Last weekend was Grandma O’Hara’s 80th birthday party. My clan made our way north in two packs. Susan and Morgan flew, while Dad, Mason and I drove. The girls flew up Friday evening, and back home Sunday morning. Dad, Mason and I hit the road Friday morning at 4am. The normally twelve-hour trip took almost fifteen due to a couple of wrong turns and some Illinois traffic congestion.

Grandma’s party was Saturday afternoon at Uncle Joe’s house. A lot of friends and almost all of the family showed up. In typical O’Hara fashion there was a ton of food and everybody had a good time.

Due to the short length of the trip, we made every meal count. On Friday, we had White Castles for lunch and pizza and beef sandwiches (which were terrible) for dinner. Saturday morning we ate at Blueberry Hill, and lunch/dinner at Grandma O’s party (Susan and I had some late night White Castles to boot). Sunday we had breakfast at Joe’s, more hot dogs and beef sandwiches at Portillo’s, and a special dinner with Grandma O and more family members at Warsaw Inn.

Sunday morning we also made a jaunt over to Bachelor’s Grove. Bachelor’s Grove routinely appears on lists like this one: The 10 Most Haunted Places in America. Unsurprisingly, we saw no ghosts. No orbs, no magical mist, no wispy apparitions. Dad told us that it looks a lot different at night; we believed him.

Monday morning around 5am, Dad, Mason and I piled back in the van and made our way back to Oklahoma, stopping at Pam and Jerry’s house for breakfast in Springfield around 8am. We barely stopped running this entire trip. We got to see everybody, but we didn’t get to see anybody for too long!

For pictures of food, parties, and family, click here.