A Wonderful Time with Family

Sunday, June 13

Our family time began on June 13 as Kat and Jason spent Saturday night with us after seeing Daniel’s Marquiss great grandparents. On Sunday afternoon, Sharon, Mark, and ‘Ella arrived for their visit. We made arrangements with some dear friends to borrow their lake house for a few days so they could have a little vacation before joining the rest of the family at our house. They arrived Sunday evening and left for the lake on Monday morning.

Laurel did such a wonderful job of describing our time together that I recommend checking out her blog: http://www.larslaurel.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, June 17

Our 37th anniversary was spent with Susan driving to Dulles Airport to pick up Laurel, Lars, Luke and Leah. Again, our same dear friends allowed us to borrow an SUV so we had room for the family and the child seats. Luke immediately informed everyone that he was going to Pop-pop’s house. We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Thurmont, MD, and Luke informed the people in the booth next to ours that he was on his way to Pop-pop’s house.

Thursday, June 18

The day Luke was waiting for finally arrived – he got to help Pop-pop drive the tractor and mow the lawn. He was a real trooper – stayed with the job until it was almost finished and he was really tired.

In the afternoon we all packed up and went to the Lake House for a relaxing time and a visit with Sharon, Mark, and ‘Ella. It was a beautiful day, so we ate a picnic supper on the deck and watched as the girls met each other for the first time.

Friday, June 19

Luke and Pop-pop and Lars went to Strasburg, PA, to see if they could catch a ride on Thomas the Train who was visiting there this week. Although they didn’t ride Thomas, they did get to ride on a "bigger and better train" – the Strasburg Railroad train through Paradise, PA. Luke and Pop-pop had a great time! The ladies and babies all went shopping at the outlets (an interesting experience with three little ones…).

That evening Rich did a turkey on the spit on the grill and we had a special dinner – turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans. We had a great deal to be thankful for. Among the things we were celebrating were the following:
March 31 – Susan’s 60th birthday
May 16 – Jason graduated from PSU with a degree in Survey Engineering
May 17 – Daniel was born
May 21 – Kat and Jason’s 3rd anniversary
June 5 – Rich’s birthday
June 8 – Laurel and Lars 13th anniversary
June 17 – Rich and Susan’s 37th anniversary
June 18 – Everyone met the new arrivals in the family – Carmella, Leah, and Daniel
June 30 – Jason’s birthday

So much to be thankful for – and we were all together to celebrate so a Thanksgiving Dinner seemed to be in order.


Saturday, June 20

The second annual Mitchell Family Reunion was held with Matt and Heather and their four children coming from Lanse, PA., and Chuck and Anita coming from Ohio. June 18 was Matt and Heather’s anniversary, and the 20th of June was Chuck and Anita’s. More things to celebrate!

Robin with Ella.
Leah on Robin's lap.
Drew with Ella.

Sunday, June 21 – Father’s Day

It seemed an impossible task to get everyone to church, so we opted for more family time and enjoyed the many blessings God has granted us this year. Cindy Roth, a friend and professional photographer, came to take family photos. We had a blast – everyone was color coordinated and she took individual kid photos, individual family photos, and a grand finale – all of us lined up in front of the house. Although the pictures that follow aren’t the professional ones, they show some of the fun we had!

Would someone please look at the camera and smile???

The fathers with their children

Monday, June 22

Once again we tried to do a little shopping and then headed to Marquiss’s pool for a brief refreshing time. Lars, Pop-pop and Luke set out to find some domestic animals so Luke could see animals in a setting other than the zoo. They found quite an interesting assortment – cows, horses, buffalo, rabbits, goats, chickens, etc. After dinner Luke and Pop-pop did a little more lawn mowing. Mark left in the morning for a business trip to Boston, where he was able to see his parents and his sister and her family.
Luke shows Ella how to drive the boat.

There were some quieter moments throughout the week...

Rich with a sleeping Daniel and Roxy.


Laurel with Leah at the piano.

Tuesday, June 23
Susan took the Eriksens back to Dulles airport for their flight home. Luke was excited to go on the airplane, but wanted to come back to Pop-pop’s house. It was sad to see them go.

Wednesday, June 24

Sharon and Ella and Kat and Daniel spent a quiet day at the house with an afternoon visit to the Marquiss's pool.

Thursday, June 25

Everyone left for home. A too-quiet house.

The Week from Rich's Point-of-View:

Thurs - Grilled pizza

Fri - Grilled turkey

Sat - Grilled ham

Sun - Enchiladas

Mon - Beef Roast

Tues - Grilled Cornish Hen

Wed - Grilled Salmon

Thurs - Susan made pasta salad (so-so)

We also had some awesome free-range eggs from Heather and Matt that were perfect poached!