a great time and Mom used our family picture in her Christmas cards. Well, it ended up working out again this year for everybody to come in this weekend for the Clemson/Virginia Tech game. My Uncle Dan was also able to come, so that added to excitement and he had the pleasure of taking our picture together this year.

As many of you know, we are a house divided - Mom, Dad, Dan = Hokies... while me, Josh, Tony, Danica, Tillman = Tigers... This is the only time of year our differences come out. Josh says he'll cheer for the Hokies 364 days of the year, and as you all know, I'm a little bit of a daddy's girl and like to cheer on the Hokies all the time. I still get excited when I'm in Easley or Summerville and run across someone with Hokie gear on.

The weekend turned out wonderfully!! Mom and Dad got in Thursday in time for us all to go watch and cheer on Josh and his Liberty Falcons in their first ever win against Riverside Middle School. Josh was more than excited about this win; he'd been wanting it for a long time. After the game we enjoyed our favorite, Chick-fil-A, for a celebratory dinner.

Friday, Josh and I took the day off from work to enjoy a date day. We've been needing this time together, and it was the perfect set-up. Mom and Dad had Tillman all day and we went out and enjoyed spending some time (and money) together. Mom, Dad, and Tillman were in charge of getting Tony from the airport Friday at noon. Then they went to Zaxby's and Haywood Mall for some entertainment.

Josh and I woke up at our leisure, 7:30, got ready, and headed out for the day. We went downtown Clemson to Dunkin' Donuts...We took our donuts with us to a new coffee shop downtown, The All In Cafe. I had the best peppermint hot chocolate I have ever had in my life and Josh enjoyed a nice tall glass of milk. We ate our breakfast out on the front porch of the coffee shop in the nicest adirondack gliders that also swivel. It was honestly the most pleasant part of the day. We both just enjoyed talking and relaxing in the morning sun with some hot chocolate and donuts. We also picked up a brochure and talked with the owner of the shop about getting our own set of adirondack gliders for our back porch at home.

After breakfast, we started walking the town and going in all the shops. I ended up with a few goodies for myself and it was fun to browse leisurely without a little sidekick to attend to.
For lunch, Josh had been wanting to take me to a small place in Central called The Sidetracked Cafe. He had been to it a few times on teacher-work days and had nothing but good things to say about it. They are a small southern-style home-cookin' place and they change their menu weekly. Josh was starting to get worried that he had talked it up too big and he really hoped I liked our experience. Let me tell you, it was amazing. I would absolutely go back there again and recommend it to anyone. We were both very pleased with our meals: ham & 3 cheese quiche, tomato basil soup, candied walnut, apple, and raspberry vinegarette salad, and a grilled pimento cheese sandwich on sourdough bread. Delicious!

After lunch, which was about 2:00, we decided to head back to the house to see Tony and spend some time with Mom and Dad. Funnt thing was, we beat them home...so we took a little cat nap and relaxed at home until they returned from Greenville. Dinner Friday night was Michael's Pizzeria, Tony's favorite. After dinner Dan got in, and directly after that, Tony, Josh, and I headed to Greenville to pick up Danica from the airport. It was a busy, but fun and relaxing day.

Saturday was gameday. We all got up, ate, Heather came over to watch Tillman for the day, and the other 7 of us headed to Death Valley to cheer on our team of choice. We ate lunch at Subway and made our way into the stadium. It was military appreciation day so we got to enjoy some added benefits to the day: helicopters on Bowman Field, a 2 jet fly over to start the game, Daniel Rodriquez running down the hill carrying the American flag, the two teams sharing a pregame handshake, a joint band performance at halftime, many patriotic songs, taps being played, and more. It was a great game for the Tigers and I also go to enjoy the best icee of my life! The tigers ended up with a win and we all ended up with a sunburn. That was the hottest 62 degrees of my life.

After the game we headed back home and spent the remainder of the day/evening hanging out with Tillman and Heather, watching more college football, getting our family picture taken, playing on Tillman's new playset from Josh's parents (which she calls "my park"), getting KFC for dinner - per my pregnant request - shagging and dancing on the back porch to beach music, and just having a good time all being together. Again, it was a great day!!

Sunday, some of us went to church, some stayed home and watched Tillman, Dan got back on the road to Durham. After church we had lunch, lazied around a little bit, and those that were traveling got their bags packed. When Tillman went down for her nap around 3:00, Mom, Dad, Tony, and Danica headed out to run some errands in Greenville and then head to the airport. It was a great family-filled weekend. I hope the tradition continues for many more "fall seaons" and we are already planning and looking forward to more time together at Christmas. I love my family!!

Oh, pictures? That's why you're really here anyway. I didn't take very many, but will share a few of them. They are a bit shaky and blurred here and there. I guess I was having too much fun to stand still. :)