Memorial Day Weekend!

I was excited for Memorial Day weekend for one big reason- my parents were flying in from Florida!  I haven't seen them since Christmas, so having a weekend with them- along with my brother, Kyle, and his long-term girlfriend Kendra- was fantastic.
There was an enormous french toast and sausage breakfast...

followed by an afternoon of housework and yard work.  I got to help my Mom weed her gardens and conduct general clean-up while my Dad and my brother worked on fixing the boat, the truck that died in the garage over the winter, and cleaning up the "guy" end of things.  The early evenings were for card games...

and we got to have at least one nice dinner at our local swanky place to eat, Lord Fletcher's on the Lake.

The walleye dinner was amazing- a fish the size of your head, plus two side dishes and a salad.  I managed to eat the entire fish (pretty sure it was my body craving more iron...) and my side of corn before throwing in the towel.
We were able to get a family picture before leaving:

and heading back to my folk's place for some music and (for me) knitting!

I got a TON of knitting done this weekend- I finally picked up the Spring Affection shawl for myself after a long hiatus, getting quite a few more stripes in without a hitch.

I'll be really excited to wear this one- with this fingering weight, it's about as heavy as a sneeze, and absolutely gorgeous.  I also started what I've dubbed the Candy Cowl- yet another knit to add to the pile for Christmas in a few months.

It's knit flat before stitched together, and so far looks more like a flag than anything else.  You're supposed to alternate every other row with a different size needle, so I'm actually really happy I have the Denise interchangable needles for this project.
The weekend ended in in the perfect way- our giant Mountaineer, stuck in the garage all winter while my parents were in Florida, got stuck in the driveway (with our boat attached on the back), blocking me in.

Kyle and my Dad got to jump the truck after several unsuccessful attempts to get it started.
All in all, a great weekend with the family. :)
A week and a half now until my studio's year-end dance recital, and I've started some very last minute knitting projects as thank-you gifts for my three graduating senior students... expect an update on those very soon, as I have to absolutely knock those out fast...