40th High School Reunion in Carbondale

The final stop on the vacation was Carbondale - to attend my 40th HS reunion. It's the first time I've visited there in 20 years, so it was fun to drive around and see all the familiar sights....starting with our house. Looks pretty good, yes? The trees are HUGE!On Sunday, we attended the Presbyterian Church - the sanctuary looks EXACTLY the same - after 40 years. But the overall church has expanded which is nice. The lady sitting behind us remembered mom and dad....what are the odds?

And of course the reunion....Ginny and James may remember a few of these faces: Kalman Edelman on the left (back row), Harold Koplewitz, Sue Isbell, and seated, Gordon Olmstead and Joan Lougeay. It was really wonderful....about 60 people were there and I knew around 20 of the them quite well. Really happy we decided to go!!!! (Decided we all looked pretty good.... :-)

Vacation continued...time with David and Carol

We took the train (steam powered) from Durango to Silverton - about 3.5 hours....gorgeous scenery along the way! Then took a tour of a mine....very interesting....and cold...brrrr....
We enjoyed dinner with them - saw Carol's house (Maris had seen it already in May) and also worked on the farm.

Yes...seriously worked!!!!! Picked beans, tomatoes, washed carrots, bagged potatoes. David wouldn't let us stop (well, he wouldn't stop) until the sun went down...yes, just like a farmer. But it felt really good helping out. Check out Maris' demo on cleaning onions (doesn't he look proud?)

Vacation continued.....

The Chatterley's home....just before we walked to church (it's only 2 blocks)

Our grandson, Jake is a smiling baby! Pretty much he is happy all the time....love it.

Here he is chillin' with Opop.

Vacation in Utah - August 2009

We are having a wonderful time visiting Jenna, Ivan, Jake and Allison! Their new house is spacious and comfortable. Still a "work in progress", but they have done SO much already. Took a nice easy hike up into the mountains. Allison and Jake both love the out of doors. All the other hikers, their dogs, mountain bikers..... ....but a long hike for little ones! Ha!! They were both sound asleep by the end of the walk.

We had a really nice dinner at a local restaurant - on the patio (no humidity....ahhhhhhhhhhh). The kids could go out on the lawn to run around which let us relax a little longer there.

Fellow hikers, waitresses....everyone is happy to take a group shot for us.

OK....I see A LOT of Jenna in Allison....!!!!

Promise more photos soon (and a few little videos too).

Babysitting Karington August 9, 2009

Sorry it's been about a month since an update. Last weekend, Maris had a great idea...."hey, why don't we drive over to Tampa and babysit Karington while Kyle and Kristin go out on a date". So we did....mom joined us and it was a really nice idea. We got to see her crawling for the first time. At one time she crawled over to Bear's area and picked up a piece of his dog food in her hand....oops.....need to watch the baby!

Apparently Opop and Karington were sharing an inside joke...ha....

She loves to stand up by the coffee table.

She's almost 8 months old....where did the time go?

Boulder, CO

As you all know, mom and I were in Colorado this past weekend for Aunt Mary's memorial service. Uncle Hugh was great - so were Bart and Stacy. I don't know how they handled it so well, but they were wonderful. Aunt Laura has become very frail as you can see. I'm very glad we had a chance to see her. Mom was out just a few months ago, but I haven't seen her for 2 years.

Mary's weaving and artwork were on display at the service.

I sure makes me realize that you shouldn't put things off....just never know what the future brings!

July 3-6 - Savannah Choir Tour

We had a great time in Savannah with the choir on tour. Really never thought that anywhere was hotter than Orlando in July - but I was wrong. Savannah wins the hot and sticky award! Maris setup our first "gig" at the Sand Gnats Baseball game (farm team for the METS) - sang the national anthem and other stuff....really a unique experience.

The oddest moment? Our "ghost tour" in a hease at night.....BOO!!!!!

The group just had to dine at Paula Dean's estaurant - sooooo much food! She's almost never there - this was as close as we got to her.....ha.

On July 4th, Maris set up a dinner at the Boar's Head restaurant (note our new "friend") to celebrate my birthday with about 15 of our friends....he is SO sweet! He tried to make it a surprise, but it didn't work out since I kept trying to arrange dinner for Saturday night. He finally said "stop! you can't invite anyone because I already have it all planned!"

We sang (and 3 of us danced) at a retirement home in the burbs and finally at a VERY old historical Methodist Church - built in 1848.