My Uncle Max passed away yesterday morning in his sleep (obituary link) at 91 years-old. Max was the last of the 13 McKain siblings.
Can you even imagine having 13 kids? Me neither!
He was preceded in death by nine brothers: Richard McKain, Roscoe (Anita) McKain, Otis (Doris) McKain, Johnny (Naomi) McKain, Roland (Lorraine) McKain, Dean (Eva) McKain, Jack (Betty) McKain, Dallas (Betty) McKain, and James Phillip McKain; and three sisters: Catherine (Pete) Critchlow, Ethel Jackson, and Shirley (Delmar) Robinett.
Uncle Max enjoyed playing rhythm guitar and would rarely step in on vocals, (typically, that was my Dad’s role) — I only remember him singing, “That Over 30 Look Sure Looks Good on You.”
(Taken while stationed in Korea: Uncle Max is far left — Dad is squatting and is 3rd from left.)
When I think about Max, these things come to mind…
He loved to garden and can. Most of his canning and cooking was done at a garage behind a house he owned (that his daughter lived in and was previously owned by Uncle Dean) that someone named, “Road Kill Cafe.” I’m willing to bet that suited my Aunt Irene just fine since it kept him out of her kitchen.
He was actually a great cook and although it doesn’t say in his obituary, he liked to drink beer and he made the strongest wine batches in Jackson County. 😉
I remember being a kid and going to my uncle Jack’s house practically every Sunday. It was our family’s tradition. My Dad and his brothers would often play music and the kids would eat all the snacks, dance, and play outside. Jack and Betty lived on a hill and we had fun there in the winter too.
Jack and Betty had 3 daughters — one was my favorite brother’s age, Becky; and 2 older than him, Linda and Jenny. Because they were older, they didn’t have much to do with those of us that were younger and oh, so annoying. All 3 of them were cheerleaders at Brownstown Central High School and I thought they were the coolest.
The middle child, Linda, (also in the middle in the photo below) just had a birthday… she turned 75. SEVENTY FIVE YEARS-OLD!!
Linda had three kids. I’ve posted before about Celina and Christy — both of them have stayed at my house when coming to Jackson County. For whatever reason, my brain thinks I’m from THEIR generation instead of from the oldies but goodies one.
I must realize I’m freaking OLD.
I’m a senior and there’s a whole lot of gray hair under the color. Probably. I haven’t seen my real hair color for at least 20 years, but roots don’t lie. 🙂
I need to realize how old I am when I start a project too because I feel like I’m at least 100 today. In the past 3 days I’ve likely done 5 thousand squats while holding a paint roller or brush. I couldn’t do even one more. I’m done.
The floor is done too!
It’s rustic and it’s still concrete, but it suits me just fine. I’m really happy with it.
Moving furniture back in today (even though the new rugs have yet to arrive) and I’m not sure I have the power to do it by myself, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I even have one heavy piece that goes upstairs, but I’ll need help with it. At least I know I couldn’t have done that job at 35. 🙂
Now you know: In 2022, BMW offered subscriptions for customers in the U.K. that would enable them to use their car’s heated front seats (£15 per month) or heated steering wheel (£10 per month).
My family actually took vacations in my youth. Not camping at the lake or short trips to the zoo, but real vacations. Oh yes, real vacations to visit dead Presidents. My Momma will not be impressed to learn that the only one I can remember is Andrew Jackson. I do remember touring some jail and getting locked up for a photo, but that won’t count in her book.
Motion sickness.
As a kid, my motion sickness was a real issue for our family. The joke always was that we could leave our home in Indiana at daybreak and not get out of the state by nightfall because they had to stop so many times for me to throw up. And… there were times they didn’t stop soon enough and clean up cut down on travel time. 😉
Then, they discovered the wonders of Dramamine! I was drugged to the point of drooling and was fast asleep for most of the travel time just so we could reach the home of yet another dead president. Imagine my surprise to find there’s a new way to treat motion sickness! My Mom would’ve totally had me sporting a pair of these:
Back when my brother and I were kids, most families didn’t get to take vacations like we did — unlike today when most families go somewhere every year. And back then, if people did travel it was to visit relatives… ones still alive.
And then, at some point, I simply grew out of it.
I no longer get motion sickness when traveling. I don’t get air sick and I’m pretty sure I don’t get car sick anymore either. I’m not 100% sure on that since I’m never in the back seat — I’m either driving or riding shotgun.
I may only remember one dead president, but I do remember how good it felt coming back home. I still feel that way. 🙂
Now you know: The Hermitage is the home of President Andrew Jackson and is in Nashville, Tennessee. You can still experience the historical mansion, museum and grounds — and they even have a ghost tour in October but it’s sold out. Learn more at: https://thehermitage.com/
Epcot is currently my favorite park. There during the food and wine festival 2023, we didn’t partake even though we were there on multiple days.
Amazing rides at Epcot…
We saved the galaxy on the newest ride, Guardians of the Galaxy — my new favorite of all time!
The new ride is FIRE! We paid for a lightning pass or 2 and did the virtual queue on multiple days. The ride has a playlist of 6 song options (read about it here), and we were lucky to get September twice. Best. Ride. Ever.
Then there’s Soarin’ Around the World — a great ride experience with a medium wait time. Test Track is fun for many… a back breaking experience for me.
Ratatouille is good for kids, and cute for adults… we skipped the line this year. Mission Space remains a staple in our journey. We rode the people mover and Living with the Land. Ben and Coco hit Journey Into Imagination with Figment and met Joy.
Perry and I skipped it and rested our old, weary bones for a short bit instead. 😉
Food choices at Epcot…
The food choices at Epcot are the best. Our favorites are:
Le Cellier (our steak night splurge)
Rose & Crown Pub (fish and chips)
Nine Dragons (Chinese table service).
There are too many honorable mentions to list.
Epcot’s overall Disney Experience…
Bring on the rain… we didn’t care. The experience was still stellar!
Most people — including my family — hit Magic Kingdom as their first park. The iconic Cinderella’s castle, not yet visible upon entering the gate, sets the mood once you hit main street and can see the gorgeous structure. The bad news is… because it’s the first park many go to, it’s busiest on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Magic Kingdom looked great and the Halloween decorations were amazing!
We got our standard entrance photos after waiting in line for around 45-minutes.
Where’s the magic?
One expects Magic Kingdom to be magical… right? Besides having the rides we’ve loved for years and years… like Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and more — there’s a new ride there now called TRON.
While it’s a great ride — the actual time on it is less than 60 seconds. The wait time for us was over 90 minutes. 🙄
That was probably because 1/2 the park was closed because there was a bear in a tree inside the park. (You can read about it here.) Basically, an already packed park put all the people into only half of the space and most every attraction we were interested in was shut down. With park hopper tickets, we left for Epcot.
But that’s not the end of the story!
We paid $726.70 for 4 tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that was also held at Magic Kingdom. We’ve done special events in the past that were worth the money because only a limited number of tickets were sold. With a small number of people there, you could ride everything as many times as you wanted without waiting in line. For example… once we waited in line 3 hours to ride Avatar, but during the after hours event, we rode it 9 times with no wait.
Not so this time around! Magic Kingdom closed early for the party, and to enjoy the park you might’ve already had a ticket for, you had to pay for yet another ticket to get back in the park to attend the event. It’s a double dip with ZERO perks. There was still a 40-minute wait to ride Haunted Mansion. See how thrilled we are?
We paid over $725 bucks for one bag of M&M’s and 2 rides — this and Pirates of the Caribbean. Haunted Mansion broke down 3 times during our ride… Pirates once.
There was a show and a parade, but it was so crowded it was only viewed by those who spent most of their time with their butts parked on the side of Main Street so they’d have a seat. We did happen to catch the fireworks on our way out. Check out the number of people at this “special,” premium and exclusive event! 😡
Magic Kingdom is officially tied for my LEAST favorite park even with the addition of TRON. What’s the park that is tied for last place? Hollywood Studios. Star Wars is ok, and I still love Tower of Terror — but not enough to even get me to that park this year… even with park hopper passes.
Tomorrow we’ll travel to the park currently in 2nd place in the “best Disney World Parks according to Shelley” list. Wanna guess what it is?
