25th McCullough Family Reunion June 17 - 21

Wednesday (6/17)
Left Rantoul at 3:00, got to my mom’s at 4:30. We visited a little bit and then I went over to see an old friend from High School. Was with her for a little over an hour and then went back to mom’s. We had dinner, she had a made a yummy stew with ramen noodles and I made a shortcake with chocolate chips and then we put strawberries and cool whip on top, YUM! I went to bed about 11:00, read my book for awhile and then was out like a light until early morning.

Thursday (6/18)
Was awakened about 5:00 a.m. by a really noisy thunder and lightening storm. I went back to sleep and then the next thing I knew it was 7:00 and mom was waking me up. We were supposed to be headed to Max’s (my brother) by 8:00 but the storm was still going strong and the power had gone out. We continued to get things ready to go while we waited for the power to come back on. By the time it did we were ready to go and took off at about 8:30. We picked up Max in Greenup and then we were on the road for the day. We stopped at a rest area on the other side of St. Louis and had a picnic lunch. By then there was no sign of storms at all. We made it to the Willow Winds Resort about 5:00. We checked in with the office, paid for our room and picked up the keys. Spent the next little bit unloading the car, unpacking and putting things away. Then we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at this place called Becky’s. It wasn’t much of a place to look at but the people were really nice and the food was too good and very reasonably priced. Mom had ½ order of Biscuits & gravy, Max had Fried Catfish, baked potato and a side of fried okra, I had a ½ order of smothered breaded tenderloin. This consisted of texas toast on the bottom, then a huge breaded tenderloin and a scoop of mashed potatoes on top of that all covered in gravy and topped with onion rings. It was sooo much food I had to take pictures of it. The first picture is of the plate untouched, the second picture is what I took back to the room with me and the last picture is what I left on the plate. I barely even made a dent in the whole dinner but boy was it scrumptious….major comfort food. We went back to the resort and visited with Uncle Joe & Aunt Fran in their room along with Uncle John & Aunt Betty for about an hour.

Friday (6/19)
Max and I were up fairly early, I took my coffee cup and we were off in search of coffee. Found it in Joe & Fran’s room then they invited us along to John & Betty’s room for breakfast. So we had yummy biscuits & gravy, fruit and a good visit. We decided we’d all go down by the pool and visit. Had a good time there for about an hour or so and then everyone went their separate ways to spend the day however they liked. Mom, Max and I went for a walk first and then we came back and put together a picnic lunch and headed out for the day. We went to Goody’s Resort first to check things out and see how much had changed. We had spent the first 6 years of reunions 25 years ago there. Even the same people still own it. Then we went on cruisin to see what other beautiful sights there were to see. Along the way we stopped off at a state park to have our picnic lunch. It was nice. We got back to the room in time to rest up and cool off before going to dinner. For dinner mom stayed back at the room and made her own, Max and I went to Becky’s. This time I had fried catfish, baked potato and corn, Max had a ground beef steak with mushrooms, baked potato and corn. Once again it was scrumptious and cheap. At 6:30 we went down to the pavilion for the McCullough Family Reunion Business Meeting. Lasted about 30 minutes then we watched a DVD that they had put together of 25 years worth of family reunions. It was very well done. Then went back to the room to chill and watch tv before bed.

Saturday (6/20)
This morning started off with a Crockpot Breakfast for the whole family down at the pavilion. Followed by mingling and picture taking. Then we spent some time hanging around the pool talking. Once the day started to heat up and heat up it did everyone adjourned to their rooms to hide out with the AC. This day we ate lunch in the room, mom and I had leftover picnic food and Max had a sub sandwich that he’d bought the day before when we were out running around. A storm rolled in so we stayed in the room and watched the ballgame but I ended up falling asleep in the recliner and missed the bulk of the storm and the Cubs win. At 6:30 we all went to the Pavilion for a catered supper. There were huge tins of roast beef, turkey, bbq sauce, baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw and two cakes decorated with the 25th year anniversary logo. It was really, really good but the temperature and humidity had risen so much it was just miserable sitting around outside. Mom stayed down and visited for awhile but Max and I went back to the room and watched a movie that we had rented. By the time it was over it was time to turn in so we could be ready to leave early in the morning.

Sunday (6/21)
After hugs and more picture taking we headed out of the resort about 7:30 planning to stop for breakfast at Shoney’s with Uncle Joe and Fran. We had a good breakfast and a good visit and then we hit the road toward home. Mom and I got to Casey at 5:00 and I headed toward Rantoul shortly after that. I was finally home at 6:45.