FYI, a Grave Crawl is a family tradition we have started wherein we make the rounds (on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend) to bars and cemeteries in Glencoe, Arlington, Jessenland, and other areas near where some of our family roots are sunk. The group usually starts with lunch at Maggie and Dennis Nelson's house, then alternates between a bar and a cemetery, bar and a cemetery, until we've visited everyone we need to see.
This year the Grave Crawl started off with Maggie also arranging the hand off of a duck that she was purchasing. Apparently she had been waiting for the call that the duck was ready for adoption, because as we were leaving the Glencoe cemetery to head to Arlington, we had to make a detour...to the parking lot of Pamida, where a guy in a truck pulled out a big plastic tub in which was housed a full grown male duck. Of course.
Tilly at the King Pin (the first pub she ever visited).
Tilly, I wish you two could have met each other. Things would be a lot different.
Frank and Nellie, this one is for you.
We went out to my cousin Beth's farm last week. Tilly got to meet the pig that we'll have in our freezer next fall. She also let a calf eat out of her hand. I was so proud of her for that. We saw Beth, Craig, Erin, Mark, Crystal and Dusty (as well as Mac the dog, tons of cats, and said pigs and cows). It is always so nice, so refreshing to get out to their farm. I have incredibly warm memories of staying of their as a kid. I hope Tilly gets a chance to experience something like that someday so she never forgets where our milk, beef, pork, etc., come from. It's hard being a farmboy dad raising a daughter in the city. I am doing my best.
Tilly's first American Doll. Said doll is currently sitting outside in the yard, in the dirt (I believe). 
