SUNDAY AT MY SISTER'S

We headed up to northern New Jersey today to have a cookout with my sister.  She always has one on Memorial Day weekend.  It's a beautiful drive up there.  I love the scenery we pass.  You are really out in the country.

We couldn't believe this when we saw it.  Look at these 20 foot tall adirondack chairs.  I had to get a picture of this!

Elaine always puts a good meal on the table.  And she's good at the grill too.  She had hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and spare ribs.

Everyone had plenty of food.  I brought my "world famous" potato salad, my brother Larry his pasta salad, my sister-in-law's mom Marilyn brought deviled eggs.  Yum!  Here is Marilyn, Frank and Joe enjoying the bounty.

My brother Larry and sister-in-law Kim.  It was good seeing them.  I haven't seen them since Christmas although I talk with them all the time.

Our friends Marion and Rich were there too.

How many people does it take to cut apart spare ribs?  Apparently three.  Ha, ha.

We had fun just sitting around and talking and letting the food digest.

Elaine took this picture of Joe and me.  It turned out really good!  It's so seldom we get a picture where we both look good.

We celebrate three birthdays at this cookout:  Elaine's friend Frank, Marion and Joe.  Elaine gave Frank a framed picture of his cocker spaniel Sydney.

Here's the cake Elaine made.

I made Joe a sugar free Dr. Pepper cake.  I got the recipe from my friend Linda over at Linda's Life Journal.   It isn't exactly like hers because I had to "de-sugar" it for Joe's diabetes.  I used sugar-free cake mix, sugar-free pudding mix and diet Dr. Pepper.  I iced it with sugar-free icing and omitted the pecans.  It turned out SO GOOD!  Oh, my goodness you would NEVER know it was sugar free -- so chocolatey and moist.  Do try this recipe.

Here are the birthday folks, blowing out their candles.

One last look goodbye and heading home.

We left a little after 8 p.m. and got home around 10:30 p.m.  Yes, it takes that long.  It didn't help that we had a detour that I got lost on and drove 12 miles out of my way and that we drove through two torrential downpours with lightning.  But at least the rain held off while we were there and we had a wonderful day.