Michael and I flew into town Wednesday night. He came from a sales conference for work in Pittsburgh. I came from Arizona. Judy took her parents to the airport where they thought they were picking up Fred. They were very surprised when it was Michael that walked out of the airport!
Fred didn't fly home until Thursday night, so we took the afternoon to drive over to Danville! I got to see my Grandma Mickie and Grandma Helen. We went out to eat, saw the many sights in Danville and then paid a visit to my Great Uncle Don. It was great!
Thursday night we surprised Fred at the airport. Michael called Fred on the phone, then walked up behind him. Let me tell you, Fred has certainly mastered the speed-walk. I had to jog to keep up! Well, as Michael approached Fred from behind (still talking on the phone), he hung up, but continued the conversation. Fred was a little confused, since he could still hear Michael but the sound was different. Finally he looked over his shoulder and spotted Michael! It was good.
The next afternoon Michael's sister, Lauren, came into town. She also surprised Fred when she got home from the airport. These In-Laws of mine sure do enjoy surprising each other. Which, I guess, shouldn't be too surprising given their name. :)
Saturday was Fred's birthday. We went to a really lovely winery about 45 minutes away.
We ate a picnic of cheese, olives, crackers, apples...well, nevermind. Just picture the most charming little meal, add two bottles of wine and that's what we ate.
Don't mind the strange little pile of items at the corner of the table. That was what I used to make an attempt at the self-timer. 
After that, we took a little scenic drive. We got out of the car for some view-gazing, picture-taking and general sighing.
Check out this picture.
Now, we don't know that little old lady. She was just sitting there by herself. But I like to pretend that her little half gallon jug is filled, not with the predictable apple cider, but a healty portion of strong ale. Wouldn't that be great?The trees were so pretty here.
That night we went to a really cool restaurant called Fogo de Chao. (There's one in Scottsdale, also). First, there were the most delicious rolls ever. And a non-traditional salad bar that had things like sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus spears and fresh balls of mozzarella. (Or if you, like me, try to speak like Tony Soprano, 'MOH-sah-RELL!"). But you had to play your cards right. You didn't want to be the sucker who got full on these delicious distractions, because that's when the real eating started. Instead of ordering a cut of meat, servers came around with all sorts of different meats. Top roast. Filet mignon. Rack of lamb. Sausages. Parmasean encrusted pork loin. You had a little button that was green on one side and red on the other. Red meant, 'No thanks, I'm taking a breather.' Green meant 'MORE MEAT!' I think you can guess what color our buttons were kept on. I felt like some kind of small-country royalty, huge pieces of juicy meats being carved right in front of me.
From right to left, we have Mary, Ken, Fred, Judy, Lauren, me, Michael, James, Mimi and Tom.
Well, needless to say, we were just a tad meated out by the end of it. 
And I love this picture of Fred eyeing his special dessert! (Papaya ice cream, because papaya helps break down meat in the stomach. Any fact-checkers out there?)
After that, the immediate family went out for a celabratory drink (or two). Here's us kids doing an Irish Car Bomb with Fred. Classic. 
With that, I'd like to end this (incredibly long) blog post with one of my favorite pictures of Michael from his college years:
Yes, it is a picture of a picture. What a hunk!
Loved this post!!! I loved hearing about your Indy trip. As usual, I laughed out loud at some of your narrative. . . the SHOCKleys like to surprise. . . the description of the food (at every meal;-)) and I loved the picture of Michael with meat hanging out of his mouth, Fred looking at his dessert, Lauren's face having an Irish Car Bomb, the pic of the Grandma's and Michael's cute football picture. Great post and loved the update!
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