September 30 - Chatterley's visit

Jenna and Ivan were in Orlando for Ivan's brother Adam's wedding. Jake is 6 months old now. Old enough to smile and do lots of cute stuff....but not crawling or rolling over yet, so he's easy to keep track of. Never cries - love that! He thought Dasher was funny. It was the first time for Ruth, Ilga and Kristin to meet him. Kristin drove all the way over from Tampa with Karington which was wonderful so that we had all 3 grandkids together for the 1st time. We're smiling! Blue, blue, blue....eyes, sweaters, shirts..... Jenna's friend Ashley stopped by to visit so there was a lap for each one. Out of 4 photos, this is the only one where all 3 kids are on a lap and looking at the camera. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle...... Kristin always thinks about the best "photo op". She realized that Allison and Karington had the same dress, so she brought it with her and dressed the alike. Awwwwwwwww!!!!!! How cute is that!? The last time they were together Karington was just a few weeks old - now she's 9 months.
Jake is so photogenic! Looks a bit like Charlie Brown, don't you think?

Sept 12 - visit with Karington and Kristin

Kristin and Karington were in Orlando for a visit today...can't believe how much she has grown!! (Karington of course). She is crawling and pulling herself up so easily - you really have to watch where she is going....look out Dasher and Blitzen!

We enjoyed a lunch with everyone at Perkins:
She loves to grab your mouth..... Or your glasses....

Or slip down your legs (looks like she's falling...don't worry, she's not!)....

Happy little girl - yummy cereal!

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?