Tractor Fun

Daniel, the Artist

I was able to get this family portrait photo just before the rain washed it away. That's Grandpop on the left, Grandma on the right. Kat drew herself and Jason, but Daniel did the others.

Lobster with Friends

Our friends Bob and Nancy share our interest in fun cooking.  In fact, we plan to go to Italy together in the spring to learn more about Italian cooking!  On Friday night we had a chance to get some bargain lobsters, so we had our own version of a lobster fest.  Yum!!!!

September 2012

Wow! What a month! On September 4 I traveled back to Marietta, GA, to help Sharon with Ella and Leo and the new baby, Siena. I was there until September 15 when we all hopped in the new family mobile and headed for the Outer Banks in North Carolina where we had rented a large house a block from the ocean to house the entire family - eight adults and seven grand children. What a blast! I referred to it as "Happy Chaos."

We all needed at least a week to recover when we got home. I returned home on September 22 - having been away for almost three weeks. It felt good to be home, but I really missed all the activity of the grand children.

Here are some of our favorite pictures of those happy days.

Leo and Ella playing with Grandma in the morning.

Siena was growing and becoming more interactive. What a cutie!

Leo and I hung out together a lot - while Ella was in school. Here we were sitting in the car watching the "diggers" for about 20 minutes. We also spent time at the playground, in the pool, going for walks, playing in the neighbor's play house, playing with Leo's toy cars, reading story books...well, you get the picture!  It was hard on both of us to have to say "good-bye."

AT DUCK, N.C. - OBX

After several challenging  attempts we got them all on the couch at once - and smiling. Leo kept trying to escape, so our time frame was quite short!

 My beautiful daughters - Laurel, Sharon, me, and Kathryn

Grandma made the dresses - it was Sharon's idea and she helped

me choose the fabric before Siena was born. It was fun to make them

in assembly line fashion - each one a different size.

to be continued....



The Beach

Pop-pop read as the girls buried his feet in the sand.

Grandma held the baby.

Mark and Ella tried kite flying.

Abby and Leo discovered the baby's tent.

Ella and Daniel worked on a sand castle.

Leah and Lars flew the monkey kite.

Luke and Leah spent an entire day at the beach. Lots to do!

Sharon and Siena; Pop-pop still reading...

The big boys got out the kayak and Daniel ran and jumped in for the first ride.

Daniel spent hours moving sand.

Mark celebrated his birthday with an ocean kayak ride.

Abby, the little bathing beauty.

Abby doing the "sand crab walk."

Jason bringing in the monkey kite.

Lars and Mark untangling the kite strings.

Laurel checking her messages.

to be continued....