July/Aug 2011

 Boxes for Military!

 Scrabble fun with friends :)

 Michelle, Elizabeth and Angela looking at something.

 Me and Elizabeth and Baby G!

 Happy 20th Birthday Elizabeth!

 Yum

 A hug for Patrick!

Sun-showers on the way home.

Christmas

Ah, Christmas! Here is a ceramic tree I inherited from my Nana, and a new gift from Terry and Ruby,( the cardinal plate)
Michelle and Jordan opening gifts.
Elizabeth trying to wake up.
Betty, my stepmom, works hard to prepare a bountiful feast on Christmas!
family portrait - one
Jordan snuck into this pic of Dad, and us three kids. I was sad I didn't have a prop or holiday headwear...
stuffing balloons to make reindeer antlers. My brother and his wife bring games to the festivities. (We didn't win, too slow)
the infamous mitten game.
used to be; we would take a traditional grandkids photo on the couch...but seems they'd made a hole in the wall--so they had to get off!
Next favorite photo spot is in front of fireplace! This year we are missing 2 (and a husband, all in the AF) and added little Molly.

Hope your Christmas was fun and full of love and memories. Thank God for sending His Son, Jesus to become man, and our Savior!

Happy Thanksgivng

Don't forget to remember all the great things God has done for us and for how blessed we are!

50 years!

To celebrate Vin's parent's 50th wedding anniversary, we and his brothers flew to FL. One brother came from NY, another from AZ.
Friday,We had a 6AM flight, and guess who we found? Our neighbors had a 6AM flight to Miami!
little cloudy, and some turbulence ahead of the front.
blurry, but monitor says we are almost to Atlanta.
Oops, we missed connection (or they missed us). We arrived on time, but were seated in the back, then they had changed gates. We got to the door before our 8am flight, BUT they had already boarded the plane.
time to kill in Fort Meyer's airport as we waited for Vin's brother to pick us up. This is Henry Ford. He and Edison had homes in Ft Meyer's.
Saturday Gaspirilla, on Boca Grande.
about an hour later!
Here we all enjoy a lunch at the "Loose Caboose" Boca Grande Island's RR depot in the day...
Tennis on Sunday
Trip to bird sanctuary and park on Monday
plane
departure, connection in Atlanta this time was delayed and we got home about 1 1/2 hrs later than we thought we would.

Intercollegiate Horse Show

My niece, Erin, is a NCSU Equestrian. Michelle, Elizabeth and I went up to Hillsborough to the Duke University Horse Farm (Echo Glen) to watch her ride. First they line up by size. Then they draw the horse they will ride. Some of the horses are from the host barn, some are brought in by other Universitys. This is supposed to make it randomly fair, I guess.
Erin drew this sleepy Stormy. This was one relaxed horse.
Her mom says she gets nervous, so I didn't want to bother her. She looked so serious.
Here she is in the "Flat foot" class or something. Rachael can probably correct me. I think they were cantoring.
She ended up with 4th. Erin is not a point rider, so the pressure is much less for her. Placing was pretty nice.
So, after an oatmeal bar, she could relax before next ride.
She was supposed to get a different horse, but ended up with a big horse, Moses. I told her that was good. Moses was winning a lot of 1,2 and 3 rd places.
She jumps! His stride was different then she was used to. I thought it looked great. Lots of things they look at to judge. I was clueless!

So she gets third! She competed against riders from ECU, UNC, Duke, ASU, Intermont, St. Andrews, maybe a VA Tech one too. I think UNC-G , Greensboro A&T, lots of them.A great day except for stupid yellow jackets and getting lost for a little bit. (missed my exit on 85). Next one is in Feb.

Labor day @Dad's

Molly posing...funny how they can have "ham" genes.
trying out her super hero power of flying

now I know these are ugly, always have. But, I have had these since college; very sturdy furniture we inherited from my room mate's step dad. (vintage 70) I have had them covered, had pets, kids put them through the test. Finally, springs broke. So, I have retired them. ( I also threw away our first couch we bought before we got married.) They don't make furniture like they used to (that I can justify paying for...:-) )

Happy Father's Day!

my father in law that raised his son well, and has always done his best to provide for his family...
To my dad who is a great grandaddy, and always encourages all of us.....
Vince who takes time to quietly support his exhausted airman son after BMT....
or play catch with his 18yr old, and is still up to the challenge.....
my husband who still wants to dance with me.....
tries to understand tween and teenage sisters.....
and is sometimes just silly!